Who's This? A blind physician.
The facts: Part of the the Golden Age superhero explosion, terrible speller Doctor Mid-Nite was created by Charles Reizenstein and Stan Aschmeier and debuted in All-American Comics #25 (April 1941) where he remained a feature until the series well all western in 1948. He was also a member of the Justice Society of America, appearing in most of the team's stories in All-Star Comics (both in the Golden and Bronze Ages). And then of course in All-Star Squadron. Dr. McNider was one of the JSAers outright killed in Zero Hour, replaced by younger versions over the years, but appearing as his zombie self in Blackest Night.
How you could have heard of him: Legends of Tomorrow and Stargirl brought Doctor Mid-Nite to live action, going through three actors in the process. The concept and look have been kept alive by other Mid-Nites, notably Pieter Cross who made his first appearance in a Prestige format Doctor Mid-Nite mini-series by Matt Wagner, joined the current-day JSA and played roles in Final Crisis, Tom King's Human Target, and arguably, Kingdom Come.
Example story: All-American Comics #82 (February 1947) "Dr. Mid-Nite and Dr. Light" by Stan Aschmeier
It's rather amusing to me that Dr. Mid-Nite fought a character called Dr. Light (our previous couple entries, but of course, forgotten by Who's Who), so here we go...
It's several hours past midnight (so THAT'S how your write it!) and Charles McNider's town is bathed in unnatural light. People get up to start their days, but realize it's not morning yet (relatable!). I'm not sure how it awakens McNider - maybe there's a hubbub outside - but he slips into something more superheroic and tries to figure things out. He may be a medical doctor, but it's all Science! with an exclamation point to him.
That's actually pretty good technobabble for 1940s comics. Across town, we find out why Dr. Light pulled this scheme: To make guards leave their posts to look at the sky while he robbed their vaults. Let's just agree that he's more clever at science than he is at crimes. Noteworthy is his flashlight that shoots supercharged photons... he doesn't have the word for it, but it's a LASER (the first would actually be built in 1960, and the word coined in '59). Mid-Nite catches up to him in the park where he's set up his daylight projector. Light is quickly disarmed, but after throwing a couple of punches, our hero walks on the flashlight and turns his ankle. Time to break out the blackout bombs!
Dr. Light manages to escape, his next plot involving a blinding light that will incapacitate his enemies. McNider is the kind of doctor who treats himself, so that ankle isn't gonna bother him for long.
Bright light has a way of being detected, so when Dr. Light uses his new device inside a bank basement, it flashes up to the street through a grill (that's... that's not great security) and McNider spots it from his cab thanks to his infrared glasses. He gets off to make an unscheduled "phone call" - irritating his date - and uses the phone booth as a changing stall, perhaps unaware that it has a big wonking window. Regardless, he heads Light off at the pass.
Weirdly, you'd think that Dr. Light would be allowed to use his blinding device on Dr. Mid-Nite and it just wouldn't work because he's already medically blind. But no, it comes down to who is the fastest draw.
McNider is a real Renaissance man - physician, physiCIST, acrobat, orator, hand-to-hand fighter, and the master of puns. No one even needs to be awake to hear them, he just takes his pleasure where he can. Speaking of being awake, in post-script, the mad scientist can't sleep in jail because his cell mate likes to read at night and won't shut off the light. Oh the irony! And also, oh the absence of the usual prison rules!
Dr. Mid-Nite is written like every other mystery man of the era - and I miss his owl sidekick in this particular story - but the various aspects of his concept are used (does someone, or himself, get injured in every story, or did I luck out?). Fun to see him in his prime, even if the art isn't the strongest.
Who's Next? The oldest character in Who's Who.
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