Super Hrvoje

Real Name: Hrvoje Horvat

Identity/Class: human mutate/ magic user (he received an ancient statuette of a stone man, that somehow <an ancient blessing/curse> gave him a power to control stones and rocks.)

Occupation: unknown

Affiliations: none

Enemies: the super hero was created with an intention to be a Croatian version of Captain America, during the Croatian war for it's independence from Yugoslavia. Therefore, in the comic, he is fighting Yugoslavian/Serbian army and paramilitary.

Known Relatives: none

Aliases: none

Base of Operations: Croatia, regions occupied by Yugoslav forces

First Appearance: Nedjeljna Dalmacija magazine (June 1992)

Powers/Abilities: Super Hrvoje was magically transformed into a stone-man by an ancient statuette of a stone man. Through some ancient magic, whenever the blood of innocents is spilled on an ancient Croatian rocky ground, the statuette will emerge/ be found by someone, and then find it's way to a champion-to-be, someone who is destined to defend the land.

When transformed into the stone man form, rocks cover his entire skin, making Super Hrvoje almost invulnerable. His main offensive power is shooting stones from his hands at supersonic speed. He can also merge with rocks or dive/sink into a rocky ground like into a river to seek cover or to emerge behind his enemies.

His weaknesses are that he needs to be in contact with a rocky ground to maintain his powers.

History: As a young boy, Hrvoje and his parents move to Germany, to avoid Yugoslavia's communist regime, which they didn't agree with it. However, the Yugoslavian secret service, UDBA, found and assassinated his parents, so Hrvoje became an orphan at young age. He was than taken in by the family of his best friend, Stjepan, and continued to live with them in Germany, in safety. Years later, in the early 90s, Stjepan was in Croatia on an archaeological dig. He discovered an ancient stone-man statuette and a legend surrounding it. The legend spoke of a champion who was orphaned by those who spilled the blood of innocents on the ancient land, and who would defend the land from the attackers. Stjepan immediately recognised his friend Hrvoje being described in the legend, so he sent him a message in Germany to come to Croatia. Hrvoje arrived just in time to find his friend left for dead after being shot by Yugoslavian invaders occupying the excavation site. Stjepan lived long enough to tell Hrvoje about the legend and give him the statuette. Hrvoje then tracked down the Yugoslav army forces in the region and transformed into a stone-man for the first time, becoming Super Hrvoje...

Comments: Created by Sinisa Ercegovac. The character's first couple of adventures were co-authored with Croatian comic artist Nikola Listes.

Thanks to Romeo Streinger for informing me of this character, and providing the information and images used within. He notes SuperHrvoje first appeared in June 1992, in "Nedjeljna Dalmacija" magazine. The hero was somewhat influenced by Silver Surfer, and not only in his appearance (he looks somewhat like a rough stone statue of Silver Surfer). The way SuperHrvoje first disables enemy tanks and asks the enemy to leave the country peacefully, and then, when attacked by a deadly force, reluctantly uses his powers to defeat them, reminds the reader a great deal of the Silver Surfer and his similar (futile) attempts to reason with US armed forces who were always attacking him.

The comic didn't "fly", however, being that war years here weren't the best time for a new comic. I believe only one sequel was ever published.

Hrvoje is a Croatian name derived from the term "Hrvat", meaning a Croat, much like Swedish name Sven is derived from "Svensk" - a Swede. Therefore, his name could loosely be translated as "Super Croat".

Sinisa Ercegovac clarifies about the characters' publication history: In 1992 there was an open contest in "Nedjekjna Dalmacija" for the best idea and storyboard for a super-hero. I applied and won the contest. After that I offered Nikola Listes to be co-author and do the inking for first episode but I wasn't too happy with his work so I did it by myself. The first episode was a success and the editors decided to print serial novels so I called Nikola again and offer to work together so that each of us made our own episode. We make two novels: Nikola finished first one and we signed together as authors Nikola Listes and Sinisa Ercegovac. I finished the second novel but the publisher didn't publish it because of financial collapse. Sinisa also kindly supplied the image on the left.

CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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