<span class="SFPTagline">
From SCIFIPEDIA
</span>
The Sandman is a name used by several DC Comics characters, though the Wesley Dodds superhero Sandman character was the first. He is often referred to as the "Golden Age Sandman", since his original series was during the 1940s, referred to as the Golden Age of Comics. Though he has been considered a DC Comics super-hero for decades, in the 1990s he had a critically acclaimed series entitled Sandman Mystery Theatre under the Vertigo label. Vertigo is DC's line of horror, fantasy, and science fiction titles for mature readers.
The Sandman is known as one of the truly seminal "Mystery Men" of the 1940s, combining both the elements of pulp fiction heroes like The Shadow and what would become the superhero genre. He can be looked upon as a sort of "missing link" between the two genres. He dressed in a green business suit, fedora hat, and a gas mask which serves the double purpose of hiding his identity and shielding him from the effects of his own gas gun. He employs his "gas gun", which emits gas to put people to sleep, or place them into a hypnotic trance in which they reveal their secrets. Unlike many of his hero contemporaries, he had no super-powers.
Like The Shadow, Wesley Dodds was depicted as a wealthy young “man about town” with a female companion, in this case named Dian Belmont. Dian was in Wesley’s full confidence about his dual identity, and often assisted him as a partner in solving mysteries. As such, she was more like the Shadow’s Margo Lane, and less like Superman’s Lois Lane. The Sandman was a founding member of comic’s first super-hero team, the Justice Society of America.
Sandman and Sandy in their spandex garb.
In Adventure Comics #69 (December, 1941), Dodds was given a more super-hero look, a yellow and purple spandex type costume and a teen sidekick named Sandy Hawkins or "Sandy", who was Dian Belmont’s nephew. This allowed him to fit in more with the currently popular comic book heroes, though ultimately made him less remarkable. For this reason, current creators like to place him back in his original garb.
DC Comics brought the original Sandman back as part of their mature reader Vertigo line, in the series Sandman Mystery Theatre (1993-1998), establishing a connection between him and Neil Gaiman’s new The Sandman (Vertigo) comic book character, who was a mystical ruler of the Dream world named Morpheus. In their own comic, Sandman and Dian solved mysteries and brought serial killers and demented villains to justice. Wesley was portrayed about a decade older, and his relationship with Dian Belmont was now more realistically depicted and placed in historical context taking into account the mores of the time. Wesley would dream of violent crimes and criminals. These precognitive dreams would compel him to try and put a stop to these same criminals. The series was famous for its "film-noir" feel and adult sensibility.
In JSA Secret Files and Origins #1 (1999), Wesley is captured by the evil sorcerer, Mordru, and commits suicide to prevent the secret location of Doctor Fate be taken from his mind. Sandy, now an adult, takes on the name Sand and replaces him in the Justice Society. Eventually, Sandy Hawkins takes the super hero identity of the new Sandman, and begins to have prophetic dreams of his own.
2008, SCI FI. All rights reserved.
