Wild Dog Creator Slams DC's Portrayal of the Character as an Insurrectionist

[bat39]

The whole point of Black Label is to be an adult imprint that pushes the envelope. Not doing something because it will offend people goes against the whole ethos of that. Also Black Label has stories that take place out of continuity, and this is going to be one just based on the premise.

Trust me, I'm the last person who'll want to censor something because it 'offends' people.

That said, if I was the DC editor who had to sign off on it, I'd probably think a hundred times before doing that. Because ultimately, leaving aside politics and free-speech issues, I have a responsibility to the company and to these characters I've been entrusted with. And given the divisive political discource in the US right now, of which the Jan 6 riots are a major feature, I'd probably want to keep any association with that away from a book I'm responsible for right now, to avoid the controversy and hassle more than anything else.

I could understand making Wild Dog part of some fictitious right-wing militia, or just present him as a straightforward conservative and libertarian (God knows, if Ben Percy can have Oliver Queen literally call himself a ''social justice warrior'', another writer should be allowed to present a right-leaning character in a semi-positive light at least). But invoking Jan 6 is just an ill-advised move right now in so many ways, and it'll probably be more trouble than its worth.

This whole thing feels like they are downplaying the seriousness of what happened on Jan. 6 in an attempt to look "relevant". I don't think our society fully understands what happened that day. An angry mob tried to murder congress based on a lie to throw out the results of a legitimate election so the loser of said election could become dictator for life. This was literally an attempt to overthrow the government. This normalizing of terrorist behavior is exactly the kind of thing I was afraid would happen afterward. And now we're seeing it. "Oh, ha! ha! Look at those crazies! Let's use them as a gimmick!" Make no mistake, this was a domestic terrorist attack. This is the equivalent of using Timothy McVeigh in a comic circa 1996. This isn't a joke. We also don't know what's going to come out of what happened that day down the line. We could be looking at future attacks. This comic might not age well if someone connected to this ends up killing even more people. Or founds a domestic terrorist group themselves. Or kills an elected official. Even taking the creator's concerns out of the equation, this is poor judgement to say the least. Imagine if someone did a comic where one of the 9/11 hijackers survived and was put on the team around 2002. No one would go for it.

Well, not everyone in the US would agree that the Capitol rioters are the same as a 9/11 hijacker. But that's the point...it's too contentious and too recent an event to start incorporating into pop-culture in a throwaway manner like this just to look, as you say, ''relevant''.

[j9ac9k]

Do we even know for sure what Azz's idea of the Jan 6th insurrection looks like in the DCU? Since it's Black Label, he can do anything, but is he actually placing it in the real world or some modified DCU version of those events?

[John Venus]

Even if it's an out of continuity story, based on Terry Beatty's post he seems worried that this is how the character will be perceived from now on.

[Restingvoice]

I already don't like the general idea of any adaptation misrepresenting characters, and this is a book starring at least two fan-favorite, Joker and Red Hood, so this story is gonna be someone's first and maybe only exposure to the character. So in continuity or not, good story or not, high sale or not, I totally get the author's worry.

[Username taken]

I haven't read Wild Dog in a few decades, but, unless I'm misremembering, wasn't he fighting against homegrown right-wing white supremacist terrorists?

Granted, this is Brian Azzerello, who seems to delight in writing dumb out-of-character stuff in order to get fanboys upset.

Exactly.

I can see why the creator is pissed off.

If I were in his shoes, I'd be outraged.

[SiegePerilous02]

Even if it's an out of continuity story, based on Terry Beatty's post he seems worried that this is how the character will be perceived from now on.

Yeah and considering how an out of continuity tale greatly influenced the direction of DC's two biggest characters (TDKR with Batman and Superman), for better or worse, it's hard to blame him.

I don't have much of a horse in this race either way, but I can see it as a valid concern for the author.

[HsssH]

Yeah, if thing is well received and sells well then, in one form or another, it is going to become part of the continuity.

[Agent Z]

My experiences with Azzarello's writing tells me that this idea will serve as nothing more than shock value to get people's attention.

[bat39]

Yeah and considering how an out of continuity tale greatly influenced the direction of DC's two biggest characters (TDKR with Batman and Superman), for better or worse, it's hard to blame him.

I don't have much of a horse in this race either way, but I can see it as a valid concern for the author.

Yeah, Collins' mentions it in one of his comments on the Bleeding Cool article.

His contention is that the general people, and even casual fans, won't really bother too much with nuances and nitty-gritties like this being an ''Elseworld'' or ''alternate version'', and that they'll straight up assume that this character is fundamentally a far-right insurrectionist, and that his creators will be associated with those politics as well.

