Sandman (Wesley Dodds)
| Sandman | |
|---|---|
Art by Gavin Wilson and Richard Bruning.
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics/Vertigo |
| First appearance | Adventure Comics No. 40 (July 1939) |
| Created by |
Gardner Fox Bert Christman |
| In-story information | |
| Full name | Wesley Bernard "Wes" Dodds |
| Team affiliations |
All-Star Squadron Justice Society of America Black Lantern Corps |
| Notable aliases | Grainy Gladiator |
| Abilities |
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Sandman (Wesley Dodds) is a fictional character, a superhero who appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The first of several DC characters to bear the name Sandman, he was created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Bert Christman.
Attired in a green business suit, fedora, and gas mask, the Sandman used a gun emitting a sleeping gas to sedate criminals. He was originally one of the mystery men to appear in comic books and other types of adventure fiction in the 1930s but later was outfitted with a unitard/cowl costume and developed into a proper superhero, acquiring sidekick Sandy, and founding the Justice Society of America.
Like most DC Golden Age superheroes, the Sandman fell into obscurity in the 1940s and eventually other DC characters took his name. During the 1990s, when writer Neil Gaiman's Sandman (featuring Morpheus, the anthropomorphic embodiment of dreams) was popular, DC revived Dodds in Sandman Mystery Theatre, a pulp/noir series set in the 1930s. Wizard Magazine ranked Wesley Dodds among the Top 200 Comic Book Characters of All Time, and he is the oldest superhero in terms of continuity to appear on the list.
Artist Bert Christman and writer Gardner Fox are generally credited as co-creating the original, Wesley Dodd version of the DC Comics character the Sandman. While the character's first appearance is usually given as Adventure Comics No. 40 (cover-dated July 1939), he also appeared in DC Comics' 1939 New York World's Fair Comics omnibus, which historians believe appeared on newsstands one to two weeks earlier, while also believing the Adventure Comics story was written and drawn first. Each of the two stories' scripts were credited to the pseudonym "Larry Dean"; Fox wrote the untitled, 10-page story in New York World's Fair #1, while he simply plotted, and Christman scripted, the untitled, six-page story, generally known as "The Tarantula Strikes", in Adventure #40.Creig Flessel, who drew many early Sandman adventures, has sometimes been credited as co-creator on the basis of drawing the Sandman cover of Adventure #40, but no other evidence has surfaced.
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