Richard E. Hughes was born Leo Rosenbaum on November 5, 1909. He graduated from New York University in 1930 with a Bachelor of Arts degree as an English major and Economics minor. He married his wife, Annabel, on January 19, 1935. By 1940, Hughes was working in sales at Standard Mirror and Metal Products in New York City, writing catalog copy, and had also begun writing for publisher Ned Pines' Standard Comics. There he and artist Alexander Kostuk created the superhero Doc Strange (no relation to Marvel Comics' much later Doctor Strange) in "Thrilling Comics" #1 (cover-dated Feb. 1940).