Dixon Hawke

{{Short description|Fictional detective in numerous boys' story papers}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}} {{Use British English|date=April 2023}} {{Infobox character | name = Dixon Hawke | series = | image = DixonHawke.jpg | caption = | first = "The Great Hotel Mystery" (''The Saturday Post'' #347, 6 April 1912) | last = | creator = Unknown; commissioned for DC Thomson | gender = Male | occupation = Detective | nationality = British }} '''Dixon Hawke''' was a fictional detective who was featured in the DC Thomson publications from 1912 to 2000.<ref name=nevins>{{cite book|author=Nevins, Jess| title=Encyclopedia of Pulp Heroes |publisher=UNKNO|date= 2017}}</ref> Created in 1912 by an unknown author for DC Thomson, he appeared in various publications including ''The Saturday Post'', ''The Sunday Post'', ''Adventure'',<ref>Hunt, Peter. International Companion Encyclopedia of Children's Literature. Taylor and Francis. p. 383</ref> ''The Sporting Post'', ''Topical Times'', ''The Evening Telegraph'' and ''The Dixon Hawke Library''.<ref>Lofts & Adley. The Men Behind Boys Fiction. Howard Baker. London 1970. p. 9</ref>

In 1989, researcher and author W. O. G. Lofts stated that Hawke had been running continuously on a weekly basis for well over 76 years, and "so must be credited with being the longest consecutive running character of all time".<ref name="friardale.co.uk">Lofts W.O.G. Seventy-Six Years of Dixon Hawke, Collectors Digest #507, 1989, p. 29 http://www.friardale.co.uk/Collectors%20Digest/1989-03-CollectorsDigest-v43-n507.pdf</ref> Lofts estimated that Hawke had appeared in some 5000 stories.<ref name="Lofts W.O.G 1989, p 30">Lofts W.O.G. Seventy-Six Years of Dixon Hawke, Collectors Digest #507, 1989, p. 30 http://www.friardale.co.uk/Collectors%20Digest/1989-03-CollectorsDigest-v43-n507.pdf</ref>

Eleven years later, Hawke had appeared in over 5,500 tales, making him the most published fictional detective of all time, beating contemporaries Sexton Blake and Nick Carter.<ref>Lofts W.O.G. Seventy-Six Years of Dixon Hawke, Collectors Digest #507, 1989 p. 29 http://www.friardale.co.uk/Collectors%20Digest/1989-03-CollectorsDigest-v43-n507.pdf</ref><ref name=nevins/><ref name="sundaypost.com">{{cite news | last=Finan | first=Steve | title=Fans' joy as famous fictional detective Dixon Hawke gets back to business | newspaper=The Sunday Post | date=31 December 2017 | url=https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/fans-joy-as-famous-fictional-detective-dixon-hawke-gets-back-to-business/}}</ref> Based on that number, Sunday Post author Steve Finan speculated that more stories have been written about Dixon Hawke than any other fictional character in the English language.<ref name=nevins/><ref name="sundaypost.com"/>

==History and background==

Dixon Hawke made his debut in "The Great Hotel Mystery" in ''The Saturday Post'' #347 on 6 April 1912. A Scotsman, at the start of his career he lived on Bath Street in Glasgow.<ref>Murray, Chris. The British Superhero, University Press of Mississippi, 2017</ref> He had an assistant named Nipper, a street urchin who sold newspapers.<ref name="friardale.co.uk"/> His police associate was Detective Chief Inspector Baxter. Hawke was a tall detective with an aquiline nose, wore a dressing gown, and smoked a blackened briar.<ref>Cook, Michael. Mystery, Detective, and Espionage Magazines 1983. The University of Michigan p. 176</ref><ref name="Lofts W.O.G 1989, p 30"/>

In 1919, publisher DC Thomson decided to move Hawke to London.<ref>Lofts W.O.G. Seventy Years of Dixon Hawke Collectors Digest #507, 1989, p. 29 http://www.friardale.co.uk/Collectors%20Digest/1989-03-CollectorsDigest-v43-n507.pdf</ref> There he acquired a new assistant named Tommy Burke,<ref>Lofts & Adley. The Men Behind Boys Fiction. Howard Baker. London 1970. p. 10</ref> and a bloodhound named Solomon.<ref>A Million at Stake Dixon Hawke Library #7, 6 Oct 1919)</ref><ref name="friardale.co.uk"/> They lived on Dover Street with a Japanese valet/chauffeur named Wong. Their landlady was named Mrs. Martha Benvie.<ref name="friardale.co.uk"/> His police associate was Inspector Duncan McPhinney of New Scotland Yard, introduced in the very first issue of the Dixon Hawke Library <ref>The Flying Major, Dixon Hawke Library #1, 1919</ref>

Following in the footprints of the Sexton Blake and Tinker, Nelson Lee and Nipper partnerships of the early Edwardian era, the adult detective/boy assistant became a popular pairing in the boys story papers from 1910 onwards.<ref name="Andrew, Lucy p140">Andrew, Lucy. The Boy Detective in Early British Literature, Springer International Publishing, 2017 p140</ref> Among the many imitators Hawke and Burke were among the better known.<ref name="Andrew, Lucy p140"/>

