WARDOGWARDOG
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Extra-terrestrial (possibly Gallifreyan mutate), presumably extra-dimension/extra-temporal, demon-hybrid, cyborg, advanced technology user
Occupation: Mercenary
Affiliations: leader of the Special Executive; Captain
Britain (Brian Braddock), Saturnyne (former employer), Technet
(sub-contracted them on occasion); Gallifreyans/Time Lords
(former employers);
Rema-Du (former lover), Rassilon (possible creator)
Enemies: Brilox, Fury, Newborn, Order of the Black Sun
Known Relatives: possibly: mother (unnamed, demon), father (unnamed, saint)
Aliases: "Warthog" ; The loom-born are also known as The Bastards of Rassilon
Base of Operations: Unrevealed
First Appearance: Dr. Who Monthly#51 (April, 1981), Daredevils#5 (May, 1983)
Powers/Abilities: Wardog is a skilled
warrior and tactician, possessing mastery of a number of forms of
both armed and unarmed combat. He is a presumably a skilled
marksman. His mind is apparently able to withstand stresses that
would reduce others to insanity.
While he does possess a hint of morality and responsibility, like
the rest of the Special Executive, he works almost exclusively
for profit. He is witty and egocentric, chivalrous and
chauvinistic.
History: Wardog's past is largely unrevealed and otherwise uncertain (see comments). He apparently originates from an unknown point in time, possibly the distant futureor past, most likely from another planet and possibly from another dimension or multiverse.
(Captain Britain II#4-BTS) - In the modern era, Thug (or his brother) of the Technet tells Captain Britain that Wardog won't even be whelped yet for another hundred years.
(Dr. Who#51) - The Special Executive were hired
by the Gallifreyans to retrieve Fenris the Hellbringer from the
Zone of No Return, to which he had been banished twenty years
earlier. The Hellbringer had knowledge of the future, which the
Gallifreyans needed to learn who was attacking them in part of
the temporal nightmare known as the War in Four Dimensions.
Wardog was designated to actually make the retrieval, alongside
the Gallifreyan Rema-Du. Wardog and Rema-Du made the trip, and
Wardog was forced to splinter himself from one end of time to the
other to find and recover the splinters of Fenris. Wardog
completed his mission, returning the Hellbringer to the
Gallifreyans. Wardog's teammate, the Brainfeeler Viridian, probed
Fenris' mind, identifying the Gallifreyans' enemies as the Order
of the Black Sun. However, just then, a cadre of the Order of the
Black Sun appeared, assaulting the Gallifreyans. The Order killed
Viridian, Fenris, and eleven Gallifreyans, and blew off Wardog's
left arm. The Gallifreyans returned fire, driving off the Order,
but their mission was already accomplished.
Rema-Du: Great Gods, Wardog! They've destroyed your arm!
Wardog: Great God, my lady! So they have!
(Dr. Who#57) - Ten years later, the Special
Executive (Cobweb, Millenium, Wardog, Zeitgeist) escorted Rema-Du
to a negotiations ceremony for Uranium rights to the planet
Desrault. These negotiations involved the Gallifreyans, the
Sontarans, and an unknown third group. As before, Wardog served
as guardian of Rema-Du. Zeitgeist discovered that the third party
was, in fact, the Order of the Black Sun (As part of a great
time paradox, the Order had come from the future to attack the
Gallifreyans, who had never encountered them before (#51). In
this story, the Time Lords knew that they and the Order would
become enemies, but the Order of the present had yet to meet the
Gallifreyans. Got it? No? Too bad!). Hoping to prevent their
future enmity, the Gallifreyans sought to achieve a healthy
relationship with the Order. Rema-Du met with Lord Adamath, the
representative, and the two swiftly became friends and even
lovers.
However, Brilox, the Sontaran representative sought to sabotage
the growing relationship between Rema-Du and Adamath, and between
the Gallifreyans and the Order of the Black Sun. Brilox ambushed
Millenium with a Psy-Snare, wiping her mind and allowing him to
control her. The next day, at the Conference Hall, Millenium
ambushed and killed Adamath. Wardog was forced to kill Millenium
by breaking her neck in an effort to stop her, but he was too
late to save Adamath.
Wardog correctly identified Brilox as the perpetrator and
subjected him to his own weapon, leaving him a mindless
vegetable. However, the damage was done, and the enmity between
the Gallifreyans and the Order of the Black Sun was initiated
(Millenium, as part of the Special Executive, was seen as an
agent of the Gallifreyans, and thus they were blamed for the
murder of the Order's representative).
