This is Wild Dog #2
Publisher: DC Comics
Year Published: 1987
Writer: Max Collins
Pencils: Terry Beatty
Inks: Dick Giordano
Gems in the Bin is a weekly column where I select a comic book from the $.25 bin at Fanfare Sports and Entertainment in Kalamazoo, Michigan for review. Will I strike gold or will I pay too much for an awful comic that should have been shredded? Let’s check out my selection for this week, This is Wild Dog #2 (1987).
Before you read any further, I would like for you to watch this clip from This is Spinal Tap. For those of you that just completely ignored my advice, then I’ll get you into the loop. The classic clip I shared contained some valuable advice where there is a fine line between stupid and clever. This is Wild Dog #2 by DC Comics walks that fine line and lands face first into the stupid zone.
I didn’t have high hopes for this comic when I pulled it from the $.25 bin. The cover for This is Wild Dog #2 had the dreaded late 1980s “we’re trying to be edgy with a new breed of masked avenger” look. Wild Dog, some crime-fighting clown wearing a hockey mask, has crashed through a glass window into a room full of kids and is spraying the bad guys with bullets. Hello, stupid zone. If the title character has a name like Wild Dog, then this song should be their anthem.
This is Wild Dog #2 is another comic where a masked avenger takes on crime, and the press decides to crucify the masked avenger instead of applauding their efforts. The city where the masked avenger, Wild Dog, lives is filled with all sorts of crime, and in this issue, there is a terrorist organization planning on blowing up a school. I didn’t read the first issue, but it seems that the villains in this story are the just evil variety that commits random acts of violence and engages in extremely long diatribes where their plans of evil are explained in unnecessary detail.
The script by Max Collins was predictable and featured poor dialogue. This issue is nothing more than the bad guys have a plan but are foiled at the last minute by Wild Dog. The bad guys are one-dimensional and seem to lack a goal. A man is willing to blow up a school, but he just sounds and acts like a basic comic book villain and not a well-developed character that you want to see defeated. I was completely bored from start to finish.
The artwork by Terry Beatty was nothing special and I was not impressed with his panels. Every character looked stiff and the action sequences failed to capture my attention.
Overall, this was a dreadful find in the $.25 bin. Wild Dog might have been a clever idea, but the end result was one stupid looking character stuck in a poorly written comic book.
Rating: LEAVE IT!
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TonyDoug Wright is the owner and head writer at Champion City Comics, a webcomics community, and at The Lost Soul of Rock and Roll, a weekday rock music blog. He is also a proud father and is married to the coolest and most beautiful girl on the planet.
