Buddy Hawkes

BUDDY HAWKES

Real Name: Buddy Hawkes

Class: Human technology-user

Occupation: Adventurer

Group Affiliation: MASK

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Boulder Hill

First Appearance: MASK special insert in the September, 1985 DC Comics, such as Action Comics I #573

Powers: Buddy Hawkes rode Firecracker, a pickup truck with a mobile weapons platform. His Penetrator mask allowed him to become intangible.

History: (MASK special insert) - MASK worked with Duane Kennedy of the P.N.A. (Peaceful Nations Alliance) to counter Contra-World, who sought to undermine world order with their agents of VENOM. Kennedy contacted MASK's leader Matt Trakker when VENOM stole a molecular-dissembler from P.N.A.'s sub-atomics lab division. The dissembler had only one shot, so Kennedy wanted MASK to find out who or what VENOM would target with it and stop them. Miles Mayhem announced that he'd stormed Mount Rushmore, taking staff and visitors hostage, and threatened to destroy the monument unless Matt Trakker surrendered himself to him. Matt's son Scott was on a field trip to Rushmore, and Miles promised he'd perish along with Rushmore. Matt and Bruce Sato arrived at Rushmore, surrendering to Miles and his lackeys Sly Rax and Cliff Dagger, but Miles went against his word, saying he was still going to destroy Rushmore. MASK arrived to save their leader, with Brad Turner using his helicopter to fire on VENOM, forcing them to flee. Miles shot the dissembler before retreating in his Switchblade jet, but Brad used his Hocus Pocus mask to create an illusion of Rushmore, so Miles ended up hitting the hologram and not the monument.

(MASK I #1) - MASK and the P.N.A. started an ambitious missile defense program in space using satellites that could form a laser grid. One of the satellites malfunctioned and crashed into the North Atlantic, still shooting out lasers, so Matt Trakker had to dive for it, avoid the deadly blasts and turn off control panel. He returned to MASK's Boulder Hill Gas Station hq and worked out the bugs with Alex Sector and Buddy Hawkes. Miles Mayhem, wanting to study the satellite so Contraworld could find defeat the defense system, assaulted Boulder Hill alongside Dagger and Rax. The gas station's freeze ray held Rax and Dagger at bay while Mayhem targeted MASK's launchpad bt was driven away by a spring loaded boulder.

(MASK I #3, 4) - VENOM kidnapped Duane and Nash Gorey, an agent of VENOM, managed to infiltrate MASK. He pulled up to their Boulder Hill gas station and pulled a gun on Alex Sector and Buddy Hawkes. Gorey stole MASK's missile-defense satellite and locked Alex and Buddy in a MASK holding cell. The imposter Duane called Scott Trakker reporting that VENOM had stolen a number of valuable paintings from the Louvre. Scott wanted to be at the opening of the P.N.A.'s missile-defense, but the false Duane insisted he and his team go to France. His Spectrum mask revealed that the paintings hadn't been stolen, VENOM had only installed lighting that made the paintings invisible to the naked eye. While MASK was preoccupied VENOM agents Vanessa Warfield, Floyd Malloy and Sly Rax knocked out the NASA astronauts set to put the final satellite in place for the P.N.A. defense system and replaced it with a VENOM satellite armed with a particle death-ray. Alex and Buddy set a fire in their cell, setting off the MASK computer system, which unlocked the holding cell in case of an emergency, and brought Matt up to spread. When President Regan pushed a computer console to demonstrate the defense-system it activated VENOM's satellite, calling down a death ray that would continue firing until it hit nuclear storehouses in the Midwest. VENOM looted Las Vegas casinos as the city was being evacuated, but MASK responded, capturing them all. Alex Sector hacked into the VENOM satellite, shutting it down, and the imposter Duane Kennedy was arrested by the P.N.A.. Matt was proud of his team, but worried that the delay in implementing the space missile prevention program would lead to continued tensions in the world that could end in nuclear war.

Comments: Created by Kenner.

Buddy Hawkes was a character from the MASK toy line and cartoons. This entry covers only his DC appearances.

The MASK special insert was in Action Comics I #573, Batman I #387, Batman and the Outsiders I #27, Blue Devil #16, Green Lantern II #192, Justice League of America I #242, Superman I #411, Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes #327, Tales of the Teen Titans #57 and World's Finest Comics #319.