Wild Dog #1
“Who is Wild Dog”?
Writer: Max Allan Collins
Pencils: Terry Beatty
Some things could’ve only existed in the 80s. The era of BIG tough-guy swagger, guns and violence. Rambo and “Make my Day” had entered the pop culture lexicon and were firmly entrenched. Shoot-em-up action movies flooded the movie theaters and video store rentals. Violent crime and homicide rates increased. H. Rap Brown’s quote that “violence is as American as apple pie” seemed to be the unofficial US mantra. It also affected the world of comics, as things began to move away from the saccharine “Super Friends” vibe of the 70’s into a grittier and darker feel.
Enter: Wild Dog in 1987. Designed to be an “every man” type of fight-back hero, akin to Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) in “Death Wish”. DC tagged Max Alan Collins to create and write the character. Collins was/is notable for taking over from Chester Gould as the guy doing Dick Tracy comic strips. Well, if you’re looking to make things grim, gritty, violent and “realistic”, I’m not sure a guy who dealt with two-way wrist radios and a villain name Blowtop would’ve been a top choice. But hey, he was at least something of an outside “funny book crime writer” and thus provided a slightly different take on DC’s usual formulas. Which was probably the intent.
With his arsenal and blunt tactics, it may seem that Wild Dog is DC’s answer to Marvel’s Punisher– whose popularity also skyrocketed in the 80s– but I wouldn’t call that accurate. DC already had their version of the Punisher with the new Vigilante, who debuted in 1983. Yet Vigilante had a sleek costume and had a polished superhero look, similar to Frank Castle. With a costume that looks like it was scraped together from a trip to the Army Surplus store and the sporting goods store (with lots of guns n’ ammo, of course), Wild Dog’s grass roots take on a costume is more akin to Casey Jones from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Collins even mentioned that Wild Dog’s hockey helmet had a “bit of Friday the 13th to it”. Again, another “only in the 80s” thing.
Surprisingly, Wild Dog’s antics take place in the Quad Cities. Yeah, the REAL Quad Cities of Bettendorf and Davenport, Iowa, along with Moline and Rock Island, Illinois. A rare occurrence where DC used a “real world” city, as opposed to something like Midway City, Gateway City, Metropolis, etc. This adds a bit of “realism”, because there’s nothing in the pages of “Wild Dog” that requires this to be explicitly set in the “DCU’.
The audience’s stand-in for the intro to the Wild Dog is TV reporter Susan King. Along with her crew, she’s filming a remote piece on the new “River City Center”, a community activity center in downtown Davenport. Her first interview is one Raymond E. Newell, who represents the Committee for Social Change. Hmm… you know something’s up because Newell fits the 80s trope of Sleazebag in a Suit and Tie to a “T”. He also has a non-abbreviated name (“Raymond”, not “Ray”) and has a middle initial. Always clues that your mid 80s character might be EVIL.
In fact, a few minutes into the interview, Newell shows his colors by BLOWING UP the new River City Center. In an act of domestic terrorism, Newell and his flunkies then take over an adjacent theater and hold Ms. King and her crew hostage. Newell uses the TV crew to broadcast his message of how the CSC believes society has deteriorated and wants to start a hole new order! Gasp!
As all this is being broadcast, it’s seen/heard by four key characters (all making their FIRST APPEARANCES in a FIRST ISSUE, if that’s worth noting: Bettendorf police Lieutenant Andy Flint; Moline News reports Loud Godder; Rock Island mechanic Jack Wheeler; and a shady guy named Graham Gault, who we’re told works for “not a company… THE Company”. So, yeah, there’s the title of “Who is Wild Dog?”
Shortly after, Wild Dog charges into the theater in his pick-up truck. Guns a-blazing and taking names like a man who’s all out of bubblegum!
His blunt tactics quickly overwhelm the bad guys and announce his presence to the Quad Cities…and the police.
Wild Dog then takes Ms. King hostage, so he can get past the surrounding police and make his own escape. As he escapes, the police sergeant order his men to “shoot him down like a WILD DOG in the street”. Hey…. “wild…. “dog”. Cue the inspiration music. Once out of town, he dumps King and we’re all left to wonder, again: “who is Wild Dog?” For someone who’s so overtly in-your-face, he didn’t say a word and remains a man of mystery. Okay, okay… a simple identity hook can be enough to grab a reader.
This was the first of a 4 issue mini-series and was slightly different from the usual DC newsstand comics. DC had typically shied away from real-world settings. Wild Dog definitely has an un-polished look that wouldn’t work too well on “Super Friends”. Also, the dialogue tends to point more towards “PG-13” at times. I mean.– oh golly— look what Susan King calls the news anchor, Colleen!
I can’t recall, exactly, when DC officially launched their “New Format: Suggested for Mature Readers”, but this book seemed to be angling for that. A cop even yells: “Holy S—!” I picked my copy up at a “Direct Only” comic shop, so it may have bypassed the newsstand, altogether. It feels much more like an “independent comic” than a DC comic from 1987.
It’s also somewhat surprising that you don’t see more “Wild Dog Cosplay” at fan gatherings, nowadays.
Wild Dog would return in “Action Comics Weekly” and had a one-shot SPECIAL, about a year later. Yet, for whatever reason, he never really took off. Maybe DC wasn’t sure how to handle this wild animal….errr, DOG?!
Summary: Guy gets sports gear n’ gut. Attacks bad guys, head-on… all on TV and in full color.
Cover Price: 75 cents
Rating: 1.00
