Action Comics Weekly #621 (Wild Dog) "Fatal Distraction, Chapter Seven: Stab in the Dark" Writer - Max Collins Breakdowns - Terry Beatty Guest Pencils - Dick Rockwell Inks - John Nyberg Letters - Tim Harkins Colors - Carl Gafford Editor - Brian Augustyn First day after a vacation is always a weird one. Haven't completely come out of that vay-cay head-space yet. I'll probably share some pics of the trip on Superman day... which, will be sure to thrill. Today though, I'm just gonna waddle my five-pounds-heavier self over to the keyboard, and knock-out the penultimate chapter of this here Wild Dog arc! --
We open with Jack Wheeler handing over a "suspect sketch" he'd put together on the Night Slasher. Lt. Flint is quite surprised to see the kind of artistic talent his pal has... and we learn that art was something that Jack's former lover, Claire had always encouraged. Andy suddenly flips the script completely... and tells Jack to back off. To stay out of the QCPD's hair for the remainder of this case. Jack joshes him that the PD's currently got a half-dozen bodies they're stepping over... but "agrees". As their contentious chat wraps up, we're reminded that Wild Pup has been listening in the whole time.
We jump to the next day where Jack has taken Lou Godder out to lunch. Godder is a bit tweaked that Jack didn't tip him off to the fast-food veggie-terrorist story before it all went down, as he would have really appreciated the "scoop". Jack suggests that there might be an even juicier story in the offing... the Night Slasher!
Lou jots down three nearby hot spots for singles, all of which have had Night Slasher activity since the killings began. This seems like really basic information that Jack should have been able to deduce himself, but we'll allow it. That night, Jack goes undercover.
After checking the first two spots without any luck, our man heads to the third... where he finds out Night Slasher, complete with fly-fishing lure earring! She's chatting up a member of the Metal Minds band... and suggests they "have a little fun" in his van. He's got another song to play, so she agrees to head into the van and wait.
She unlocks the back door, and is shocked to find... Wild Dog! She goes to kick him low, but he (mostly) side-steps it.
He then clamps down on her right shoulder with his shock-mitt, which puts her on the floor. She attempts to scramble for her blade when... Wild Pup leaps onto the scene! He tries holding the Slasher down, and winds up getting stabbed in the chest for his troubles! Uh-oh!
-- Well, it finally happened... Wild Pup got shanked! I'm honestly surprised it's taken this long! But, let's start by talking about Jack's chats with his pals. Jack and Andy have a pretty complicated relationship, right? Jack does what he can to help Andy (and the QCPD) out, but it's often to the detriment of the police themselves. It makes them look foolish in a couple of ways. First: Wild Dog is able to accomplish things the Police can not... and Second: The Police don't appear to be able to apprehend (or even control) Wild Dog. These are things that Flint's gotta constantly be reconciling in his head when weighing the pros and cons of being "in bed" with a vigilante. That said, Andy's characterization here, feels a bit stilted. Like, dramatically hot and cold. They go from talking like old buddies to "listen here, mister!" in the course of a single panel. Felt very unnatural... but, we've only got seven-pages to work with here, so there probably wasn't enough paginal real estate to bring it all around more organically. Especially since we needed to jump right over to Jack chatting up Lou. This was another weird interaction, and feels like it was included just so we could give Lou a few lines of dialogue. It's been established during the course of the past couple of Wild Dog arcs that Jack's more than just a "shoot first, ask questions later" mad man. That is to say, he's not a half-bad detective in his own right. That being said, I'm not sure why Jack would need Lou to jot down the locations of Night Slasher activity. It should stand to reason that Jack would already know where the baddie has been striking, right? I mean, it is a pretty big local news story, innit? Oh well. This brings us to the end. Wild Dog puts the Slasher on the ground... just for the Pup to arrive and put himself into some pretty grave danger. It looks as though the Slasher was able to rebound from her shock-mitting pretty quickly, so for all we know, the Pup just saved Wild Dog's life. Now... that said, just how sloppy is Wild Dog being portrayed here? That he'd simply turn his back on a serial murderess? It's not like he was distracted by something off-panel, either! He was just closing the Metal Minds' van door! C'maaaaaahn, Jack... that was dumb. Overall, it feels like "guest artist" (who has pencilled like half this arc), Dick Rockwell is coming into his own. Didn't have any real uggos this time out. And, while a bit stilted-feeling, this was still a worthwhile chapter. Tomorrow: The Secret Six are in a bad situation (oh yeah, oh yeah), it's time they got some adult ed-u-ca-tion
