Wild Dog was the creation of writer Max Allan Collins along with artists Terry Beatty and Dick Giordano. Jack Wheeler was an ex-college football player and former Marine living in the Quad Cities. When his girlfriend, secretly the daughter of a local mob boss, was murdered, Wheeler took to the streets as a lethal vigilante wearing a hockey mask and the jersey of his College football team.

Following from this initial mini-series, his adventures continued into the serialized Action Comics Weekly and eventually a Wild Dog Special.