I had recently obtained the first two published Captain Hawklin adventures, a New Pulp hero written by Charles F. Millhouse, and reviewed them here. I enjoyed them very much, and obtained the next published work: Captain Hawklin and the Subterranean Empire. Published in 2015, it is set in December 1932, earlier than the prior two works. The series jumps around, but I am reading them in publication order.
So who is Captain Hawklin? He is a veteran fighter pilot from WWI. Now an inventor and adventurer, rich from his inventions, he lives and works in Crown City, located on the west coast of the United States. His headquarters is located in the main tower of the Hampton Bridge, which he designed and built.
At the local airport is a private hanger at the local airport holding his aircraft, and his “clandestine wing” of fighter pilots who fly planes designed by Hawklin (this was established in the prior work). For me, he is more like the aviation pulp adventurers such as Bill Barnes than like Doc Savage.
Hawklin doesn’t have a large organization. He is assisted by Hardy Regan Miller and Oscar (Oz) Lyman. While it may seem they form a Ham-Monk dynamic, not so. There is no bickering or the like. Hardy is tall and neat, has been with Hawklin since the war, and is a pilot and mechanic. Oz is short and stout, and war veteran but now a pacifist and used to work for Frank Buck.
In this story, Hawklin gets attacked by a strange group of commandos. The attack is due to his estranged father, whom we learned a lot more about in the prior work. We soon learn that these commandos come from a hidden underground society, Suversia. Their queen, Hilana, has fled to the surface world due to her general, Urta, wanting to take over. Worse, he wants to wipe out the surface world and take it over as well, using a deadly gas.
Hawklin and friends learn that Hilana is with his father, Thomas. They join up and are soon on their way under the earth to put an end to this threat. You’ll also learn more about him and his fate, which will explain better some events in the Underwater Menace.
As noted, I am enjoying this series. I do plan on getting the next one and look forward to further works. If you haven’t looked into this series, check it out. The author has a Facebook page and a website devoted to the character.