Action Comics Weekly #620 (Wild Dog) "Fatal Distraction, Chapter Six: Tailed!" Writer - Max Collins Breakdowns - Terry Beatty Guest Pencils - Dick Rockwell Inks - John Nyberg Letters - Tim Harkins Colors - Carl Gafford Editor - Brian Augustyn Hey Gang, Happy Father's Day to all the dad's and soon-to-be's. As it happens, we're about to take a look at a chapter that (if ya squint) looks a lot like a father/son outing between Wild Dog and Wild Pup! I hope everyone else's day is far less bloody then their's! --
We pick up right where we left off last week. Wild Pup has mounted the ugly, grotesque, horrid vegetarian terrorist so that Wild Dog might get in a few free shots. Well, Jack ain't quite feelin' it... in fact, he's a bit beside himself that the kid hasn't yet hung up his hockey mask! What's more, the kid kinda puts himself directly in the line of fire when the homely, brutal, gross vegeterrorist snap-mares him over and uses him as a human shield!
Wild Dog tries to talk the disgusting, foul veggie-terrorist down, but it ain't workin'. Lucky for him, Wild Pup doesn't think that "meat is murder" and takes a big ol' bite outta the uggo's arm!
At which point, Jack pumps him full'a lead!
After threatening to put the Pup "over his knee", Wild Dog tells the lad to stick around for the cops... because the officers will be easier on him than he ever will be. Wild Pup, however, doesn't pay this any heed. As the Dog goes to take off in ROVER, the Pupper stows away in the cargo bed.
Cut to our lady, Ms. Susan King... and she's cuttin' a promo on the ineptness of the Quad Cities Police. She corners Andy Flint and starts calling him out for being a goofball who just stood by while Wild Dog "did his job". He tells her that once the Dog was on the scene, all they could do is let it "play out"... which, between you and me... is kind of a cop-out (no pun intended).
We wrap up with Andy visiting Jack at Wheeler's Garage to sorta-kinda read him the riot act. He tells him to cool his jets, otherwise he's going to make him quit Wild Doggin'. He also asks for a description of the Night Slasher (oh yeah, her!). We close out by seeing that there's another very interested party also listening in.
-- Sometimes I forget just how brutal Wild Dog can be. I mean, he's certainly an itchy-fingered fella, but sometimes when I see it this "matter-of-fact" I still feel a twinge of shock at the brutality. I really wasn't expecting him to positively perforate the uggo veggie-terrorist. I thought he'd maybe "shoot to injure" rather than kill. That was not the case. Last time we saw the Dog in action (not counting the run-in with the Night Slasher) was in the convenience store where we first met the kid who would become Wild Pup. There, Jack did pull the trigger quite a few times, but only shot up the bad guy's legs so they wouldn't get away. Though, I suppose we could wonder how bad their subsequent injuries were... and what the quality of life post-arrest was for the would-be thieves... buuuut, that could be a slippery-slope directly into a sticky-wicket, so it's probably best we don't. I suppose we can look at the overall situation here, and call it a "win" for the good guys. I mean, the ugly, brutal bad-guy wasn't about to listen to reason... and while Wild Pup's presence may have escalated the hostility, the Uggo had already caused plenty of damage at that point. Wild Dog's win makes the Quad Cities P.D. look pretty inept, which is a story thread I'm happy they're exploring here... and not just because it gets Ms. Susan King into the story! This is a thread that sometimes comes up when folks discuss the inability of the Gotham City P.D., and when we look at it, their situations aren't altogether different. Both vigilantes have something of an "inside man"... who may, at certain times, turn a blind eye to their activity. The difference here is, Commissioner Gordon is a lot cooler about the "deal" than Lt. Andy Flint appears to be. We can tell that this is not only getting under his skin from a Public Relations standpoint, but the morally-gray nature of Wild Dog's antics (which he is facilitating) is likely keeping him up at night too. Good stuff. Overall, yet another fine chapter for Wild Dog. Still not totally on board with our fill-in artist, Dick Rockwell... who, really made it hard to look at the veggie-terrorist's face. Yuck. Tomorrow: The Secret Six are still talking about meat!