(Excalibur#47) - The Special Executive traveled back to the modern era, perhaps drawn by the energies from the Core Continuum contained within Excalibur's lighthouse, and negotiated a contract with the Technet, who had been exiled to Earth by Saturnyne. It was presumably at this time that War Dog recruited Scatterbrain to the join the Special Executive, and she became Fascination. He may also have recruited Numbers and Ringtoss.
(Dr. Who anthology: Walking in Eternity - p285
- 287: "Executive Action")
Wardog is in bed with his lover, the Time Lady Rema-Du. It has
been twelve years since he lost his arm to the Black Sun attack
on Gallifrey, although the war with that group has yet to start.
It is inevitable though, since the death of Rema's last lover
Adamath, an ambassador for the Black Sun. Their slumber is
disturbed by two assassins, but Wardog's superb reflexes make
short work of them. The two are Newborns, a new breed of
Gallifreyans created in artificial wombs, Rassilon's
"Looms", as a way of continuing the race since the
Pythia, former ruler of Gallifrey, rendered her people sterile as
a last gesture of defiance before she was driven from the planet
by Rassilon's armies.
--Wardog too is Loom-born, as are the other members of the
Special Executive (those belonging to the group at this time -
Wardog, Cobweb, Fascination, Zeitgeist, other unknown), but they
are the early experiments, the prototypes, parahumans imbued with
time energies which give them strange abilities - the
"Bastards of Rassilon". Disowned by their creator, they
are used by the High Council to do the Time Lords' dirty work--
Seconds after the deaths of the two Newborns at Wardog's hands,
Cobweb arrives, trying to warn them of the attack she just
remembered, and of a third assassin, who fails because of her
intervention. Another dead assassin later, and while all
three Newborns regenerate into new bodies, Wardog checks with
Zeitgeist on his communicator in order to ascertain what is
happening. It turns out that the Newborn have risen up in revolt,
and are rounding up the outnumbered Womb Born Gallifreyans.
Feeling no kinship to the Newborns, and knowing they cannot turn
the tide for the Womb Born, the Executive depart their homeworld,
leaving the two sides to battle it out.
(Daredevils#5) - Saturnyne was placed on trial for the corruption/chaos afflicting Earth-238, which was actually caused by Mad Jim Jaspers. She hired the Special Executive to enlist Captain Britain of Earth-616 in her defense, as he was the only witness to the events (Saturnyne's own troops, the Avant Guard were employees of the Dimensional Development Court (DDC) and as such could not testify). Rather than simply ask Captain Britain if he would testify (since Saturnyne had abandoned him on Earth-238), Wardog led the Special Executive in an assault on Braddock Manor to forcibly recruit him. Captain Britain resisted capture and attacked Wardog after learning he was an agent of Saturnyne, but Fascination subdued the Captain.
(Daredevils#6) - Wardog criticized Cobweb for not predicting that Captain Britain would go berserk upon waking up--she knew, she just didn't reveal it because she thought it would happen anyway. After Braddock calmed down, Wardog explained to him where he was and brought him to his DDC-approved chaperones--Captain England and Captain Albion of the Captain Britain Corps. Braddock was convinced to testify for Saturnyne, but it was for naught--Captain Britain, Wardog, and the rest stood by as Mandragon acted drastically and obliterated the entire dimension of Earth-238 from existence. This not only killed trillions of trillions, but also wiped out any evidence of Saturnyne's innocence--and occurred too late to prevent the Fury from escaping into a dimensional corridor.
(Daredevils#7) - Wardog tried to calm Captain Britain after he realized what Mandragon had done, but when Mandragon sentenced Saturnyne to death, Braddock went berserk and attacked the DDC's security force. Feeling responsible for dragging Braddock into this, Wardog reluctantly sent the Executive to assist him.
(Daredevils#8) - During the course of the struggle, Wardog teleported Saturnyne to Earth-616, and the rest of the Executive soon followed, escaping with Captain Britain and arriving at Braddock Manor.
(Daredevils#9) - As the events on Earth-616
began to parallel those of Earth-238, the Crooked World, Wardog
argued with Zeitgeist over whether to get involved in this
struggle. Zeitgeist firmly insisted that they should do nothing
and stay with Saturnyne only until she could pay them.