So widely known was Hawke in British popular culture of the 1930s,<ref name="Andrew, Lucy p140"/> that his name featured in W. H. Auden's long poem The Orators along with other fictional detectives, Sexton Blake, Bulldog Drummond, Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot and Edgar Wallace's ''The Four Just Men''. The full mention reads:

"From the immense bat-shadow of home; from the removal of land-marks: from appeals for love and from the comfortable words of the devil, O Dixon Hawke, deliver us."<ref>Auden, W.H. The Orators Faber and faber Ltd, 1944, p. 22 https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.182718/mode/2up?q=dixon+hawke</ref>

== Dixon Hawke gets his own titles ==

thumb|left

On 14 July 1919 ''The Dixon Hawke Library'' made its debut. It ran for 576 issues until its demise in 1941. The first story was entitled ''The Flying Major'' and introduced young female reporter Molly Connor.<ref name="Holland, Steve 2001">Holland, Steve, Dixon Hawke: Detective. An Index to the Dixon Hawke Library and the Dixon Hawke Casebook Norman Wright, Watford, 2001.</ref>

Author and biographer Steve Holland has identified the author of ''The Flying Major'' as Herbert Ford Inman (1884-1949). He also identified Inman as the possible creator of Hawke's bloodhound Solomon in issue #7 of The Dixon Hawke Library.<ref>Holland, Steve, Herbert F. Inman https://bearalley.blogspot.com/2007/06/herbert-f-inman.html 2007</ref>

The last issue was published on 27 December 1941, and featured two tales: ''The Clue of the Chinese Puzzle'' and ''The Brothers of Justice''.<ref name="Holland, Steve 2001"/>

Hawke also featured in ''Dixon Hawke's Case Book'', collections of short stories published annually or bi-annually from 1938 to 1953.<ref name="Holland, Steve 2001"/> The case books were oversized paperbacks and contained a collection of 25 to 40 short stories.<ref>Penzler, Otto. The Armchair Detective v16n04, Autumn 1983 p392</ref>

'''Impact'''

In their introduction to ''The Men Behind Boys' Fiction'' (1970) Lofts and Adley pay tribute to the DC Thomson papers, describing them as "the biggest rivals to the Amalgamated Press and Fleetway Publications" the dominant publisher of boys' and girls' story papers.<ref name="Lofts 1970. p 9">Lofts & Adley. ''The Men Behind Boys Fiction''. Howard Baker. London 1970. p. 9</ref>

''The Dixon Hawke Library'' was a rival to The Sexton Blake Library. It was followed by ''Adventure'' in 1921, another weekly papers that featured the adventures of Dixon Hawke and his assistant Tommy Burke.<ref name="Lofts 1970. p 9"/> Lofts and Adley also noted that though ''The Dixon Hawke Library'' and ''Adventure'' were no longer in print, Dixon Hawke was still "going strong" in the Scottish Daily Post.<ref>Lofts & Adley. ''The Men Behind Boys Fiction''. Howard Baker. London 1970. p. 10</ref>

''The Dixon Hawke Library'', ''Adventure'', ''The Rover'', ''The Wizard'', and ''The Hotspur'' all had exceptionally long runs and became known as Thomson's "Big Five".<ref name="Lofts 1970. p 9"/> Authors wrote for hire and their stories were kept to a very high standard,<ref>Smith, Guy. Memories of Dixon Hawke. Collectors' Digest #319, 1973. p. 29 http://www.friardale.co.uk/Collectors%20Digest/1973-07-CollectorsDigest-v27-n319.pdf</ref> many authors reporting that it was much more difficult to write for DC Thomson than it was for their arch-rival the Amalgamated Press.<ref>Lofts & Adley. ''The Men Behind Boys Fiction''. Howard Baker. London 1970. p. 13</ref>

Though the writing in "the Big Five" reflected the attitudes of the era, some of which modern readers may find problematic, Lofts and Adley viewed DC Thomson's overall output very positively, stating that:

"All the stories were clean and entertaining and gripped the young reader, and they had a high moral standard. They sold in millions, and DC Thomson editors deserve the highest possible praise for contributing – by thus entertaining the young – to a part of our social history.<ref>Lofts & Adley. ''The Men Behind Boys Fiction''. Howard Baker. London 1970. p. 14</ref>

==Hawke's rogues' gallery==

Like his contemporaries Sexton Blake and Nelson Lee, Dixon Hawke had a large rogues' gallery of villains.

