In the early morning hours of December 13, 1934, a British astronomer noticed an astonishing thing: an extra third-magnitude star in the constellation Hercules. He had discovered Nova Herculis 1934, a fascinating 'cataclysmic variable' star that was covered by the popular media all over the world. In the U.S., this perplexing star captured the imagination of a young writer and amateur astronomer and his artist friend, both of whom were struggling to create the back story for a new comic-book character. It was a rare example of astrophysics influencing pop culture, with reverberations to the present day.