Mike Hammer is a fictional character created by the American author Mickey Spillane in the 1947 book I, the Jury (made into a movie in 1953 and 1982). Several movies and radio and television series have been based on the books in the Hammer series. The actor most closely identified with the character in recent years has been Stacy Keach, who portrayed Hammer in a CBS television series, Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, which ran from 1984-1987 and had a syndicated revival in 1997-1998. (An earlier syndicated version, originally aired in 1957-1958, starred Darren McGavin as Hammer.) Spillane himself played Hammer in a 1963 motion picture adaptation of The Girl Hunters. Spillane himself favoured ex-Marine and former Newburgh, New York police officer Jack Stang, whom he based the character on, to play him. Stang appeared with Spillane in the 1954 film Ring of Fear and in the film adaptation of I, the Jury.

While pulp detectives such as Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe are hard-boiled and cynical, Hammer is in many ways the archetypal "hard man:" he is brutally violent, misogynistic, and fueled by a genuine rage that never afflicts Raymond Chandler's or Dashiell Hammett's heroes. While other hardboiled heroes bend and manipulate the law, Hammer holds it in total contempt, seeing it as nothing more than an impediment to justice, the one virtue he holds in absolute esteem.

Mike Hammer is a no-holds barred Private Investigator and carries a .45 Colt M1911, named "Betsy" in a shoulder harness under his left arm. His love for his secretary Velda is only outweighed by his willingness to kill a killer. Hammer's best friend is Pat Chambers, Captian of Homicide NYPD.

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."

So far as violence is concerned, the Hammer novels leave little to the imagination. Written in the first person, Hammer describes his violent encounters with relish. In all but a few novels, Hammer's victims are often left vomiting after a blow to the stomach or groin.

The Washington Times obituary of Spillane said of Hammer, "In a manner similar to Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry, Hammer was a cynical loner contemptuous of the "tedious process" of the legal system, choosing instead to enforce the law on his own terms."

Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer was the title used for two syndicated television series that followed the adventures of fictional private detective Mike Hammer. The gritty, crime fighting detective - created by American crime author Mickey Spillane - has also inspired several feature films and made-for-TV movies.

The New Mike Hammer was an American television series based on the exploits of the fictitious New York-based private detective Mike Hammer. The show starred Stacy Keach and was closely connected with Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, an earlier television program featuring an identical core cast. In fact, similarities between The New Mike Hammer and Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer are so close that many often group the two shows together under the same "Mike Hammer" umbrella. It was not a ratings success, undoubtedly due to it having to compete with the Top 10 hit The Golden Girls and the Top 20 hit Amen both on NBC in the same time slot.

ke Hammer: Wise man once say, fewer dice rolls and more egg rolls make both stomach and pocket happy.

Mike Hammer is a two-fisted private eye. He's tough, he's honest, and the girls love him. The series follows his exploits as he solves a variety of crimes, most of which involve a murder somewhere along the way... Written by Afterburner