Public Domain Super Heroes
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Hell-Rider
Hell-rider

Real Name

Brick Reese

First Appearance

Hell-Rider #1 (August 1971)

Original Publisher

Skywald

Created by

Gary Friedrich, Ross Andru, & Mike Esposito

Origin[]

After graduating from Harvard, Brick Reese is drafted and sent to fight in Vietnam. There, he's wounded with a bullet to the base of the skull. Since the wound is inoperable, Brick grants doctors permission to try the experimental drug Q-47 on him. The doctors say, "We don't know what kind of side-effects this might have." After a month of daily shots, the slug dissolves and Brick gains tremendous strength. However, since his powers are only intermittent, he puts them from his mind, returns home, and takes a job with the Los Angeles law firm of Williams and Williams. Only when rock singer/client, Julie Storm, is abducted does he soup-up his motorcycle, design a costume and put his occasionally heightened muscles to work as Hell-Rider.

Hell-Rider has a black belt in karate to fall back on when his muscles fail. His Harley sportster motorcycle is equipped with a flame-thrower under the headlights, rocket boosters for a nearly vertical ascent, napalm tanks and a jet which throws out an oil slick from the front.

He teamed up with Butterfly on more than one occasion.

Public Domain Appearances[]

  • Hell-Rider #1-2
Hell-ridercover

Notes[]

  • Skywald did not include a proper copyright notice on its issues of "Hell-Rider" (it did not consist of the word "copyright"/the symbol for copyright followed by the year of publication and the name of the copyright holders) and thus, because of copyright law at the time, became public domain upon release.
  • There were only two issues of Hell-Rider. A third was completed but, never published.
  • The "Hell-Rider" issues were mature-audience magazines not covered by comic books' Comics Code Authority.

See Also[]

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