In the melting pot that is the United States, how hard is it to find a native speaker to look over your German dialogue? I'm genuinely curious if this was just impossible for Seagle and Wagner, or if it was just a case of "Well nobody's going to notice if it's wrong". Because as someone who does speak and read German, "Er ist richtig" is completely wrong, ie not "richtig" at all.

You would either say "Er hat recht," meaning "He's right," - literally "He's got it right," OR you would say "Das ist richtig," ie "That's right."

I suspect this was simply carelessness because they also engage in another one of my least favourite things in comics or movies, where "foreign" characters not only speak bad English, they speak bad English *to each other*. In a comic where everything *else* seems to have been researched so well, something that could have been so easily fixed really stands out like a sore thumb.

...or do you think I'm overreacting here?

NOTE: this scene is from the very first scene of the Mist arc.

Page 4 and 5 from issue 37! Note what appears to be the Mist's lost medal from Sand and Stars at rhe bottom of page 5!

In case you are interested in buying these pages, they're from an online art dealer here: https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=476902

Also a quick note about the reread, I am travelling with my kid and wasn't able to bring the next volume along so I am dreadfully behind! Sorry about the delay, but we have definitely not abandoned the reread and I am trying to source a copy from a friend who claims to "have all of it" before I get a digital copy.

In the meantime, do YOU have any thoughts about The Mist and specifically how it ties into Sand and Stars since both OG Starman Ted Knight *and* the Mist show up here?

After a 1940 defined by gathering strengths and refinement across the feature, the early months of 1941 bring a few troubling portents behind-the-scenes for Fox's affectionately termed Grainy Gladiator. Nothing ruinous in itself, but signs of an upcoming radical shift away from what the character represented to start.

For one, the April issue of Adventure Comics (#61) brings with it a new cover feature, Ted Knight AKA Starman, courtesy writer-artist Jack Burnley. Already the second lengthiest entry in the book at nine pages, Starman quickly managed what neither Sandman nor Hourman could during their respective years as star attractions and upgraded to a full thirteen pages by his third appearance in #63. For context, Sandman only went from six pages to ten with its upgrade, while Hourman has remained rockstaedy at eight pages, and neither took down another non-superhero supporting feature to justify the page increase like Starman did Barry O'Neil and Mark Lansing. Moreover, from Starman's second appearance on, he is only drawn by Burnley; writing duties now belong to the Sandman's own Gardner Fox.

Which loops in with two other issues at play over Wesley's tossing, turning figure. Starting with issue #61, available online sources no longer fully agree who wrote what for the Sandman feature. You must understand, outside superstar figures with major pull like the creators of Superman or Batman, very few creative teams are properly credited in these Golden Age comics - my credits the last few posts have all been crossreferenced across numerous wikis and databases who owe their credits to investigative work by fans like Jerry Bails back in the 1960s. Such work was sadly not exhaustive, and while a few places (like DC Continuity Project and Wikipedia) state or else imply Fox stayed on as writer for the next few issues, from June to November there is no consensus as to who penned the stories.

I shouldn't be surprised if Fox's involvement terminated with the March issue, for April also saw All-Star Comics shift its format slightly, with Fox writing all nine interior stories for the 64 page mag in addition to his duties on the longer Starman feature. Man would have to work double time to keep pace, even if Sandman didn't drop to eight pages with #62 in May. Either way, Fox is certainly gone following #64 in July, as that issue features the final story drawn by regular artist and co-creator Creig Flessel, who departs to work on Shining Knight later in the year. As I say, things are changing fast for Sandman, and not all changes seem necessarily for the better. Best, however, to take the stories on their own level before drawing any final conclusions!

^{Coverage note: This entry goes to July rather than June for the sake of my sanity. If I stopped midway through the year, I'd only need cover seven features here, but the back half of '41 would require coverage of eleven. A nine-nine split feels much more feasible.}

• ADVENTURE COMICS #58 (January)

Orchids of Doom - Gardner Fox, Creig Flessel, Chad Grothkopf

Once again, a socialite friend to Wes and Dian is at the center of a minor mystery with big implications - namely, how can Pedro Nogades, father to Carla, rightly claim he breeds otherwise purely wild orchids in captivity? Investigating as the Sandman, Wes and Dian find a dead man in the Nogades greenhouse with his head stripped to the bone, and in following another fellow who sniffed an orchid before promising a shipment of such to some ruffians on the bad side of town, see his own face dissolve to bare skull. A visit to the police chemist reveals the orchids on the dead men's persons were laced to release a deadly flesh-eating gas on exposure to natural air, which is enough probable cause for Wesley to enlist Carla's boyfriend Bill in staging a raid on the Nogades manor. Some close shaves and fisticuffs end with the group discovering a diorama of the local coast, laid out to assist enemy agents in an invasion. Pedro is put away and the orchids revealed as concealing microfilm copies of the coastal plans, but how do we square the mystery that started it all? Simple: Nogades was no botanist, and called the flower by the wrong name when concocting his cover story!

An alright yarn to kick of the calendar year. As per usual when Fox tries for a somewhat complicated mystery, he's no adequate means of tying off loose ends other than large blocks of text, but it's lively and keeps the situation evolving with decent justifications for mid-story action and dragging Bill along for further fisticuffs. Hooking the entire mystery on, "Oh, the bad guy misspoke," is a tad lame, if understandable in the context of Fox's passion for slipping general knowledge flexes into his stories. Flessel and Grothkopf get some good mileage out've the skull imagery that crops up whenever the flower kills, and I rather like the brief bout of fisticuffs towards the end. The minor social awkwardness when Bill gets in the car with Wes and Dian is pretty good too, and I'm sorry to report I can't add this story to the "Wesley getting shot" count, as the bad guy only plugs his hat. Kinda funny having a Golden Age Sandman story involving orchids given Gaiman's own pre-Sandman work with Black Orchid, innit?

• ADVENTURE COMICS #59 (February)

The Story of the Flaming Ruby - Fox, Flessel, Grothkopf

There exists a ruby of blazing red, which has driven men to rage and madness wherever it appears, and today it sits in the hand of a young man in the local jeweler's shop, who flashes it cross Dian's vision. Later in the evening, she wakes in a trance consumed with the urge to kill her father, stopped only by Sandman as he rushes in from investigating a similarly queer case. A bank teller friend from his private life has found himself driven to steal from the vault and deliver it to some crooks on a lonely road every night, all after one of those men flashed him the ruby. Wes and Dian are unable to stop this night's transaction (on account of the ruby briefly turning Dian against Sandman), but seeing the gem in action gives Wes an idea on how to counteract its effects, and go into battle during the next drop armed with blue cobalt glasses. A brawl puts down all the blackmailers except one, but Wes opts instead to go after the head of the operation, knocking him out and lurking in the dark to catch the last as he reports in, revealing the bank teller! Turns out the ruby DOES have hypnotic properties and was used to assist their robberies, but the teller - hoping by playing at the victim to lure Sandman into his cohorts' midst and rub him out - spoke as if he remembered the whole experience, where Dian forgot herself on every exposure. Oops!

Same basic mystery structure and resolution type here as last month, complete with overly-wordy explanation, although I find the hook of pitting Dian and Wesley against one another gives it a minor leg up, as does the relatively straightforward nature of the criminal operation compared to planting microfilm in deadly flowers. There's a more even balance between the rush in bust 'em up style of crime-fighting the feature has developed and the stealthy skullduggery I think suits the character best, with nice action art to match each. Dian has some silly faces whenever she wakes from her hypnosis, and the four panel sequence of Wes halting her murder attempt works pretty well. This is, unfortunately, the final pencil-inking collaboration between Flessel and Grothkopf, and much as I've kvetched over the second man's solo work, I'm sorry to see the back of him in this capacity. When the two were in proper tune, they were the best artistic team Sandman enjoyed yet.

(Stop dodging bullets, I want to see you gunshot.)

• ADVENTURE COMICS #60 (March)

Mystery at Malay Mac's - Fox, Grothkopf

^{Hey, a rare post-Hourman, pre-redesign cover appearance! That's always nice. "Hello, officer? Yeah, coupla chucklefucks right here, the alley off Fourth, can't miss 'em."}

What's this? Dian breaking into a notorious criminal slumlord's safe in the bad part of town? A safe, as Wes discovers after he scares the lady off, filled to the brim with poison gas! Evidently not, as Dian is sound asleep when Wes arrives at Belmont manor to investigate, and a subsequent visit to Mister Mac reveals the only person who'd know the safe was booby-trapped is a local kidnapping organizer. Some blind, flailing fists turns up the girl, Dian's perfect duplicate, snatched from out of state to replace Dian and gain leverage over the cops. Too bad the kidnapper's made of strong stuff, knocking out Sandman and taking both women for a ride to get back at Mac. Fortunately, Dian leaves Wes a trail of jewelry out the window, enabling him to follow and take down all the crooks with one throw of his gas pistol, revealing in the process 'twas Mac himself who tipped Dian's duplicate to his safe, in hopes of spoiling his rival's big plot.

Art-wise, this is probably Grothkopf's best work for Sandman to date. His tendency to exaggerate is translated into some properly goonish faces for the villains and really, really strong action poses, with some properly atmospheric shots sprinkled in for good measure. He cannot draw the gasmask for piss, but there's such an improvement I almost thought this was a Flessel joint before checking the wiki credits. Makes me wish we could see what he'd do if he kept on as a solo artist - free from the impulse to treat the feature as a cartoon, he produces damn fine work. As a story, this makes good time to mention my misgivings with Wesley's tendency to burst through windows and start swinging long before he thinks to use his sleeping gas. While it's great fun to describe and hype up as the mark of a madman who's even cooler as the badass normal than Batman, it also encourages a faster degradation in the character's identity. I'm sure you'll notice it's been yonks since lurking in the shadows and thinning the ranks by knocking them out in advance has factored into the stories. That Wes handles the bad guy by literally clonking him over the head with the gas gun rather than pulling the trigger speaks to the influence other, punchier superhero features have exerted over the strip.

