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Post by chadwilliam on Jul 4, 2024 23:40:23 GMT -5
I don't think it was ever stated explicitly, but I assume the gas only puts someone out for a few minutes. has The Sandman gas that fake beggar, search his apartment, and then arrive at Police HQ where he forms a truce with the police, all before that beggar is discovered by his men who have to dunk his head in a sink to awaken him since simply shaking him and shouting "Hey, Boss - wake up!" isn't enough. I can't recall if it's been mentioned how long the gas works, but I would think at least half an hour. |
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Post by chadwilliam on Jul 6, 2024 12:30:36 GMT -5
Adventure Comics #52 (July 1940) "Wanted! Dead or Alive!"
Author: Gardner Fox Artist: Creig Flessel "The police and the underworld hate The Sandman! They have tried to capture him - to learn his identity - set traps for him - always without success! - With Dian Belmont, daughter of the District Attorney as his beautiful aide. - He makes his daring battles against criminals!"
 Synopsis: As Dian Belmont entertains Wesley Dodds at her home, a burglar steals a pair of gloves from her room while leaving behind the calling card of a golden apple. "Gloves! Now why should he steal a pair of gloves? There's something funny about this!"
Unfortunately, Dodds can't ask the crook himself as he runs away from the house observed by the pair. "He's getting away! I wish I had a gun!"
I love that line so much - the hero realizing that things would be so much simpler for him if he could just shoot the bad guy in the back and call it a night.   This isn't to say that the crime fighters don't have a lead. Recognizing the apple as one owned by Claudia Morgan - "or one like it" - Dian pays a visit to her friend as The Sandman makes his own entrance through the home's basement window. Although on the surface, grateful to Dian for returning a "family heirloom", once Belmont leaves, Morgan becomes irate, her outburst overheard by The Sandman. "The fool! That irresponsible fool!"
Locking the apple in her safe, our hero investigates to find "a score of those amber apples!" Leaving things as he found them, The Sandman takes his leave, puzzled over the matter. "Why were Dian's gloves taken? - What about the amber apples?"
Driving through the streets, Dodds takes interest in a newsboy's cries of a recent gold robbery and purchases a paper. "MORSON WAREHOUSE ROBBED OF GOLD SHIPMENT!!! WOMAN'S GLOVE FOUND ALSO AMBER APPLES!"
Returning to Dian, the pair realize the bad situation she's in. "It was your glove they left there on purpose! To accuse you of the crime!"
With identifying cleaner marks on the gloves able to connect Belmont to the glove, it becomes imperative to The Sandman to steal it back - something he accomplishes during a visit to the police station with his trusty gas gun. "A new experience - cracking a safe to the accompaniment of police officers' snores!"
Unfortunately, while the glove left at the warehouse has been recovered, Dodds and Belmont still have to contend with the fact that the second glove still resides with Claudia Morgan. Sneaking once more onto her property, The Sandman overhears Morgan berate the gang member who has gathered along with his confederates in her living room. "You fool! I told you not to leave an amber apple at The Belmont girl's home. Now she knows I had one - and she might suspect me of belonging to The Amber Apple Gang!"
When the hood moves into the next room to retrieve the gang's loot, he is gassed by our hero who tosses the bag out of the window intending to retrieve it later. With this accomplished, The Sandman boldly charges into the room and takes down Morgan's gang as the ringmistress herself makes her escape with the gold she's discovered outside her home.  Giving chase with Dian at the wheel, The Sandman gasses Morgan as she races off on foot before she can recognize Belmont riding along with the vigilante. Claudia is returned home, The Sandman phones the police, and Wesley Dodds and Dian close things out with a drive in the moonlight.  Thoughts: "He's getting away! I wish I had a gun!"
Not often do you hear a superhero chastise himself for neglecting to keep a gun handy so he can just shoot a fleeing burglar in the back so he could skip the whole donning of fighting togs and leaving his house aspect his job. Had that moment not taken place in this story, I suspect that it would have been Dian's exchange with Wesley at the top of this story which stood out the most to me, Wesley Dodds: How long do you think I can get away with posing as The Sandman? If anyone ever suspected that Wesley Dodds, playboy socialite, am the same person. Dian Belmont: Don't worry. You're safe, Wes. Awkward exposition aside, I like that Dodds gets to play the worry-wart rather than Dian. It's a sensible concern - I mean, how many times has The Sandman been shot in only his first year on the job? - but eh, "boo hoo hoo, Mr. I Wish I Had a Gun to Hold Up My Spine With". Unfortunately, those two moments aside, I can't find much in this yarn which we haven't seen before. Sandman leisurely gassing his way in and out of Police HQ; Sandman effortlessly cracking a safe; Dian chauffeuring him from plot point to plot point (though I do appreciate this entry at least acknowledging that this isn't something she should be seen doing for a change); boring henchmen committing boring thefts - the whole amber apple calling card seems specifically designed to counter any protests about this gang being like all the rest we've grown too accustomed to seeing in these pages - "Hey, this gang incorporates apples into their thefts - they're nothing like any of the other crooks you've seen here". Certainly, Claudia Morgan seems a force to reckon with what with her fiery temper but she doesn't have anything to back it up with. So - rinse, wash, repeat, it is for this installment with the caveat that there are a couple of details which keep it somewhat memorable. oh, and while Adventure Comics #52 marks a string of issues where The Sandman will be bumped from the cover, "Wanted! Dead or Alive!" does at least restore our hero as the lead feature on this occasion at least. Up Next: All-Star Comics #1.
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Post by chadwilliam on Jul 9, 2024 10:52:17 GMT -5
All-Star Comics #1 (Spring 1940) "The Twin Thieves"
Author: Gardner Fox Artist: Creig Flessel "Equipped with a gas gun and helmet, a familiar sight to police and criminals alike is - The Sandman! Altho he has never been guilty of a crime, he is regarded by the police as a dangerous criminal! Yet he invariably brings to justice those who are accustomed to flout it with impunity!"
