ACW #617 – Wild Dog
Action Comics Weekly #617 (Wild Dog)
“Fatal Distraction, Chapter Three: Puppy Dog Tale”
Writer – Max Collins
Pencils – Terry Beatty
Inks – John Nyberg
Letters – Tim Harkins
Colors – Carl Gafford
Editor – Brian Augustyn
It feels like it’s been forever since we read a chapter of Wild Dog. Honestly, it’s been a couple of weeks for me since I read this chapter… actually had to give it a second scan-thru to refresh my memory!
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We open with Wild Dog facing off with that one dude Harry. Harry’s got his ol’ lady in a headlock with a gun pointed at her dome. The Dog tries to reason with him… by, uh, insulting his manhood. That oughta work! Harry concedes that maybe he is no longer a man… and if that’s the case, it’s his lady’s fault! During the hostage negotiation, Wild Pup sneaks in and is able to distract the baddie long enough for the gal to break away.
Scared, Harry fires his piece… and winds up winging some other dude in the arm. Wild Pup gets tossed, however before Harry can perforate him, the real-deal Wild Dog zaps him good with his taze-glove.
With Harry out of commission, Dog turns to Pup and tries to figure out just what in the world is going on! Before getting too deep into the chat, however, the police arrive on the scene… and so, both of our goalie-masked vigilantes sprint out.
From here, we head to the end of the chapter. Wheeler heads home to write in his “Combat Log”… and he’s both shocked and disturbed to see that a child is looking up to his alter-ego as a role model. At that same time, the Pup is having a “Dear Diary” of his own, wherein he excitedly reports his first successful outing! We close out with our gal, Ms. Susan King delivering the news of Wild Pup’s arrival to the Quad Cities!
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A sort of “blink and you miss it” chapter, but an enjoyable one nonetheless.
Wild Pup meddles in a heated standoff, and winds up being a difference-maker. Not that there was any doubt that the Dog wouldn’t have diffused the situation anyway… which, makes me think I know where this might be headed. Well, one of the ways this might be headed…
Way I see it, the Pup’s either going to wind up in over his head and getting himself maimed or killed… or, he’s going to ultimately prove himself to be useful in the Wild Dog’s war on crime. Could see it going either way, but I’m leaning toward the less-pleasant option at present.
Not much more to say about this one… like I said, “blink and you miss it”. Good, enjoyable, and fun… while “putting in the work” to establish the Sensational Character Find of 1988.
Tomorrow: Superman… probably doesn’t do all that much.