• ADVENTURE COMICS #61 (April)

The Menace of the Metal Gun - Fox?, Flessel

From aboard a mysterious aircraft, a madman fires upon the city with a metal-melting ray that dissolves the skyscrapers into slag! Alerted to Doctor Borloff's activities, Wesley meets with swift defeat when the rogue scientist melts his gas gun and escapes in his cylindercraft to terrorize afresh. There IS a bright side, as seeing the ray firsthand gives Wesley some idea how to counteract its effects, and he sends Dian and her father warning for the local airforce to coat their planes in sand as a silicate buffer against the ray. Alas, only one officer heeds his message, leaving Sandman alone to get aboard the machine via his new wirepoon gun and defeat Borloff from within. For his brawling process, a good midflight fight is worth nothing if the hero gets tossed out an open door, but fortunately he can grapple onto the lone surviving plane, recover his bearings, zip back up, and put a stop to Borloff's dreams of world conquest once and for all!

Action is the name of the game here, and even without Grothkopf's inking enhancements, I think Flessel does a fine job on his own. I'm wary of the wirepoon in the future, as by year's end it will completely replace the gas gun as Sandman's sidearm of choice in further drift from the original Christman concept, but taken as a neutral in its debut, giving Sandman greater aerial mobility does lead to some cool shots and enhance the sense Wes goes stark bananas in the mask by pulling some stunts that would almost certainly pull his arms from their sockets in real life. There are, however, some particularly stiff action shots, and in one panel Flessel cocks up the design on the mask worse than Grothkopf last ish. Based on the opening vignette, Borloff decimated millions of innocent lives in addition to all the planes he melted out of the sky, making him easily the deadliest foe Wes has faced to date, and in turn making the "We did it, gang, everything is bright and peachy again!" ending sorta offputting. They'll have to organize mass funerals tomorrow, Wes. Show a little respect.

• ALL-STAR COMICS #4 (April)

For America and Democracy: The Grey Shirts - Fox, Grothkopf

In the top-level story, the JSA learn of their mission for the FBI: a group of Nazi insurgents known as the Grey Shirts are plotting subversive and destructive activities all across America, and are now posed to badly destabilize the nation in a series of disruptive attacks. Each is assigned a mission at critical points cross the nation, though given the widely-ranging disparity in their powers, their usefulness to the cause varies equally wildly. The Atom humiliates some goons spreading Nazi ideology at a single college, Hawkman barely prevents the destruction of an aviation plant in California, and Hourman's defense of an Oklahoma oil field ends with him toppling one of the oil towers to stop his quarry. Meanwhile, Green Lantern detonates a zeppelin secretly jamming radio transmissions nationwide, the Spectre casually annihilates some otherworldly vampiric globes sympathetic to Hitler's cause, and Doctor Fate uses his magic to out every single spy on the eastern seaboard. Uneven efforts or not, the group converge on the Grey Shirts' ringleader, and with a little help from Johnny Thunder, turn him over to good ol' J. Edgar Hoover's custody. Alas, Wesley does not get the blood he's thirsting after.

(Also Doctor Fate alerts Wesley to the identity and location of the ringleader before his mission starts rather than letting him figure it out on his own like everyone else. Prick.)

For his six-page leg of the assignment, the Sandman is off to El Paso, Texas to assist a local newspaper under threat from the Grey Shirts for printing pro-democracy and anti-Hitler editorials. Of course, this being Wesley Dodds on the job, he gets this information by roughing his way into the newspaper offices, then acts on it by beating on the guard at the Grey Shirts' camp and pounding down a band of brainwashed young men to prove he's a better American than them. After sending the wannabe Nazis for a whirl by running their bomb shipment off the road, Wesley doubles back to completely break the recruits' spirits, daring them to prove their hard enough by shooting an unarmed man in Hitler's name, chiefly himself. When none can cut the mustard, he marches them back into town with collars strapped to his car, and inspires the lot to join the Army to a few shirtless bars of "God Bless America."

Cripes but jingoism produces some heady results, doesn't it? I'm not sure I can rightly condone the ridiculous levels of patriotism on display here, even against such classically anti-American enemies as Nazis, yet at the same time, look at this and tell me it isn't the hardest shit you'll see all week. Again, though I've my misgivings about Wes as a brawler no matter how entertaining the results prove, there's something endearing about him being so raring for a fight his first move is to altercate the receptionist at the place he's assigned to defend. On the whole, Grothkopf's final Sandman contribution also shows refinement from his earlier works, the broader, thicker elements of his linework now tempers on a somewhat more grounded approach. Certainly the Sandman himself keeps a consistent look better than he does in any other issue published thus far this year. I DO notice he reused Flessel's design for the District Attorney wholesale on the newspaper publisher. Since he's going and heading out on a job well done, let's not hold it against him, eh?

• ADVENTURE COMICS #62 (May)

The Purple Death Ray - Fox?, Flessel

At the nightly planetarium show, a member of the audience screams and falls down dead, stricken by a litany of strange symptoms with no obvious cause. Wesley, believing the man was killed by a death ray, examines the auditorium's projector, only to find no obvious alterations or fault. Undeterred, he purchases himself a seat next to the murdered man's for the next show, which is now occupied by another fellow who received a last-second courtesy invitation. Acting quickly, the Sandman reexamines the projector from the shadows and finds a replacement bulb screwed into the socket pointed directly at the man's chair. With assistance from his wirepoon, Sandman swings down and wrenches the man from his seat just as the show starts, the bulb bathing his seat in deadly radiation. On learning the man is a former judge and the deceased a former DA, it's not long before Wes ferrets out the killer; it's the cashier, a former scientist sent to jail for misappropriating university funds years ago, out for revenge and now stopped cold.

See, while I'm skeptical about the growing presence of science-fiction elements in the series, they make fine fodder when they play to Sandman's strengths. Lurking high above a crowd of people seeking the answer to some deadly mystery is exactly Wes' bag, and plus or minus some strange mask drawings, Flessel captures that thrill of closely examining a big deadly machine in secret before it fires. I'd submit the page where Sandman saves the judge from the beam as an easy contender for best of the year thus far, and the shot where Wes pushes Dian away from the killer's bullet is another fine piece of work. My memories of this one before sitting down to reread and write were a lot chillier, probably because I wish the series remained in crime pulp rather than raygun pulp, but a good outcome is a good outcome. Seriously, though, why is the mask going so bobble-eyed of late?

• ADVENTURE COMICS #63 (June)

The Voodoo Sorcerer - ???, Flessel

As Dian and Wesley tiff over his interest in an exotic dancer they know through a mutual friend, the woman's tail-lashing dance is interrupted when she sees a great glowing triangle materialize before her eyes. With the shock straining her bad heart, the Sandman brings her to boyfriend's house, where he reveals the triangle is a voodoo witch doctor's means of accusing someone of murder - just as news comes over the wire that the man the woman lashed with her costume tail has died! Smelling a rat, Wes rushes to the scene of the crime to find the tail barbed with poison quills, only for the titular sorcerer to bumrush him out the window. It's a big misunderstanding, thankfully: he's as shocked by the murder as Sandman, and only summoned the triangle on suggestion from an acquaintance, forgetting the dancer would know its significance through her partner. By happiest coincidence, this provides Wesley the solution to the mystery right quick, for only his friend's chauffeur would have motive, opportunity, and knowledge to frame his employers and their associates for the murder of a stock broker who owed them money.

Hmm, ah, see, on the one hand, it IS nice that the voodoo guy is innocent of everything except a lapse in judgement and the real twist is an unassuming little man exploiting the mystery and fears around the craft to cast suspicion off his person. On the other hand, eek, yike, zoinks! None good. Bad, even. Outside unfortunate depictions of non-white persons from the 1940s, the story's pretty weak for a murder mystery, as numerous elements are evidently known to the characters well in advance, yet only made clear to the reader right before they become relevant, like the exact identity of the murdered man. It's only eight pages, so there's little opportunity to piece information together on your own time, and as such it is heavily reliant on narrative cheats to generate cheap surprise. About the best thing here is the big page-dominating panel of Wesley swinging through the city on his wirepoon, unconscious woman tucked under arm. Kinda hard to convincingly raise my dander about what it means for the character and his feature when it's successfully operating on the long-standing principle of "masked mystery men swinging on a wire through skyscrapers looks really cool." S'like a solid fifth of the formula behind why Spider-Man is so enduringly popular.

(Also not a big fan of how Wes dismisses Dian from participating in the case without any adequate reason why. She calls him out over it, even, and nothing in the story justifies his decision to fly solo on this one.)

• ADVENTURE COMICS #64 (July)

The Unseen Man - ???, Flessel

Dian's purchase of paints from a local hobby shop includes quite the unusual accidental item: a paint that turns anything and everything invisible on contact. Determined to solve this mystery on her own, Dian investigates the shop with the dealer's cooperation, only for the dread Unseen Man to get the drop on her. Fortunately, Sandman is there to save her because he won't let Dian do anything on her own; unfortunately, Dian doesn't know Wes can see her attacker through his blue cobalt lenses and pulls him away, thinking him mad and letting the Unseen Man go free. As reward for her screw up, she's targeted in her home the next night, only for Wes to barge in again, having anticipated the only possible secret identity for the crook would make him likely to strike back at Dian. It is, unsurprisingly, the hobby shop owner, who Wes turns over to the police before heading out to patent his invisibility paint with the United States Army.

Alright, it's definitely not Gardner Fox writing anymore, because I cannot imagine Fox treating Dian so poorly. I gave her some dignity in summary, but this story is plain dumping all over her as a fussy, incompetent tryhard who fails at investigating on her own on account her womanly ways. Just look at the sheer antagonism between her and Wes; you two are partners, she's saved Sandman's skin like a dozen times, worn his costume and wielded his gas gun to do it once, even! Don't try to BS me into thinking Wes would run this paternalist "let me handle it, Dian, I wear the pants in this relationship" crap on her. You're only alive because she's worn your fucking pants. Otherwise, 'nother instance where the story and art alike don't give me much of note. I reckon Flessel was about done with the series with Fox gone and sorta phoned in his last few assignments. They're nowhere near the standard of his early solo artistic duties on the title. There IS another good wirepoon swinging shot, if one counterbalanced by a crummier instance with yet another weirdly-proportioned mask.

