MAD-DOG #1

****

First off, I would like to apologize to those who actually follow this blog because I haven't posted anything in a long time. During the Wisconsin winters it gets very cold, and our computer room in the house here does not have heat, making it very uncomfortable to sit and freeze my proverbial backside off just to write a review to a comic book that no one has thought of in years. However, now that warmer weather is on the rise again, I'm hoping that I will be able to get back to doing some more reviews. And, in fact, the comic book I will be reviewing for you today is among one of my favorite series. Unfortunately it didn't fit the times that it was in and therefore suffered a short run by Marvel, however I found the series highly entertaining. It's called Mad-Dog!


This series of Mad-Dog, a part of Marvel's "Ace Comics" line goes back to May of 1993. Mad-Dog used a rather unique style to fit two comic books into one. It seems that the editors couldn't choose between which version of the Mad-Dog character to write into their comic series; a wholesome, upstanding super-hero with dog powers and a young boy side-kick, or an almost rabid animalistic Mad-Dog hellbent on destroying the people who cursed him with his canine abilities. Their solution was to run both characters in the same magazine, one starting at one cover going half-way through while the other character starts at the other cover and runs upside-down heading back to the center.

Writer Evan Dorkin and penciler Gordon Purcell handle the "rough-edged" character while Ty Templeton handles writing and drawing on the clean-cut version. Let's start with the rough-edged Mad-Dog. With his DNA fused together with that of a dog, Dr. Jeffrey Austin finds himself with super-human strength and speed as well as heightened senses and a bit of a temper that he can't control. This first issue doesn't go far into Dr. Austin's background, but alas, true believers, I have read ahead a bit to give you the background. Mainly the first issue is an introduction to Mad-Dog as a vigilante in the Chicago-land area beating up gang-bangers. The illustrations in this version are highly detailed and action oriented even if the coloring was quite dark. To compare Mad-Dog to DC's Batman would make this version of Mad-Dog edited by Tom DeFalco most conducive to the "Dark Knight" style character.

On the flip side of this issue we find editor Bob McKay's more PG Mad-Dog. Dr. Jeffrey Austin in a veterinarian who, thanks to an experiment gone wrong, has many dog-like abilities. Along with his side-kick, Buddy, "The Bravest Boy Alive," he battles wrong-doers all around town. Reading this version of Mad-Dog, I can't help but this of Adam West's Batman from the original TV series way back when. The art has a more golden-age feel to it, going as far as using action words like "Wham!" and "Crash!" While I did enjoy both versions, I found that I did prefer McKay's more wholesome Mad-Dog, simply because the subtle humor in it cracks me up! Considering also the double-sided format of the comic book, and that I enjoyed both Mad-Dogs. I would have to rate Mad-Dog #1 a four out of five stars.