(Daredevils#10) - The Fury ambushed Captain UK, and, despite the protestations of Zeitgeist, Wardog led the Special Executive in an effort to take down the killer cybiote. Wardog spearheaded the assault, but the Fury turned abruptly and ripped off his cybernetic arm before he could attack. Stepping back from the struggle, he watched helplessly as the Fury slew one of Legion's temporal counterparts, and realized that this would mean the death of Legion within a few weeks.
(Daredevils#11) - Zeitgeist managed to temporarily disorient the Fury so that the Executive and Britain could get the drop on it, although it escaped before they could destroy it. However, with the deaths of Oxo and (soon) Legion, Wardog recognized that he was wrong to have involved the Executive in a deadly struggle in which they had no stake. Wardog led the group back to their Sidewinder to escape, lick their wounds, bury their dead, and think things over.
Comments: Created by Alan Moore and
David Lloyd.
His series were published in the UK as part of Marvel Comics Ltd,
which I guess is what evolved into Marvel UK.
This whole Crooked World saga by Alan Moore and Alan Davis is THE BEST I have ever read, in my collection of nearly 20,000 issues.
See the profile on the Special Executive for a more detailed discussion of their timeline, and for Alan Moore's discussion on their creation.
I'd place Wardog and the Special Executive in a distant portion of the Multiverse, if not the Omniverse.
In Daredevils#8, Wardog claims to be the offspring of a demon (mother) and a saint (father). The story in the Dr. Who anthology claims that he is a loom-born creation of Rassilon. The origins are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Rassilon could have harvested the material from a Gallifreyan saint and a demon posing as a Gallifreyan woman (for unknown reasons). Or perhaps Wardog is simply embarassed of his bastard origins and prefers to concoct a more suitable past to maintain his image. Thug (or his brother)'s comments about being whelped don't have any real significance, because it could describe either natural or artificial birth. Loki has a good explanation:
In the story in the Dr. Who Anthology,
Lance Parkin does an excellent job of tying the threads of
early Gallifreyan history (as established by the Doctor Who
novels) with what we know of the Executive. What he sets up
doesn't contradict their official appearances - Basically, while
the story isn't sanctioned by the BBC, Marvel or Alan Moore, I
would take it as their true origin, especially since the
copyright issues mean we're unlikely ever to get an official
version (or indeed another appearance)
If you take War Dog's comments regarding his parentage as a
literal statement (and not a chat up line), then bear in mind the
Gallifreyans have two individuals they consider as being next to
saints - Rassilon and Omega, who gave them true time travel.
Since War Dog would be one of the early Loom Born experiments, he
could easily consider Rassilon his father even if they shared no
genetic material. In the Lance Parkin story one of the assassins
tries to reason with War Dog for his life:
Likewise, if there is anyone who the Time Lords would consider a demon, its the deposed ruler the Pythia, who cursed the entire species. That said, I suspect War Dog was speaking somewhat poetically - his "father" is considered a saint by the Gallifreyans, and the "mother was a demon" is just a sarcastic way of tying in his animalistic appearance (maybe he's describing the early Looms that birthed him). --Loki.
Descriptions of time between events probably should not be taken literally when discussed by a time traveler.
Quote
Wardog:. My mother was a demon
and my father was a saint.
Saturnyne: Bernard?
Incidentally, the Special Executive makes an appearance in Captain Britain II#12, which, due to all of the time traveling and what-not, takes place before Wardog joined the group.
Doctor Who is the property of BBC (or at least
he was in 1981).
The good Doctor has also encountered Death's Head (The Freelance
Peacekeeping agent, yes?), @ Dr. Who#135 and 137--It was the
Doctor who shrunk Death's Head from 30' (from his Transformers
days) to @ 6' tall via his tissue compression eliminator.
In addition, Justin Alphonse Gamble, @ Power Man and Iron Fist#79
and Avengers Annual#22, is definitely based on the good Doctor.
Much thanks to Loki, Jeph York,
Per Degaton, Mark Caithness, and Silver Acre Comics, who
identified the Dr. Who stories, and helped me get the original
issues.
Loki wrote the summary to the Anthology issue, since I don't have
it, and he also helped make sense of the Special Executive's
timeline.
CLARIFICATIONS: No known connections to:
Fenris the Hellbringer has no known connection to:
First Posted: 08/11/2002 (?)
Last updated: 08/11/2002
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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thing!
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