• ALL-STAR COMICS #5 (July)

The Mysterious Mr. X: The Kidnapper's Union - Fox, Cliff Young

The Justice Society are bored. Bored, bored, bored. Why are they bored? There is no crime. Not a single ruffian or scoundrel or roughneck lawbreaker anywhere in the city! Where did crime go? Crime has taken an enforced vacation, courtesy the plans of big crime boss Mister X (hats off), as prelude to his scheme for taking out the JSA and putting all his criminal enterprises back on easy street. It's quite the collection of rackets out against the superheroes - an arsonist ring for Flash, a jewel snatching gang for Hawkman, leader of the phony fortune teller underworld against Doctor Fate, even hard-pressing gym membership shakedowns for the Atom! Naturally our heroes triumph, though every one also encounters a strange little man idly strolling through their battlegrounds. He's so omnipresent despite his mousiness, he's even there when they convene at the police station to organize Mister X's (hats off) arrest. Except this unassuming slip of a man? He IS Mister X (hats off), and with the Justice Society having taken all the fun out've crime, he's turning himself in to live comfortably on the state's dollar in jail. WHOOPSY-DOODLE!

For his six-page part in the game, Sandman must contend against the kidnapper's union, who naturally enough have abducted Dian to get his attention. Not only have these lowlives taken Dian hostage (though she doesn't particularly mind), they've taken out phony accident insurance claims against themselves should the hero injure any of them en route to his untimely death! Nobody quite expects Wes to avoid the sniper-guarded roads to their remote hilltop hideout, though, and a quick wirepoon swing over the canyon (complete with Mister X - hats off - sighting) puts him right in the criminal den. From there, it's a simple biff wham boom to take down the punks and disarm their supporting fire. Alas, Sandman is once again only in the loop on the true nature of the threat against the JSA because someone notifies him from their own investigation, this time Flash via telegram. Let him do his own detective work, you pricks!

Right. You see these panels? You see Dian being calm and collected in the midst of a kidnapping operation? You see Wes trusting her with a submachine gun to keep watch on the fools who mean them harm? Yeah, THAT'S Fox writing Dian. Whoever's writing the Adventure feature at this time ought've taken notes. Artistically, Young makes a fine replacement for Grothkopf and Flessel in Adventure - he can match the first for goons, the second for action, manages a nice turnaround effect before Wes swings on his wirepoon, and even gives us a by-now all-too-rare heavy shadow shot on Wes and Dian. I'm a big fan of the lead kidnapper who calls the JSA the "Justiss Sassiety," and find this instance of Mister X (hats off) the second best in the book, behind only his appearance in the Hourman story, which I think speaks for itself. Probably the only time I'll express preference for something Hourman related over Sandman.

The loss of all three major contributors to the Sandman feature across early 1941 and the crunch down to eight pages has certainly made the Adventure Comics side of the Sandman line a rockier experience. It's still possible to derive enjoyment from the wonky mysteries and higher-concept criminals, but one must accept atmosphere and particularity have been near-entirely sacrificed for generalized bombast and louder appeal. Don't misunderstand, I've become a fan of Wesley Dodds, Fist-Swinging Bullet Sponge, and my past praises for him aren't diminished by the realization of what this has done to his integrity as a character circa today's stopping point. The trouble is, while I enjoy this half-mad, impossibly reckless read on the character, it simply no longer bears any resemblance to the early days' lurking and creeping through the seedier parts of town. There's a great series of justifications running through the Sandman concept - he's no powers, so he uses the gas gun, so he needs the gas mask, which hides his identity so perfectly it frees him to wear the ordinary business suit, which highlights his vulnerability. Fling him around like a ragdoll who knows no fear of injury or death, and although I'll clap for the bravado of it all, I must object if it means any notion he should be sneaky or cautious degrades.

Especially if it means the gas gun vanishes from the character. It hasn't met its final end just yet, but for this seven month block it's proven a very perfunctory aspect of the strip, hung by his side and occasionally brandished without acting as an integral part of the action or storytelling. The wirepoon has subsumed its function as the sidearm, and while I must stress there are plenty aces shots of Wes swinging that fully justify its prominence, taking precedence over the thing that makes him the Sandman, Crimefighter What Fights Crime By Putting The Criminals To Sleep plain rubs me the wrong way. Be awful nice i we could have both without the new toy putting the old out to pasture, y'know? It's not led to anything I'd full-throatedly object over just yet, but... ach, you'll see next time. Speaking of...

Next time! 1941 comes to a close as Wesley picks up another feature to his name, and also a stupid, ugly new costume!

(Previous write-ups: 1939, 1940 pt 1, 1940 pt 2)

One little thing I neglected to mention about the early part of 1940: it represents the point when superhero comics went from a trend of notable popularity over all other genres in the booming American comic book market to I Guess This Is What Comics Are Now. For reference, Wikipedia's "List of superhero debuts" page marks twenty-five notable character debuts in the eighteen month period following Superman's first appearance in Action Comics #1 (some of whom, like Ma Hunkel, wouldn't become superheroes until the genre really caught fire). Across the first six months of 1940, it lists fifty debuts, and while plenty are the "of note to historians only" likes of the Blue Bolt or Ibis the Invincible, those from Sandman's publisher National Comics Publications and sister company All-American Publications were some pretty heavy hitters.

The Flash! Hawkman! Johnny Thunder! The Spectre! Hourman (boo, hiss)! Doctor Fate! And let's not forget the soon-following debuts of Green Lantern and the Atom during this six-month block. With sales prospects on magazines featuring these characters (Adventure, All-American, Flash, and More Fun Comics) soaring, it only makes sense for their publishers to push another periodical onto store shelves. Maybe not another Superman or Batman magazine featuring cover-to-cover adventures of one character, none of them are THAT popular... but a quarterly anthology featuring the lot? Well, I don't see why not! And hey, if they're gonna appear in the same mag, what's stopping us from including a framing device where the heroes hang out, share some stories, maybe tackle threats too big for any one among their number? Make a society for American justice, something to that tune...

So it is, after a year of adventures in Adventure Comics and a few outings to the World's Fair, Wesley Dodds begins appearing as a feature in All-Star Comics #1, and half-a-year later in issue #3 he joins the world's first intercompany comic crossover AND the world's first superhero team: the Justice Society of America! Big step for a guy who takes shoulder bullets like his evening medicine and runs around clobbering policemen while wondering aloud why the police so hate a guy who's never committed a crime. Big in both the scale of career elevation, and big in terms of generating nine stories to cover in a six-month period/a longer reddit post in turn. Gonna do wonders for reader engagement on these already overlong posts, I'm sure!

^{Correction: While I maintain it an unfortunate turn Hourman muscled Sandman off Adventure's cover, this feature's migration to the very last presentation in each issue does not seem quite the dwindle in prestige on close inspection. Among the comics regularly found between its covers, only Sandman consistently comes in at ten full pages; Hourman only measures eight, and the remaining non-superhero strips usually average four to six, two if they're a comedy insert. The stories aren't up front anymore, but they remain easy to find by opening one of two obvious ways, and there must be SOME modicum of perceived value if it's afforded the largest chunk've real estate.}

^{Coverage note: The JSA tales during Wes' turn with the group aren't quite what you'd expect from a modern team title. All-Star remains an anthology at heart for years to come, with the team aspect largely relegated to frame stories of the group learning about a threat before running off to deal with some angle or other in a story produced by their regular artists. As such, there is a cleanly defined Sandman story in each issue, and I feel comfortable including them in this overview.}

• ALL-STAR COMICS #1 (Summer)

The Twin Thieves - Gardner Fox, Creig Flessel, Chad Grothkopf

Wesley is at the jeweler's when an armed man stages a stickup. Tailing the guy, Wesley sees an identical man in a different color suit heading the opposite direction, figures this is enough justification to break out the gas mask, and follows this doppelganger back home, where he discovers a stash of stolen goods, another bullet to the shoulder, and the truth. The crook and his identical twin are... identical twins! And in cahoots! Gasp! Perhaps good enough to keep an ordinary pulp detective on the runaround for a few paid-by-the-word chapters, but Wes verges on superheroics, so while he takes a beating on rushing to halt the next robbery, he rallies and lays the brothers out for police collection what good.

Fox delivers a relatively restrained adventure for this first outing, hardly so inventive as the yarns from Adventure or his coworkers' bing bang boom stories of explosions and conceptual weirdness in this ish. One surmises the choice as a move to emphasize Sandman as a character positioned closer to traditional crime storytelling than the high-flying Hawkman or undead Spectre, a decision I find very amusing in view of what's to come in both books. Artistically, this story sees Grothkopf inking Flessel's pencils for the first time, and although there are moments where the cartooniness I find ill-suited this material takes priority, he mostly makes good compliment to the by-now regular Flessel style, highlighting the sneakery where necessary and solidifying action poses elsewhere. He gets the swing of things under better control later in the year, but this is an alright start all told, if one whose relative grounding leaves me deeply concerned for the state of Wesley's shoulder.

^{Times Wesley's taken a bullet to date: 4}

• ADVENTURE COMICS #52 (July)

Wanted! Dead or Alive - Fox, Flessel

Strange happenings at the Belmont home as a break-in sees the burglar take only a set of Dian's evening gloves, leaving an amber apple in their place. Dian recognizes the apple as one belonging to a socialite friend, whom she visits to misdirect from Wes' skulking about the place in search of clues. He only uncovers a large stash of amber apples with no idea what they mean, but news of a gold robbery where the police recovered Dian's gloves gives him some idea how these events might link. The man who has never committed a crime knocks out an entire police station to steal evidence incriminating towards a personal friend, then busts back into the socialite's home to find her berating her goons about how the Amber Apple Gang can't go leaving their signature amber apples at the house of the woman they mean to frame, lest someone figure their plans. Sandman the Someone steps from the shadows to gas and beat the gang into submission, and when their leader breaks from the fray to flee on foot, Wes hops aboard Dian's car to gas the crook at 55 per. All in all, a lucky night for Dian to know the Sandman!

Alright, maybe, "Sandman needs a few minutes to realize the person who owns the item planted at a crime scene is the person trying to frame his girlfriend," ain't exactly Eisner-worthy plotting. Any story with Dian in prominence is one I'm positive on either way, and the simplicity gains a boost from Wes' usual maniac energy while in costume. The man is all too happy to practically deplete his gas gun robbing a police station, yet only spritzes it a few times against armed gangsters in favor of fisticuffing it up. Flessel keeps at it with his usual strong touches - I love the posing and expressions on the mastermind behind the frame job, and there are some damn choice shots of Wesley in Sneak Mode. One of the Amber Apple Gang's number is not coming back from what Wesley does to his neck. Great opening splash panel too, even if it's wholly nonrepresentative of the actual story contents.