Action Comics Weekly #619 (Wild Dog) "Fatal Distraction, Chapter Four: One Mass Murderer to Go" Writer - Max Collins Breakdowns - Terry Beatty Guest Pencils - Dick Rockwell Inks - John Nyberg Letters - Tim Harkins Colors - Carl Gafford Editor - Brian Augustyn I can't believe I forgot to say "Booyaka, Booyaka" when I opened yesterday's piece. Oh well, better late than never. Hopefully at least one reader has the foggiest idea what I'm referring to... otherwise I will appear even odder than usual! --
We open with a really ugly dude wearing both a horrible haircut and a "Save the Animals" t-shirt as he's opened fire on a Hap Burg fast food joint. Ya see, he just wants the killing to stop... ya know, meat is murder and all 'at. The news hits the Police radio, and it just so happens that one Jack Wheeler is "tuned in". Moments later, the Quad-Cities P.D. arrives on the scene.
Also arriving on the scene is a trio of boys, who just came to get something to eat. An Officer informs them that there's somethin' bad goin' on... and advises them to just go home. Little does he realize, however, that one of these young fellas just happens to be... Wild Pup!
Also, also arriving on the scene is... oh yeah, Ms. Susan King! Ever the opportunist, she is there for a story... in fact, she claims to be there to get the lunatic's "side" of the story. Andy Flint tells her to beat it, but I don't think she's goin' anywhere.
Just then... ROVER barrels onto the lot... and right through the wall of the Happ Burg Restaurant!
Inside Wild Dog faces off with the Lunatic (by God, is he ugly!)... who is somehow still constantly firing bullets! The Dog attempts to reason with the man, suggesting he let his hostages go... but, he ain't much listening.
Just then... Wild Pup arrives and hops on the crazy/ugly gunman's back!
-- Well, let's get it out of the way... the art this time out comes from a fella named Dick Rockwell, off of layouts by original artist, Terry Beatty... and, well... there be some oooooogly faces here, no? I'll give Dick the benefit of the doubt and assume that they were accurate representations of ugly people rather than any sort of artistic inability... after all, his Susan King looks great! Though, I suppose it is extremely difficult to mess with perfection. One thing I will mention though is, Wild Pup isn't especially "kiddish" here. In earlier chapters it was easy to tell he was a child... here though? Not so much. Just a small complaint. For a story, it's kind of an "outta nowhere" occurrence, which... for Wild Dog works quite well. That's kind of the thing about strictly street-level vigilantism, I suppose... these threats come out of nowhere without antecedent. At any moment, a bank could be robbed... or, an excruciatingly ugly fellow might open fire at a fast food joint! I've said it before, and I'll say it again here: I haven't read ahead on this one, so I'll be learning the fate of Wild Pup as I'm sharing it here. Not sure on which side I'd stack my chips on this. Will he live? Does he die? I could make a case for either outcome... which, really helps in keeping this arc as riveting as it's been! Overall, despite the eye-gouging ugliness of our antagonist, this was yet another fine chapter of Wild Dog! I'm consistently surprised at the quality of these stories... and even more surprised that not much became of this character after this! Tomorrow: Waxahachie... in the flesh!