Synopsis: A visit to a jewelry store places Wesley Dodds on sight when a gunman enters and helps himself to some gems. In spite of his warning that he'll shoot anyone who tries to follow, Dodds gives chase as the man enters a building only to stop in astonishment as he also seems to walk past him, albeit in a differently coloured suit. "I don't know which one to follow!" Deciding to discretely follow the one who passed him, Dodds makes a note of the man's home and returns there that evening in the familiar garb of The Sandman. Entering the man's home as he sleeps, The Sandman doesn't find two men there as he expected. He does, however, spot a safe which he decides to crack. Inside, he finds a "fortune in precious stones". Unfortunately, our hero is so absorbed in his discovery that when the man's twin enters the room, he fails to hear him. That earns him a bullet to the shoulder and down he goes.  Recognizing his intruder when the gunman searches The Sandman and finds a vial of sand, the criminal hits upon a scheme. "Suppose I borrowed that outfit! Nobody would accuse me then! They'd blame it on The Sandman!"
Before he can remove our mystery's man gasmask however, The Sandman awakens, gasses his opponent, and, while hiding in another room to momentarily rest, finds himself watching as the man he just encountered welcomes his twin, Don into the house. Appraising him of the encounter with The Sandman, Jed and Don decide to continue with their plans for the evening - head over to the steamship offices and steal their payroll using the same methodology as last time. The Sandman follows and observes. Pausing only to place a phone call to the police, The Sandman pursues his quarry into the office and when his gas gun is shot out of his hands, he resorts to the tried and true fisticuff approach. "This effort is ripping my shoulder to pieces, but it's got to be done!"
For once, our hero loses his fight and after being clobbered over the head, finds himself potentially having to explain himself to the approaching policemen he hears. However, in making his escape, The Sandman races through the lobby of a nearby hotel when he conveniently bumps into the twins. This time their encounter ends favourably for the masked man who considerately leaves their unconscious bodies in the squad car outside of the steamship offices for the police to find. A note reveals where the law can find their ill-gotten gains and a sprinkling of sand reminds them who they owe their thanks to.  Thoughts: Though fired as the cover feature for Adventure Comics not too long ago, The Sandman has found additional employment as one of the headliners here in All-Star Comics - not too shabby, methinks. I suppose I should judge these stories based not only on their own merits, but how well they compliment the other features found within the issues themselves. At a glance, we have some beautiful Shelly Moldoff work on the opening Hawkman adventure filled with witches, zombies, and giant bats; our Sandman tale follows; Gary Concord, The Ultra-Man's presence here only serves as a reminder that at this point, All-Star was being published by All-American Comics since such a series feels out of place in a National-DC comic book; a fun little Flash tale though anyone being exposed to the character for the first time here, will have to look elsewhere for an episode in which he spends more than just a few moments in costume since here he's just playing the role of honorary policeman for a story; Hey Look! It's the old Spectre story I reviewed in my previous thread - a sombre if not at times suggestively gruesome adventure involving an arsonist who The Spectre identifies by paying a visit to an "endless chain of departing souls" in the after-world; four pages of Biff Bronson which, while not really big-foot art doesn't seem to take itself too seriously either; some two-fisted fantasy involving The Hour-Man in what I judged to be a pretty exciting outing when I read during MWGallaher's thread; and then there's Red, White, and Blue which I'll probably read one day but for the moment can't find whatever hook it has to get me to do it right now. So how does The Sandman fare? Well, I think he holds his own nicely here thanks to the rather breezy adventure Fox treats him to. It feels like a sampler tale to me - a casually uncomplicated yarn requiring none of the leaps in logic nor filled with any of the inconsistencies which have plagued at times other installments of the feature so far - and likely was intended as such. One guy robs a place and goes east; his twin makes sure he's spotted going east. Probably not quite the advantage it might sound like when you're not thinking too hard about the ramifications of giving the police two twice as many chances to apprehend a criminal, but the tune is catchy at least. The artwork isn't consistent enough to support the notion that these two are twins at the start - the twin Dodds spots walking past him looks a little fuller of face than the man he's after though when we saw that guy, there was something wonky going on with his wide as saucers/elongated mouth face that it doesn't really seem like Flessel had settled on how he wanted these guys to look until he settled into the story himself. But again, it's such a fast paced episode that it's unlikely you'll think too much, if at all, about these things after a first read. Two villains instead of one; The Sandman nearly unmasked; our hero losing the first round but making up for things quickly in the next; a close encounter with the police; and yes, once again, The Sandman gets shot in the shoulder. Suddenly, I'm reminded of an old MAD joke about Dick Tracy dying from lead poisoning after all the times he's been shot in the shoulder. The Sandman also gets his gas gun shot out of his hand not for the first time in these pages. I believe it'll happen again in the next story and seems designed as an excuse to get him into more scrapes than before. Though it can become a cliche, it's nice at least that Fox is resisting his earlier urge to play up his hero as someone who just likes a barney and that's all the reason needed to explain his eschewing his weapon in these situations. No Dian Belmont in this tale. I suspect, again, that Fox wanted to make things as simple as possible for those readers who haven't been buying Adventure Comics but will be picking up this issue of All-Star. For those who had however, I don't know how strongly her absence would have been felt since things move at such a brisk pace for this go-round. Also overlooked, is the significance of The Sandman's get-up. It isn't until his attempted killer searches his person and discovers a vial of sand that he deduces just who he's captured. We're a little over a year into this run and it seems that our hero isn't recognizable on sight to most of the crooks he comes across. Oh sure, they've heard of him, but there's nothing about his outfit which screams 'Sandman!' at them. Step on a few grains of sand however, and the connection becomes obvious. Makes me wonder how many other superheroes are out there whose disguises don't leave a single clue - whether it be a bat emblazoned upon their chest or simply an hourglass around the neck - as to their identity. Not that it really matters, but I wonder how long it'll be before the criminals of this city connect the guy who goes around gassing their ilk with the guy in the suit and gasmask. On a final note, The Sandman may not be in the habit of dangling his captured prey from the gargoyles lining Police HQ, but like he did when he left a couple of goons at The City Dump, here he creatively leaves them slumped at the wheel of the officers who have come to arrest them. A nice bit of flair which I hope will continue. Up Next: "The Loan Sharks" |
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Post by MWGallaher on Jul 9, 2024 12:53:11 GMT -5
I'm not sure quite how to express this, but in these stories, I always have trouble recognizing Wesley Dodds. I mean, I know from the story and the captions that this character being illustrated represents Wesley, but somehow, I just don't feel it in the way that I feel "That's Bruce Wayne. That's Jim Corrigan. That's Rex Tyler. That's Alan Scott." I suppose it's partly that Wes hasn't got any distinguishing physical characteristics, but even rather generically-drawn characters (like Rex Tyler) somehow connect with me as being the same person as the mystery man than Wesley Dodds does. It may be that when he's in the gas mask, his face is unreadable, so seeing Wes grinning or making goofy expressions is too much of a contrast to click with me.
