Kurr

The Dragon was found in a burning field by Lt. Frank Darling. At the time, Chicago was being terrorized by villainous 'superfreaks' (Larsen's collective term for superpowered characters), namely the criminal gang called the Vicious Circle, led by the mysterious Overlord. Realizing that the Dragon's super-human powers would be a terrific boon to the police in battling the Vicious Circle, Darling proposes to the Dragon that he join the police. At first, the Dragon turns him down and takes a job in Darling's cousin's warehouse. After a number of serious incidents, including the murder of the superhero Mighty Man and the brutal mauling of SuperPatriot, Darling takes drastic action and pays Vicious Circle members to threaten his cousin in the hope that it would prompt Dragon to re-consider his offer. Although this achieves Darling's desired result: the two criminals, Skullface and Hardware, kill Darling's cousin and detonate a bomb in his warehouse. The Dragon joins the police, but Darling is now under the thumb of the Vicious Circle, causing him to steer Dragon away from Vicious Circle activities.

Later The Dragon gains a girlfriend, Debbie Harris, only to have her shot dead in his apartment by her jealous ex, Arnold Dimple. The Dragon falls into deep depression as a result. Dimple would return to plague the Dragon on several occasions as the Fiend, having made a deal with the Devil himself and gained supernatural powers.

### The Chicago PD Years

As well as being kept away from Vicious Circle activities, The Dragon was loaned out to other police forces across the country to help them in dealing with superpowered criminals. While on loan to the NYPD, he first meets the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and teams up with them again multiple times. Also during his time in New York, there is a large prison break and a number of powerful and dangerous criminals are killed. This is the first time the Chicago PD loses a star witness against Overlord, as Hardware, who was going to give evidence against the criminal is shot dead for being a traitor.

Though Darling's captain's 'Freak Force' program failed, the Dragon carries on a lasting relationship with one of its former members: Rapture, a former prostitute with electrical powers, who would later have his child. Meanwhile, Overlord's second-in-command Cyberface has broken away from the Vicious Circle and formed a rival organization. Cyberface later is arrested and attempts to give evidence against Overlord, although like Hardware before him, he is also killed. Ultimately, however, Cyberface is resurrected and later leads the Vicious Circle under the control of Horde, another recurring villain.

Later the Dragon makes his first, disastrous attempt to arrest Overlord, who easily defeats him and leaves him impaled upon a church spire. The Dragon is believed to have died, but regenerates from his wounds afterwards. This would not be the only time that the Dragon is missing and presumed dead; it becomes both a recurring theme and running joke in the series. During his recovery, Dragon is attacked by a person under mental control of a strange worm. Earlier, the Dragon had encountered others possessed by similar worms (including both the SuperPatriot and a homeless super-freak called the Shrew), and a few months later, the worm parasite takes control of Dragon. Under the domination of this creature, the Dragon goes on a rampage during which many innocent bystanders are injured and some are killed. He is finally stopped by a vigilante called Mace, and the worms are traced to a villain called Horde. Despite his not being in control of his actions, the rampage results in a massive negative backlash against the Chicago Police Department. The Dragon's biggest naysayer, R. Richard Richards (a thinly veiled parody of J. Jonah Jameson), takes this opportunity to attack the Dragon with a robotic weapon dubbed 'Dragon Slayer.' Later, the Dragon encounters the She-Dragon, a young superpowered woman who had modeled herself after him.

Following an attack on the police station and the murder of Cyberface (who would later be resurrected again), Dragon leads a SWAT team to finally 'take down' Overlord. The battle is harsh and every member of the SWAT Team perishes except for the Dragon, who is skinned alive. Even in his weakened state, the Dragon is finally able to unmask Overlord as Mafia boss Antonio Segetti who subsequently falls to his death.

After aiding the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for a second time, the Dragon narrowly survives another attack by the Fiend, which leaves him nearly crippled after his bones heal incorrectly. To make matters worse, Chicago is in the midst of a brutal gang war that has risen as a result of the Overlord's death. The Vicious Circle, once kept tightly organized by the Overlord, has since separated into several factions who are battling for criminal supremacy. The Dragon is found by a friendly cabbie and Mighty Man, who is able to use his super-strength to re-set the Dragon's bones. After recuperating from this ordeal, the Dragon fights another prison break, this time in a maximum security facility torn open by a newly-resurrected Cyberface. This battle marks the end of the gang war, and Cyberface assumes command of the Vicious Circle.

This victory is followed by difficult times for the Dragon. After a number of crossovers with other Image Comics characters, including Wildstar and The Maxx, the Dragon encounters Spawn and ultimately is sent to hell by the Fiend, the demonic soul of Arnold Dimple who can possess living bodies and whose powers are fueled by the capacity for hate of the person whose body he possesses. The Fiend's last victim is Debbie Harris' mother who had no idea that the demon possessing her was the spirit of her daughter's murderer.

While in Hell, one of the series' best remembered scenes occurs, which is a fist-fight between God and the Devil. As God finally overcame the Devil, God warns his defeated opponent: "Don't fuck with God." Dragon is returned to Earth by God just as the amnesiac Dragon attempts to ask God where he came from.

Afterwards, things grow steadily worse for the Dragon. He is unable to save fellow officer Phil Dirt, who's ill, with a blood transfusion. Meanwhile, Rapture (pregnant with the Dragon's child) suffers internal damage when the baby kicks—the unborn child having inherited its father's strength—and Rapture enters premature labour. The Dragon is not able to reach the hospital in time, and the baby appears to have died. However, in truth, the infant is taken by the Covenant of the Sword, a shadowy organization bent on world takeover.

After a crossover with Hellboy, the Dragon is caught up in the Mars Attacks Image and Mars Attacks Savage Dragon event, where he is responsible for destroying the Martians' bases on Mars using a Martian Growth Ray. This results in their retreat and, given that Dragon had destroyed most of their home, probably their extinction. While he was gone, the Vicious Circle had taken control of the city. Returning home to a devastated Chicago, Dragon is captured and publicly crucified by the Circle. The Dragon survives and defeats most of the villains, but the Dragon's new superior, Captain Mendoza, suspends him for having been missing for so long. During his suspension, the Dragon spends a few months as a bounty hunter and helps rebuild the city after the Martian invasion.