Wild Dog #4 (1987)

Wild Dog #4 (December, 1987)
"Chapter Four: I Am Wild Dog"
Writer - Max Allan Collins
Penciller - Terry Beatty
Inker - Dick Giordano
Letterer - John E. Workman
Colorist - Michele Wolfman
Editor - Mike Gold
Cover Price: $0.75

Well, rather than leave us hanging... I figure, what the hell, let's wrap this up and finally get to the bottom of that burning question we all have inside us... Who is Wild Dog?

Do we find out in this final issue?  Is that cover any indication?  Is it all just a ploy to get us poor unsuspecting readers to pick this one up off the newsstand?  Let's find out!

Of course, if you're just joining us now... you definitely wanna catch up with the first three chapters here, here, and here.

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We open with Susan King's news report on the events of the previous issue.  Such a great way to frame a recap page, I must say.  It allows for reflection while making the expositional dialogue seem organic.  Rather than have, using a Marvel example, Wolverine spout off a few lines about his "mutant healing ability, and razor-sharp adamantium claws" to open each issue, we are treated to a more natural recap.

Wrapping up her broadcast, King is approached by Andy Flint.  She is pretty candid on her thoughts about Wild Dog, and makes it clear that she believes he is one of the Red Dog foursome.  When pressed for more specificity, all King reveals is that all she can say for sure is that Graham Gault is not our masked man.

Flint heads off to the gun range to chat with Gault.  They reflect on the recent events on Arsenal Island, and both accuse the other of being Wild Dog.  It would appear, but it is not outright said, that Gault's money is on Lou Godder... most definitely not that simpleton Jack Wheeler.  Hmm...

Flint decides to follow up on his buddy Lou, and the two recount the terrorist bombing that cost him his wife.  Lou acknowledges that he has already been visited and accused by Susan King, however is steadfast in his claim that he is not Wild Dog.  The two put their heads together, and decide the most likely candidate is in fact, Jack Wheeler.

Here we are provided with Jack's origin story.  He was a high school (turned college) footballs stand out, and big man on campus.  He was sidelined with a scholarship-costing knee injury, and joined the military in order to finish up his schooling.  While stationed in Beirut, Jack was the sole survivor of a terrorist attack.

Upon returning to the States, Jack met a woman named Claire Smith.  The two quickly became an item.  Suddenly, bad things began happening to Claire.  They appeared to be accidents at first... she would almost get hit by a car... almost have a safe dropped on her from several stories up... Jack was pretty shaken up, however, it almost seemed like Claire expected the incidents to occur.  She tries to explain to Jack that Smith is not her real last name.

One night at the fair, the two profess their love for one another.  A mustachioed gunman pulls up alongside the embracing couple and begins firing away.  Claire, riddled full of holes, dies in Jack's arms.

Flint recalls Claire's funeral where he promised Jack he would get to the bottom of the murder.  In the weeks that followed, Flint revealed to Jack that his former squeeze was not a Smith, but a Carmonti.  Her family was "connected", and found themselves hunted by the rival Vespucci family.

In the interim, Jack finds out that Claire had left him her fortune.  Our Jack is a millionaire.  He uses his newly found wealth to both purchase his auto repair garage... and take it to the families.  It is now that we witness Jack's first outing... as Wild Dog.  Yup, Jack is Wild Dog!

He manages to locate the Vespuccis taking in some wine, women, and revelry at a nearby hotel and decides to crash their party.  Wild Dog busts in and begins wrecking fools.  He draws his gun, and tells the women to scram... then perforates the Vespucci boys.

As luck would have it, the very man who shot Claire dead enters the room.  Jack rattles off a shot, killing him.  In a wonderful touch, Collins has Jack continue emptying his gun into the murderer's dead body.  You can only imagine the thoughts going through his head at that moment.  There's likely a certain amount of closure, however, it is doubtful that there is any satisfaction.

Back in the present day, Andy approaches Jack.  He plainly tells him that he dun goofed.  You see, the recent Wild Dog sighting on Arsenal Island shows a Wild Dog wearing combat boots.  Of our four would-be Wild Dogs, Jack was the only one wearing combat boots that day.  This is a neat touch as well, as it puts Flint's detective skills on display.  The type of boots a vigilante wears is probably not something most folks would pay any sort of real attention to.

