This February, Midnight Social Distortion will be celebrating Black History Month by honoring Black horror characters, in particular Black horror survivors, throughout the twenty-eight day period. Each day will feature one black male and one black female survivor in horror and sci-fi to bring light to the positive, albeit still problematic, black champions of representation in horror. Some disclaimers first: obvious spoilers ahead, and not all horror survivors will be featured this go round, but will appear in later posts down the line.
Mike Hanlon (Marlon Taylor/Tim Reid, 1990; Choseb Jacobs, Chapter One – 2017 /Isiah Mustafa, Chapter Two – 2019)
*This will be a generalization of the book and the movies, due to IT: Chapter Two not being released yet and Mike’s story possibly changing in that film.
Character Arc:
Being one of the few black kids growing up in Derry, Mike Hanlon became a member of the Losers Club in late July 1957 (in the book) after being chased by the racist bullies known as the Bowers Gang, led by local teen psycho Henry Bowers. Mike had also been experiencing a menacing terror worse than Bowers (which in my eyes is just as worse, but I digress) known as Pennywise: a supernatural being feeding of the children of Derry. Mike, who was a budding historian, was vital in piecing together the history of the beast’s time in Derry, and also helped take the creature down, at least for that time being.
As an adult, Mike was the only member of the Losers Club to remain in Derry, compiling a dossier of sorts about the historical horrors of Derry. Mike also became a librarian and used his position as a means to gather information. When the murders begin again in 1986, Mike contacts the rest of the Losers Club to come home to honor the promise they made as kids to return if Pennywise ever returned. Once there, the adult Losers came together to end (at least one of) Derry’s curse. In the midst of one battle, Mike was stabbed and injured by a deranged Henry Bowers and was sidelined for the rest of the quest. When the horror is over, Mike recuperates and makes plans to leave Derry.
In the 1990 miniseries, Mike Hanlon follows the book’s character almost to a fine “T.” In the 2017 movie, Mike is an orphan and doesn’t provide the town’s history. Instead he brings a bolt gun that helps defeat Pennywise.
“Fun” Trivia
In the 2019, IT: Chapter Two adaptation, there’s talk that Mike night undergo another character change opposite the source material. Andy Muschcietti, that director of both movies, has said that he’s thinking about having a Mike be an addict. This did not sit well with fans of the book.
Mike later appears in another novel set in Derry called Insomnia. In that book he’s worked his way up to be Derry’s head librarian.
Final Thoughts
Mike Hanlon is a hero in the book, an inspiration in the 1990 miniseries, and in trouble of becoming a token trope in the new film this fall. As a (former) black male librarian, the concept of a black man behind the desk calling shots in a library is rare. So to take that rare representation and sully it with him being a drug addict, makes no sense whatsoever. Hopefully Mike Hanlon is given the proper respect he deserves in the second movie. Fans already were up in arms when Mike’s knack for history was switched to Ben, who was supposed to have been an architect once he left Derry. But I digress…
Mike Hanlon is integral to the history of not only black horror survivors, but black characters in horror fiction as a whole. Put respect on this man’s name.
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