John Wagner is best known as the co-creator, with artist Carlos Ezquerra, of the British comic book institution that is Judge Dredd, as well as the author of the original graphic novel, turned Viggo Mortensen film, A History of Violence. In the heart of the all-guns-blazing attitude of the 1990s, Wagner, along with artist Dave Johnson, unleashed the first issue of a brutal new ongoing series set in the crime-ridden streets of Gotham City called the Chain Gang War (1993), which was replete with all the savage, violent action and gunplay that fans had come to expect from Wagner's work.
The original solicitation copy for the series appears below.
A trio of armed vigilantes goes gunning for both street scum and super-villains. But quick executions aren't necessarily their style; they're into punishment. For that they have the House of Correction, an inescapable dungeon far below the Strang Mansion. There, justice is dispensed...despite the law! CHAIN GANG WAR is a series set in the gritty underside of the DC Universe, where shocks and twists abound with high-calibre action and intrigue. The Chain Gang has its share of friends and foes: police detective Joe Shanahan wants to bring them in and put them away for good; investigative reporter Marion Hawley wants the inside story on the Gang, and may go to extremes to get it; and the city is so frustrated with crime and motivated by fear that the anger boils into support for the vigilantes.
The street vigilante group known as the Chain Gang consisted of Ernie Doors, an unemployed Vietnam veteran, Yale Strang, a man of wealth who lost the love of his life to actions of a murderous street criminal, and Curtis Zecker, an unbalanced ex-con with a taste for violence and vengeance against purveyors of organized crime. The three gun-toting vigilantes target criminals, such as powerful Gotham mob bosses, who seem to consistently escape conviction in the courts, usually by mounting heavily armed invasions of their own homes. Much to the chagrin of Zecker, unlike many other armed vigilantes like the Punisher, the Chain Gang does not set out to murder their targets. Instead, the Chain Gang kidnaps and imprisons them in a makeshift dungeon in the bowels of Strang's mansion, setting something of a precedent for what Damian Wayne would attempt to accomplish with his reorganized Teen Titans and their Mercy Hall facility.
 |
| The Chain Gang from left to right; Ernie Dorrs, Yale Strang, and Curtis Zecker Art by Dave Johnson |
Chain Gang War undersold in 1993 and 1994 because it got lost in the veritable deluge of other 90s titles that were heavy on bloodshed, gunfights, and other assorted varieties of over-the-top violence while starring A-list characters (i.e. Lobo, Punisher, Spawn, Wolverine, Youngblood, etc.). Unfortunately, the Chain Gang War was canceled due to those poor sales ending with issue #12, but in those twelve issues, Deathstroke appeared in eight of them (issues #3-7, 9-10, and 12).
 |
| Deathstroke wreaking havoc on Ernie Dorrs and Yale Strang on the cover of Chain Gang War (1993) #5 Art by Dave Johnson |
So, the question becomes, "What was Deathstroke's connection to the Chain Gang?" The answer is that there are two coincidental reasons that set Slade Wilson on a collision course with the Chain Gang. The first reason was that Deathstroke was contracted by the family of Gotham mob boss and Strang Manor "inmate," John Scipio, to track down the Chain Gang, as the Scipio family suspected they had something to do with John's disappearance. Slade accepted the contract but insisted that his $10,000,000 fee be donated because his own interest in the Chain Gang was personal, not professional.
Slade's second connection to the Chain Gang was established in his days as a soldier during the U.S. war in Vietnam. As shown in a flashback in Deathstroke the Terminator (1990) #5, Slade was part of a squad whose mission was to eliminate some Viet Cong that were operating in a village full of innocent civilians. Slade's lieutenant ordered the squad to open fire on everyone in the village cutting down enemy and civilian alike. While Slade only aimed at the enemy, the rest of the squad fired indiscriminately. Slade's personal sense of honor caused him to be sickened by the cold-blooded murders of the village's civilians. Slade recounted this story to Wintergreen in Chain Gang War #4, but with one significant addition. After viewing video footage of the Chain Gang in action, Slade recognized one member of the Chain Gang as a member of his old squad in Vietnam, that member being Ernie Dorrs. Slade then placed Dorrs firmly within his sights to make him pay for the heinous actions of that fateful day.
 |
| Ernie Dorrs in shock at what he had done, and Slade Wilson declaring his intentions to make Dorrs pay for his war crimes. Art by Dave Johnson |
I won't spoil how Deathstroke's confrontation with Earnie Dorrs and the Chain Gang ends up as I feel it is one of the few chapters of Deathstroke's history that is still semi-hidden because the Chain Gang War did not sell well in its day, it has not yet been collected in trade paperback form, and is not currently available to purchase digitally. If you can find a way to read the entire twelve-issue series, I highly recommend that you do so. Wagner and Johnson's Chain Gang War is a smart, adrenaline-fueled action story that shines a light on multiple "shades of grey" characters taking extreme actions based upon their own personal brands of "justice over law" morality. Chain Gang War is a true hidden gem indeed.
