Hap Hazzard

CREATION

Hap Hazzard was created by Steve Dillon and first appeared in Prog (issue) 561 of 2000AD in 1988. Dillon wrote and drew all six subsequent appearances of Hazzard. His final appearance (to date) in Prog 1164 was actually scripted by Hayden Nash, the winner of a competition run by 2000AD at the Comics '99 festival and for readers of Comics International magazine.

ORIGIN

Very little has been revealed about the history of Hap Hazzard, other than he was once a Merchant Spacemen, though it is known that he only did two flights and was never really that interested. It is known that he inherited the ability to never get hooked on pointless soap operas and has read his body weight in cheap pulp novels. This fact aside, Hap shows no signs of any discernible intelligence.

LOCATION

The adventures of Hap and his cohorts take place exclusively on Fred's Planet, a trade planet of little renown, situated on the wrong side of the cosmic tracks. It was discovered by Fredrik Stardancer who, not being renowned for his originality, named it Fred's Planet. It is now seemingly a port of dubious nature where space marines, thugs and con men mingle.

CAST

Tricky - Haps' long suffering best friend, Tricky is the sane, mellow section of the pairing. Though little is revealed about trickys' past, it is known that he is a huge fan of the soap opera, Spaceways Motel. He also wears sunglasses which he never removes, no one knowing what his eyes actually look like.

Ron and Luigi Kango - The resident stand-over men of the planet, Ron and Luigi share management duties running Kango's Club, whilst also sharing, uh, a head. Conjoined twins, but only in the cranial area, Ron and Luigi are twins, two brains in one skull. This leads to all kinds of disagreements that end in fist fights. Neither are particularly fond of Hap, though they find he has his uses with certain errands.

Mick - Mick is the ever present Taxi Driver who transports the lads around. Mick has seen it all and, as is often the case with his type, never says a word. Seems to be friends with every shady character on the planet and has a wife, never seen, renowned for her violent nature.

Sharon - Haps' long suffering girlfriend who, for no apparent good reason continues to put up with him. She is a woman of seeming intelligence and endless patience who, let's face it, could do a lot better. Has been known to throw Hap out into the street when temper suits her.

Joey The Neck - Although never seen in the comic itself, Joey is mentioned numerous times as a violent sort of no particular importance. Wrote a novel once which was a failure as it contained no adjectives which was attributed to childhood trauma regarding a very harsh description once directed at his favourite pair of shoes.

Wide Henry - Also never seen but mentioned frequently alongside Joey The Neck. At some point gets into an argument with Joey The Neck which is resolved by him force feeding Joey a pool cue. Unfortunately, this event is never visually documented.

CHARACTER EVOLUTION

Oner the course of his few appearances, there is very little character evolution to Hap and that is somewhat the point of the character. These are not high octane adventures but focus more on the meanderings of life and the small town interactions between Hap and his cohorts. The main crux of the stories revolve either around Hap and his best friend, tricky getting out of shady dealings involving their friends, or Hap getting into trouble with his girlfriend, Sharon. It's like watching an episode of Eastenders with more laughs, set in space.