In a way, that ought to be to the feature's benefit, making the Sandman persona that much more transformative, but it doesn't, not for me. I feel sort of resentful to panels with Wesley, as if he doesn't really belong in this strip.
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Post by chadwilliam on Jul 9, 2024 19:38:46 GMT -5
I'm not sure quite how to express this, but in these stories, I always have trouble recognizing Wesley Dodds. I mean, I know from the story and the captions that this character being illustrated represents Wesley, but somehow, I just don't feel it in the way that I feel "That's Bruce Wayne. That's Jim Corrigan. That's Rex Tyler. That's Alan Scott." I suppose it's partly that Wes hasn't got any distinguishing physical characteristics, but even rather generically-drawn characters (like Rex Tyler) somehow connect with me as being the same person as the mystery man than Wesley Dodds does. It may be that when he's in the gas mask, his face is unreadable, so seeing Wes grinning or making goofy expressions is too much of a contrast to click with me. In a way, that ought to be to the feature's benefit, making the Sandman persona that much more transformative, but it doesn't, not for me. I feel sort of resentful to panels with Wesley, as if he doesn't really belong in this strip. That's a really good observation. Dodds with his unoffensively handsome features always seems to be having the time of his life in civilian identity. Compare his having to feign public drunkenness in Adventure #44 to allay suspicions that he's The Sandman with his and Dian living it up all night in Adventure #51 to account for his whereabouts when his place is supposed to be being burgled by his alter ego. Dodds generic features don't really matter in the former example where he serves merely as a phony disguise to be sacrificed for The Sandman's interests when the situation calls for it. The second example however, calls for no such sacrifice - Dodds can dance the night away in the middle of a case. An exaggeration perhaps, but it's really been feeling like Dodds isn't so much taking a backseat to The Sandman any longer, but actually using his cases to court Dian Belmont - her involvement kind of feels like the pair is on a date as much as a case. They flirt and beam at one another so much that it almost feels as if The Sandman gets picked up on some street corner, allowed to sit in the back, taken to where he's going, and then dropped off from whence he came before the night is through, after which, Wes and Dian start their own night. All of this is to say that if Wesley Dodds is going to be taking the front seat in these adventures, then he really needs to be given some distinguishing characteristics other than the fact that he's blandly handsome and makes Dian Belmont swoon. |
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Post by chadwilliam on Jul 13, 2024 10:26:49 GMT -5
Adventure Comics #53 (August 1940) "The Loan Sharks"
Author: Gardner Fox Artist: Creig Flessel "Mystery-Man who aids the just against the evil of crime and criminal - armed with gas-gun and helmet, he sallies forth like a knight of old, solving riddles that the police, hampered by legal red-tape, are unable to cope with."
 Synopsis: Coming across the beaten and bloodied poor unfortunate who had made the mistake of borrowing money from loan shark, Slick Sam, in an alley, The Sandman determines to pay a visit to the nefarious money lender who sicks his men or any who can't pay his exorbitant interest fees. Smashing through the window of Sam's office and grabbing his underling by the throat, The Sandman soon turns his attention to the loan shark himself. "I came directly to see you! If you don't haul your business out of here, you won't have any!"
 His threat delivered, The Sandman departs. An unspecified amount of time later, Wesley Dodds reads a troubling article in the newspaper. "What's this? Man murdered - borrowed money from loan concern! So they didn't listen to my warning!"
Paying a visit to the murdered man's home, our hero happens to arrive at approximately the same time hoodlum, Gunny does. Identifying himself as the killer of Jenks, the money borrower, The Sandman gasses the hired hand and drops him off at Police HQ. Though he quickly makes his exit, the crime fighter doesn't stray far. Hanging from a window ledge outside the station, The Sandman overhears as Gunny confesses what he knows. "The boss is Gorilla Gus! Slick Sam fronts for him as an official of the loan business! There ought'ta be records there!"
Beating it to the loan office before the police can arrive, The Sandman makes short work of Slick Sam - unfortunately however, his men are another matter. Finding the three-on-one odds insurmountable on this occasion, our mystery is overpowered and taken away to the apartment of Gorilla Gus.  Though irritated by the headache bumping off The Sandman creates, Gus resigns himself to the task instructing his men to leave the unconscious crime fighter in another room until he's ready to deal with him. Obviously this enables our hero to escape which he does through the window. Encountering a police officer following his descent from the building, The Sandman instructs him accordingly. "Get your riot-squad here in half-an-hour! That loan shark gang will be upstairs then!"
Gambling that the masked man is on the level, the officer obliges as our hero sets out to keep the gang in place for the authorities impending arrival. Re-entering the apartment just as Gus and his goons discover his absence, The Sandman once again faces the misfortune of having his gas gun shot from his hands. He however manages to give his opponents the slip, round back into the room where he dropped his weapon, and capture the gang mostly one-by-one. When things are at an end: "The Sandman retires from the apartment - triumphant!"
Minutes later, the police enter the scene to discover that their job is done. "Here are our gangsters with the evidence in this case presented by The Sandman! What a guy!"
