Wild Dog (character)
| Wild Dog | |
|---|---|
_first_issue_cover.jpg) Wild Dog #1 by Terry Beatty | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Wild Dog #1 (September 1987) |
| Created by | Max Allan Collins (writer) Terry Beatty (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Jack Wheeler |
| Team affiliations | United States Marine Corps |
| Abilities | Expert marksman and hand-to-hand combatant |
Wild Dog is a fictional vigilante published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Wild Dog #1 (September 1987), and was created by Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty.
Publication history
Wild Dog first appeared in a four issue mini-series (issue #1, cover date September 1987). The series is credited to Max Allan Collins, Terry Beatty and Dick Giordano. Shortly thereafter, the character appeared in Action Comics Weekly. Normally a Superman title, at the time Action Comics was going through an incarnation as a high-page-count weekly anthology title with serialized episodes of various characters' ongoing stories appearing in each issue. There were three major Wild Dog story arcs in Action Comics Weekly; after the third, the character appeared in a one-shot Wild Dog Special. Wild Dog's final appearance in Action Comics Weekly was issue #641 (cover date March 7, 1989). The last issue of Action Comics Weekly was #642, after which the book went back to its standard format of monthly Superman stories.
Jack Wheeler would return as a supporting character in Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye, a 2016 Young Animal series written by Gerard Way and Jon Rivera.[1]
Fictional character biography
Jack Wheeler went to college on a football scholarship. He dropped out due to an injury and enlisted in the Marines to complete his education. He quit that after most of his squad was killed by a terrorist bomb. He returned to the Quad Cities and began taking night classes. He started dating a fellow student named Claire and fell in love with her. His new girlfriend soon began experiencing "accidents" and was ultimately shot dead in front of Jack while the pair were on a date. Afterwards, it was revealed she was secretly the daughter of a Chicago crime boss who left her family to start a new life for herself.
Claire's will named Jack as her sole beneficiary and made him a considerably wealthy man. Furious over all the deaths he'd witnessed, but unsure of how to proceed, Jack took the somewhat-facetious advice of a friend to "use the money to fight the mob". He opened up his own car mechanic/body shop as a public identity, then secretly tracked down the rival gang members who ordered the hit. He created a costume of camouflage pants, combat boots, a local college football jersey emblazoned with a snarling red dog (hiding his protective body armor), and a hockey goaltender mask to conceal his identity. Armed with a Jatimatic GG-95 PDW and a pair of electrified "shock gloves", he killed the gang leaders and the hitman who had killed Claire.[2]
In the first issue of his limited series, he barges in on a hostage situation and kills all the criminals. He successfully rescues an endangered TV news reporter and is named "Wild Dog" after the SWAT captain orders his men to shoot the vigilante "like a wild dog in the street".[3] His actions in the beginning are mainly directed against domestic American terrorists led by the "Committee for Social Change". He faces other threats, like a social group, the National Legion for Morality, willing to use arson to destroy pornographic material.[4]
Wild Dog changes opponents when he becomes a small part of the effort to resist an earth-wide alien invasion.[5] Later, the alien Lobo is sent to New York to kill the comic book editor Mike Carlin. Wild Dog is one of many recruited to stop Lobo. This group includes Black Condor, El Diablo, Garryn Bek, Human Flea, Strata, Velvet Tiger and Wotan.[6]
Infinite Crisis
Wild Dog was recently seen, alongside the current Vigilante and the current Crimson Avenger on a Metropolis rooftop. This group, joining in on a hundreds-strong effort to protect the city from the Secret Society of Supervillains, is seen raining bullets down on the Trigger Twins, Madmen and other villains in Infinite Crisis #7.
In an alternate timeline accidentally created by Booster Gold in Booster Gold #8 Wild Dog is part of a resistance cell against Maxwell Lord, being one of the only heroes still alive or uncaptured. Lord forces Wild Dog to shoot himself.
In other media
Wild Dog is a recurring character in the fifth season of Arrow, portrayed by Rick Gonzalez. In Arrow, Wild Dog is the alias of Rene Ramirez, a reckless young vigilante and former Navy sailor inspired by Green Arrow's crusade. Though Green Arrow initially orders Wild Dog to stop interfering with his work, he eventually takes Rene under his wing and trains him.[7]