There are several characters and books within comics named Sandman, but the most well-known of these at a literary level is the Vertigo Comics classic. While this book is still revered, the growing and deserved controversy over its creator has more than sullied its name. Ironically, there is another Vertigo Sandman title, and it has a much longer legacy than anything Neil Gaiman ever wrote.
The first Sandman debuted in the Golden Age of Comics, and he was given his own acclaimed Vertigo Comics series in the 1990s. Focusing more on this character can tie into one of the oldest legacies in superhero comic books, especially as it relates to DC’s original superhero team. Likewise, the Gaiman series can be increasingly diminished in relevance, redeeming the Sandman name and distancing DC from the writer’s tarnished legacy.
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This Forgotten Golden Age Hero Is the True Sandman
Debuting in the Golden Age, the first Sandman made his first appearance a few months after Superman, making him one of DC’s oldest characters. Even more so than the later character Batman, Sandman was a narrative, thematic halfway point between what would become known as superheroes and the “mystery men” of early comics who were closer to classic pulp characters such as The Shadow.
The Sandman was Wesley Dodds, a rich industrialist who it was revealed had inherited his deceased father’s investment and entrepreneurial estate.
Dodds had no powers, and even his costume (a fedora, a gas mask, and a green business suit) was fairly minimalist as far as superhero costumes went. Instead, he used a “gas gun” that emitted a gas that put his enemies to sleep. His stories involved mysteries and tales of the era, but unlike most comic book heroes, he struggled against enemies. Not only did he take damage from fights, but his love interest, Dian Belmont, was shown to be on equal footing narratively and not a mere damsel.
Sandman’s classic comic books eschewed some of the more over-the-top concepts that became prominent in later comic books, namely compared to many of his compatriots. This changed after the character was heavily altered, namely after the introduction of the far more superheroic Sandy the Golden Boy. That character was a clear attempt to ape the success of Batman’s new sidekick, Robin the Boy Wonder.
Sandman himself soon took on a more garish yellow and purple costume, with his leap into more generic superhero stories also synonymous with his decline in use. For decades, he and Sandy were fairly irrelevant, only appearing briefly whenever the Justice Society and the Justice League crossed over. This changed in the 1990s, and it was all due to the success of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series through Vertigo Comics. Due to the sales of that series, Vertigo launched another book, Sandman Mystery Theatre, that used the original Sandman.
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Sandman Mystery Theatre showcased the darker social issues seen in the 1930s, essentially recontextualizing Sandman’s earliest adventures in a grittier, adult-oriented fashion (even if it’s somewhat non-canon). It’s far more socially relevant and narratively accessible than the other Vertigo Sandman book, which is one reason why fans are hoping that DC will release the second volume of the Sandman Mystery Theatre Compendium. Even beyond the superhero genre, it’s a great mystery series that would appeal to fans of prestige television, and it’s a shame that it’s never been collected completely.
If anything, now is truly the time to push the series and the character as a whole. This could be done through both a second compendium, another miniseries featuring Wesley Dodds in the Golden Age or a new series focusing on the current Sandman (an adult version of the former DC sidekick Sandy the Golden Boy). With the other Vertigo series and the writer behind it likely tarnished forever, it’s time for DC to push the company’s original Sandman and the team that he helped put together.
The First Sandman Founded DC’s First Major Team
The premiere DC Comics superhero team is the Justice League, but this group didn’t debut until the Golden Age of Comics. The Justice Society of America was DC’s first team of heroes and the first intercompany team, as the characters hailed from books from companies that weren’t yet wholly owned by what would become DC Comics. One of the team’s founding members was Sandman, who was joined by Hawkman, Johnny Thunder, the Golden Age versions of Green Lantern and The Flash as well as other heroes who first appeared in these early days of the superhero genre. Compared to some of these incredible and powerful comic book characters, Sandman and the similarly powerless Wildcat were relatively unremarkable.
Sandman was still a staunch member, and this loyalty to the JSA continues today through Sandy’s version of Sandman.
The 2020s have seen a bit of a renewed interest in the Justice Society, especially after DC did away with them in the New 52 era. Thus, this could see Sandman and his team pushed like never before. Given that DC is increasingly doing miniseries and limited runs for more B and C-list characters, this format is the best way to dive into the classic adventures of the Golden Age legacy starters and their modern proteges.
For one thing, the sense of legacy that the JSA provides is unlike anything else in the DC Universe. Even the heroes of the Justice League see themselves as a mere strike force while regarding the Justice Society as a true family. There are many heroes associated with the JSA that haven’t been used much as individual heroes, so the newfound interest in the property could see this happen. Books based around Sandman, Hourman, Doctor Mid-Nite, Jesse Quick and others could be great miniseries or even ongoings, namely as DC climbs further up the market and expands beyond being a landfill of endless Batman comic books.
Each of these can showcase different sides of the DC Universe, especially when it comes to legacy characters. Further adventures of Wesley Dodds can be set in the Golden Age and look at the era’s social problems, pulling the curtain back beyond the usual “good ol’ days” clichés. Comics based around Sandy could do the same in the modern day, offering perhaps a mature-readers “Sandman Modern Theatre” book. Through this, the Sandman mantle can be associated solely with Dodds and Sandy/Sanderson Hawkins, moving things away from a book that DC now likely regards as a best-selling problem.
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Vertigo’s Most Controversial Classic Is Irrelevant to the DC Universe Anyway
The Vertigo Comics series The Sandman has been a perennial bestseller, and this has made it easy to find in bookstores ever since it was published. Despite the controversy surrounding Neil Gaiman, it’s highly unlikely that DC will ever stop selling his Sandman book and profiting from it. At the same time, it can very much be diminished in terms of marketing and other aspects, let alone relevance.
This can definitely be done regarding the mainstream DC Universe, which The Sandman always had a tangential relationship with.
Elements of the Vertigo Sandman book sometimes involved major DC heroes, namely Hector Hall and Lyta Trevor-Hall. These characters are actually the children of the Golden Age Hawkman and Hawkgirl and the Golden Age Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor, tying them to the Justice Society and the greatest heroine in comic books. At the same time, the series was fairly standalone beyond itself and spinoffs such as Dead Boy Detectives.
With the book itself now tarnished and rarely ever pertaining to major DC properties (with one notable exception being Death of the Endless interacting with Superman’s nemesis, Lex Luthor), DC can completely evict aspects of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman from canon. Its overall irrelevance to true canon made it different from Vertigo titles such as Saga of the Swamp Thing and Hellblazer, and the book is unlikely to ever be referenced in any major way in a DC story going forward. Instead, DC could outright excise any ties between Morpheus of the Dreaming and Wesley Dodds, waving them away through flashbacks where Wesley dismisses his esoteric dreams as “nonsense of the type that induces the worst kind of vertigo.”
Once again, this would distance the publisher from the book and other titles by Gaiman, all while “cleansing” the mantle of the Sandman character. Additional sales of the Vertigo series could even be donated to charities for victims of abuse, further drawing a line in the sand that closes the door on what Gaiman wrote. This would be a form of justice in both the world of comic books and reality and in the case of criminal hoods or degenerate creators, none can escape Sandman’s dark dream.
