Dial H for Hammerlocke

by Andrew Pellerito

Cactus Jaq. Sahara Skyhawk. The Phade.

What's that? You've never heard of these heroes? Well, it's probably because they haven't been seen or heard from for ten years. Limbo being a fickle mistress, they may never be seen again. Which is too bad in my opinion, because these characters had a lot to offer.

Let's review the Hammerlocke premise, shall we? Set in the future, Hammerlocke was very much a sci-fi adventure, taking readers into the early days of space exploration and colonization. With a central focus around the first space elevator named the Olympus Starbridge, we saw how our main hero Archer Hammerlocke made this dream happen.

Archer Hammerlocke was a driven man, just the kind of leader that any good story should focus on. With a look of Arthurian nobility, Hammerlocke was about protecting his vision. All his life we worked toward the dream of the Olympus Starbridge. When an accident nearly took his life, he was given a new body, one built around then early cybernetics, and became an uncomfortable and bulky image of a knight or even a King of the future.

Surrounding this man was a rich cast of characters, and each certainly had their moment to shine in this series. Among them was Archer's estranged wife Miranda, a fierce woman who seemed to have a lot going on in her head; Webster Christie, the friend of the family who happened to be a genius in A.I., and Patric Nekemte, a special space-force operative assigned to assist Archer.

Though this was a sci-fi story, there were characters that fit somewhat into a superhero profile. These were special operatives that worked for the United Nations and assigned to the starbridge: Cowboy motif Cactus Jaq, her partner, the elegant sky flyer Sahara Skyhawk, and the mysterious Phade. These characters brought the story closer to what was expected out of a comic (and still is) and were not simply side characters but as important as the title character.

The evil adversary to the story Hugo Tharn and his agents were eco-terrorists determined to end mankind's plundering of the Earth and determined to destroy the monstrosity that was the Olympus Starbridge. In addition, Tharn wanted to take Hammerlocke out with his other plans. The start of that plan meant the kidnapping of Miranda and Archers grown-up daughter.

The art for the book was early work by Chris Sprouse, who then went onto DC's Legionnaires title. Chris's clean lines and unique look enriched the story and as it neared the end, you could tell he was only getting better. Some of his backgrounds could have been a little more elaborate but he made up for it with his panel layouts and character angles.

The book was plotted by the pair of Tom Joyner and K.S.Wilson (K.S. incidentally was also the inker) and the writing credit went solely to Joyner. Incorporated in the writing were many literary references, among them Byron and Shakespeare. The story was extremely new reader friendly, with the first page of each issue capturing the story as it had happened so far. If nothing else, I don't think the story went far enough. It may have had too many plotlines going towards the end and did not provide the feeling of a grand ending scene but instead had several small endings for the individuals in each plot point.

The book was perhaps made too early for its own good. At the time, there were so many books coming out and comics were near the peak of popularity that this story got lost on the shelves and never grew a significant audience that at another time would have eaten the concept up. The final issue had a good, complete finish, leaving a potential for another follow-up series.

The special operatives in the story needed to be explored more, as they proved more interesting than some of the other characters. With so many characters for the story to unfold, each one only had a limited time to shine and it seemed a bit much to track all the subplots and characters across nine issues. Let's hope that should the series ever return, they will concentrate on only a few of them at one time.

Since it first came out, the creators have regained rights to the characters and story of Hammerlocke. Their web-site speaks of a possible return to the story, perhaps under another publisher but no recent news has been posted.

Let's hope someday you'll be able to tell your children where you first saw the name Cactus Jaq . . .