Among them were Marko the Miracle Man<ref>Marko the Miracle Man https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=68405</ref> created by Edwy Searles Brooks<ref name="Lofts 1970. p 76">Lofts & Adley. The Men Behind Boys Fiction. Howard Baker. London 1970. p. 76</ref> a criminal mastermind with super strength who matched wits with Hawke over the course of fourteen years. In all Brooks wrote 26 Dixon Hawke tales.<ref>http://www.edwysearlesbrooks.com/dixon-hawke.html</ref>

As he did for Sexton Blake and Nelson Lee, George Hamilton Teed created Hawke's greatest female foe, Nicolette Lazare, the Black Angel. She made her first appearance in ''The Terror from Devil's Island'' in ''The Dixon Hawke Library'' #327 in June 1932. Teed wrote five stories featuring her between 1932 and 1935.<ref>Holland, Steve. G.H. Teed: A Life of Adventure. Norman Wright: Oxford, 2001.</ref>

Other villains include<ref name=nevins/> Dr. Den the Arch Rogue The Six Wolves of Doom The Faceless Men Lucky Lorrancie Koojah Khan the Man of Mystery The Red Avenger The Masked Rider the Human Whirlwind the India-Rubber Man the Blue Streak

Some of the criminal organisations he faced include: The League of the Silver Horseshoe The League of the Crimson Diamond The League of the Purple Dragon

There was no shortage of yellow peril threats. These included the Yellow Ghost,<ref>Dixon Hawke and the Yellow Ghost https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=68653</ref> and Fang Chu<ref>Fang Chu Fugitive https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=68813</ref> among others.

Many authors penned Hawke tales including, John G. Brandon,<ref>Lofts & Adley. The Men Behind Boys Fiction. Howard Baker. London 1970. p. 70</ref> Edwy Searles Brooks,<ref name="Lofts 1970. p 76"/> John Creasey,<ref>Lofts & Adley. The Men Behind Boys Fiction. Howard Baker. London 1970. p. 107</ref> Anthony Skene,<ref>Lofts & Adley. The Men Behind Boys Fiction. Howard Baker. London 1970. p. 269</ref> T.C.H. Jacobs, Elizabeth Smith Alexander, Lewis Carlton, George Hamilton Teed, Gilbert Chester, Frank Howe,<ref>Lofts & Adley. The Men Behind Boys Fiction. Howard Baker. London 1970. p. 198</ref> Francis Addington Symonds,<ref>Lofts & Adley. The Men Behind Boys Fiction. Howard Baker. London 1970. p. 326</ref> Rex Hardinge, Reginald Thomas,<ref>Lofts & Adley. The Men Behind Boys Fiction. Howard Baker. London 1970. p. 329</ref> Lester Bidston, Frank Howe, George Goodchild, William Edward Vickers, and W.W. Sayer.<ref>Lofts & Adley. The Men Behind Boys Fiction. Howard Baker. London 1970. p. 301</ref><ref name=nevins/><ref>https://jessnevins.com/pulp/pulph/hawke1.html</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Lofts|first1=W. O. G.|author1-link=W. O. G. Lofts|last2=Adley|first2=D. J.|date=1970|title=The Men Behind Boys' Fiction|location=London|publisher=Howard Barker|sbn=093047703}}</ref> Richard Goyne claimed to have written more tales for the Dixon Hawke Library than any other author,<ref>Lofts & Adley. The Men Behind Boys Fiction. Howard Baker. London 1970. p. 156</ref>

== New collections ==

In 2017 DC Thomson published two collections of Dixon Hawke tales, marking his first republication in almost twenty years.<ref name="sundaypost.com"/> * Dixon Hawke – ''The Case Of The Missing American and Other Short Stories'' {{ISBNT|978-1845356996}} * Dixon Hawke – ''The Case Of The Smuggled Diamonds and Other Short Stories'' {{ISBNT|978-1845356989}}

In 2018 a series of 7 anthologies of short stories were published by Jason Charles.{{fact|date=February 2026}}

In 2020 ''The Terror of Devil's Island'', the first tale featuring Nicolette Lazare was published in Moriarty's Rivals: 14 Female Masterminds {{ISBNT|978-1987886672}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [https://jessnevins.com/pulp/pulph/hawke1.html Dixon Hawke at the Online Encyclopaedia of Pulp Fiction] * [http://www.philsp.com/homeville/bjsp/j00033.htm#A148 Dixon Hawke Bibliography at The FictionMags Index] * [https://comicbookplus.com/?cid=2399 Issues of ''The Dixon Hawke Library'' at ComicBooksPlus] * [https://comicbookplus.com/?cid=3315 Dixon Hawke compilations at ComicBooksPlus] * [https://archive.org/search?query=dixon+hawke+case+book Dixon Hawke Case Books at Archive.org] * [https://archive.org/details/menbehindboysfic0000loft/page/n1/mode/2up The Men Behind Boys' Fiction at Archive.org] * [http://www.friardale.co.uk/Collectors%20Digest/1989-03-CollectorsDigest-v43-n507.pdf Seventy-Six Years of Dixon Hawke by W.O.G. Lofts. Collectors Digest #507, March 1989]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawke, Dixon}} Category:Literary characters introduced in 1912 Category:Characters in pulp fiction Category:Fictional gentleman detectives