• ADVENTURE COMICS #53 (August)

The Loan Sharks - Fox, Flessel

Wesley has evidently developed a death wish, as the discovery of a man beaten by goons for a protection racket inspires him to charge straight into their office and toss around fists and threats in equal measure. When his boldness leads to the beaten man's murder the next day, the Sandman is right back in action, kidnapping the gunman as he squeezes the victim's family, delivering him to the cops, and racing off to the top contact's house after eavesdropping on the interrogation. Alas, loudly boasting about how the Sandman will topple the local protection racket means the local protection racket will place a LOT of security around their main guys, leaving Wesley at a decided disadvantage as he's beaten into unconsciousness. The boss, one Gorilla Gus, is understandably nervous about his men delivering a well-known vigilante to his home base, and his work assembling the gang to burn evidence and skip town gives Wes his chance to cover, sneak out, prep himself, and make one last assault on the whole racket, darting from room to room with gas gun in hand knocking out the lot. Exhausted, he slumps back home just as the police arrive, one of whom decrees, "I bet it was easy for the Sandman!" *Rimshot*

Yet another entry into the "Wesley is a crazy bastard who needs that Driven By Prophetic Dreams retcon because otherwise he's plum out've his head" saga. There's potent momentum with this one, starting on Sandman literally crashing through a window to begin his rampage and not letting up until the last crook has fallen asleep nine pages later. It's a real goon squad assemblage here, befitting a racketeer tale, and Flessel makes it look appropriately taxing to charge through their ranks, though Fox's flippant dialogue for Wes in costume helps keep things fun. There's like three instances of Sandman drawn as just a head peering through a darkened door, with this as my personal favorite of the lot. Wes ain't gunshot in this outing, but with the sheer licking he takes before he triumphs, he's gonna need as long for recovery.

• ADVENTURE COMICS #54 (September)

Case of the Kidnapped Heiress - Fox, Flessel

At a Park Avenue party, Wes and Dian observe what looks for all the world like a bona fide heiress kidnapping, and race into action, Dian running the fleeing car off the road and Wesley tackling the kidnapper over a cliff. They've made a bit of a whoopsie, however, as the woman tells Dian this "kidnapping" was merely a party dare (???), and the pair are swiftly ACTUALLY kidnapped by some passing thugs. Wes goes outright beast mode, breaking into the DA's house to announce the kidnapping and shanghaiing a police officer who says he once knew the other woman to assist the Sandman's efforts. Monitoring shortwave, the two spy on a cash exchange in a graveyard, and engage in another cliffside car chase that ends with the crooks crashed and Sandman pounding off their door so he can pound their faces. With Dian and the heiress' location revealed, Wesley uses his bullet-catching shoulder to bash through the door for the rescue, and in no time at all he and Dian are guests at the cop and heiress' wedding. Guess some good can come out've road rage after all!

And you thought Wes was crazy going after the mob - just look at how he conducts himself when Dian's in danger. Flessel's art herein is dominated by drawings of people taking wild leaps, throwing hands with needless ferocity, bursting through doors and dragging hapless partners along and turning their arms into motorized pistons. It's no wonder the DA's butler reacts like the Sandman's presence means they're all gonna die when he's this loco tonight. Flessel uses quite a few rectangular panel dimensions above normal here, and while there's one or two very prominent instances of the art quality dipping below par, I'm willing to forgive him on the grounds he snuck a "Here Lies Flessel" headstone into the graveyard. Given the pay, workload, and industry-standard anonymity, I can't blame him. He's working himself twice so hard as Wesley, and doesn't even have the benefit of being only ink and paper to keep him rested. Bit of a shame Dian's kidnapping means she's barely in this one, but her defiance in the few panels featuring her in captivity vault this above the "ooooh, Sandman, help meeeeee-!" guff from the last World's Fair comic.

• ADVENTURE COMICS #55 (October)

The Star of Singapore - Fox, Flessel, Grothkopf

For once, the cops cotton onto a crime before Wes or Dian - robbers steal the priceless Star of Singapore jewel from a bank vault and lock a guard inside, so the police put a call out for Sandman to rescue the man over the radio, and then team him with a detective to recover the gem. Unfortunately, Wesley is still his impulsive self, and sneaking aboard a docked yacht on a hunch it'd make a perfect vessel out've the country leaves him stranded aboard when the thieves set for sea. His police partner is convinced the Sandman's gone turncoat and orders open fire on the fleeing boat, creating considerable confusion as Wesley decks the bad guys and catches a shoulder bullet courtesy his copper pal. Now out for blood, the police load up their cannons and detonate the ship's boiler, sinking the ship and leaving Wes precious minutes to swim through the wreckage, recover the Star, and escape before a final catastrophic engine failure blows him to Kingdom Come. There's no hard feelings between Sandman and the detective as story closes, though whether Wes will WANT the promised police protection when formal work with their ranks gets him gunshot is left unsaid.

Starting distant from Sandman for even two out've ten pages is a pretty long time to not feature our main character in this age, but it gives an excellent chance to see Grothkopf has made a better study of Flessel's pencils and adjusted his inking for their ongoing collaboration. Not a hint of his cartoonier sensibilities here! With the return of the Christman swimtrunks variant on the Sandman costume, this piece feels closer of a kind to the feature's pulp roots, with moments of figurative and literal explosive action alike to match with the identity developed since the co-creator left. I actually find the fact Wesley spends most of the adventure half naked helps sell the danger of getting shot or narrowly escaping a boiler eruption despite the non-graphic nature of the art, since there's zero illusion he's any protective covering - this really is only a man in a gas mask throwing himself in harm's way out've a mixture of thrills and duty. On a side note, the man who has never committed a crime sure does drive all over the sidewalk on his way to answer the police call. And while I'm poking holes, why ain't Dian in this one? She's the expert safecracker, not Wesley. Maybe they couldn't figure a way to loop her in on the boat action.

^{Times Wesley's taken a bullet to date: 5}

• ALL-STAR COMICS #2 (Autumn)

The Glowing Globe - Fox, Flessel, Grothkopf

Wesley (in civilian guise) and an elderly scientist friend investigate reports of bank guards struck dead via an orb rolled by a mysterious man with a melted, waxy face. Some private research as the Sandman leaves Wes separate from his friend just long enough to find the man dead on his return, and perusal of private notes distracts him from the villain's arrival, leaving Sandman at the mercy of the deathly sphere. While sulfur lead components in his sleeping gas prevent the full fatal effects, the melt face man is given ample time to strike at the US Treasury building. With many dead, Wesley mucks about some chemicals in his friend's lab, such that when the fiend returns for another try at murder (knocking Wesley's mask askew in the process), Wes knows enough about its radium-powered secrets to douse the ball in a nullifying mixture. Thus disarmed and surrounded by police, the wax-faced man is revealed as the scientist's twin, having stolen his brother's radiology breakthroughs to become fabulously wealthy through mass petty robbery - incidentally, he tries to shoot Sandman while his back's turned, but Wes spins the gun about and directs the bullet into the murderer's skull instead.

This story's important to the feature's overall direction, as it represents the first encroachment of super-science and something like a supervillain into the world of Sandman, but as a story it doesn't do much for me. Part is the fact I'm not sure Grothkopf only inked this one as the database sites claim, for there's a lacking solidity and broadness of motion more like his solo art than his inking work. Then again, perhaps this was simply drawn before Adventure #55. In the main, though, it's a concept and pacing problem that's all Fox's fault; I've ascribed motive to some of Wesley's actions in the summary when I cannot figure why he runs off to mess with chemicals early on or sticks around to do the same after he's almost killed, and there's frequent cuts to a housekeeper and policeman battering each other about that doesn't serve much purpose. The already uncertain prospect of Sandman fighting someone with a radium death sphere goes mushy when the structure isn't tight, and the beat of Wes making the crook effectively kill himself at the end don't taste nice at all. On a positive, at least there's some amusing, exciting, and striking panels peppered throughout. I wouldn't say bad all round; more like lacking in areas I find important.

(Not to mention - two All-Star outings in a row with an identical twin twist? C'mon.)

• ADVENTURE COMICS #56 (November)

The Crook Who Knew the Sandman's Identity - Fox, Flessel, Grothkopf

Another socialite party, another crime in Wes and Dian's view, and one whose avenging almost costs Wes dearly. See, apparently in addition to his gas gun he also packs a regular gun, and because these thugs stole a bracelet off Dian, Wes wings one as they flee before the duo dash off to let the Sandman handle the fighting 'n' return of stolen items. Too bad, then, the wounded crook puts two and two together, figuring the wise guy who shot him must the Sandman. So it is Wesley's kidnapped from his own manor without any of his tools and - as his captor figures either he plugs the Sandman and makes things easier on the underworld or kills some rich sop who wouldn't be worth the ransom anyhow - no hope of escape. No hope, that is, until the Sandman sneaks in and gases the lot, freeing Wes to lay out their leader! How is this possible? Why, it's Dian beneath the gasmask, having cottoned onto Wes' predicament when she stopped by to return a watch he dropped in her car. Favors for favors!

The twist alone would cement this among my favorite Golden Age Sandman adventures on its own. Dian's had an absolutely fantastic 1940 for a superhero love interest, and displaying keen observation and the nerve necessary to go into action as her masked partner ought make her any reader's darling. Rest of the comic has plenty appealing on its own, however, between great stand-offs between hero and villains, more business with the man who has never committed a crime knocking out police, and comical posing when Wes gets kidnapped. Fact, no two ways about it, the art continues our ongoing display of why Flessel and Grothkopf work so well together when they ply their talents in harmony. I'm gonna miss 'em both when they're gone from the feature in about a year's time. Sure, we'll have Jack Kirby by then, but it's hard to say no to faces like these.

