Hondo MacLean

HONDO MACLEAN

Real Name: Hondo MacLean

Class: Human technology-user

Occupation: Adventurer, high school teacher

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: Hondo MacLean rode Firecracker, a pickup truck with a mobile weapons platform. His Blaster mask fired energy beams.

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 #2, 3) - When VENOM kidnapped Matt Trakker's son Scott and his robot friend T-Bob Trakker and Sato flew to Egypt to meet Egyptologist Prof. Ginsburg because VENOM left behind graffiti of Anubis. Miles Mayhem, dressed as Anubis, alongside Rax, Dagger and Bruno Sheppard, who were disguised as mummies, ambushed Prof. Ginsburg in a temple dedicated to Anubis, and put him in a cell alongside T-Bob and Scott. They then robbed the Cairo Museum, but were driven away by Trakker and Sato. Duane Kennedy contacted Matt, telling him he was sending MASK's new recruit Nash Gorey to assist in finding Scott, although Matt was wary of someone inexperienced joining in on such a sensitive mission. Matt called in Hondo, Jacques LeFleur and Julio Lopez to join in on the mission. They traveled to the temple of Anubis where Ginsberg was last seen, but were ambushed by VENOM. During the firefight Gorey, who was providing cover, shot Lopez' Dragonfly jet, and apologized for the friendly fire, but it allowed Miles to run into the temple with his goons. When MASK pursued, with Gorey covering the entrance, they fell through a trap door. In the confrontation with VENOM, MASK prevailed, but Miles caused a cave-in that allowed his team to escape. MASK found Scott, T-Bob and Ginsburg's cage and freed them, but Gorey, actually a double-agent of VENOM, used his Outlaw tanker rig to seal the temple with a boulder. Hondo used his Blaster mask to free his team, and an angry Matt called up Duane to tell them they'd been infiltrated by Venom. Duane promised him heads would roll, but this Duane was an imposter; the real Duane had been kidnapped after being sent a balloon filled with sleeping gas just like Scott.

(MASK I #4) - 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.

Hondo MacLean 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.