Captain Hawklin is a New Pulp hero written by Charles F. Millhouse, and published through his Stormgate Press.
Hawklin is a former World War I fighter pilot, later becoming an adventurer and inventor, and is rich from those inventions. He is based in Crown City, a large fictional city located on the west coast of the United States. There he built his headquarters and a private air corps, the Clandestine Wing.
As previously noted, he is more like the aviation pulp adventurers like Bill Barnes than Doc Savage. Hawklin is assisted by Hardy Regan Miller and later Oscar (Oz) Lyman.
So far we have gotten 10 novels, each set in a different year from 1930 to 1939, as well as several short stories by both Millhouse and others. Most of these have been collected in two “Lost Adventures” volumes and in the third omnibus volume.
But it was very clear from what we read in those novels and stories that WWII was coming and would affect Hawklin and others. It was always a matter of when and in what form we would get it. I figured we’d get a series of novels, each in a different year. Instead, we get a huge novel, clocking in at nearly 500 pages, that covers 1940 through 1945, though it’s more like a series of six connected novellas, one per year.
It pulls in other characters from the series. At the beginning of the volume we get bios of Hawklin, Hardy, and Oz, but also Zane Carrington, the tramp-steamer captain who has appeared in several stories, some solo; Desa Wintergreen, Hawklin’s girlfriend, who has become a British secret agent; Juno Li, Hawklin’s half-sister who he never knew he had, and even Bobby Nash‘s aviation hero Lance Star, who has appeared with Hawklin a couple of times. Returning also is Hawklin’s past foe, Max Odenthal, who will be one of the big bads.
Along with these, we have Zane’s associates: the Major, Lucas, and Crocker; several members of the Clandestine Wing; and others.
The cover artwork and design are by Jeffrey Ray Hayes, which really raises the bar for the artwork on this series. The cover highlights most of these characters, which are also used as spot illos with the bios.
As noted, each year gets a novella, tell of what Hawklin along with Hardy and Oz are doing, sometimes together and sometimes not, and Carrington and sometimes Desa. They and others will come together at the end.
In 1940, we find Desa in Paris, working to protect some objects as the Nazis are about to invade. Meanwhile Hawklin and Hardy are on a mission to Japan to help an associate. Things don’t go as well as they’d like, but they are able to get out. Now Hawklin must try to get Desa out of Paris. And we encounter Nazi officers Erik Muller and Sykes Revan, who will be major threats. Can he succeed, as well as help protect whatever Desa is protecting?
In 1941, we find Hawklin and Desa getting married, while Hawklin faces having his Clandestine Wing merged into the Army Air Corps, with most, but not all, of his Crusaders given a chance to join as well. While Desa is on a dangerous mission to Africa, Hawklin accompanies his Wing to Hawaii, which will lead them having an encounter with the Japanese.
In 1942, Carrington is in Shanghai as the Japanese are invading, trying to rescue Dr. Isabella Wright, and where he meets Father Michael. Both will join his crew as they start a new life of running cargo in the Pacific to help those in need. Surprisingly, the President asks Hawklin to re-establish the Clandestine Wing as a means of addressing the supernatural threat of the Nazis, commissioning Hawklin as a major in the process.
In 1943, while Hawklin and Hardy find out that a new aircraft carrier has been assigned to the use of the Wing, Oz heads to South Dakota to find out what is going on with missing cattle needed for the war effort. There he thwarts a threat. Hawklin and Hardy, along with Desa, discover that the Nazis have learned about the Land of Alora (from the novel The Lost Land), where the Nazis are threatening the people living there. They are confronted not only by Revan and Odenthal, but also Doctor Manheim from prior novels. Can they stop the Nazis and save the people?
In 1944, while in England, Hawklin has an encounter with a young boy, that may change this boy’s life. Hawklin and Hardy are given a mission to France to help prepare the resistance fighters for D-day and also make contact with a certain group Hardy has dealt with. But while Hardy is doing that, Hawklin goes on his own mission that puts him in grave danger.
In 1945, as it looks like the war in Europe may soon end, Hawklin and all the rest come together for one final mission to stop Sykes Revan, along with Dr. Manheim, as they use the occult items they found to not just change the outcome of the war, but affect what will come afterward. They and many of their associates make a last-ditch effort in Central Asia to put an end to it.
In the epilogue, we see that Hawklin, Hardy, Oz, and Carrington are either married or will soon be. All will soon have families as they rebuild their lives in the post-war era. Some of their friends and associates do not make it. Some of their enemies don’t either. Will the survivors return to plague them in the future?
So, what is next for Hawklin and the rest? Millhouse has worked out Hawklin’s whole chronology and can do stories set in any period of this timeline. I’m not sure what is next, though there are plans for further short stories, mostly likely a third “Lost Adventures” volume. There are also the new “Quick Read” volumes that I recently reviewed. Also, keep an eye out for a further Pulp Reality volume as well.
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