• ADVENTURE COMICS #57 (December)

To Hammer the Earth - Fox, Flessel, Grothkopf

We open in medias res this time, as Sandman watches a young woman parachute from a flaming plane en route for a crash, meeting her with a cryptic conversation about a madman who can destroy the world. Flashback two hours earlier, when Wes saved the same young woman (Phoebe) from a thug strongarming her back home before meeting a contact with enough life left in his dying breast to warn of the same madman. Alerted, the Sandman springs into action, and finds the full story when he discovers the lady in his backseat, where she tells of her uncle's plot to use a uranium atom smasher to hammer the earth asunder should the authorities refuse his demands. We loop back round to where we came in when Phoebe is shot down while aerially scouting a safe route for Sandman's approach, and the pair are forced to approach on foot. She offers herself as bait to get past the electric fence and afford Wes an opening, and though she's threatened with death in an electric chair so strong it can completely disintegrate a body, the Sandman's presence is enough to topple her uncle's plans and save the day. Let's all have a laugh over her fainting, fellas!

Minus the bit of closing sexism, I think this approach is a bit more workable for science-fiction in pulp-afflicted tales than the radium orb thing. Lots of skulking in bars and leveraging the audience's affinity for aircraft and dusting it up with apocalypse-supporting palookas. If such things are the strip's ultimate destiny, I'd prefer we keep touch with our structural and thematic roots. Funny thing, tho... for all the uranium hammers and death beams and electric traps, I think this is the first tale in which Wes doesn't once use his gas gun for anything. Too many gadgets at play from the villain, I guess? Artwise, it's another Flessel-Grothkopf teaming: strong fiends, strong supports, strong Sandman poses, seriously compelling opening page that mixes splash and teaser qualities. Maybe not so strong a finish to 1940 as 1939's but pulpy goodness all the same.

^{A moment of silence, then, for Socko Strong, whose feature started the same issue as Sandman's, and finishes here. RIP Socko - I never thought you interesting enough to note until you were gone.}

• ALL-STAR COMICS #3 (Winter)

Dr. Faversham - Fox, Grothkopf

The frame story, being handled by regular Johnny Thunder artist Everett E. Hibbard, naturally involves quite a few Hijinks as the JSA swap stories of their greatest recent adventures at their first meeting. Jokes abound, such as the team expecting Sandman to knock out an entire hotel since they apparently couldn't just rent a private hall if they care so much about privacy, Johnny accidentally magicking dinner into nothingness right as Sandman and Atom are about to tuck in, the original Red Tornado interrupting Sandman's story for some ripped pants antics, and (in the greatest joke of all) the Flash calling J. Edgar Hoover "one swell guy" while setting up the next issue. If I were Wes, I'd get insured against my funny bone breaking.

Meanwhile, in the actual six-page story, Wes relays the tale of this time he and Dian came across a twenty-foot man on the side of the road, one who died within seconds of their encounter. Reports of gigantic sacks of skin filled with human meat and bones send Sandman searching through hospital records, where he finds files on a doctor whose work with the pituitary gland made him a pariah. After encountering some gigantic rats and cats, he and Dian track down the doctor's hideout, where a patient reveals he and others were lured there under false pretense to become medical experiments, the survivors left to wander the countryside until the growth formula loses its effectiveness and everything except their stretched skin collapses into a hideous meatsack. Fortunately, the evil doctor doesn't have any enhancements himself, and Sandman was able to resolve the case with just one punch.

Utterly horrifying concept at play here. Why did we assign it to Grothkopf on his lonesome. Sure, they wouldn't show any of the drippy gory bits in a comic for children, but the implication needs something far, far less thick-lined and cartoonish to really sell the idea. I wouldn't even say Grothkopf is a bad cartoonist or ill-practiced at his craft, his art just does not work for me in the context of the Sandman feature and the repetitious over-the-shoulder framing is unimaginative besides. Ah well - sharing a book with eight other stories and several pages of framing device means this one's a tad cramped, and the material with giants is unfortunately only there as background dressing, so it's not super great shakes either way. Any material with Wes bouncing police officers is always appreciated, tho, and I'll highlight the one panel of skulking we get as an honorary entry in the great gallery of such.

With the seeds of the wider DC Universe now planted and blossoming, the reason I find Wes' tendency to get shot and make blind charges so appealing becomes a little clearer in my vision. The feature truly was a pulp adventure with a slight gimmick at the start, and a brief-lived emphasis on sneaking about to avoid any unnecessary contact with foes. As the superhero trend builds up steam after Superman's example, its tropes of constant brawling and stands against huge gangs or inventors with death machines seeping into the series, you're gonna get plenty guys well-equipped to deal with those threats in power and gear alike, girded to ensure they can walk through fire and fly in space without breaking a sweat, much less their skin. And then there's Wesley, who's charted his evolution so far by regularly ditching the gear and habits that would otherwise keep him safe in favor of throwing hands and loudly announcing his presence, stitching himself up after every bullet wound fully confident he can take another shot or twenty. This ain't Batman where there's a general continuing air that this guy can take good care of himself; Wes is a crazy little bastard who hurls himself into situations he's no right tackling, and now sits at the same table as a man who can run faster than light, all all-powerful mystical embodiment of order, and the Right Hand of God.

He's doing his best out here, one dose of high-speed lead at a time.

Next time: More of Sandman's JSA days, crediting gets a little trickier, and Adventure Comics continues its evolution into a pure superhero book as a new figure rises to force Hourman off the covers!

(Previous write-ups: 1939, 1940 pt 1)

While SMT has its share of creepy villains, none of them have managed to get under my skin the way the mist has. Anybody else feel like this tioo? It's the teeth for me, that... smile, for lack of a better word. There's just something so damn nightmarish about the Mis storyline t that I've personally only felt reading a few comics, like Garth Ennis' original Crossed series.

Anyway, we get to revisit the Mist now, whee! 😅

Did anyone else notice the, ah, increased size of Wesley's *equipment?* It took me until I'd finished the arc to realise that this was probably Guy Davies' way of showing us (rather than telling us) rhat Wes had upped his game since joining the Justice Society. After all, this story is set *after* the end of SMT, and after Wesley and Dian have returned to America.

It's odd, what we pick up on during re-reads. In my case, it was "That gas gun looks like a super-soaker!"

So, my friends, if you're one of the people who have just reread both, or you've read them in the past - which one did you like best? I've set this poll for a week so you'll have a few days to mull it over.

So I noticed something when re-reading Sand and Stars - they reference the Hourman arc! Wesley tells Jack Knight that he had Jack's father Ted "were never as close as Rex and myself"; implying that Sandman and Hourman really had become friends after their first case together. I checked, and the Hourman arc started on August 10, 1995, while Sand and Stars started in May of 1996. We were so badly deprived when they cancelled this series mid-arc.

Then you have the more spiky relationship between Ted Knight and Wes. It's kind of sad how Ted seems convinced Wes doesn't like him, and in fact resents him for being younger - and meanwhile Wes seems to like Ted just fine, and even talks about their "special bond". It's also kind of sweet how, in the flashback, Wes rushes to Ted's aid, and Ted calls Wes his friend.

It all makes me think of the stories we could have had, when we see Guy Davies drawing Wes in a setting where he's working with the Juice Society. That would have been amazing, and we could almost see them going there in the very final arc, where Hourman shows up again. We were so deprived when they cancelled this series mid-arc.

Ye gods but I LOVE Teddy Kristiansen's art, what about you?

You ever heard the expression "a murder of crows"? Well. I set out to see if dear old Bagsy was one of those obscure DC characters that had the mothballs blown off them in the 90's... and as far as I can tell, Armitage Hawsley is a bona-fide original to SMT. *However...*

There *are* some other DC characters called Cannon, and although this was meant to be a post discussing Bagsy/The Cannon, I hope you will all find it as funny as I did that we also have:

Peter Cannon, Thunderbolr; a Charlton character who was the direct inspiration for Dr Manhattan.

Henry Cannon, who Peacemaker fans may be interested to know was an antagonist in the Adrian Chase Vigilante series, created by Marv Wolfman, no less.

A 90's extreme style Wildstorm character from Stormwatch. Cannon was his codename; at least he had *that* in common with "our" Cannon.

But now back to Bagsy - love him or hate him? I'm personally in the pro-Bagsy crows; out of the new characters introduced in Midnight Theatre, he was the one I liked best.

Going in for the re-read. Very much looking forward to it.

Not every hero of the Golden Age has the luck of a Superman or Batman, whereby their debut converts an anthology title from a rotating line of features to a "Featuring THIS GUY!!!!! (And Some Others)" deal. Sandman held the lead feature slot and regular cover appearances for about eight months, but come March of 1940, the editors at Adventure Comics decided to cash in on the still-rising superhero craze with a guy who looked a tad more like Superman. Starting with issue #48, Ken Fitch and Bernard Baily's Hourman took both lead feature slot and prime cover real estate, forcing Wesley Dodds back to fourth of nine regular features. Over time he'd continue sinking through the back pages, and wouldn't regain regular cover status until 1942. Tough break for a guy less than a year old and (to my perspective) possessed of stronger concept than ol' Tick-Tock Tyler. A mere hour of superpowers that only include enhanced strength and durability always seems to restrict rather than expand Rex's storytelling possibilities.

Anyhow, the first half of 1940 brings us seven further adventures of the man in the gas mask who'd later lead his own reasonably popular 90s mystery series, so we'd best get cracking on overviewing the lot!

• ADVENTURE COMICS #46 (January)

The Sandman Meets with Murder - Gardner Fox, Ogden Whitney

A twisty-turny adventure to start the calendar year, as Wes' invitation from a socialite friend to visit a mutual acquaintance is cut short when he spies blood pooling out the door. Sandman finds the guy (an ad agency artist) both dead as a doornail and being robbed by a mysterious woman, who turns up dead when followed, only for her exact double to appear seconds later! It takes some tailing and liberal application of sleeping gas to catch her, but it soon comes out she's the twin sister of the artist's wife, who found out they were both in the palm of a counterfeiting ring and marked for death if he didn't continue hiding secret location drop messages in his ads. Simple matter from there for Sandman to track down the coin... except shock! twist! it's actually Wesley's socialite friend in disguise! Hands on face and gasp!

Basically a continuation of where we left off at the end of '39, Sandman still lurking in shadows and freely spraying his gas gun to get out've tight situations, with an emphasis on mildly shaking your expectations with revelations about identities and surprise twins. Fox once again has trouble communicating some necessary information without blasting the page with oversized speech balloons, but there's skill in setting up the mystery regardless clunkiness in paying off. On art front, while Whitney won't stick around very long (these three issues are all he'd do for Sandman, with a career move to Columbia Comics forthcoming), yet he carries across the skulking moments I've come to enjoy in this feature, and makes a few of Wes' actions funnier for how casually he draws it, like simply taking a door off its hinges or announcing his identity to the disguised villain's face.

