COMIC STRIP COMPILATION: DIXON HAWKE

From "The Crime Fighters" by W.O.G. Lofts & Derek Adley:

"Dixon Hawke was called by many 'The Scottish Detective' because he was created and issued by the powerful publishing firm of D. C. Thomson of Dundee, Scotland.  Hawke first appeared in 1919 in the Dixon Hawke Library, which ran through 576 issues right up to 1941, followed by Dixon Hawke Casebooks, consisting of short stories.  He also appeared in short stories in The Adventure.  In the early 1970s he was still appearing in The Sunday Post newspaper.  Dozens of authors are known to have written the exploits of this famous sleuth.

"Dixon Hawke was tall and aquiline, wore a dressing gown, and smoked a blackened briar.  His assistant was Tommy Burke, and he had a bloodhound called Solomon.  Hawke was a very influential detective, well enough known to have dined with the Prime Minister.  His friends at the Yard were Detective Inspector Baxter, Chief of Scotland Yard's C.I.D. and Flying Squad, and William Baxford, Chief Assistant to Detective Inspector Duncan McPhinney..  Hawke's rooms were in Dover Street, just of Piccadilly and opposite the Ritz Hotel, and his housekeeper was a Mrs. Martha Benvie.  A strange assortment of garments and disguises was littered in a small windowless room, sandwiched between two bookcases and hidden behind a curtain, and his rooms also had a somewhat hidden back flight of stairs, which few people knew about and which allowed him to get out unobserved.  Hawke had a big Sunbeam roadster and a two-seater sports car that Tommy Burke drove."

*****

Hawke began his career while living in Bath Street in Glasgow.  He moved to London after World War II.  While in Glasgow, his assistant was Nipper, a boy who sold newspapers on the street.  Contrary to Lofts & Adey above, Hawke first appeared in the short story "The Great Hotel Mystery" (The Saturday Post, April 16, 1912 -- seven years before he appeared in book form).  Between then and 2000, Hawke had appeared in more than 5500 stories.  Hawke had been created as a Sexton Blake clone and has eclipsed Blake in published adventures by more than a thousand.

Among the authors who wrote the Dixon Hawke stories are Edwy Searls Brooks, John Creasey, Roy Vickers, Anthony Skene, Rex Hardinge, and Guy N. Smith.  It is very likely that Edgar Wallace also contributed to the saga.

His comic strip adventures appeared in Adventure Stories in the 1920s, single page adventures for the most part.  I have no idea who wrote these.  The link below brings you 19 of these adventures, with one being a two-parter.

Enjoy this famous detective who has the intellect of Sherlock Holmes and the derring-do of Nick Carter.


http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=68656&b=i