PUBLIC ENEMY

Real Name: Saber Hagen

Identity/Class: Human (alternate future, 2099) variant/mutate

Occupation: executioner

Affiliations: Red Dogs; Matt Axel and the Degens at his hostel

Enemies: the public; Alchemax, Punisher (Jake Gallows), White Dog; Professor Dorn and other scientists from the Red Dog project

Known Relatives: Bannock and Holli Hagen (parents, deceased)

Aliases: Red Dog

Base of Operations: New York, 2099

First Appearance: Punisher 2099#15 (April, 1994)

Powers: Superhuman strength (enhanced human to Class 10), speed, durability, and stamina. He can withstand high power machine gunfire to his chest at point blank range. He is highly skilled in armed and unamred combat, and is skilled with a variety of ballistic weapons.
Apparently, he goes from his normal to Red Dog state when angered or preparing for battle. He may possess normal physical abilities in his form at rest. In Red Dog form, he gives off a unique energy.
He also used a treaded, armored vehicle, armed with heat-seeking missiles.

History:
(Punisher 2099#15(fb)-BTS) - Saber is the son of two Red Dogs--genetically engineered warriors, created by Alchemax and used in the Eco-Wars. After the war, Alchemax had the other Red Dogs killed. Saber's parents were allowed to live--their copyright was allowed to expire--because they did not appear to carry the "Red Genes." However, the gene had "skipped a generation," and their son was born a Red Dog.

(Punisher 2099#15(fb)) - Alchemax sent the Eco-Police to recapture Bannock and Holli for gene control. They managed to hide young Saber from the police, but as they called for help, their former friends and neighbors turned a blind eye to them, thankful that they were not being taken themselves. They were taken to Alchemax's laboratories, where they were experimented on, and left as inhuman creatures.
Saber was taken in by Matt Axel, who ran a hostel, or sanctuary, for Degens. As he grew older and stronger, Saber helped out some of the less functional Degens at the hostile.
When he was old enough, Saber set out to avenge his parents.

(Punisher 2099#15) - After five years, Saber tracked down and killed the last person involved with Project: Red Dog--Professor Dorn. He briefly felt relief and saw his mission at an end. However, on the way home, he was apalled when a crowd of people refused to help a woman being attacked by a lone armed man. Saber attacked and overpowered the man, but was then swarmed by the admiring crowd. Furious at their behavior, he blamed the public for what was wrong with society, for what was allowed to occur. He opened fire on the crowd and slew everyone present, and then dubbed himself the Public Enemy.

(Punisher 2099#16) - Saber watched a crowd allowing the Eco-Police drag away a pair of Degens. He rescued the Degens and then exterminated the two Eco-Cops, and then the crowd that would have let the two innocents be captured and likely executed. Saber brought the two Degens to Matt Axel's hostel, where he was reunited with Matt, who tried to dissuade him from his current path

(Punisher 2099#17) - A crowd watched as the Punisher brought in a criminal. The Public Enemy blew away the crowd and then introduced himself to the Punisher, thinking they would become allies. The Punisher went after him, but Saber escaped down a sewer pipe. Later, the Punisher caught up to him and, after a mass of destruction, targeted him with his plamsa cannon. However, Axel, who was the Punisher's armorer, had emptied the cannon, to prevent him from killing Saber. Despite his armor, the Punisher was no match for the Public Enemy in hand to hand combat, and he began to take a savage beating. A nearby crowd, knowing they'd be next if the Punisher fell, attacked the Public Enemy with whatever weapons they could find. As he disappeared under a pile of bodies, he was pleased that they finally understood that they need to stand up for themselves.

(Doom 2099#25/2, Punisher 2099#25/2) - Far too durable to be torn apart by normal people, Saber burrowed underground and escaped into the desert. He decided to start a new life and took a job at Don's Cyber Mart.
Two weeks later, a gang of criminals attacked the Mart, and Don was killed trying to fight them off. Saber attacked and slew the criminals. When he walked outside, he learned that a crowd had watched the attack and had done nothing to stop it, or to help Don. His old anger quickly returned and he mowed down the crowd.

(2099 Unlimited#8) - The White Dog, the Alchemax agent who had slaughtered the original group of Red Dogs, was notified of the existence of the Public Enemy. Correctly deducing that he would not have been killed by a crowd of normals, the White Dog set out to finish his mission and exterminate the last Red Dog. The White Dog waited for the release of energy that would accompany the Public Enemy going into Red Dog state. Soon enough, the Public enemy was in action, shooting up a crowd who had attacked a robot couple. The White Dog tracked him quickly and attacked him. The White Dog's radiation weakened Saber and kept him at his mercy, until he was able to bind the White Dog with a strap of Mag-Lev (a super conductor that maintains a uniform temperature), trapping his energies within him until he exploded. The gathered crowd applauded his power, and he punched one of them out and told the rest of the crowd that he would be after them as well.

Comments: Created by Pat Mills, Tony Skinner, and Tom Morgan.

I'm not sure what they were trying to say about the Gene skipping a generation. Perhaps they never actually gained the powers, but instead passed it on to their son.

Jake Gallows was even more extreme (and psychotic) than Frank Castle. He viewed Axel's assistance of the Public Enemy as a betrayal and set him up as next on his list for punishment.

As confirmed by my brother Ted, who knows as much about sports as I do about comics, there was a baseball player named Brett Saberhagen. "he climbed the road to sucksess for KC and later pitched for Boston when his arm was basically shot." I think this was around the time the story was written, so I guess it may have been some sort of homage?
--Snood

I would think the name would be a reference to Fred Saberhagen, the author of the Book of Swords, Berserker and other fantasy and science fiction novels. It seems a more relevant homage for a 2099 book.
--Brian Overton

Quoth the nutjob Public Enemy: "Go on! Run sheep! Baaa! Baaa! Baaa!"

In Philadelphia, by U of Penn, there's a bar called "The White Dog Cafe." If you're in the area, go there and have a bottle of Leg Lifter Lager. You won't regret it....mmmmm......beer....

CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connections to:

• The Public Eye 2099, a network of cameras acting as city wide security, @ Spider-Man 2099#1
  
• The Public Defender 2099, another name for the White Dog, @ 2099 Unlimited#8