Knowing the jig is up... Jack comes clean.  Flint reminds him that he's now a wanted man.  Jack corrects him... he's a needed man.  The issue (and series) ends with Jack proposing a working arrangement with Flint (and the police department, by association), just as a terrorist attack is reported over the radio.  We are out...

--

Hey, I called it!  I really wish I could rule out that I hadn't somehow subconsciously spoiled this for myself at some point... but, I'll take any victory I can get!

I really can't get over how much I enjoyed this issue/series.  Such an interesting idea to put a Punisher-like character into the DC Universe.  It really shouldn't work... like at all... but, it does.  It's made clear this issue that the Punisher comparisons are more than skin-deep with Wild Dog.  He too loses a loved one in a mob-style hit.  He is fueled by vengeance and hate... and thinks his actions are somehow justified.  In his attempt to cut a deal with Flint, it is clear that he doesn't see what he is doing as completely wrong... perhaps seeing it as something of a "necessary evil".

We did not get to see any more of the Committee for Social Change in this chapter, which I was kind of hoping would come to a head here.  I suppose they were left around in case this series got "picked up" as an ongoing.  It's really kind of hard to believe that it didn't.  Wild Dog's story, however, does continue in the pages of Action Comics Weekly.  For about a year, Superman (for the most part) vacated Action Comics, and the title went into a weekly-anthology format.  It was an interesting experiment, and for the most part told interesting stories.

Wild Dog would get a one-shot special in the early 1990's... which I've never even seen in the wild, though now know that I need.

In hitting my normal social networking haunts wherein I plug my blog pieces, I was informed that Wild Dog may just be coming back (at least as a concept) as part of DC Rebirth.  Seriously!  Check this out:

Here's a better/closer look:

Pretty cool, eh?  Here's hoping this isn't just an Easter Egg, and Rebirth gives us some fun Wild Dog stories... and hell, maybe he'll finally get that trade paperback collection we... er, I've been asking for!

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Wild Dog #3 (1987)

Wild Dog #3 (November, 1987)
"Chapter Three: Rollin' on the River"
Writer - Max Collins
Penciller - Terry Beatty
Inker - Dick Giordano
Letterer - John Workman
Colorist - Michele Wolfman
Editor - Mike Gold
Cover Price: $0.75

Let's keep this Wild Dog train rolling!

To catch up check out the discussions of issues #1 and #2.

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On the Dixie Belle riverboat crossing over to Arsenal Island, all four of our potential Wild Dogs are having something of a reunion.  The foursome all played college football for the State U Red Dogs, which I guess explains Wild Dog's jersey-uniform.  The trip had been organized by Graham Gault.  He sings the praises of his little cluster of friends, and had initially invited them along as a sightseeing venture... though, it is quickly made apparent that he has an ulterior motive.

As our favorite newswoman, Susan King (now with floppy hat) looks on from the periphery, Graham parcels out gift boxes for his bosom buds.  Andy Flint the police lieutenant opens his to find a hockey mask not unlike that of Wild Dog's.  Newsman, Lou Godder finds a Red Dogs jersey in his, and auto mechanic Jack Wheeler comes up with a pair of camouflage pants.   The three sit stunned, not quite knowing what to make of their pal's "thoughtful" gifts.

Graham makes it perfectly clear that he suspects one of his friends is Wild Dog, and attempts to piece together an appropriate pattern of behavior for each of them.  Lou's wife is revealed as having been killed by terrorists, Andy's an outspoken anti-crime advocate, and Jack's army squad is revealed as having been blown up by terrorists.

The boat shores up at Arsenal Island and the foursome (along with Ms. King) disembark.  Arsenal Island is the home of one of the larger military hardware command posts and boasts around 9,000 employees.

As the group browses the Arsenal Museum, Gault breaks away.  He has spied Susan King off on the periphery and approaches her to find out why she's been following him/them.  She is not terribly keen to speak with him, but sticks around long enough to be given a warning.  Gault tells her to back off on the Wild Dog story... she should just enjoy the headlines without digging any deeper.

The group watches a demonstration of a Rocket Propelled Grenade Launcher, and observes a soldier blow up a small house on the grounds.  I'm thinking such demos may become costly, if they're gonna blow up a house each and every time they want to show off their goods.

Back on the coast, a small boat full of what appears to be picnic-seeking tourists disembark.  Security approaches them, and warns that they may be on the wrong island... only to get blown away by their semi-automatic weaponry.  The tourists are in actuality terrorists, and have designs on taking over the Dixie Belle riverboat.

