(Homer
Hooper#1/5) - Homer visited his pal Shorty as he got ready for a big
date. Shorty emphasized how important it was to double-check that
everything was ready--only to leave the house without any trousers on
(while Homer kept quiet)!
HOMER HOOPER
Real Name: Homer Hooper
Identity/Class: Normal human (1950s era)
Occupation: High school student
Group Membership: Midville High student cohort
Affiliations: Butch Brown, Rita Dunn, Flash
Gunn, Helitrope, Jeanie, Noisy, Officer Patrick Q. O'Houlihan, Peaches,
Punchy, Shorty;
Midville High staff (loose): Mr. Pillpot, Miss Hacksaw, Mr.
Mopnot, Mr. Bunsen, Coach Fungo
Enemies: "Killer" Klark
Known Relatives: Harry Hooper
(father), Mary
Hooper (mother)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Unrevealed city in the USA
(possibly in New York State)
First Appearance: Homer Hooper#1/1 (July, 1953)
Powers/Abilities: Homer Hooper is an average
teen-aged high school student with no outstanding skills. He studies
moderately, but is easily distracted by romance. He has basic driving skills.
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 150 lbs.
Eyes: Blue-green
Hair: Red
History:
(Homer Hooper#1/1) - High schooler Homer Hooper was
enjoying romantic kissing and canoodling with his sweetheart Jeanie
outside the Midville High school dance. Loosely dating pals Peaches and
Shorty admired their passion while Jeanie's occasional rival Rita
teased her date, the antagonistic Flash Gunn. Flash and Homer berated
each other; tired of their constant bickering, friend Butch Brown
challenged the duo to a task that required courage and smarts: have
school principal Mr. Pillpot remove his jacket. Increasingly bizarre
efforts by both students left Pillpot with a ripped jacket, so Butch
set the challenge to who could sew the jacket fastest. Instead, Flash
and Homer teamed up to thrash Butch for his suggestion.
(Homer Hooper#1/3) - Butch, Flash and Rita watched as
Homer walked past in a crisp suit with flowers for a date with Jeanie.
Flash again made fun of Homer. Soon after, intending to take Jeanie out
to a dance,
Homer discovered he had lost his wallet and had only $1 in his
pocket, which he thought too little for a pair to make entry. Rather
than admit he was broke, Homer used various ploys to delay them, hoping
the dance would be shut before they arrived. The pair finally reached
the dance and it was indeed over; Jeanie left angry while Homer fell
over, shocked to discover that girls danced free that night.
(Homer
Hooper#1/5) - Homer visited his pal Shorty as he got ready for a big
date. Shorty emphasized how important it was to double-check that
everything was ready--only to leave the house without any trousers on
(while Homer kept quiet)!
(Homer Hooper#1/7) - Flash pulled up in his big fancy
new car, showing it off to Homer and his pals walking by on a sidewalk.
Homer tried to warn Flash that he was in a No Parking zone, but Flash
talked over him, dismissing any comment. Homer and his friends wandered
off as a police officer confronted Flash.
(Homer Hooper#1/10) - The high school bulletin board
revealed a Hollywood movie star was visiting the school and someone
from Homer's class was asked to escort her around the school. Flash
paid off the other males so they wouldn't volunteer and Homer didn't
challenge him as he knew who the star was. The class laughed when it
was revealed that the Hollywood star was canine Sassie the Wonder Dog.
(Homer Hooper#2/1) - Homer's father showed off the
new car to his son. Homer wanted to jazz up the car but his father
forbade him from touching it. Homer's parents went next door for the
evening while Homer stayed home, but armed criminal "Killer" Klark
forced Homer to drive the car to help him flee the area. Quick-thinking
by Homer alerted suspicious police officer Patrick O'Houlihan and Klark
was arrested. O'Houlihan explained the situation to Homer's parents,
who then became proud of their son.
(Homer
Hooper#2/2) - Jeanie admired Flash as he readied for baseball practice
in his uniform, and Homer and Flash traded jibes. Feeling pressure from
Jeanie, Homer tried out for the team, but the coach gave him a uniform
several sizes too large. Flash gave Homer a broken bat to
sabotage his effort, but instead the coach was impressed when the bat
shattered after hitting a ball. For the next test, Flash threw the ball
deliberately too high for Homer to catch, but the ball hit roaming
Principal Pillpot. While Flash was reprimanded in the principal's
office, Homer was appointed to the school's baseball team, greatly
impressing Jeanie.