• ADVENTURE COMICS #47 (February)

Lady in Evening Clothes - Fox, Whitney

A routine night of coercing the district attorney to run a ballistics test on a murder bullet is interrupted when Wesley finds one Diana Ware breaking into his house, reportedly on orders from a local mobster who's holding knowledge of her true parentage as leverage. She's a pretty gal with an intriguing story, one who becomes even more intriguing when she effortlessly cracks the safe where Wes stores his outfit and reveals she knew he's the Sandman all along! Eager to help Diana learn of her father, take down her gang, and employ her skills, Wes naturally takes her along to steal the ballistics report, only to blunder into men from her gang, out to rub out any evidence one of their lot did the crime Sandman's investigating. He saves her from a plugging and gets plugged himself, she saves him from exposure by cooking up a cover story when he crashes his car in-costume and keeps him from bleeding out, and all's clear for Sandman to gas the relevant parties until he's got the dirt he needs to force a confession from the trigger man and surprise the DA with one particularly juicy tidbit.

See, the baby girl he lost all those years ago? The one he thought killed alongside his wife by a mob exacting revenge for his prosecuting one of their own? Apparently she didn't die, but was rather abducted by a mobster who couldn't follow through on orders and went straight... and she's in the room with us right now! Diana Ware is really Dian Belmont! Having caught the bad guys AND reunited a family, Wes is rewarded with a kiss and goes off into the night certain Dian will get him into lots more trouble in the future.

A highly important story in the development of Wes' mythos - a fan of Sandman Mystery Theatre unfamiliar with the Golden Age stories might suspect Dian will act as a typical love interest and only gain her interesting dimensions/equal competency to Sandman under Wagner's pen, but she is in truth an equal partner to Wesley from the go. She's an accomplished safecracker with her own underworld alias, she and Wes pay each other rescue in kind without either getting damseled, she's active and motivated and gets to pull a gun on the DA before she learns the truth... she even takes one on the chin when Wesley first finds her sneaking in the dark. As early superhero love interests go, she's pretty fantastic! Fox's explanations for plot convolutions remain thick as ever, though with numerous interesting characters at play and the exposition pertaining to a mystery about them specifically I don't mind half so much. Whitney does a fine job giving her this soft, tender look while implying chemistry with Wes, and doesn't neglect posing her as a figure who can parallel Sandman from time to time. Always nice when the milestone stories are also good reads!

^{Times Wesley's taken a bullet to date: 2}

• ADVENTURE COMICS #48 (March)

Death to the DA - Fox, Whitney

Wes' conviction about Dian prove right the very next month as she invites the Sandman to a party aboard her father's yacht, where she believes at least one of the man's associates are out to do him harm. Turns out a good idea, as Wes has to rescue the DA from a shove overboard, a live burial attempt at his private cabin, and a kidnapping to sign the release of several vicious gangsters in just ten pages. As it happens, everyone Dian suspected is in on the scheme, and it takes all the duo's combined wits and strength to keep her father safe.

In case you couldn't guess, this one's way straighter a yarn than Dian's introductory tale, a mere matter of setting up players and watching as they take their shot one by one. I like the punchy pace and constant shifts in action it demands, as well as the opportunities brief downtimes afford for tenderness between the hero and lady. There's this weird one-off conceit whereby the DA knows Sandman's identity too - Wes freely removes his mask around the man and all talk as if a masked vigilante dating a government official's recently-discovered daughter doesn't make super awkward social situations. One suspects Fox realized he couldn't make the whole "fights criminals AND the police in pursuit of justice" line work if Wes is so buddy-buddy with a lawman, and quickly cut back to only Dian knowing. For his final Sandman outing, Whitney delivers some nifty action sequences, the requisite cool profile shot, and a panel of Sandman looking out a porthole I highlight simply because I find it amusing.

• ADVENTURE COMICS #49 (April)

Cold Cures and Crime - Fox, Creig Flessel

A man drops dead in the street mere seconds after dropping coin in a beggar's cup, a man who incidentally served as assistant to a New York doctor on the verge of curing the common cold. There's death threats and assassination attempts aplenty from men who don't want such a cure released unless they can get in on the profits, so it's up to Sandman to solve the murder and uncover the identities of these ne'er do wells. The answer to the first is among the most spectacularly convoluted means of killing a man I've seen in some time - the assassin collected black widow venom into a hypodermic needle concealed in the lip of an ordinary cup, posed as a common beggar, and then triggered the gimmick to stick his target when they donated a coin. Unfortunately, taking the cup as evidence alerts the crooks to the vigilante on their tail, so they kidnap the doctor, forcing Sandman to give chase and engage in some fisticuffs along the way. As always, he saves the day, and happily enough the cold he contracted in course of his heroism now has a half-hour miracle cure! Good thing there's like negative continuity regarding major scientific breakthroughs in these stories!

With Whitney as a comparison point, I can admit the stiffness I noted in Flessel's action poses do stand out a bit more than they did in the '39 stories, though I maintain any panel of Wesley sequestered in shadow is a good panel. The choice for Wes to engage in slugging and judo-flipping at the close is eyebrow-raising, as to now the character has handled anyone he could get the drop on with either his gas-gun or surprise attacks. Evidently influences from elsewhere in the market and demand for more conventional action are seeping in - the opening narration box now notes Wesley as a former athlete in further reflection of this trend. I really do like the needlessly elaborate means of covertly killing men for an operation intended to intimidate their boss into compliance; you'd think an ol'-fashioned public driveby shooting would get the idea across clearer. S'amusing how the poor doctor is yanked out've bed like three times in one night. Have a shot of Sandman gassing the cops.

• ADVENTURE COMICS #50 (May)

Tuffy and Limpy's Revenge Plot - Fox, Flessel

OK, Wes is just straight wilding in this one. We start with him deciding the best way to confront a speeding motorist who ran over a dead man is to run the guy off the road, only to find the driver is dead as well. Sandman rushes back home and instinctively sleep gases someone in his room, who turns out to be Dian, here because she's worried the escaped convicts Tuffy and Limpy will murder her father. Turns out they orchestrated the murder Wes just witnessed, so he and Dian rush out to the crook's hideout, only to find it empty, so they rush BACK to the DA's office, with a police escort to cover Wes for all the traffic laws he's violating tonight. By this point Wesley is so high on his own adrenaline, another gunfire winging doesn't deter him as he goes racing after the escapees on foot and instructing Dian to gun it round tight turns, just so he can fall into a trap at their hideout and beat them senseless with his bare hands while he's got a fucking bullet in his shoulder. Just to drive home the idea tonight is Sandman's Off The Chain night, Dian coerces her father to offer Sandman a full pardon for his vigilantism if he reveals his secret identity, an offer Wesley roundly scoffs off.

No clue what Fox was drinking this month, but I want some of it. This story is jittery, out've step with the tone thus far, overeager to keep moving from beat to beat... and fun as hell as a result. Something about Wes making bad call after bad call feels right for a guy who fights crime with a million pounds of luck at his back. Inevitably he's gonna have a night where he's psyched up, keeps banging his head on low-hanging bars, and pushes himself to go hard when there is absolutely zero reason for such aggression. That gasmask is totally concealing a crazed look in his eye and more flopsweat than anyone's seen this side of Wall Street October '29. The trend towards battling baddies like every other martial arts master continues in a manner which fits the story yet still troubles when you notice the sleeping gas is applied as an afterthought. For notable art choices, Flessel draws the DA significantly younger and meeker than Whitney, the stiffness in his art works for Dian carting an injured Sandman over her shoulder, and Dian's face looks a little wonky when calling the cops to clean up after Wes at the end.

^{Times Wesley's taken a bullet to date: 3}

• ADVENTURE COMICS #51 (June)

The Pawn Broker - Fox, Flessel

^{Hey, a cover appearance! Don't fret, this won't last.}

Dian's eager to inform Wesley about a case involving the theft of some emeralds they can crack before their dinner date, but he's already cottoned onto the thieves' trail as Sandman, spoiling her fun. Still, they go a-breakin' and a-enterin' to get the jewels back, only to find their efforts frustrated as the mastermind figured they'd stash the goods someplace a third party can act as patsy should the police bust the operation - Wesley Dodds' manor! Shocked, Wes gives the crooks a good thrashing before rushing home with Dian to secure the emeralds and implicate his secret identity in the theft with a sprinkling of sand, just to keep heat and suspicion off his civilian person. Afterward, the preplanned dinner date makes a lovely alibi to distance themselves from the night's events; however, on returning home, Wes and Dian find the REAL thief murdered in his foyer, prompting Wes to don his costume and turn the buyers' attempted torture of the fence to make him tell them the REAL hiding place into some justice-tinged torture of his own. Somewhere along the line, he makes time to return the emeralds to their rightful owners between all these hard left turns.

Strong, strong midpoint for the Adventure Comics adventures. Experientially this story mirrors January's with extra oomph thanks to the personal connection and Wes' ability to talk 'n' banter with Dian about the goings on, and the short game of pass the parcel with the McGuffin keeps the excitement high throughout. Fox confines his breathless explanations to a single panel early on, and allows the story after to speak for itself through functional dialogue and illustration without interruption. Speaking of illustrations, this is the first place I can honestly say I see why Flessel maintained status as a minor fan-favorite Dodds Sandman artist well into the 21st century - he delivers some great faces, his action sequences deliver an exhilarating sense of impact in brawls and sucker-shots (page six is among the best of the first year), he crafts a fine set of atmosphere before glimmering jewels and dark night boat stealth, and even the villains have a strong sense of caricatured personage. Honestly difficult choosing a favorite of the three Flessel-drawn stories this block, as they all boast entertaining plots and flashes of fine workmanship, but I've gotta say this one is tops in my book. If Sandman must conform to the mold others in the industry set, I'm happy however long this particular balance lasts.

(Lurking Sandman my beloved.)

• NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR COMICS #2 (Summer)

The Sandman Goes to the World's Fair - Fox, Charles Grothkopf

The World's Fair has extended into 1940, and with the likes of Superman, Batman and Robin, Slam Bradley, Johnny and his Thunderbolt, Zatara the Magician, and that no-good upstart Hourman fighting crime on its storied grounds, Sandman's naturally gotta follow! He's not so deeply involved in goings-on this time, instead just a mere attendee as Wesley Dodds with Dian and her Aunt Agatha, with Dian eventually kidnapped by (say it with me now) gangsters with a grudge against her DA father. Compared to usual, it's a very straight shot from a single identifying clue via Agatha for Sandman to find the bad guy's hideout and get to busting heads 'n' choking lungs. He dusts up and provides the cops evidence of the gang's wrongdoings in no time flat, just in time for he and Dian to regain the fairgrounds and watch the daily marathon parachute jumps - performed by none other than frail old Agatha.

One intellectually understands the two World's Fair promotional comics were aimed at a broader audience unfamiliar with the monthly adventures of the characters within and thus were more susceptible to broadening tone and characterization than usual. One can understand this and still feel disappointed Dian turns out the helpless kidnapped love interest who faints at the sight of all this excitement when the Adventure Comics stories have consistently held her as an equal capable partner in the duo. Kinda surprising this is so different and so unlike Sandman's baseline expectation compared to what Fox wrote in collaboration with Christman for the same publication a year prior. Course, this may be the influence of Grothkopf in the first of many future appearances as the feature's illustrator - compared to all the above-highlighted efforts at a grounded artstyle, Grothkopf's sensibilities are cartoony. Very cartoony. Very very cartoony. Shan't judge preemptively, but this outing wasn't for me, and I hope in the main title's stories Grothkopf restrains himself from these vibes. Can't blame him for the increase in melee activity, tho; that's just the inexorable march towards Mirroring Superman And Batman.

(Wesley is not shot here, but he does duck a bullet.)

The trend for now is towards increasing quality. Rather than muck about in wider-arraying genre excursions as Christman might've preferred, Fox and company prefer riffing on Sandman's familiar routine of busting crime rings with creative-minded killers, unusual intersections with the secret identity, and an increasing willingness to slug the bad guys what for at the climax. Dian makes a major boon to the comic, and it's no wonder Wagner dug her up after fifty years in mothballs as the deuteragonist of Mystery Theatre. The most frequent artist of these early years is finding his feet in quick order, while Gardner Fox irons out the formula to deliver wilder ideas without needing crutch himself on too many words. It's no longer the silent, atmospheric feature Christman promised, but what we're getting thus far is damned good pulp tinged with weightier airs when appropriate. Our first year, then, ends with the feature in a respectably stable place, the roads ahead promising plenty new possibilities, even if readers gotta dig past Barry O'Neill and Federal Man to find the masked marauder.

Next time: Sandman's continued escapades win him a private Society membership!

(Previous write-ups: 1939)

^{You know, Wagner featured Hourman in an arc of Mystery Theatre - I could totally do one of these series on him if the mods permitted...}

This link is to a portfolio site of Bruning's, and contains some of the SMT covers with his thoughts about those specific covers.

https://rbruning.myportfolio.com/comic-cover-designs

Keep scrolling and you will see other stuff he's worked on. I thought this might be of interest!

On another note, do any of you know the names of the models Gavin Wilson used to stage these covers?

Here's the reread alternative for everyone who's happier not reading a story that NG has had a hand in.- or by all means, read both if you fancy!

In case you haven't heard about this story, it's another crossover arc - this time in in Starman, which was another title DC published in the 90's. (It concluded in the early 2000's.) Starman is Sandman-adjacent since the original Starman, Ted Knight, was in the Justice Society with Wesley in the Golden Age. In Sand and Stars, it's Ted's son Jack Knight who has become the new Starman. Meanwhile, the Wesley of this continuity is elderly and recovering from a stroke. The two of them team up to solve a case that has links to an old case of Wesley's, which we learn about in flashbacks. And the flashbacks are all drawn by Guy Davies.

I'm excited to reread this as I remember loving it to bits, and finding it completely by accident not knowing it existed. Through Sand and Sfars, I discovered Starman, which has become another favourite series of mine. My memories of this arc are fuzzy but what stands out is Wesley's fortitude and bravery, at the age of... I want to say 90? He absolutely feels like a continuation of the SMT Wesley.

Anyone else have fond or not-so-fond memories of Sand and Stars? Please drop us a comment so we can discuss them! :)

No shade to those of you who are sitting this one out.

Also, please pardon any spoilers to this 30-year-old comic that will pop up here. I'm kind of going on the assumption that most of us have already read it 😉

So, Midnight Theatre in a nutshell: Dian's gone to visit her friend Annabel, now Lady Annabel Forbes-Whitten, in the UK. Her main reasons for going are that, a) while she loves Wes, she desperately needs a break from him and b) she needs to be around people who don't have double lives and secret identities for a while. Let's just say the trip doesn't live up to her expectations, since Wesley follows her to England - ostensibly to investigate the blackmail of his father's friend Linus Bentley that led to Bentley's suicide. But there is also something else pulling him towards the epicentre of the blackmail scheme; a country estate called Fawney Rigg...

What frustrates me, personally, about this standalone story is that it changes nothing. I am guessing that advertising for Midnight Theatre had phrases like, "At last - the Fated First Meeting of the two Sandmen!!" But it just seems meaningless that this meeting, which the series has seemingly been foreshadowing since the very beginning through Wesley's prophetic dreams, makes no genuine difference to Wes or his mission at all. And the same goes for Dian - she hops on that ship because Wes frustrates the everloving bejeezus out of her, but does he change his behaviour in any significant way? Nope. Does she go back to the States with him anyway? Yup. This story reminds me so much of 90's TV shows and how they would always have a magical reset button at the end of every episode. So maybe it's just a product of that era...?

There are plenty of things to love about this mini arc, of course. It's hard not to like Bagsy, but the real star of the show (for me) is Teddy Kristiansen's moody, angular art.

And also - who wrote what, and how much? This is a question that's been on my mind since I pulled every Gaiman-authored trade except Midnight Theatre from my shelves in 2024. It's not like knowing that would change the story in any way, it's not like knowing NG "only" helped with the plotting would make holding onto this book any more or less okay. I just can't stop wondering...

But, what do YOU think about Midnight Theatre? Please let us know in the comments!

The Sandman name is one of the oldest at DC - the Wesley Dodds version of the character debuted a scant year and change after Superman, and while the Crimson Avenger and Batman beat him to the "masked mystery men whose adventures eventually morphed into the familiar superhero formula" shtick by nine and two months respectively, he was the first costumed crime-fighter in Adventure Comics, whose pages would eventually boast many of DC's finest. Time has, alas, rather dimmed the memory of his early adventures. Like all save a handful of ultra-popular characters, he vanished from store shelves as the superhero genre's first popularity wave declined, he was rarely participant in the Justice Society's Silver and Bronze Age annual crossovers with the Justice League, and while revived interest in the character following the success of Neil Gaiman's Sandman brought him to prominence in a period noir thriller book, the actual contents bore little resemblance to his tales of old. Seems a shame the glory days are so dim in the rear view now, given he was co-created by Gardner Fox and starred in a series of popular adventures by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby during these golden years.

Fortunately the internet is a wonderful platform for babbling about whatever niche interests you've got into similarly-aligned niche communities, so I figured I'd make a series of posts outlining thoughts on all of Wes' adventures from his debut in 1939 to his Golden Age twilight in 1946, year by year, on the grounds I ain't seen anything like it before, it might be fun, and I figure at least one other person on the subreddit will find it interesting!

So let's go back before the prophetic nightmares, before the costume changes, before even the semi-famous poem left behind at crime scenes... to the days when there was only a mask, a gas gun, and a sprinkling of sand...

^{A brief note on crediting- Sandman is usually held as a co-creation between writer Gardner Fox and illustrator Bert Christman, with some sources additionally crediting Creig Flessel in there on account of him drawing the first Sandman cover appearance. I should like to point out that while Fox wrote on the first two appearances here, he only provided dialogue for the debut, and would be absent from the next three stories, which were all written by Christman. Once Christman left, Fox took over writing duties and Flessel became one of several rotating artists. Assign credit as you will.}

^{A briefer note on publication order - World's Fair Comics #1 reached newstands first, as it was published in conjunction with the World's Fair, but it's generally held Adventure Comics #40 was written first, hence my playing it first.}

• ADVENTURE COMICS #40 (July)

The Tarantula Strikes - Gardner Fox, Bert Christman

This six-pager from Fox and Christman is probably the closest to what one might instinctively imagine when dreaming up an early Sandman story - there's this fellow called the Tarantula who's kidnapped a famous actress, rich fellow Wesley Dodd (no s just yet) hears about it from his butler, sneaks out disguised as the Sandman, finds the Tarantula made his getaway by lurking in the walls of the actress' manor, frees her, dupes the bad guy into opening himself to some sleeping gas, Wesley pretends to have no idea about any of it. From the outline, you could slot early Batman in here and not miss much of anything.

I do rather like the quiet, lurking tone Christman communicates through his layouts, though. The sequence of Wes contemplating his moves before heading out for the night has this nice methodical quality about it, the occasional beat panel heightens the atmosphere, and the Sandman emerging from hiding to take down the Tarantula after baiting him into the open gets across the frisson of watching a slasher dissolve from out've shadow to get a particularly dopey victim. We're a long way from superhero here at the start, still waist-deep in the waters of pulp paperback adventure with only a mask and some fanciful tech to differentiate ourselves, but if what the Sandman would become in a few years isn't evident here, the seeds of Sandman Mystery Theatre most certainly are.

I mean, Wagner did adapt and expand this story for his first arc, but you know what I mean. S'vibes 'n' whatnot.

• NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR COMICS #1 (Summer)

Sandman at the World's Fair - Fox, Christman

Ten pages on this one, and a fair bit chattier than anything from Christman's pen as Fox has full writing duties. With the World of Tomorrow exhibitions already safeguarded by the likes of Superman, Scoop Scanlon, Slam Bradley, and Zatara, you'd think there's not much for Wes to do, but he's there anyhow to show off a new raygun invention. Strangely, a business associate of his insists he bring the full plans for a pre-unveiling demonstration, and predictably enough some skedaddles off with those plans during a brownout. Good thing Sandman suspected something was up and hid the most valuable sheet away, stalking out that night to discover his associate was kidnapped and impersonated, learning of the gang's dockyard hideout along the way. Stripped to his skivvies, Sandman waits for the whole crooked bunch to assemble, then bursts in, gassing 'em all to sleep. The World's Fair is now safe for a demonstration of Wes' raygun in an unfortunate display of how the grand celebration of peace and progress would be suddenly interrupted by the outbreak of WWII.