The picnic posse assembles their own explosives launching device, and proceeds to slaughter a group of civilians.  During the fracas, the Wild Dog costume from earlier goes missing from the Dixie Belle.

Wild Dog is on the scene and is shooting fools without reservation.  When he runs out of ammo, he is chased into the Arsenal Museum... where he finds a Browning Machine Gun under glass.  Lucky for him, it's loaded full of live ammunition.

He blows away a trio of terrorists before exiting the Museum.  He runs directly into Susan King who directs him to another pair of terrorists brandishing a rocket launcher.  He perforates them without even a thought.

As the Dixie Belle pulls away from the shore, Wild Dog knows his time is running out.  He picks up the RPG launcher... and, well blows the riverboat to smithereens.  Job well done, he sheds his costume and makes himself scarce.

--

Another fun issue of Wild Dog.  In actually reading this series, I'm hard-pressed to understand how this character is looked at as something of a joke character.  I'll admit, this story had a fair amount of convenient moments in it (the live-ammo under glass, for example), but it is a perfectly decent and entertaining action-adventure tale.

The "Who is Wild Dog?" mystery continues to build to a boil.  With one issue left, especially with it's tell-tale cover, I'm guessing we are about to get a result.  Is it one of the Red Dogs?  Is it all of the Red Dogs working in tandem?  I'm not sure as of yet, though I have my suspicions.

If I were to guess, I'd have to figure Jack Wheeler is our Wild Dog.  He's the only character of the four who isn't really needed as a side-character.  With Jack under the mask, the other three Red Dogs could still remain as a cast, without having to shoe-horn any of them in.  If Jack remains a side-character, I can't imagine there'd be much of an organic way to keep him relevant.  There's only so many times Wild Dog can have his car repaired, after all.

Susan King being warned by Graham was a nice (if not a bit creepy) touch as well.  I really wonder what her take on the situation is.  She clearly has her suspicions, though it is not made clear who she may be leaning toward.

Definitely enjoying this underrated gem a ton more than I had initially thought.  I almost can't believe that this one was never collected (along with the bits from Action Comics Weekly) into a trade paperback.  This is a fun and intriguing story, that I wish more folks could discover.  It could challenge their preconceptions and very likely capture their imagination.  I love that this is firmly in the DC Universe proper, as mention is made to Superman... this is such a contrast to the colorful caped heroes, and really affords the reader a look at the familiar DC Universe in a novel way.

Of particular note... my copy of this issue *might be* autographed.  There is a Max Collins signature on the bottom of the opening page.  Whether or not it's legit, I dunno.  May just be a kid practicing his penmanship.  Cool nonetheless.

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A fun series...

After almost thirty years, I still can only solve one of these...  Twimples.

Wild Dog #2 (1987)

Wild Dog #2 (October, 1987)
"Chapter Two: Blowed Up Real Good!"
Writer - Max Collins
Penciller - Terry Beatty
Inker - Dick Giordano
Letterer - John Workman
Colorist - Michele Wolfman
Editor - Mike Gold
Cover Price: $0.75

After an (unplanned) extended break from our favorite hockey-masked vigilante, let's return to the Wild Dog miniseries.  If you need to catch up, you can find our discussion of the first issue here.

--

We open during the morning newscast at Eyewitness 7 News.  Reporter, Susan King is recounting her recent abduction and subsequent rescue at the hands of the Quad Cities newest masked vigilante, Wild Dog.  They show an interview she conducted with Police Chief Davis, who appears to believe our Dog is not a hero, but a menace (I swear I've heard that somewhere before...).

Following the telecast, Ms. King is called into the News Director's office for a chat.  He offers her a featurette on Wild Dog, which would include speaking with local law enforcement and conducting man-on-the-street style interviews for reactions.  King, however, has other ideas in mind... she wants to dig deeper and actually uncover Wild Dog's true identity.

We shift scenes to the home of Lou Godder... one of the prospective Wild Dogs who we met last issue.  He's reading the morning paper which features a Wild Dog-centric cover story.  His daughter, Stephanie has been chosen to attend the Honor Students' Congress that day at Mark Twain Junior High School.  We also learn that Lou's wife is no longer in the picture, it is alluded that she has passed.