(Homer Hooper#2/10) - Homer and Flash both approached
Jeanie for a date, but she was soon to be busy with her cousin
Helitrope. Jeanie suggested a double date, but her description of
Helitrope as smart deterred both lads. A coin flip left Homer the
assigned date for Helitrope. However, he later discovered she was a
svelte redhead and the two were instantly interested in each other.
Flash and Jeanie left them to go on a short drive, but returned
concerned.
Although Homer and Helitrope were briefly smitten, Homer later told
Jeanie that she was the only true one for him.
(Homer Hooper#3/1) - As Homer and Flash walked
together after class, Jeanie mentioned that she'd like to be taken to
the country club dance, but the cost was too high for either lad.
Jeanie made it a competition between them; whoever earned the money
first would take her to the dance. But Homer and Flash spent as much
time sabotaging each other's efforts to earn money as they did trying
to earn it themselves. Defeated, they both realized they'd never earn enough money
in time to take Jeanie to the dance and agreed to pool their money
together and let Jeanie decide who to go with. Instead, Jeanie refused both
of them, going with her father instead (who was a club member). Homer and
Flash consoled each other, downing many sodas together in the soda shop.
(Homer Hooper#3/3) - Homer was the judge of the
Midville High Beauty Contest and intended to award it to his sweetheart
Jeanie. But as the female candidates paraded in their one-piece bathing
suits, Homer was cajoled by various people keen to have their preferred
candidate win. Realizing no matter who he awarded as winner, he would still lose
to those who wanted someone else to win. Failing to slip away, Homer
instead opted to award the class teacher Miss Hacksaw with the beauty
cup, which received much cheer.
(Homer Hooper#3/9) - Homer, Jeanie, Flash and Shorty
attended a fair where Homer tried the high striker (strength tester)
attraction and nearly hit the bell, impressing the others. Flustered at
his rival, Flash was keen to outdo Homer and bet him money, but Homer
secretly bribed the operator to stifle the weight behind the board so
that Homer would appear better.
(Homer Hooper#3/10) - At Midville High, Flash and
Homer were goading each other for a fight while Butch vainly tried to
keep peace. But a fistfight broke out just as Principal Pillpot chanced
upon them and sternly berated them. After Pillpot left, both Homer and
Flash demanded that Butch side with one of them as to who started the
fight, but instead Butch showed how they were fighting by punching and
jabbing in the air. Pillpot arrived again and angrily took Butch away
for detention. Relieved they had escaped Pillpot's wrath, Homer and
Flash smugly walked away, smiling with an arm over each other's shoulder.
(Homer Hooper#4/1) - Walking into school together,
Jeanie congratulated Homer on staying out of trouble for two weeks(!).
Later in class, he wrote a note inviting Jeanie to a dance and
overconfidently sent it as a paper plane, which went way off target and
hit teacher Miss Hacksaw. Enraged, Hacksaw sent Homer to Principal
Pillpot for punishment. Accidentally hitting Pillpot with the door
handle, Homer showed what he had done, shooting off another paper plane
from Pillpot's mail, but this paper plane also careened wildly away,
and Homer and Pillpot chased it through the school grounds, causing
much chaos for the janitor, physics class and girls gym class. Finally
catching the paper plane, Pillpot discovered the mail was Hacksaw's
commendation for Homer to go on the good conduct honor roll.
(Homer Hooper#4/5) - Butch asked Homer for tips on
how to get along with girls. Jeanie chanced by, so Homer demonstrated
by complimenting her on her appearance, saying that she'd look even
better without make-up. She slapped him, revealing she wasn't wearing
any make-up, and left both boys stunned.
(Homer Hooper#4/7) - Jeanie was keen to attend
Flash's cousin's special party and asked Homer along as a date, as long
as he wore a tuxedo. Homer borrowed from a friend who was an
undertaker, arriving in a hearse and wearing a long undertaker's suit.
Jeanie balked at this and threw him out. Homer hurried to a suit rental
shop, but found the prices too high or jackets unsuitable, until he was
sold a cheap rental that once belonged to a magician. At the party,
Flash's amorous cousin pulled at a loose thread on Homer's jacket,
triggering various tricks and surprises. Feeling humiliated, Jeanie
quickly left with Homer following, but he then revealed that Flash's
mother paid him $20 for a repeat performance the following week.
