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Personal DataRocco ToggResidence: Usually Mobile, occasional base of operations on Wide
Island
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Dr. Togg first came to public attention in 1940. To acquire resources and funding to support his research operations, Togg had generated a specialized hybrid of dog and bird which he termed a gombezi. The gombezi possessed the head and torso of a dog but the grasping feet and wings of a large bird. Through either genetics or surgical modification, Togg had imbued his creation with the ability of limited speech, allowing him to issue primitive commands and communicate by radio transmission. The gombezis also had a thick slippery hide making them immune to some projectiles and difficult to hold on to.
Togg began his criminal career with a series of robberies along the New England coast, including having his gombezis rob a mail train and a few local banks. After a couple of weeks of headline grabbing robberies, Togg set his sights on a large radium shipment aboard the S.S. Cambria bound for New York Harbor. Meanwhile in New York City, Rex Tyler read of the Cambria's cargo and made the logical deduction that it would be the next target of the strange robberies. Intercepting it before it docked, Hourman found the ship raided by gombezis. In hot pursuit, he followed the strange creatures back to Wide Island and entered Dr. Togg's lair. Recognizing the nature of the threat, Togg unleashed a new hybrid, the wolf-vulture, against Hourman. Thinking quickly, Hourman threw a collection of chemicals at them, bring the building down around them. In the aftermath, Togg was nowhere to be found and presumed dead (Adventure Comics #57).
The wily scientist escaped however and his next recorded appearance of Dr. Togg was in 1942, when he kidnapped the wife of the mayor of New York. Holding her hostage while his gombezis raided New York, Togg threatened to turn her and a variety of others into a hybrid monsters. Tracking him to a hideout in the Mid-Town Chemical building, Hourman thrashed both Togg and his gombezis, allowing the villain to be bathed in the light of his own "monstroscopic lamp". The result mutated Togg significantly, a condition he retained for the next 58 years (Hourman #5).
In 1999, Rocco Togg was paroled after 58 years in
the New York State Penitentiary. Contacting World-Farmco Industries, he
convinced them to restore his lab, ostensibly for their benefit. Instead,
Togg re-created his force of mutated Gombezis and sought to capture Bethany
Lee, a companion of the modern Hourman. The modern version made short work
of the elderly scientist and his plans but instead of returning him to
prison, had him use his considerable genetics acumen in an attempt to cure
Rick Tyler, the son of the original Hourman. Currently, Dr. Togg resides
on Hourman's timeship, continuing his research efforts (Hourman
#10).
Power and Abilities: Dr. Togg possessed no super-powers (at
least when in human form). He was an extremely skilled scientist and possessed
an understanding of genetics and organic manipulation advanced even by
modern standards. Togg also was a master engineer and generated a variety
of novel technologies for his personal use. While most of his devices centered
on the creation of hybrid monstrosities to act as his personal assistants,
he also developed a neophyte form of video communication known as the Radiofoto.
Togg's mutations of himself may have prolonged his lifespan, as he remains
spry and intelligent at 112 years of age.
Weaknesses and Limitations: Togg was a normal human and, after getting past his monstrous lackeys, could be captured as such.
Golden Age Appearances
Adventure Comics #57
Post-Golden Age Appearances
Hourman #5
Hourman #10