[Captain Nostalgia]

I own Wild Dog #1 and it is one of the most ridiculous comics I recall reading in my youth. It seemed like every panel had a red blot dot on it for a gunshot wound.

He's also one of the worst dressed superheroes (if we can call him that)in DC,....militia men like to wear balaclava's, so hiding your face with a Jason goalie mask, and running around with a semi automatic doesn't seem to far off the mark.

If Azzarello writes him well and gets into his head, so we can fully understand his perspective (no matter how far out there it will be) and say Ah! I don't have a problem with it, as long as I don't get some longwinded preachy political message as to why he is the baddie, its all good. I hate political preaching in comic books.

The capital insurrection was a mixed bag of far right weirdo's, libertarians, pedagogical conservatives, nationalists, fascists, conspiracy nutbars....and of course old school neo nazi's and white supremacists.

He can have nativist views, but as long as he isn't a full white supremacist, I don't see it as character assassination.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I was curious, so I actually read through the original Wild Dog miniseries and I was wrong, Wild Dog wasn't fighting right wing white supremacist terrorists. The terrorists were explicitly neither right wing nor left wing. They were simply blank slate terrorists trying to tear down the existing system through violence and mayhem, which could either be the Proud Boys or Anti-Fa depending upon what cable news you watch, MSNBC or Fox News. However, given that the terrorists are uniformly white, it's fairly obvious they weren't meant to be the multi-cultural organization that most leftist are...

So, yeah, turning Wild Dog into an insurrectionist isn't quite as big a leap as I originally thought. Given how many ex-military and cops were among those the FBI is currently scooping up, you could make the argument that, yeah, maybe a guy like Wild Dog, or at least somebody dressed up like Wild Dog, would become an insurrectionist.

[Digifiend]

Since "Black Label..." is clearly not "616..." and Jason is being tasked with murdering Joker?

I'm missing the issue.

Has anyone made the case for that this is taking place in mainstream DCU continuity?

Earth-0, lol. 616 is Marvel.

And most Black Label books (everything except for Far Sector?) are alternate continuity to my knowledge.

[signalman112]

Wild Dog was a very good read in the 80's. Mini-series, Special, and stories in ACTION COMICS WEEKLY.
Couple of years ago Wild Dog was a good supporting character in the YOUNG ANIMAL series "Cave Carson".

Sorry to see DC letting their personnel take a crap on Max and Terry.

WildDog.jpg

[Powertool]

Wild Dog was a very good read in the 80's. Mini-series, Special, and stories in ACTION COMICS WEEKLY.
Couple of years ago Wild Dog was a good supporting character in the YOUNG ANIMAL series "Cave Carson".

Sorry to see DC letting their personnel take a crap on Max and Terry.

Oh, finally somebody remembered Wild Dog's supporting role in Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye!

Where he was portrayed as a total second amendment warrior.

Page 19 of issue #6

Chloe: "Do you really not have a grenade launcher in that endless bag of guns?!"

Wild Dog: "No, Chloe. Because it's really hard to get grenade launchers... Remember that the next time you vote."


I mean, everything in Cave Carson was so bugf*ck insane that having Wild Dog, of all heroes, team up with the titular speleologist was part of the book's charm. But in that comic Wild Dog is still a massive gun nut who sometimes hears a voice whispering dangerous ideas into his ears (issue #4). It's much more subtle than outright making Jack Wheeler a member of the 1/6 insurrectionists, but to be honest, based on the way Rivera and Way wrote him, Wild Dog still comes out as the one hero in the DC Universe who would take part in that deplorable event.




Also, I know this is off-topic, but speaking of character assassinations, I really wonder what Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky, if they were still alive, would think of the treatment reserved to Adam Strange by Tom King in his Strange Adventures maxi-series. Now THAT's taking an old intellectual property from decades past, throwing it into a pool with a load attached to its ankles and having fun using it as a pistol target as it drowns.

[Tzigone]

This whole thing feels like they are downplaying the seriousness of what happened on Jan. 6 in an attempt to look "relevant". I don't think our society fully understands what happened that day. An angry mob tried to murder congress based on a lie to throw out the results of a legitimate election so the loser of said election could become dictator for life. This was literally an attempt to overthrow the government. This normalizing of terrorist behavior is exactly the kind of thing I was afraid would happen afterward. And now we're seeing it. "Oh, ha! ha! Look at those crazies! Let's use them as a gimmick!"

Comic book writers used Nazis as a gimmick in the 1940s. WW even reformed one (albeit via retcon). And it's not necessarily "normalizing" to highlight horrific events in the the present in a comic. Admittedly, though, I have no faith in Azz to do it.

I don't know Wild Dog - never heard of the character before today. But I really, really hate heroes (or good guy supporting characters) made evil as a general rule.