| Wild Dog | |
|---|---|
.png) | |
| 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 |
| Species | Human |
| Team affiliations | United States Marine Corps |
| Abilities | Expert marksman and hand-to-hand combatant |
Wild Dog is a fictionalsuperhero appearing inAmerican comic books published byDC Comics. Wild Dog is thesuperhero identity ofJack Wheeler. Wild Dog wears a hockey mask and a shirt featuring a red dog and wields firearms. He first appeared inWild Dog #1 (September 1987), and was created byMax Allan Collins andTerry Beatty.
A version of Wild Dog namedRene Ramirez appeared in theArrowverse television seriesArrow, portrayed byRick Gonzalez.
The character was inspired by classic vigilante heroes such asZorro,The Lone Ranger,Mike Hammer, andDick Tracy[1]
The design of the character was based on the notion of a "real world costumed hero" something that Collins recalled that was 'off the rack, something anyone could throw together"
Collins spoke on the inspiration for character's design "I played football in high school and that's where Terry's great 'red dog' logo came from"...Thehockey mask was both protective, and a wink towardsFriday the Thirteenth"[1]
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Wild Dog first appeared in a four issue mini-series (issue #1, cover date September 1987). The series is credited toMax Allan Collins,Terry Beatty andDick Giordano. Shortly thereafter, the character appeared inAction Comics Weekly. Normally a Superman title, at the timeAction 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 inAction Comics Weekly; after the third, the character appeared in a one-shotWild Dog Special. Wild Dog's final appearance inAction Comics Weekly was issue #641 (cover date March 7, 1989). The last issue ofAction Comics Weekly was #642, after which the book went back to its standard format of monthly Superman stories.
Jack Wheeler returned as a supporting character inCave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye, a 2016Young Animal series written byGerard Way and Jon Rivera.[2]
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 theQuad 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 had left her family to start a new life for herself.
Claire'swill 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 ahockeygoaltender mask to conceal his identity. Armed with aJatimatic GG-95 PDW and a pair of electrified "shock gloves", he killed the gang leaders and the hitman who had killed Claire.[3]
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".[4] 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.[5]
Wild Dog changes opponents when he becomes a small part of the effort to resist an earth-wide alien invasion.[6] Later, the alienLobo is sent to New York to kill the comic book editorMike Carlin. Wild Dog is one of many recruited to stop Lobo. This group includesBlack Condor,El Diablo,Garryn Bek, Human Flea,Strata, Velvet Tiger, andWotan.[7]
Wild Dog was seen, alongside the currentVigilante and the currentCrimson Avenger on a Metropolis rooftop. This group, joining in on a hundreds-strong effort to protect the city from theSecret Society of Supervillains, is seen raining bullets down on theTrigger Twins,Madmen, and other villains.[8]
In an alternative timeline accidentally created byBooster Gold inBooster Gold (vol. 2) #8 Wild Dog is part of a resistance cell againstMaxwell Lord, being one of the only heroes still alive or uncaptured. Lord forces Wild Dog to shoot himself.
A gang named the Wild Dogs, patterned on Wild Dog, appears inGreen Arrow (vol. 6) #18 (2017), following DC'sThe New 52 andDC Rebirth continuity-changing events. They are described as a libertarian militia "inspired by some nut in the Quad Cities" and attack the Native American settlement whereArsenal's old foster family lived. They are swiftly shut down byGreen Arrow.
Jack Wheeler as Wild Dog has appeared as a regular[9] in the ongoing seriesCave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye. His costume and character are very much in line with his pre-Infinite Crisis appearances. He is shown to be a mechanic/vigilante and a friend to Cave Carson.
An original incarnation of Wild Dog namedRene Ramirez appears inArrow, portrayed byRick Gonzalez.[10] Introduced in thefifth season, this version is a former Navy SEAL who saw his drug-addicted wife Laura killed by her dealer, fell into depression, and lost his daughterZoe to Child Protective Services. Inspired to become a vigilante after witnessing a fight between theGreen Arrow andDamien Darhk, Rene's reckless actions leads to friction with the former, who eventually becomes convinced to train Rene and bring him into Team Arrow. In thesixth season, FBI Agent Samanda Watson confronts Rene, revealing her knowledge of his vigilante persona and threatening to take away his family if he does not testify against the Green Arrow. After being cast out from Team Arrow, Rene joinsDinah Drake andCurtis Holt in forming their own group and later helps Watson defeatRicardo Diaz. In theseventh season, Rene retires from vigilantism after being granted police immunity and begins running a boxing club in the Glades. In theeighth season, Rene succeedsQuentin Lance as Mayor of Star City.