Thoughts: I'm not sure whether the victim The Sandman saves at the start of this tale is the one later murdered by Gunny. I'd rather hope not since one would have to conclude that by drawing so much attention to himself following the man's assault, The Sandman was somewhat responsible for the retaliation meted out to him. I also don't know why Gunny would return to the man's house after killing him. "Came over to make sure Jenks got his". Wouldn't the killer already know whether or not his victim "got his"? Wouldn't he have been there? Wouldn't he have read it in the paper? I suppose he could have shot him from afar and wanted to make sure he hadn't survived, but this isn't really clear to me. Wesley Dodds is seen smoking a cigarette in one panel in this story. The Sandman once again gets his gas gun shot from his hands - this is getting repetitive. Doesn't seem like any of the characters' hearts are in this one. The Sandman is overpowered, rendered unconscious, and then simply left in a room alone and untied - of course he's going to wake up after his nap and leave through the window. Through the window and into the path of a truncheon wielding policeman. Sure The Sandman is a wanted outlaw (I think) but there's no reaching for his gas gun, no sense of danger from his running into a police officer, it's just a command given to grab the riot squad and off he goes. I suppose the officer doesn't know who he is - "I don't know whether you're a nut or not" - but again, wanted by the police who have never been bothered with passing along a description of him to their men sounds rather slack to me. A rather tepid plot involving rather bland crooks once again - The Sandman's really got to get an arch-nemesis or involve himself in better cases. Not that this adventure was entirely devoid of excitement - The Sandman doesn't burst into the loan shark's office through the door at the start of this tale - he smashes in through the glass window of the door and throttles the hoodlum on the other side. Sometimes it's a sprinkling of sand to suggest his identity, other times it's "why bother turning the knob of this door when I can just leap through this pane of glass?" Still, I do hope we get more than that next time around.
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Post by chadwilliam on Jul 16, 2024 9:52:05 GMT -5
Adventure Comics #54 (September 1940) "Case of the Kidnapped Heiress"
Author: Gardner Fox Artist: Creig Flessel "With gas gun spraying sleep The Sandman stalks the city. Seeking for crime nemesis of criminals, he has become a byword for police and underworld alike. Both fear him greatly"
 Synopsis: Wealthy heiress, Nana Martin holds a coming out party attended by Wesley Dodds and Dian Belmont. Perhaps a better description might be "potentially wealthy heiress, Nana Martin" for should the young lady not marry within one year's time, she forfeits the majority of her inheritance. It is while discussing this eccentric little technicality that Dodds and Dian bear witness to young Martin being dragged by powerful arms into a waiting vehicle. Dodds and Belmont give chase in their own roadster as Dian drives and our playboy hero transforms into his Sandman disguise. Pulling up close enough to the vehicle for our hero to leap onto the running board of the kidnapper's automobile, The Sandman gasses the passengers (minus the driver) and pursues Martin's assailant when he makes a mad leap from out of the vehicle and over a cliff into a gully With the car stopped, Dian comforts the shaken Nana who explains the situation. "He dared me to marry him! I was going to... then got cold feet! I-I have to marry to get - the inheritance!"
Unfortunately, while The Sandman's busy slugging the kidnapper and Dian is consoling Nana, no one's bothered to consider the fellow driving the car and his partner seated next to him. They, however, recognize immediately the opportunity this development presents for those of their warped sensibilities. "The wealthy Martin girl - and the D.A.'s daughter!"
And now they have two ransoms for the price of one. After overpowering his opponent, The Sandman learns of Dian and Nana's disappearance and hotfoots it to D.A. Belmont's home.  Apprising Belmont of the situation, The Sandman is granted permission to take one of the officers - Jim Holt - who charged to arrest him when he arrived on his hunt for the missing women. Turns out the fellow once knew Martin. "You did? Good! Come with me!"
The Sandman's reason for riding around with a police officer is as follows: "When they broadcast the location of the kidnappers where the ransom is to be paid - ordering the police to stay away - you'll find out where it is for me - and we'll go there!"
In case you're wondering, Holt seems more bemused than in "fear" - as the opening narration would want us to believe - of his partner. And so it comes to pass that the demands are placed to Dian's D.A. father - "you've got me cold - I'll do it!" - and relayed to The Sandman and his sidekick over the Police radio. "Calling all cars! Calling all cars! Stay away from Coleton Cemetery! Kidnap ransom being paid! Calling all cars!"
So as the gangsters observe from a place of concealment at The Coleton Cemetery as the drop is made, so too does The Sandman and Holt observe them. Assuming that once the kidnappers get their money they'll head back to wherever it is they've hidden Nana and Dian, the good guys follow only to discover that their quarry has no intention of returning to their hideout. Following as they leave town, The Sandman's chaperone shoots out one of the hoodlum's tires as our favorite mystery man rams their vehicle away from the cliff over which it's headed and to the side of the road. Greeting the villains with a rapid fire succession of blows to the face, the crooks make easy prey for our hero and require only the further threat of walloping before they divulge the hiding place of Nana Martin and Dian Belmont. The tale concludes three months later with Wesley and Dian attending the wedding of Nana Martin and officer, Jim Holt.  Thoughts: This issue - in fact, this story - concludes with a nearly full page ad proclaiming "The 'Big Six' comic magazines still lead the field!" Those big six magazines and the masthead ambassadors representing them? Action Comics - Superman Detective Comics - The Batman All-American Comics - The Green Lantern More Fun Comics - The Spectre Flash Comics - The Flash and top center... Adventure Comics - The Sandman A nice bit of advertising which suggests that DC still had faith in our mystery man at this point... though I'm not sure why. I hate to say it, but this strip has really lost its mystique beyond those customary introductory blurbs which make The Sandman sound far more mysterious, dangerous, and cool than the stories into which they lead. He doesn't really "stalk the city" so much as attend fancy balls as Wesley Dodds where rather pedestrian crimes (by comic book standards) take place. "Both fear him greatly!" ummm, I don't know. The police officer going for a joyride with him doesn't seem to, though I suppose once word gets around about how adept the crimefighter is at using a crook's head as a punching bag, I suppose criminals might. Crimes happen within The Sandman/Wesley Dodds' line of sight; our hero rushes over and gets some explanation; heads over to the bad guy's base and beats them up or gets captured/knocked out; wakes up and goes home or heads out the window of the apartment the bad guy lends him a room to; comes back; beats up the bad guys; rinse, wash, repeat. And maybe Dian acts as his chauffer and I'm sure we'll see a police officer shout "The Sandman!" and look dumbfounded before calling for back-up. In short, these stories really need some sort of hook. Bizarre villains rather than typical underlings; weird happenings as opposed to jewel robberies; police officers that actually do their jobs - what was up with Tim Holt needing to ride along with The Sandman anyway? Couldn't the police have just arranged yet another truce and informed their officers to let The Sandman know where the drop will be made when he inevitably pulls up alongside one of them? Anyhoo, after a promising start a little over a year ago, it seems as if the strip has contented itself with being a back-up feature meant to support whatever the next big thing whenever that shows up. A shame. ![]()
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Post by chadwilliam on Jul 22, 2024 11:39:44 GMT -5
Adventure Comics #55 (October 1940) "The Star of Singapore"
Author: Gardner Fox Artist: Creig Flessel Inker: Chad Grothkopf "Strange man of mystery is The Sandman!! Clad in cloak and helmet, gasgun gripped in strong right hand, he wages merciless war on crime. The police are after him (though he never committed a crime) he aides them always!"