(Homer Hooper#4/10 (fb) - BTS) - Homer suggested to
his friend Punchy to exercise his small pet fish at the end of a
fishing line in a nearby lake.
(Homer Hooper#4/10) - Punchy got caught up in a fight
as a result of exercising his fish and his pet was eaten by an
opportunistic cat. The injured but angry Punchy tracked Homer down and
whacked him for the bad advice.
Comments: Created by uncredited writer (likely
Stan Lee) & Hy Rosen.
There's an obvious clear likeness with comic character Archie Andrews (first appearance 1941), a student at Riverdale High with similar friends in the same comedy-romance comic vein, as published by Archie Comics.
The character Noisy had his own solo comedy
stories in the
Homer Hooper comic, but he's a bit difficult to spot in any Homer
Hooper story. It's also problematic when he has red hair in one story
and black in another. A profile for another day.
Is it Earth-616? Nothing to strike it out. Plus the Daily Bugle newspaper is mentioned in an amateur photography contest in issue #2.
Interesting elements between Homer Hooper and the later Peter Parker (Spider-Man); Homer is at Midville High school while Peter first appeared at Midtown High School; both have a character called Flash as a bullying antagonist, and both have a mother called Mary. But that's where the similarities basically end.
The story featuring "Sassie the Wonder Dog" is, of course, a reference to canine multi-movie superstar Lassie.
Credits info from the Grand Comics Database. I
suspect Stan Lee is the writer of issue #1 as well.
Profile by Grendel Prime.
CLARIFICATIONS
:
Homer Hooper has no known connections to:
A sergeant in WWI, Harry Hooper was Homer's father.
When Homer was in high school, Harry bought a new car, which Homer
hoped to jazz up with extra lights and details, but Harry forbade his
son from even touching the car and promptly drove it safely into the
secure garage. That night, Harry and his wife Mary went to their
neighbors to play cards while Homer stayed home, but armed criminal
"Killer" Klark burst in and forced Homer at gunpoint to drive the new
car to escape the area. Shocked, Harry chased after the duo on foot
in vain. Soon, Homer's quick-thinking helped Police Officer O'Houlihan
apprehend Klark. O'Houlihan explained the situation to Harry, who was
proud of his son. Some time later, pipe-smoking Harry was concerned at
his son's sad face, but misunderstood Homer's concern was about who the boy's date was that night. Harry took comfort that he understood
his wife much better. Later, when Homer was the judge at the Midville
High Beauty Contest, Harry urged his son to name his boss' daughter
Chubbins Collins the winner. But this was followed by others secretly
cajoling Homer to name their preferred candidate as winner. Besieged,
Homer instead chose to give the beauty prize to the class teacher Miss
Hacksaw, which received much cheer.
--Homer Hooper#2/1 (2/10,3/3
Mary Hooper was the faithful wife of Harry and mother
of Homer. When her son was in his high school, she was impressed with
her husband's new car purchase. Later, she joined her husband to play
cards with the neighbors while Homer stayed home. But a gun-toting
criminal forced Homer to recklessly drive the new car until they were
apprehended by police. Along with her husband, she was proud of her
son for his quick-thinking in helping to stop the villain. Some time
later, Mary consoled her husband after his confusion over Homer's
sadness about an impending date.
--Homer Hooper#2/1 (2/10
images:
(without ads)
Homer Hooper#4/1, p1, pan1 (main image)
Homer Hooper#1/1, p2, pan5 (headshot, side)
Homer Hooper#1/3, p2, pan2 (date suit)
Homer Hooper#2/2, p4, pan6 (baseball outfit)
Homer Hooper#2/1, p1, pan1 (Harry Hooper)
Homer Hooper#2/1, p1, pan1 (Mary Hooper)
Homer Hooper#3, cover (swimsuit with binoculars)
Appearances:
Homer Hooper#1/1, 1/3, 1/5, 1/7, 1/10 (July, 1953) - uncredited writer,
Hy Rosen (pencils & inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Homer Hooper#2/1, 2/2, 2/10 (August, 1953) - Stan Lee (writer), Hy
Rosen (pencils & inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Homer Hooper#3/1, 3/3, 3/9, 3/10 (September, 1953) - Stan Lee (writer),
Hy Rosen (pencils & inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Homer Hooper#4/1. 4/2, 4/5 (December, 1953) - uncredited writer, Hy
Rosen (pencils & inks), Stan Lee (editor)
First posted: 04/16/2024
Last updated:
04/16/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™
and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com.
Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix!