Sandman (Wesley Dodds), a pulp hero in the DC Universe

Long before Dream of the Endless became the iconic comic book character Sandman in the late 1980s, another one had already haunted the pages of DC Comics for decades. Wesley Dodds, the original Sandman, debuted in 1939, making him one of the earliest costumed crimefighters of the Golden Age. Although he would eventually become a member of the Justice Society of America and an established superhero, his earliest adventures were closer to the pulp mystery heroes and masked vigilantes that influenced the emerging superhero genre.

Created by artist Bert Christman who wrote it, or it was written by Gardner Fox (who became the main writer not long after anyway), the Sandman first appeared in print in New York World’s Fair Comics #1, published in connection with the 1939 New York World’s Fair, which opened in April of that year. His better-known first appearance is Adventure Comics #40 (July 1939), which is generally treated as his debut because its story was apparently produced first, even though the World’s Fair Comics story reached readers slightly earlier. In both stories, Fox and Christman were credited under the shared pseudonym “Larry Dean.”

Following the pulp tradition, Wesley Dodds was a mysterious vigilante. He had no conventional superpowers, but he was intelligent and possessed investigative abilities, scientific knowledge, physical training, and specialised equipment.  He was dressed in a green business suit and fedora, with a World War I–style gas mask concealing his face while making him look almost nightmarish and protecting him from the effects of his signature weapon, a gas gun that released a concentrated sleeping gas, allowing him to incapacitate criminals without killing them. He was a Mystery Man.

Wesley Dodds Is the Sandman

Wesley Dodds was a wealthy industrialist who devoted himself to fighting crime, often with help from his girlfriend, Dian Belmont. Unlike many romantic interests of Golden Age superheroes, Dian knew Wesley’s secret identity and actively joined his adventures. She was intelligent, resourceful, and capable of helping Wesley investigate cases rather than simply waiting for him to return from his nightly activities. 

As the superhero genre evolved during the early 1940s, however, the Sandman underwent a substantial transformation. In 1942, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby were brought in to revamp the character. Their version moved Wesley away from the shadowy pulp-influenced vigilante and toward the increasingly colourful superhero genre. Dodds was given a yellow-and-purple costume and a young sidekick, Sandy Hawkins, who adopted the name Sandy the Golden Boy.

The redesign also changed the nature of the Sandman’s crime-fighting methods. The Sandman’s signature became the poems or verses he left at the scenes of his exploits, instead of the sleeping-gas gun, which disappeared from the stories. Wesley and Sandy went on confronting eccentric criminals, supernatural forces, strange inventions, and increasingly elaborate threats, sometimes racing into danger in the Sandmobile.

Sandman and Sandy’s stories ended with Adventure Comics #102 (Feb.-Mar. 1946). 

The Sandman, Fighting with the JSA

As the Sandman, Wesley Dodds was more than a costumed vigilante. He was also one of the founding members of the Justice Society of America (JSA), the first major superhero team in comic-book history. He joined Doctor Fate, Hourman, The Spectre, Atom, The Flash, Green Lantern (Alan Scott), and Hawkman in All-Star Comics #3 (1940), and remained associated with the JSA for several years. 

During the Silver Age, the original Justice Society was established as belonging to Earth-Two, allowing the publisher to distinguish these older versions of its heroes from their contemporary counterparts. And thus, in 1967, in the pages of Justice League of America #46 (July 1966), the Sandman came back, not as the superhero, but as the masked vigilante. It was in Justice League of America #113 that this change was explained. While working on an experimental weapon, there was an accident, and Sandy was transformed into a sand monster. The guilt led Wesley to destroy his purple and gold costume, which was a constant reminder of Sandy. 

The Simon & Kirby version of Sandman was, however, back in action in All-Star Squadron, Roy Thomas’s 1981 series set primarily during World War II and focused on the adventures of the Earth-Two mystery men. Wesley did make a few appearances after that, revealing that he had suffered a stroke and now walked with a cane.

There are more incarnations of The Sandman, like Garrett Sanford, a hero in the Dream Dimension first introduced in Jack Kirby’s Sandman #1 (1974), and of course, Dream of the Endless, around which a whole story was built that incorporated Sanford, but also opened the way for a new take on the old Wesley Dodds.

If you are looking into reading the JSA, go check out our Justice Society of America Reading Order.

Entering the Sandman Mystery Theatre

Following the success of The Sandman, DC’s Vertigo imprint revisited the original Sandman in Sandman Mystery Theatre, a crime noir series chronicling the early career of Wesley Dodds. Written by Matt Wagner and primarily illustrated by Guy Davis, the series was set in New York during the 1930s. And while there is a thin connection to Dream of the Endless, it works as a standalone book.

Sandman Mystery Theatre reimagines Wesley Dodds as the son of a recently deceased wealthy businessman, plagued by prophetic dreams that reveal crimes and disturbing events. To act on them, Wesley adopts the identity of the Sandman, wearing a distinctive mask and using a gas gun whose formulas can render his opponents unconscious or, in certain circumstances, affect their behavior. 

Realistic and mature in its tone, those Sandman stories explore racism, abortion, political corruption, organized crime, and the rise of fascism and antisemitism in the United States during the 1930s, with the growing presence of Nazi sympathizers and the approach of the Second World War as a backdrop. It’s a morally complicated world.

Sandman Mystery Theatre also puts Wesley’s relationship with Dian Belmont front and center. Here, Dian is the daughter of New York’s District Attorney and becomes involved in Wesley’s investigations. Their relationship develops alongside Wesley’s journey as the Sandman, as Dian eventually discovers his secret identity. She must then reconcile her affection for Wesley with the disturbing reality of his secret world, his obsession with his dreams, and the increasingly dangerous methods he employs in pursuit of justice.

In its reimagining of Wesley Dodds’ history from the Golden Age, the series also delivered its own interpretation of other figures who would later become associated with the Justice Society of America, including Hourman, the Crimson Avenger, Starman, and Blackhawk. 

Note: James Robinson’s Starman explored the legacy of the JSA. In one story arc, we met retired couple Wesley and Dian, learning what became of them, while other members of the team appeared throughout the series. Dodds also played a role in the famous Kingdom Come miniseries.

Wesley Dodds: The Sandman of the New Golden Age

As part of the Dawn of DC initiative, Wesley Dodds returned to action in the 2023 Knight Terrors event, in which the original Sandman played a part in exploring dreams and nightmares. He also played a small part in Geoff Johns’ The New Golden Age, a storyline that revisited the history of the Justice Society of America and established new developments surrounding its Golden Age legacy. Wesley made other cameo-esque appearances in the following JSA run by Jeff Lemire. It’s in the Wesley Dodds: The Sandman miniseries and JSA: Year One that we really meet him again in his natural elements, back in the 1940s.

While Sandy is a staple of the JSA comics since the late 1990s, Wesley is truly a fixture of the past, a character that makes sense in the whole pulp mystery era.