 Synopsis: A pair of bank robbers manage to abscond with the Star of Singapore gem entrusted with The Nation Bank for safekeeping. Worse still, in attempting to prevent the jewel's theft, the valiant guard on duty that night has earned himself a club to the head and death by suffocation should the police fail to contact the one man they believe can free him from the vault in which his assaulters have locked him - The Sandman! The call goes out over the radio waves and is heard by none other than Mr. Wesley Dodds, pipe smoking playboy and alter-ego of the man they seek. "Calling The Sandman! Police protection if you'll open The Nation Bank vault!" Racing to the scene, The Sandman arrives in time to learn of the thousand dollar reward he will earn should he perform this remarkable feat, though one suspects that he would make the attempt regardless of any such monetary offer. Cracking the safe in two minutes and three seconds - "Not bad at all!", remarks our hero - The Sandman is presented with the opportunity to earn 25 times the grand he just made by the bank manager. "Get me The 'Star' back again - and it'll be twenty-five thousand!"
Accepting the challenge, The Sandman decides to work alongside Detective Brophy (no, he's not someone we've heard of before) on this case. Operating on the premise that the gem is too hot to be sold in the country, The Sandman decides that it is likely headed to South America by way of sea. It is this line of thinking which leads our man of mystery to the waterfront where he spots a yacht and surmises that their prey "might have a boat like that". As it so transpires, that actually is their boat - a fact which our hero discovers when he dons swimming trunks and gasmask and boards the vessel. Unfortunately, this ends The Sandman's streak of lucky breaks since when the thieves decide to make way for Buenos Ares, Detective Brophy assumes that the ship's departure coming on the heels of his having boarded the ship means that the vigilante is part of the gang. "The Sandman's double-crossed me! He's got The Star of Singapore I'll bet!"
Brophy gets the Harbour police involved and when the hoodlums aboard the yacht spot their ship, they fire upon the vessel at the same time our hero confronts his quarry. The yacht fires back at the Harbour boat and Brophy fires back at the crooks - succeeding only at shooting The Sandman in the shoulder. As it turns out though, the Harbour patrol has gotten the worse of their little war leaving an enraged Brophy to exclaim, "That means - The Sandman's won again!" He cheers up however, when the patrol boat manages to shoot their boilers threatening a sinking doom for those aboard the ship.  After placing the bandits he's already overcome with his gasgun in lifebuoys - "Can't let men die when you can save them!" - The Sandman dives into the water which is quickly filling the cabin and performs the remarkable spectacle of cracking the safe which holds The Star of Singapore. Securing the jewel just as the boilers explode and send him careening into the air, The Sandman is picked up by Brophy who expresses his remorse for wounding him when he sees what he holds in his hand. "And to think I doubted you - and I - shot you!"
Shrugging off the remark, The Sandman reminds the detective that if it weren't for the pair of them, "we wouldn't get the reward".
Thoughts: A nice change of pace from the rather lackluster stories we've been getting in these pages. Although Fox isn't diverging too wildly from his usual routine, he is putting his typical formula to better use here. A police department wholly incapable of solving a bank robbery or kidnapping on their own is hardly a force to be reckoned with and as a result, Fox's attempts to play up how risky The Sandman's brushes with the law are generally fall flat - if the police can't handle the penny-ante crooks of the city, why should we expect them to pose a threat to our hero? However, one can understand the plight they face in this adventure when they have to call in The Sandman to crack a safe when doing so becomes a matter of life and death. It's also nice that The Sandman is, for once, being employed not to do the police's job for them, but perform the services only a master criminal - which his reputation suggests he is - can. And the sequence itself, where The Sandman has to open a safe before the man inside asphyxiates, is one of genuine tension. Of course, had Fox been sticking to the continuity which he himself established, it would be Dian Belmont performing this feat. Interesting that The Sandman accepts two rewards in this story. Since Dodds is already wealthy I can't imagine that he'll be keeping it, but it is unusual that no caveat about not accepting rewards is made when the matter comes up. A call-back to some of the earliest tales in that The Sandman is garbed once more in swimming trunks and his gasmask - it'll never not be an odd sight to behold, I imagine, but there's a certain dynamic flavour added to the mix especially during these sequences courtesy of Chad Grothkopf's inks. The former Sandman artist joins Flessel with this entry and in so doing, provides a more grounded, grittier look for the feature.  Another bullet wound for The Sandman by way of Detective Brophy's rifle. I guess he's building up an immunity to bullets since it doesn't seem to slow him down for a moment - a far cry from the days when The Sandman would struggle to even remain conscious following such an injury. No wonder he doesn't pull the magnanimous, "You can just give my half of the reward to Detective Brophy - the true hero of the hour!" routine here. So, a refreshing and welcome change of pace this time around. Up Next: A worthy adversary for The Sandman.
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Post by MWGallaher on Jul 22, 2024 15:38:56 GMT -5
I assume the underwater scenes were based on reasoning that the gasmask could double as breathing gear and goggles, although the stories don't seem to tell us that directly. Fox seems to think that much of his conception of the character is already well-understood by the reader, even though he never really spells it out. I wouldn't have inferred that the Sandman had a reputation as a safecracker based only on the intro blurbs about him having a criminal reputation (or the previous installments that involved safes).
Come to think of it, this was an issue I found in Hourman: does the scripter assume that we'll come to the same understanding--an understanding that is underpinning his scripts--based on what is present in the stories? Or is the scripter winging it, with no firm answer in his mental backstory underpinning the scripts? With Sandman specifically, does Gardner Fox have some idea about what crimes the Sandman is thought to be guilty of, some set of criminal skills he is presumed by the police and gangdom to have?
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 22, 2024 21:06:28 GMT -5
Um....a gas mask doesn't work underwater. You still breathe air through the mask; it just has a filter that removes the toxic materials from the chemical weapon, like mustard gas or tear gas. It does not provide oxygen. Now, in the Navy, we used breathing devices for firefighting, called an OBA (Oxygenated Breathing Apparatus). It had a face mask, with air hoses feeding the oxygen mixture to the mouth, which came from a cartridge that was inserted into a chamber, from the underside, in the chest unit.  The cartridge was inserted into the main chamber, piercing the top and igniting the sodium chlorate oxygen candle, providing oxygen, while carbon dioxide is exhaled and scrubbed. The candle provides about 60 minutes of oxygen, though Navy regulations prohibit use for beyond 45 minutes (there is a timer, set to 45 minutes, to allow a safety factor for evacuation to a safe breathing space, before the candle expires. Submarines use a similar device for emergency escape and the basic design is also similar to the closed circuit breathing rigs used by the Navy SEALs, which prevent the release of exhaled breath in the water, alerting sentries to divers in their area. You might be able to modify a gas mask to work like a snorkel, but you'd have to have a tube leading to the surface. |
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Post by MWGallaher on Jul 22, 2024 21:35:59 GMT -5
Oh, I didn't mean that I thought a gas mask could actually double as part of a breathing system, only that the creators might have thought "Hey, what if this mask could also attach to an air tank? Then we could have Sandman do some underwater stuff for a change." That is, the look of the mask suggested turning it into comic book tech that broadened the character's potential crime-fighting environments. But I do appreciate and enjoy your well-informed technical details, codystarbuck ! |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 22, 2024 23:19:38 GMT -5
Oh, I didn't mean that I thought a gas mask could actually double as part of a breathing system, only that the creators might have thought "Hey, what if this mask could also attach to an air tank? Then we could have Sandman do some underwater stuff for a change." That is, the look of the mask suggested turning it into comic book tech that broadened the character's potential crime-fighting environments. But I do appreciate and enjoy your well-informed technical details, codystarbuck ! Well, I am kind of pointing out that Fox and Flessel seem to be laboring under the misunderstanding that a gas mask had an air bottle, unless I am missing something where they say that is what Wesley did, in modifying his mask. I don't believe either had served in the Armed Forces, before working in comics, so they might not have had any experience with gas masks and might have thought the rear cylinder was an oxygen bottle, rather than the breathing filter. I have a cousin who, when we were kids, had gotten ahold of a surplus US Navy Mark III or Mark IV gas mask, probably from a catalog, which had the rubber face mask and breathing tubes leading to the rear, to the filter cylinder.  You could easily mistake it for a rebreather. |
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Post by chadwilliam on Jul 23, 2024 10:39:21 GMT -5
I assume the underwater scenes were based on reasoning that the gasmask could double as breathing gear and goggles, although the stories don't seem to tell us that directly. Fox seems to think that much of his conception of the character is already well-understood by the reader, even though he never really spells it out. I wouldn't have inferred that the Sandman had a reputation as a safecracker based only on the intro blurbs about him having a criminal reputation (or the previous installments that involved safes). Come to think of it, this was an issue I found in Hourman: does the scripter assume that we'll come to the same understanding--an understanding that is underpinning his scripts--based on what is present in the stories? Or is the scripter winging it, with no firm answer in his mental backstory underpinning the scripts? With Sandman specifically, does Gardner Fox have some idea about what crimes the Sandman is thought to be guilty of, some set of criminal skills he is presumed by the police and gangdom to have? I suspect that Fox knew that the gasmask shouldn't be able to work in this manner, but didn't address the subject directly so that any readers lead to believe it could would be allowed to keep thinking that. I did notice that while Fox played up the whole "I have to get this man out of the vault before he suffocates" scene at the start of the story, he didn't treat the moment where The Sandman has to crack a safe underwater as tensely - in other words, it should have been a very dicey moment for The Sandman trying to open that thing without oxygen but Fox didn't want to come right out and say that this is what was happening. I also think that Fox isn't so much assuming that readers understand The Sandman specifically, as he takes it for granted that they already familiar enough with the tropes to accept that if they're reading a superhero comic, then it goes without saying that whichever hero they're reading about is the best at whatever the story needs him to be. The story requires an expert safecracker? Then you can bet that Superman/Batman/Sandman/whoever is the best guy for the job. |
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Post by chadwilliam on Jul 26, 2024 12:12:04 GMT -5
All-Star Comics #2 (Fall 1940) "The Glowing Globes"
Author: Gardner Fox Artist: Creig Flessel Inker: Chad Grothkopf "A ball of white metal that steals life from living men! Left in the vaults of The Scientists Bank and Trust Company - it brings swift death to the uniformed guards! --- And leads The Sandman on one of the strangest adventures of his checquered career!"
 Synopsis: Alright, so I think that opening narrative nicely fills in the details as to where we open this story - dead guards and a bank vault full of money which a strangely masked figure - wearing a head covering of what appears to be hard clay -now helps himself to - that and the "ball of white metal" which lays upon the floor. "He-He! Fools! There's no bank I can't rob! No place secure against my life-taker! Next I'll toss it in a window of The U.S. Mint! That ought to net me enough money to retire!"
It is while entertaining his guest, Sir Basil Lorimer, esteemed scientist, at his palatial estate for the evening that Wesley Dodds, aka The Sandman, learns of the strange deaths over the radio. Paying a visit to the cite of the murders, Dodds gains access to the scene of the crime by using Lorimer's reputation as his key. However, when called upon to offer his opinion on the burn marks left behind by the killer, Lorimer's inability to recognize what are obviously the effects of radium raises Dodds' suspicions. "He must have recognized that burn as caused by particles of – radium!"
Taking his leave, Dodds returns home where in the guise of The Sandman, he either concocts a formula consisting of sulphur and lead or examines one which he may have picked up at The Scientists Bank and Trust Company - the story isn't clear on this detail though his comments about this mixture "hardens when applied to the skin" strongly suggests that he's worked out what his adversary's mask is made out of. Regardless, with his interest piqued by Lorimer's attitude earlier that night, our mystery hero pays him a visit but only too late. "Sir Basil! Dead! He knew the murderer and was killed!" Upon finding his man dead, The Sandman himself is discovered by Lorimer's butler who in the act of surprising our hero, earns himself a slug to the jaw. Learning nothing from his manservant when he recovers, The Sandman decides to look around. Discovering the murdered man's "book on criminology", The Sandman reads it aloud: "The U.S. Treasury makes a good target for crime to shoot at - if they had a means for overcoming the guards!"
As if on cue, that eerie ball of white, glowing metal rolls into the room overpowering our man of mystery. "The white ball - the death weapon - it- it's getting me! I'm - dying!" Following a feeble effort where he sprays the metal with his gas gun, The Sandman passes out and his assailant - the masked man from the start of this tale - enters the room. "I'm curious to know who you are, Sandman! - But I think I'll better get going before I'll bother! Besides - you'll be here when I get back!"
With that, the villain is off to The U.S. Treasury where history repeats itself - dead guards, a pilfered vault, and that queer ball of metal. Meanwhile, a detective arrives at Lorimer's home where he examines the prone figure of The Sandman. "I've always wondered who The Sandman was. Now I'll find out!"
Removing his helmet however, reveals only straw - the detective has been duped by a dummy. "A straw man! Then - where's The Sandman?"
The answer to that question is answered in Lorimer's laboratory where our hero discovers a pot of sulphur lead. "The same constituents of my gas that's holds off the power of that globe - that's how I escaped being killed!"
Inconveniently, it is at this moment that the clay helmeted figure enters the laboratory and attacks The Sandman who, for some reason, has removed his helmet while carrying out his little investigation. Recognizing Sandman as Dodds, Clay Helmet tussles with the hero and uses his ball of metal to once again, render his adversary comatose. "You'll never live through this ordeal a second time... this is the - end of The Sandman!" Elsewhere in the house, that detective recovers from the off-panel blow he received to the head (courtesy of Clay Helmet) and is currently accosting Lorimer's butler when the killer enters the scene and prepares to attack. Thankfully, The Sandman has shaken off the effects of that orb long enough to regain consciousness and has already poured the sulphur-lead concoction over the deadly ball negating its effects in time to save the day. Tackling his foe whose head he slams against the ground, The Sandman chips away at his helmet to reveal the features of... "Sir Basil! But - he's dead!"
Not quite right. "Not Sir Basil - but his brother! That's why Sir Basil pretended not to know what caused the burn at The Scientist Bank. He tried to protect his brother!"
As The Sandman has it figured, Basil Lorimer recognized his brother's weapon since it was he himself who invented it (a detail which Dodds learned during their dinner together), confronted him about it, and was murdered as a result. As he sums everything up, Lorimer's brother rises, readies the pistol dropped by the detective when he burst into the room, and is lunged upon by The Sandman who redirects the killer's gun towards his own head which then fires directly into the skull. Driving off into the night, The Sandman is left to remark, "Thus ends the case of the glowing globe - and the identity of The Sandman remains a secret still!"  Thoughts: Perhaps not so much of a secret in light of his admission to that detective that Basil Lorimer had "dinner at my house" which is how he became acquainted by so many of the facts of this case. Surely, it wouldn't be difficult to learn that Lorimer had dinner at Wesley Dodds' home seeing as how it was with Dodds that he arrived upon the scene of The Scientist Bank murders, right? eh, these things happen, I guess. And I'm willing to overlook it since this was a pretty solid, memorable tale. Finally, an unusual crime for The Sandman to solve committed by an unusual villain using an unusual weapon - this is what super heroics is all about. That white orb is only as threatening as the story requires to be at any given moment - a portent of certain death at one point, an annoying nuisance to be shrugged off through sheer willpower the next - and Lorimer's brother is all too easily defeated at tale's end (though there is something surreal in the way he looks straight at the reader as he shoots himself in the head - but I appreciate the effort being made here to differentiate this feature from the rather bland episodes we're generally being given in these pages. No idea where Dodds got an extra Sandman outfit from to leave laying about in Lorimer's home while he snooped around - or the straw he stuffed it with. Oddly reminiscent of Spider-Man pulling the same trick on J Jonah Jameson in Amazing Spider-Man #25 though the whole 'superhero goes to convoluted lengths to accomplish something trivial' is hardly an uncommon trope. The Sandman slugs Lorimer's butler in the jaw when the latter enters the room containing the crimefighter and his master's corpse. Though The Sandman shouts, "You won't shoot me down!", Lorimer's servant is unarmed and not involved in any of the crimes of this tale - not a good look for our hero. Not much more to add about this one - I'm continuing to enjoy Grothkopf's inks over Flessel's pencils - some nicely rendered shadows which we haven't seen since the earliest days of this feature and at times, there's a richness to the artwork indicating that a great deal of time and care went into the presentation of this story - but the tale itself is still pretty straightforward, though it hits almost all of the right notes. I know it's been remarked countless times that the creators of these stories never expected people to be critiquing them decades later, but as I read this series, I wonder if they even expected their readers to be critiquing them as they read them when they first appeared. As long as you read it from start to finish without stopping, it's a fun, entertaining little episode, but when you start to stop and think - well, that's when the cracks begin to show. Best then, that I leave things here, I think.
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Post by chadwilliam on Aug 1, 2024 11:22:58 GMT -5
Adventure Comics #56 (Nov 1940) "The Crook Who Knew The Sandman's Identity"
Author: Gardner Fox Artist: Creig Flessel Inker: Chad Grothkopf "Sought by police and underworld alike, The Sandman continues to thwart both - and at the same time bring justice to those who really need it - by using his gasgun and helmeted form in a silent mysterious manner..."
