ACW #606 – Wild Dog
Action Comics Weekly #606 (Wild Dog)
“Moral Stand, Chapter Six: Stop the Presses!”
Writer – Max Collins
Pencils – Terry Beatty
Inks – John Nyberg
Letters – Gaspar
Colors – Michele Wolfman
Editor – Mike Gold
When last we left Wild Dog, Jack had successfully managed to infiltrate the Legion of Morality… today we’re going to take a look at his first mission!
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Remember how a few weeks ago, reporter Susan King was called into her Editor’s office to be told to quit writing about Wild Dog all the time? Well, this week we open with Lou Godder being nyoinked into his Editor’s office to be told to quit writing about the Legion of Morality every single day! Though, in fairness to Lou, this isn’t because he’s just rewriting the same story every day, it’s because the Legion might just sue the paper for defamation! Lou’s Editor is stuck between a rock and a hard place… he’s even getting piles of “Letters to the Editor” from Legion members and sympathizers!
We shift scenes over to Jack and “The Commander”, and it turns out the Legion does have plans of “getting even” with the Moline News… but it ain’t exactly a lawsuit they have in mind. Ya see, they’re planning on just blowing the building off the map… and Jack’s just been enlisted to help.
Since Jack is a “new guy”, he’s going to have to prove himself. For this mission, he’s just going to play the look-out. He’ll be hanging out in his car with a walkie-talkie… and is to alert the “task force” should any trouble arise. Jack’s introduced to the Task Force Leader… who we only know as “Sir”. Thankfully, he’s wearing a different color uniform so we can tell him apart from the others!
We jump ahead, and the Legionnaire’s have infiltrated the Moline News printing press. “Sir” tells Jack one more time to let him know should the police arrive, before heading inside himself. Now alone, Jack wastes little time suiting up.
Before we know it, Wild Dog is on the scene… he bee-lines it over to a bucket of… I dunno, ink? paint? Something blue… heck, I suppose it could be water. Whatever it was, he dumps it on the floor to trip up the Legionnaires.
We wrap up with our man kicking a roll of paper toward the Moralists… and “Sir” giving the order to shoot Wild Dog. Now, why didn’t they think of that?!
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Another really fun chapter of Wild Dog! Without “spoiling” something I would normally reveal on Thursday, Wild Dog got my vote in the “Best of ACW #605″ poll last week… narrowly edging out Blackhawk. Now that it’s picking up steam, I’m having a really good time with it.
A couple of takeaways here. First, I really like starting the chapter with Godder being pulled into his Editor’s office… as mentioned in the synopsis, it was reminiscent of Susan King getting pulled into her’s. Though, her writing about Wild Dog seemed a lot more like a personal vendetta than Lou writing about the Legion.
While on that subject… I wonder if we’ll be seeing Ms. King again anytime soon?
Another thing that jumped out at me was Wild Dog’s use of… non-lethal force at the Moline News printing press. Rather than run in guns blazing (like he’s done in, ya know, every action scene he’s been in so far), he pulls this Kevin McAllister bit, dumping some slippery stuff on the ground to slip-up the Moralists. Seems kind of out of character, dunnit?
Why, it’s almost as though… it’s another guy under the mask?! No, no… it’s not, I’m just messing with you. It’s still Jack. Just a Jack using an uncharacteristic “shoot to stun” methodology.
The Legion of Morality foot soldiers come off like a bunch of geeks. Literally just standing there while Jack runs over to a bucket… then dumps the bucket… then runs over to a big ol’ roll of paper… then kicks that roll of paper in their direction. No wonder they need “Sir” there to tell them when to fire their guns… and, ya know, who to fire them at! I don’t know how these buffoons have managed to blow up a single smut-filled building. Heck, at this point I’m not convinced any of them could tie their own shoes!
Overall… despite the Legionnaires being complete geeks, this was a lot of fun. Really looking forward to seeing how this one wraps up.
Tomorrow: Blackhawk gets his just desserts. Or, is that, just dessert?
