Comic Book Diagnosis: Hypertrichosis

March 21st, 2006

Filed under: Comics, Medicine

Hypertrichosis is the medical term for an overgrowth of body hair. There are several good comic book examples of this including the Shaggy Man, the Beast, Dartalon, and Furball.

The Shaggy ManThe BeastFurball

In real life, hypertrichosis is a genuine, but rare, condition. It can affect just parts of the body or the entire body. Generally hypertrichosis is an inherited condition, but it can also be caused by metabolic disorders, certain drugs, cancer, and anorexia nervosa. Some experts consider congenital hypertrichosis to be the basis of the werewolf legend; through the 19th century, people with this condition were frequently found in circus side shows as wolf men, ape men, and “dog faced boys.”

A Buddhist monk with congenital hypertrichosis

One of Moon Knight’s first villains, Lupinar, identified himself as having been born with hypertrichosis (and apparently blamed it for his life of crime). While it looks like he did indeed have the condition, hypertrichosis does not explain the wolf-like teeth.


Lupinar
Click for a larger image

I’m leaving those characters off the list whose excess body hair is more related to their animal nature (such as Wolfsbane and Cheetah, for example) than just being extremely hairy. Several on my list did become more beastlike later, but it was their earlier form I’m referring to here.

This post was inspired by Lupinar fromMoon Knight Essentials, Volume 1. I didn’t read much Moon Knight when it was originally out — I vaguely recall picking up issue #7 — but this book is the most fun I’ve had reading reprints in quite a while.

Other Comic Book Diagnoses:

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8 Responses to “ Comic Book Diagnosis: Hypertrichosis ”

  1. Justin Mohareb
    March 21st, 2006 at 11:41 pm

    I think you’ve also explained Alan Moore.

  2. RAB
    March 22nd, 2006 at 2:17 am

    Lupinar’s wolf-like teeth are caused by the artist (Bill Sienkiewicz, by any chance?) having swiped both those images cold from a Neal Adams werewolf story. I own a copy of the original story by Adams. This is a little-known medical condition known as “pantographosis” or “lightboxia” or, popularly, “Buckler’s Syndrome.” Keith Giffen was another famous sufferer; both he and Sienkiewicz received corrective therapy and are considered mostly in remission.

  3. Chuck T.
    March 22nd, 2006 at 9:17 am

    Yay Furball! Man, Brin was stuck like that for a ton of those “Five Years Later” Legion issues. The current reboot version is substantially less hairy.

  4. gorjus
    March 22nd, 2006 at 3:20 pm

    “Buckler’s Syndrome” is quite possibly the funniest thing I’ve read in quite a while.

    Here’s my No-Prize: Lupinar, in a bid to claim is identity as . . . you know, lupine, had the teeth surgically implanted/modified.

  5. Mr.Chris
    March 22nd, 2006 at 3:53 pm

    I think I have Hypertrichosis. On my back.

  6. Erich
    March 24th, 2006 at 10:21 am

    Would She-Beard (from Grant Morrison & Cameron Stewart’s “Seaguy”) belong on this list?

    Also, Tomb of Dracula #6 (by Gardner Fox & Gene Colan) featured a character called Randolph Dering, “The Moorlands Monster,” whose condition was explained by his father:

    “Every few centuries–for mine is an old family–certain recessive genes come to the for and a male child is born–suffering from rachitis! Rachitis is an illness that twists and misshapes the human body into that of an animal. At least, it is so among the Derings. Accompanying this is an illness known as ‘naevus pilosis,’ which causes an inordinate amount of body hair to grow. As a result–my son Randolph is–a shaggy, deformed monster!”

    http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/morlandm.htm

  7. moon_custafer
    August 3rd, 2007 at 12:04 pm

    I’m not sure if She-Beard qualifies, since she doesn’t seem to have excessive body hair, just a (neatly curled and trimmed) beard; I think facial hair in women is a different condition.

  8. Wanderer
    March 17th, 2008 at 10:15 am

    No, moon, it’s still hypertrichosis. Since hypertrichosis translates as “more hair”, there are actually several different types of hypertrichosis:

    hypertrichosis universalis: Excessive hair growth over the whole body.

    hypertrichosis lanuginosa: Excessive growth of the downy lanugo, the hairy covering of newborns and very young infants.

    There are further distinguishing words for excessive hair on the ears, excessive growth of the eyebrows… “hypertrichosis” is a very old medical term and is as general as it should be for that age.

    That said, Lupinar very definitely had something else going on, and likely some dental implants; assuming it was the most common form of hypertrichosis universalis, he had almost no teeth of his own anyway. (Jo-Jo the Russian Dog-Faced Boy (Feodor Jeftichew) had four; Lionel the Lion-Faced Man (Stephen Bibrowsky) had four, but lost two of them.)

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