Synopsis: While dining at the trendy Jade Slipper, Wesley Dodds and Dian Belmont are amongst the patrons accosted by a pair of hold-up men. Though the hoodlums make off with Belmont's bracelet, it costs one of them (Squat Stacey) a bullet to the shoulder courtesy of Wesley Dodds who carries a gun this evening.  Managing to follow the crooks, The Sandman interrupts the duo as they take stock of their ill-gotten gains in their seedy, underworld hideout. "You won't get a cent for it, Squat! - Hand it over, as well as the rest of the loot!"
Cue the inevitable fight scene; cue The Sandman's inevitable defeat of the bad guys.  Returning the stolen merchandise personally in a rare public outing for the hero, The Sandman manages to quickly get in and out of the nightclub - though it involves the gassing of some policemen - and while being chauffeured away in Dian's vehicle, in advertently loses his watch. Meanwhile, Squat has recovered from the beating received at the hands of The Sandman and seeks revenge. Bad news for our hero - he correctly guesses the mystery man's identity. "I got a good hunch I know who he is! He's Wes Dodds, that wealthy playboy guy!"
Passing the word along to kidnap Dodds but not hurt him, the playboy is picked up at home and taken to Squat's hideout. At about this time, Dian Belmont notices his lost watch and decides to pay her boyfriend a visit. "Funny, what that cars doing in front of Wes' house!"
Finding signs of a break-in, Belmont follows in her car. Arriving at Stacey's, Dodds is directly accused of being The Sandman by his captor. "You must be The Sandman! You were in The Jacob Slipper when we pulled that job. You threw down with a shoulder gun! You followed us here!"
Not convinced by Dodds' denials yet not certain that he has fingered the right man, Squat has his hostage tied up since as he sees it: "I don't want no ransom if you're The Sandman! I'll boil you in oil if you are! But if you ain't - I don't like to lose a good ransom!"
And so that's the dilemma our hero is presented with as he sits and waits which isn't very long since to his amazement, who should he spot peering in through a nearby window but the very crimefighter he is accused of being? "Ye Gods - The Sandman himself!"
Entering the room and discharging his gasgun, The Sandman makes short work of Squat and his pal before obliging a now untied Wesley Dodds with the pleasure of slugging his would-be ransomers in the jaw one-by-one. Of course, to Dodds way of thinking, he still has one adversary left to contend with - himself. Turning his attention towards the faux-Sandman and drawing back his fist, Dodds is spared the ignominy of slugging Dian Belmont in the face for the second time in this series when the mystery man's helmet is removed and, yes, you guessed it, that isn't no mystery man at all.
"Dian!"
As the true hero of this tale explains: "When I found your house deserted, I thought of Squat - and what he might suspect of you knowing you fired at him at The Jade Slipper! I came here - remembering your extra outfit in the car and put it on! Oh - by the way- you forgot your wristwatch!"
Thoughts: Ah, secret identities. Early on in this feature (in Adventure Comics #44), Wesley Dodds made a point of being publicly observed acting obnoxiously drunk state so as to safeguard his secret identity. Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, Diana Prince - all the great superheroes operated in this fashion as they acted on the assumption that the revelation of their true identities all hinged upon some fatal slip up where they forgot to act meek and mild mannered at the wrong moment. Though I never really bought into this idea, surely Wesley Dodds could have shown some restraint when the thought occurred to him to exchange gunfire in a crowded restaurant with a pair of hold-up men. Perhaps had the thugs not stolen Dian's bracelet this would have been possible, but, as was the case back in Adventure Comics #52 when his beloved had a pair of gloves stolen from her home, an attack on the woman he loves leaves him a loose cannon. "He's getting away! I wish I had a gun!" he despaired in that issue in what might have been attributed to just talk, but here we get to see Wesley Dodds when he's got a firearm at the ready and all bets are off. And hey, it looks like for once, the hero eschewing the whole idea of playing the cowardly buffoon does make him Superhero suspect number one in the eyes of the underworld - I guess there's something to that notion after all. Too bad that Dodds hasn't got a better handle on secret identity conventions since if he had, he might have recognized that The Sandman coming to his rescue was a faithful confederate and not someone he should be readying to slug. Dodds has become something of a lout in these stories, I'm sad to say. It's all the more noticeable in light of how well presented Dian Belmont is here. She's quick witted, resourceful, and fearless - in fact, I wonder if her recognizing the signs of a "burglar's job" when she reaches Dodds' home is Fox recalling her criminal past (which I had thought he had forgotten all about) or just Belmont displaying a bit of common sense. She'll play the role of The Sandman once again in an upcoming issue of All-Star Comics, but it's nice to see her portrayed as Wesley's Dodds' rescuer in this tale rather than the damsel in distress. I guess we're done with phone calls to the police when wanting to disclose some important piece of information without jeopardizing your freedom. Though it would have made more sense for The Sandman to let the police know where they could find Squat's stolen goods, he charges into a crowded, police filled nightclub and hands the items over... minus Dian Belmont's bracelet which we saw him return to her earlier in the story. If the police take stock of what was in that bag returned by The Sandman, they might wonder just why Dian Belmont's bracelet was the one pilfered item not returned. So a fun story - one of those which were bound to happen eventually. The Sandman gets too cocky and nearly pays the price. Nothing elaborate, but the tension is still very real. In fact, Squat Stacey's admission that he doesn't know whether Dodds is The Sandman or not and will just wait on his heels until he comes up with an idea works better to my way of thinking than if he had some convoluted scheme to out our hero. "I'm just going to wait here until something happens" feels as if all the pressure is being placed on Dodds to disprove a negative which is pretty great indeed when you're tied to a chair. Even the closing line "Oh - by the way- you forgot your wrist-watch!" is a funny, natural bit of dialogue - a sort of "so what else did you do today?" afterthought you don't normally find in adventure serials such as these. A nice touch. And hey, bonus points for "Ye Gods - The Sandman himself!" too while I'm at it.
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