An interesting character that appeared in Airship 27‘s tryout title Mystery Men (& Women) is Dr. Fixit, created and written by Greg Hatcher.
Perhaps more fitting to comic books, Dr. Fixit is a mechanical genius who would usually work for villains, mainly to help design their lairs and vehicles. First appearing in vol. 6 of that series, he soon was cover featured on the next two, with more promised. Then Hatcher passed away in 2021, the same time as vol. 7 came out.
So I was surprised when we got a story in vol. 8. More so when I learned there was an unfinished story.
That story would be finished by another and all the stories would be collected. That’s what we got toward the end of 2022: Greg Hatcher’s Dr. Fixit. This would collect the three previously published stories, including the interior artwork. And, the unfinished story would be included, finished by Fred Adams Jr.
If you haven’t read the original appearances, this is a great collection of stories. If you have, it’s still great to get the final story of Dr. Fixit. And there is a nice intro by Hatcher’s widow.
All the stories have Dr. Fixit telling a young NPR reporter in 1988 about a particular past adventure of his. He has been living in a retirement home after a certain event that occurred in 1968, which is recounted in the first story.
So first up is “Henching with Dr. Fixit” (from MM&W, vol. 6). Here we learn of the event that ended his career during the final battle between a superhero and a supervillain, as he retells to the reporter.
Next is “Pimping Your Supercar” (MM&W, vol. 7). In a departure, this time he is hired by a superhero, the Ghostwalker, to build his Ghostmobile. But things don’t quite go as expected for either.
Then there is “Dr. Fixit’s Island Getaway” (MM&W, vol. 8). This one is set during the time his wife was still alive, and Dr. Fixit takes her on a vacation to Cancun before it became the tourist attraction it is. There he runs into a former supervillain, thought dead, who is looking for a lair built by another supervillain recently killed. In the mix is an Aquaman-like superhero (or is he a Namor-like character?). (Also, the back cover of this book is based on the front cover of MM&W, vol. 8.)
Finally, we get “Looking for Dr. Fixit,” which starts a little differently. The reporter gets a strange phone call from Dr. Fixit. Looking into things, the reporter discovers he has gone missing from his nursing home. She then tracks down the superhero from the first story for help. By the time they find him, Dr. Fixit, despite having to use a wheelchair, has taken care of things. It seems someone wanted Dr. Fixit to recreate a vehicle he had created for a supervillain. But the Doc takes care of that.
This is a nice collection and a great tribute to an author who we really didn’t get a chance to know. What could he have done had he lived longer?
I enjoyed his stories when they appeared, and I wanted to get his final one. Check this one out, and his other
Airship 27 has a supernatural western from Greg Hatcher called The Silver Riders, and he has stories in several of their anthologies including Sherlock Holmes, The Domino Lady, The Green Ghost, Sinbad, and more. And we are promised collections of his works as well. But I’m not sure what that will be or when.
