(Superhero) Mystery Man Tuesday: Wesley Dodds-The Sandman

Among the wonderful things that came out of the Golden Age of Comics was the phenomenon of the Mystery Man.  Most of these guys had no super powers and really had no fancy costumes.  Most of these early heroes wore traditional suits and ties.  They hid their identities with a domino mask.  Some were lame and some were cool, and some were totally creepy.

Today we will address the creepiest of all the golden age Mystery Men, Wesley Dodds, the original Sandman.  Wes Dodds was a mild mannered smart guy who suffered from insomnia, some claim he had night terrors or visions.

Instead of wasting his late night hours, Wes put on a gas mask and fought the criminal element.  His weapon of choice was a gun that fired a sleeping gas.  He would leave creepy and cryptic notes meant to taunt the criminals in question.

Wikipedia makes very general comments about the Sandman
Wesley Dodds is a fictional character, a superhero who appears in comic books published byDC Comics. The first of several DC characters to bear the name Sandman, he was created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Bert Christman.His weapon of choice was a gun that fired a sleeping gas

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 leotard/cowl costume and developed into a proper superhero, acquiring sidekick Sandy, and founding the Justice Society of America.

During the fall of the Mystery Men and the rise of the Superhero, The Sandman went through some changes.  Under orders from the publisher, Hero Makers Simon and Kirby were hired to make the Sandman into a hero with flash and style and leotards.  The result was the glitz of the purple and gold Sandman.  Complete with kid sidekick, the pair was meant to make Batman and Robin look like chumps.  This of course did not stand the test of time.

When reintroduced in the Silver Age, The Sandman was back in his green suit and fedora.  He was wearing his gas mask and looking creepy.
Vertigo and Modern adaptations
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'sSandman (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.

With the dawning of the Vertigo age, The Sandman got even cooler.  His world became grittiier.  His gas mask more realistic.  He had Style and a new connection to Mopheus which fueled his visions and night terrors.

In Sandman Midnight Theatre (1995) a one-shot special by Neil Gaiman (author of the Modern Age supernatural series The Sandman), Matt Wagner (co-author of Sandman Mystery Theatre), and Teddy Kristiansen, depicts an interaction between the two characters, with the original visiting Great Britain and encountering the imprisoned Dream, the protagonist of Gaiman's series. A minor retcon by Gaiman suggested that Dodds' chosen identity was a result of Dream's absence from the realm the Dreaming, and that Dodds carries an aspect of that mystical realm. This explains Dodds' prophetic dreams.

In the age of legacy heroes and due to time travel, immortal transformations into silicon based creatures and recoveries.  The Sandman arrived in the modern age.  This time, in the person of Wesley Dodds kid sidekick, Sandy.

It is my greatest hope that the legacy of Wesley Dodds will live on.  The Sandman is the ultimate in Noir.  He is poster child for the Mystery Men movement, and he's creepy.