Air Hawk and the Flying Doctors
Air Hawk and the Flying Doctors was an Australian
In 1962 a series of Air Hawk and the Flying Doctors comics were published by Howitz Publications, the series however only ran for three issues.
The strip is set in the Australian outback, and follows the adventures of Jim Hawk, a former Royal Australian Air Force pilot flying and intelligent agent, who operates the Air Hawk Charter service from Alice Springs. The charter service worked in conjunction with the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS). Dr Hal Mathews was a close friend of Jim Hawk who worked for the RFDS and Sister Janet Grant belonged to the Australian Inland Mission, whose medical clinic adjoined the air strip. In the mid-seventies, Jim Hawk was granted a franchise to supply a special Emergency Relief Unit. The Unit's function is to relieve any Flying Doctor base in need of assistance and to be available for special emergencies. Hal Mathews had been seconded to work with the Unit and Janet Grant was now his full-time assistant, with the change in responsibilities, the 'Doctors' part of the title was reverted to the singular. Routine charter operations were continuously disrupted by Jim Hawk's involvement in conflict with local and international villains.
Reprints
In the 1980s Queensland comic enthusiast, Nat Karmichael, published John Dixon's Air Hawk Magazine. While the first few issues had small print runs of just 500 copies, later issues were being sold through newsagents. One issue was co-published with Cyclone! Comics, who released it as one of their 'Summer Specials'.
Selected storylines were reprinted in the book, John Dixon, Air Hawk and the Flying Doctor Volume 1, published by Comicoz in 2011.[6]
A second volume John Dixon's Air Hawk and the Flying Doctor: A Second Volume, was published by Comicoz in late 2013.
Adaptation
The comic book was adapted into the 1981 film Airhawk with Eric Oldfield as Jim Hawk.
References
- ISBN 0-7269-7376-9.
- ^ ISBN 1-876308-12-5.
- ^ Burrows, Toby; Stone, Grant (1994). Comics in Australia and New Zealand: the Collections, the Collectors, the Creators. Routledge. p. 44.
- ISBN 0-7269-7376-9.
- ISBN 0-7269-7376-9.
- ^ "Air Hawk comic series is making a comeback". The Courier-Mail. 8 July 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
External links
- Toby Burrows, Grant Stone (1994). Comics in Australia and New Zealand: The Collections, the Collectors, the Creators. Haworth Press. ISBN 1-56024-664-2.
- John Dixon (2011). John Dixon Air Hawk and the Flying Doctor. Comicoz. ISBN 978-0-9806535-0-2.
- John Ryan (1979). Panel By Panel: an Illustrated History of Australian Comics. Cassell. ISBN 0-7269-7376-9.
- John Dixon, Air Hawk and the Flying Doctor Archived 26 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine article @ Comicoz