Continuing through the Captain Hawklin adventures, a New Pulp hero written by Charles F. Millhouse, I am now up to the fifth novel: Captain Hawklin and the Jade Dragon.
Published in 2017, it is set in May 1933. The previous novels had been going backwards chronologically, but this one is set between the Subterranean Empire and Underwater Menace. I would recommend that you read Subterranean Empire before reading this one, as what happens here follows directly from what happened there.
So who is Captain Hawklin? He was a World War I fighter pilot, now is 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. To me, he is more like the aviation pulp adventurers like Bill Barnes than Doc Savage.
He 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, that’s 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 novel, we first have Hawklin and friends wrapping things up after what happened in the Subterranean Empire. Hawklin’s father is declared dead, and Hawklin is closing out his affairs in San Francisco, including selling off his company (is it Hawklin Construction or Hawklin Contracting?). Hawklin is approached by a Chinese lady, Juno Li, who asks him about something his father apparently had, called the Jade Dragon. At the same time, Hardy and Oz are attacked by Chinese men asking for the same thing. Then he and Juno are attacked, and it appears she has died or disappeared. But the next morning there is no evidence of this attack. More problematic is that Hawklin has no idea what this Jade Dragon is, and it’s not among his father’s possessions.
A couple of months later, Hawklin receives a package. It contains the Jade Dragon, a small statue. They soon learn who is behind it all, a mysterious figure called The Black Skull, who has a hate for Hawklin’s father, though Hawklin doesn’t know why.
The Black Skull succeeds in taking the Jade Dragon, and Juno also returns and explains what the Jade Dragon is. It’s a mystical item that anchors reality, and with it The Black Skull could change reality! But only by removing the Jade Dragon’s guardian, which was Hawklin’s father, so it now falls to him.
Further, Juno reveals that she is Hawklin’s half-sister! So the team is off to China to find the temple that is tied to the Jade Dragon in order to track it down and stop The Black Skull.
But instead, The Black Skull succeeds in changing reality! A mysterious man named Wan appears to help Hawklin and friends restore reality. Will they succeed? Will we learn why The Black Skull hates Hawklin’s father?
It’s another great adventure. This work, like the prior Monster Island, shows that Hawklin’s world has items of mystical powers. We get another appearance by Zane Carrington. I hope we get a resolution to his story at some point.
I would like to see a return of Juno as an occasional guest character. I also wonder if we will learn what happened to Hawklin’s mother, as she left early in his life.
I’ll be reading the next in the series real soon, and encourage others to check out this character.
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