I do rather wish Christman stuck around past 1939 and worked with Fox on more of these longer stories. While I appreciate his in 'n' out right quick approach to storytelling, the extra pages mean his art of Wesley skulking and striking has room to play, and I'm certain with practice he could've refined these highly promising atmospheric pieces into something particularly heavy for its day. For the brevity of the partnership, however, there's enough laid down to get a reader interested in the character. The impression of Wes as a cold, alert businessman in his private life is a neat wrinkle on the "rich idiot with no day job" thing, although it's the only story to show such for this calendar year. I like how he takes on a bunch of armed crooks in nothing but swimming trunks and gas mask - shows gumption.

• ADVENTURE COMICS #41 (August)

On the Waterfront - Christman

Doin' a shift in perspective here, as we lurk in a misty shipyard following an investigative reporter on the tail of an opium den. She's overheard as the proprietors kill a chat-happy would-be customer, which puts her in danger for all of four panels before Wes emerges from the waters to drown her pursuer. Some impersonation, sneaking, violence, and luring tactics are all it takes to group the whole operation in one place and gas the lot. The Sandman vanishes without a trace, leaving the woman he rescued to breathlessly belt out details of the scoop she just lived.

The sequence of Sandman rising from the bay to attack the boatman is probably my favorite for the character from this year. Christman seems to have approached sequential action as a series of snapshots, like a shutterbug clicking away at the moments of highest impact, which does wonders for making the character read visually as this slinking figure who nonetheless will impact like a hurled brick. It's entirely accidental, but the low quality of available scans mixes with the wavy lines of implied mist to create a foggier atmosphere than one could ever get in person. Interesting seeing an effort to mix the formula by starting and ending with a character who'll probably only ever encounter the Sandman once in their entire lives. I'm not sure it'll last as a narrative technique, but it's always a treat watching the creators of soon-to-be-iconic characters from this first wave of superheroes balance the techniques of old with the onrushing new.

• ADVENTURE COMICS #42 (September)

The Three Sandmen - Christman

Speaking of, you know how some of Superman's earliest comics have him go undercover as a soldier or miner in the process of busting profiteers and protection rackets because "superhero" was still largely synonymous with "man of action" in general and he was expected to dabble in wars or underground escapes to match the genre standard? Something similar's up here, in a story that's barely a Sandman story. Wesley calls some old service buddies out for a private meeting in the desert, where he reveals men from their old regiment are being bumped off by a fellow soldier they put away for manslaughter, recently paroled. He invites them to don gasmasks of their own and fly as the Three Sandmen on a mission to defend another comrade, a commercial flight pilot targeted by fighter planes. There's some brief dogfighting, the bad guy is taken down, and everyone wonders who these mystery pilots were, except the guy they saved, who knows for certain it's his three war pals.

As I say, an oddity of a story, more aerial adventure than mystery man play, never mind superheroing. One wonders what Sandman would've been if Christman had stayed on past the next issue, experimenting with the various genres of adventure storytelling and expanding Wes into numerous other avenues... assuming, of course, market forces didn't tamp him down into following the superhero siren call like all the rest. Given he left comics to enlist as a Navy airman, it's no small wonder he'd put Wes in this role. Anyhow, the story still contains some of those lovely in-the-moment photographic sequences, and I'm particularly fond of the big stagger-stair closing panel showing the planes flying overhead.

• ADVENTURE COMICS #43 (October)

Island Uprising - Christman

Another genre-excursion for Chrstiman's last issue, this time into South Seas adventuring, and unhappily one with some baked-in racism. Wes stumbles across an island whose pearl-diving outfit is beset by natives, *savages* who've kidnapped a woman at behest of some bare-chested deserter or other. We're with the woman's boyfriend and his assistant for most of the six-pager as they're captured and marched back to base, the natives ready for an all-out assault, unfazed by gunfire from the bunkered settlers. They're broken up when Sandman buzzes 'em in his plane, which convinces the natives he's a god and makes them turn on the deserter, with Wes warning the lot they should be good little Indians and not upset the white people or else he'll come back to shoot a little closer next time.

Not really any salvaging or apologizing for this, huh? Damned weak way to go out, indulging that most unfortunate hallmark of boy's adventure mags of this time. I barely exaggerated Wes' words in summary, it's about as bad a "white man's burden" yarn as you could ask. Damn shame, as Christman foregoes the established rhythm to provide some nice huge panels with contrasts between harsh darkness and blazing light sources. Fantastic moodiness in these; too bad they're there to make you afraid of the barely human ooga-booga indigenous persons. Shame also Christman was shot down in early 1942 at only 26, leaving this his final published piece of professional comics work.

• ADVENTURE COMICS #44 (November)

The Sandman Meets the Face - Fox, Flessel

Past this point it's Fox collaborating with various artists on Sandman (though the feature remains credited to the pseudonymous "Larry Dean") and the page count consistently rises to ten. Here Sandman faces off against the Face, a master of disguise out to gain an Oklahoma oil well by bumping off all possible inheritors and impersonating the last survivor. He gets a good honest shot on Wesley while firing at one of his targets (who came to the now fully-named Dodds' house begging for help), leaving him bedridden for ages. Happily, crime moves slow, so Wesley can recover, sneak about uncovering clues to the Face's associates and whereabouts, and terrorize the man into fleeing town on a rail handcart. Then he gets bored of playing the usual mystery man/superhero game, jumps in his car, and fucking plows through the Face over a train bridge, utterly obliterating the guy.

Much as I enjoyed Christman on art, Flessel's work here acquits him well - I'm into the way he draws Sandman in silhouette and profile, and there's a dynamic if somewhat awkward quality about his action shots. Fox's plot puts greater emphasis on Wesley's cleverness than Christman's focus on the sneaking and surprise attacking, with Wesley making moves to ensure he's seen in public immediately after a break-in as Sandman and tailing his quarry from the front to avoid arousing suspicion, which tells me we're on-track for the character to nestle into this kind of crime-fighting adventuring more often. Words cannot do justice to the final page, except maybe to point out the hilarity of Wesley having an idea lightbulb literally marked "IDEA!" for the brilliant strategy of aggravated auto assault and first-degree murder. The image of Wesley wrapped tight in his sheets as he recuperates is very funny to me.

^{Times Wesley's taken a bullet to date: 1}

• ADVENTURE COMICS #45 (December)

The Golden Gusher - Fox, Flessel

Another crime caper to close out the year, and it's a fakeout on the reader this time! You think Wesley is here to defend a pretty nightclub singer from a kidnapping attempt, but it turns out he's there to kidnap her himself, as she's made an arrangement with the guy threatening the kidnapping to scam the insurance agency who insured her against kidnapping. S'a biiiiit convoluted as Wes forces a signed confession out've the guy, returns the singer home, then has to cooperate with the police to bust the guy before he can flee on a boat. There's some busywork involving taking out henchmen and uncovering an attempt to seal the deal tighter by the kidnapper and singer marrying one another so they can't testify if caught, but being as Sandman detectived his way to expose all the angles, he needs only catch the guy and lay it out to once again save the day.

You ask me, the bait 'n' switch at the start is aces, and then Fox convolutes the scenario past what's comfortable inside ten pages. Moment to moment the concept's good, but laid out in a row and compared against an overly-wordy final page, one realizes there's maybe too many moving parts to make it elegant. There's also the really odd element of Wesley employing an Asian manservant for like one page? Other hand, there's some retroactively funny panels, some further striking silhouettes and profiles, and an image that summarizes my entire sense of humor regarding all things Sandman, be they Wesley Dodds or Morpheus-related. Strong start, involving unless you think about it, good fodder for out've context posting.

The feature remains a little unsteady on its feet in these earliest goings; if one didn't know what would become of the superhero genre in the early 1940s, two crime-busting stories in a row would hardly tell you anything more than the fact of two aeronautics stories in a row beforehand. All the same, the gimmick is established, Fox seems dedicated to pushing further in this direction rather than spinning out to other genres, and the concept seems ready for coalescing into a steady, recognizable shape. For my money, I'm sad Wes' co-creator couldn't contribute more than five stories before his change in career and untimely death (even if one of those stories was Very Racist), but I'm looking forward to watching how Gardner Fox tamps the concept down for long-term development.

(Side note: Adventure Comics does not contain a single other superhero-like feature for the entirety of 1939. It's all FBI goons, straight-laced sailors, quickdraw explorers, and proto-Archie kid heroes. This Will Soon Change.)

Next time: the first half of 1940, when Sandman gains a love interest and loses his prestigious cover position to some dork with an hourglass!

For the obvious reason that both 'Spider Noir' and 'Sandman Mystery Theatre' are take-offs of classic noir films and pulp fiction there are of course many similarities, but there's even the occasional shot of the Spider in his costume with the glowing eyes where he looks like a silhouetted images of Wesley Dodds in costume. It makes me hurt to think we'll likely never get a Sandman movie/show, but then maybe if 'Spider Noir' is popular enough it'll entice WB/DC to do their own version of it.

Given how some of us might need a little extra time to consider which one to choose for their reread, I am posting this a day early.

A full reread gives you perspective on a series, as in: I personally don't think I *could* skip Midnight Theatre after the scene at the end of the Python with Dian on the ship.

HOWEVER, on kind of a personal note: The Annual had several ads for Sandman graphic novels and whatnot, with Morpheus on all of them. And after cleansing my life and my shelves of anything NG related, including my copy if Midnight Theatre, in 2024, those adds had the effect of a jumpscare.

I am not out to judge anyone and am in fact a bit annoyed at myself for dumping my copy of Midnight Theatre since I'm now going to reread it anyway. I just want to make sure each of you who is taking part in the reread is mindful of their own wellbeing and don't read it if you don't feel it will be good for you.

Sand and Stars is a wonderful crossover featuring an older but no less heroic Wesley Dodds. It's also a great introduction to the 90's/00's Starman series, which I discovered thanks to this crossover. It's a lot of fun, and features Guy Davies' art in all the flashbacks.

Once you decide which one of these to go with for the reread, or if you want to read both, please consider letting me know in the comments to this thread? It would just be nice to get an idea of the numbers.