Tomahawk [character]
Entry updated 10 August 2026. Tagged: Character, Comics.
DC Comics hero, created by Joe Samachson and Edmond Good in 1947; he was long featured as a supporting character in Star Spangled Comics and World's Finest Comics, and he starred in his own title that lasted from 1950 to 1972. Tomahawk – his real name reported to be either Tom Hawk or Thomas Haukins – was obviously inspired by the legendary Daniel Boone, as they were both frontiersmen fighting for justice at the time of the American Revolutionary War; he is assisted by the young Dan Hunter. Oddly despite his nickname, he is rarely observed actually wielding a tomahawk.
For a long time, Tomahawk figured in mostly realistic Western stories about the first American frontier, such as conflicts with hostile Native Americans or other scoundrels; he also had an anachronistic encounter with another frontier legend, Davy Crockett, who actually lived in the nineteenth century. But as time went on Tomahawk was increasingly pitted against various sf menaces, such as Dinosaurs, giants (see Great and Small), Aliens, Monsters, enormous gorillas, and other unlikely visitors to Kentucky in the 1770s; he also faced some supernatural adversaries, and he once acquired mechanical wings that gave him the ability to fly (see Flying). As his popularity waned, he was briefly supplanted by his son until his comic was finally cancelled. In one of the few subsequent references to the character, it was established that Dan Hunter is the cousin of Rip Hunter, Time Master, who traveled back in time to the eighteenth century (see Time Travel) and decided to stay there with Tomahawk. [GW]
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