FRANK HANES

Real Name: Frank Hanes

Identity/Class: Human technology user (1940s, 1950s, 2059 AD)

Occupation: Electrical engineer

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Police of Earth-59619 @ 2059 AD

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: World Electric, Inc./World Electronics, Inc. (1944-1959)

First Appearance: World of Fantasy#18/2 (June, 1959)

Powers/Abilities: Frank Hanes was an ingenious inventor who built a time machine.

As a result of his traveling backwards through time, Hanes was apparently caught in a time-loop--his age regressed by fifteen years as he went back to repeat his life.

Height: 5' 10"  (by approximation)
Weight: 170 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Brown

History:
(World of Fantasy#18/2 (fb) - BTS) - Frank Hanes' past is largely unrevealed, but in June of 1944, he was hired by World Electric, Inc. (later, World Electronics, Inc.), where he worked in the company's research department.  Over the years, Hanes' inventions made the company a great deal of money, but his employers always made him sign over all patent rights before they financed the building of his inventions, and they never shared any of the profits with him.  Hanes began to grow resentful of the way he was treated--despite all his work for the success of the company, he felt he was just "an employee punching the clock".

(World of Fantasy#18/2 (fb)) - In 1959, the embittered Hanes was still working for World Electronics, Inc., where he was building a time machine--he'd spent ten years of his own time working out the complex principles of the device; his greedy bosses promised him that if the machine was successful, they'd try to give him a bonus.  Feeling exploited and cheated, Hanes nevertheless continued to work on the time machine, but he thought that he should have quit his job years earlier.  Angered past the point of logical reasoning, Hanes finally decided that he was through with his employers taking advantage of him, so he broke into the company safe and stole some reserve cash--he justified his theft by rationalizing that the company wouldn't even have the money if not for him.  Then Hanes climbed into the completed time machine, activated it, and was transported through time (Unbeknownst to Hanes, he was being watched by the cosmic entity known as Fate, who knowingly laughed at the coming events).

(World of Fantasy#18/2) - Transported a century into the future, Hanes was surrounded by police who had been waiting for him.  A police officer told Hanes he was being arrested for the robbery of World Electronics, Inc. in 1959; Hanes was unwilling to surrender to the futuristic law-enforcers, so the temporal fugitive reactivated the time machine to escape to the past.  But as he passed through the time-stream, Hanes overshot his starting point in 1959 (Fate's mocking laughter had grown to a roar, for it knew the laws of the Universe could not be broken--Nothing of the future could exist in the past in its futuristic state, and it must therefore revert to the condition it originally had in the past (see comments).

   As Hanes passed beyond 1959, the time machine began to dissolve as it a changed into the original elements that made it up; a change was also taking place with Hanes, for even as he lapsed into unconsciousness, his age regressed by fifteen years.

   Hanes' rapid descent through time continued until his past became his present--he was awakened by the ringing of his alarm clock on a June morning in 1944, with all memory of his time machine merely a fleeting dream.  After getting out of bed to begin his day, Hanes went to several companies to put in job applications; at the third place he applied--World Electric, Inc--Hanes was hired.

In 1944, as he sat at his worktable, the younger Frank Hanes had second thoughts about accepting his new job at World Electric, Inc., and he wondered if he should accept a job offer from another company instead.  (Hanes seemed to be caught in an endlessly repeating cycle, where he was destined to create a time machine, only to return to his past again and again.  But Fate looked in on him and thought that the electrical engineer had a second chance to relive the crucial years of his life, and--depending upon his choice of employers--thereby change his future; Fate wondered what Hanes' decision would be, for no man was a slave to Fate).

Comments: Created by an unidentified writer and Steve Ditko (artist).

In regards to that "law of the Universe" that caused the age regression of Hanes and his time machine: I don't recall this being a problem in other time-travel stories involving voyages to the past, so maybe some malfunction in Hanes' time machine caused this condition to occur.

Profile by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Frank Hanes has no known connections to:

Frank Hanes' time machine

A transparent spherical device invented by Frank Hanes in 1959, it could transport a single occupant through time.

After stealing some cash from the company where he worked, Hanes used the time machine to transport himself a century into the future, but he found the police waiting to arrest him.  Hanes reactivated the time machine to escape to the past, but he overshot his starting point and went back to 1944; as a result of his traveling to a time-period before the time machine was built, the structure of the device dissolved into its original elements.

--World of Fantasy#18/2

Police of 59619 @ 2059 AD

Law-enforcers of the 21st Century, they were armed with guns that fired "sleep gas".

They were awaiting the appearance of Frank Hanes, for their records indicated that he had stolen money from World Electronics, Inc. in 1959, and he had used a time machine to escape into the future.

Eventually, Hanes materialized in his time machine, but before the police could place him under arrest, Hanes reactivated the time machine and escaped into the past just before the police fired their "sleep gas" at him.

--World of Fantasy#18/2

images: (without ads)
World of Fantasy#18/2, p1, pan3 (Main Image - Frank Hanes in his time machine, surrounded by police in 2059 AD)
World of Fantasy#18/2, p2, pan6 (Headshot - Frank Hanes)
World of Fantasy#18/2, p3, pan4 (Hanes stealing cash reserve from World Electronics, Inc. company safe in 1959)
World of Fantasy#18/2, p5, pan6 (in 1944, younger Hanes (left) pondering whether to take another job offer, as Fate (right) looks in on him)
World of Fantasy#18/2, p2, pan4 (Hanes working on time machine as his bosses watch)
World of Fantasy#18/2, p4, pan4 (Hanes' time machine disintegrates as it travels past its point of origin in time-stream)
World of Fantasy#18/2, p2, pan1 (Police confront Hanes when he appears in 2059 AD)
World of Fantasy#18/2, p2, pan2 (Police fire sleep gas at Hanes as he fades away into the past in time machine)

Appearances:
World of Fantasy#18/2 (June, 1959) - unidentified writer, Steve Ditko (pencils and inks), Stan Goldberg (colors), Artie Simek (letters), Stan Lee (editor)

First Posted: 04/15/2018
Last Updated: 04/15/2018

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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