Mike Hammer

Mike Hammer
Stacy Keach as Mike Hammer on the DVD cover of Murder Me, Murder You and More Than Murder.
First appearance	I, the Jury (1947) (first novel by Mickey Spillane) The Goliath Bone (2008) (first novel by Max Allan Collins)
Last appearance	Black Alley (1996) (last novel by Spillane)
Created by	Mickey Spillane (series continued by Max Allan Collins after Spillane's death)
Portrayed by	Biff Elliot (film) Ralph Meeker (film) Larry Haines (radio) George Petrie (radio) Ted de Corsia (radio) Brian Keith (TV pilot) Robert Bray (film) Darren McGavin (TV series) Mickey Spillane (film) Kevin Dobson (TV movie) Armand Assante (film) Stacy Keach (TV movies, TV series, audio drama) Rob Estes (TV movie)
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Private detective
Nationality	American

Michael "Mike" Hammer is a fictional hard boiled detective created by the American author Mickey Spillane in the 1947 book I, the Jury.

In 1946, Spillane, an established comic-book writer, worked with illustrator Mike Roy to create the private-eye character Mike Danger for proposed comic-book or comic-strip publication. Unable to sell the project as a comic, he reworked the story as the novel I, the Jury, converting Mike Danger to Mike Hammer and supporting character Holly to Velda. Spillane wrote the work in nine days by some accounts, 19 in others.

While pulp detectives such as Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe are hard-boiled and cynical, Hammer is in many ways the archetypal "hard man": brutally violent, and fueled by a genuine rage against violent crime that never afflicts Raymond Chandler's or Dashiell Hammett's heroes. In The Big Kill Hammer describes himself to a bargirl as a misanthrope. Hammer is also loosely based on the real-life hard-boiled Texas Ranger and gunfighter Frank Hamer, who was most famous for tracking down and killing Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker in 1934.

While other hardboiled heroes bend and manipulate the law, Hammer often views it as an impediment to justice, the one virtue he holds in absolute esteem. Hammer nevertheless has a strong respect for the majority of police, realizing they have a difficult job and their hands are frequently tied by the law when trying to stop criminals.

Mike Hammer is a no-holds-barred private investigator who carries a .45 Colt M1911A1 in a shoulder harness under his left arm. His love for his secretary Velda is outweighed only by his willingness to kill a killer. Hammer's best friend is Pat Chambers, Captain of Homicide NYPD. Hammer was a World War II army veteran who spent two years fighting jungle warfare in the Pacific theatre against Japan. Hammer is also patriotic and anti-communist. The novels are peppered with remarks by Hammer supporting American troops in Korea, and in Survival...Zero Vietnam. In One Lonely Night, where Hammer attends a communist meeting in a park, his reaction to the speaker's propaganda is a sarcastic "Yeah."