Despite being part of the cast of Arrow, Wild Dog is still a relatively obscure DC hero. A new story has revamped the character for the Dawn of DC era. However, it also finds the gun-toting hero dealing with legal troubles that do not involve his killing of criminals.
Wild Dog’s legal woes are detailed in Batman: The Brave and the Bold #7 in the story “Here Comes Trouble!” Written by Kyle Starks and illustrated by Fernando Pasarin, “Here Comes Trouble!” finds Wild Dog moving against a bold new gang armed with high-tech weaponry. Unfortunately, his efforts are slowed when he is served with legal papers regarding his costume following a raid.
A former college athlete, Wild Dog joined the army after an injury ended his athletic career. When organized crime killed his girlfriend, he turned to vigilantism and donned a shirt with his college’s Red Dog mascot as part of his costume. Unsurprisingly (at least, to everyone but Wild Dog), his college took issue with being associated with a violent vigilante. This leads to their threat of legal action if he doesn’t change his costume.
Too bad Ted Grant is already Wildcat
To Wild Dog’s credit, he does try to honor the wishes of his alma mater. Unfortunately, his new costume, featuring an off-model version of the Red Dog logo, does little to intimidate his quarry. Indeed, the orange dog looks more like a cat, leading to joking remarks about his name needing to be Scaredy Cat.
While this story is played for laughs, it does raise some interesting questions regarding the DC Universe. While the college is probably within its rights to protect its logo, it is unclear how it can threaten to sue someone with a secret identity. There’s also the question of how easily Wild Dog can be tracked by a process server, but not the police.
Batman: The Brave and the Bold #7 is now available at comic shops everywhere.