Next we visit a motel room wherein there had recently been a murder.  A woman named Jill and a fella named Sydney appear to have been the co-conspirators, and the victim is one Professor Mensa.  Their plan is for (the terminally ill) Sydney to attend the Honors Congress in the guise of Mensa.

Susan King starts her expose by talking to another of our would be Wild Dogs, Lieutenant Andy Flint.  She compares Wild Dog's actions with Flint's sentiments toward violent crime.  Flint dismisses the notion and kicks the nosy newsies out of his office.

He is then joined by our third Wild Dog candidate, Graham Gault.  He brings with him a bit of intel regarding a terrorist group, The Committee for Social Change.  Flint jokes that Gault may be Wild Dog.

We follow Graham to the local mechanics garage, home base for our fourth and final maybe-Wild Dog, Jack Wheeler.  They share a bit of innocuous small talk before Gault leaves.  As he exits we see Susan King watching from the parking lot.

It is now time for the Honors' Congress.  "Professor Mensa" is welcomed and warmly received by Principal Ernest Ernst, and is led to the stage set before the packed bleachers of Mark Twain Junior High's gym.

He begins his speech by revealing that he is in fact not Professor Mensa.  He opens his sports jacket to reveal his torso is wrapped in dynamite.  The children and faculty begin to panic, however, our human bomb insists that he means them no actual harm.  He promises that they will all be able to go home after his speech, and his designs are only in destroying the building... and himself.

He is soon joined by several men wearing similar masks to the folks we met last chapter.

We get a montage page featuring three of our would-be Wild Dogs reacting to the current hostage situation, and ultimately follow Lt. Flint as he enters the school.

He presents himself in front of Sydney, and attempts to negotiate a hostage release.  Syd ain't having none of it, and instructs his men to put him somewhere to be dealt with later.  He then continues with his speech.  His cause is about taking down the system and all institutions which support it.

Outside, we get our first real-time glimpse of Wild Dog for this issue.  He ether-rags a police guard and ascends to the roof of the gym.  Inside, Sydney reveals that he was lying when he said the students would be free to go after the speech... instead, only half of them would survive this day.  The other half would join him in martyrdom for his cause.

Wild Dog cuts a round portion of glass from the gyms skylight and fires a tranquilizer dart at Syd.  He then descends to the gym floor blasting crossbow bolts into (and through!) the faceless terrorists.  There's a brief fire-fight, in which it appears that Wild Dog is killed.  Lucky for the kids, he was packing his bulletproof vest today... though, sadly his laughing dog jersey is ruined.

Wild Dog makes short work of the terrorist flunkies to the rousing applause and adulation of the child hostages.

He scoops Sydney up and exits the gym.  The local law enforcement parts like the red sea to allow him to pass with his bomb-strapped bounty.  The Dog loads his captive into the back of his pickup truck and drives him through the cornfield.

We rejoin our hero at a barn in the middle of nowhere.  Sydney is strapped to a chair... and Wild Dog has informed the terrorist squad of their location.  As the masked men enter, Wild Dog triggers the explosives from a safe distance razing the barn to cinder.

--

I'm surprised at how much I'm enjoying this series.  Wild Dog always been one of those knee-jerk mockable characters... something out of Wizard Magazine's "Mort of the Month" hit-pieces, however, I think this concept could have had legs for an ongoing series.  It's silly and violent, yes... but it's a fun silly and violent.

This issue continues to play with the idea that nobody... not even the reader knows who is behind the Wild Dog mask, and does so quite well.  I have my sneaking suspicion of who is ultimately going to be revealed, however, I'm unsure if that's due to the story... or if I'd somehow unwittingly spoiled myself years back, and just have it in the back of my mind.  The storytelling device of having reporter Susan King attempting to do an expose is a nice touch, as she gets to ask many of the questions the reader may also have.

During this chapter, the Dog kind of turns the corner from violent menacing vigilante to bona fide hero.  The junior high school students sing his praises, and the local law enforcement doesn't interfere with his heroic endeavor... He's gotten plenty of play on the local (?) television news, so he's likely a household name (at least in the Quad Cities).

I'm still giving this one a ringing endorsement (as if that matters)... definitely track this one down, I'm sure it's in many'a cheap-o bin nationwide.  It's a lot of fun... and the mysterious nature of the titular hero brings with it quite a bit of 80's-comics intrigue.

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Recently lucked into nearly a full run of this, looking forward to jumping in!