Showing posts with label Sandy the Golden Boy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sandy the Golden Boy. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Adventure Comics - Final!

More of "A 'Slight' History of Golden Age Comic Book Super Heroes" and the end of my Adventure Comics look.

It wasn't really the end of Adventure Comics in the golden age. By 1945 or so, paper shortages and changes in comic reader's tastes away from super heroes caused a change at National (DC) Periodicals. Over at "More Fun Comics" the format was changing to a humor format, so the heroes that now inhabited those pages made a mass exodus over to Adventure and teh Adventure Heroes were laid to rest (or at least in Sandman and Starman's cases to their adventures with the Justice Society of America over in All Star Comics.


I'll reserve my look at these later additions to Adventure Comics, when I get to More Fun Comics since that's where they originated...I have to have SOME semblance of order, no matter how loose.

So for now, here are the heroes that made Adventure Comics great.


That's a mess of star power. Those old anthology books with this many heroes (and more fun features) cramming 64 pages of 4 color goodness each and every month for one thin dime must have been pretty awesome!

Meanwhile, back at "Ye Olde Drink Hole"...


Talk to you soon.
Posted by at 2 comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Adventure Comics - "The Sandman and Sandy, the Golden Boy"!

Continuing my "A 'Slight' History of Golden Age Comic Book Super Heroes" look into the lineups of the great anthology comics, we move from "Action Comics" to "Adventure Comics" and it's first super hero star, Gardner Fox's "The Sandman"!


The Sandman was created in 1939 and was one of the first in the big glut riding the new "Superman Craze". He made his official debut in Adventure Comics #40, but just weeks before a Sandman adventure had appeared as part of the big "New York's World's Fair 1939" comic, which also featured Superman and a bunch of DC?Nationals features from "Action Comics".

Being this early on in the super hero output (even beating The Batman by a few months), originally The Sandman was strongly modeled after the pulp heroes of the '30's and even The Green Hornet of radio, more than the colorfully suited-tight wearing guys that would soon hog the scene.

The Sandman was Wesley Dodds, bored wealthy playboy, who was originally wrongfully accused of a crime and was "sought by both the police and the underworld" just like "The Green Hornet" but he slowly became a more straight-forward crime-stopper and was even a charter member of "The Justice Society of America". Only his girlfriend Dian Belmont knew hsi dual identity and shared in his adventures as he donned a green double-breasted suit, a subdued purple cape and a gas mask. Armed with his gas gun which fired a gas that both put criminals to sleep, or sedated them enough to open their minds and give up information, he was a dark figure of the night and skurge of bad guys everywhere.

Here's Adventure Comics #67 and a very typical Sandman story of that era...









By issue #69, the powers that be at DC/National decided the old suit and fedora look was too old-fashioned for the bustling days of colorfully garbed mystery men, and put forth a story in which Dian Belmont is killed (a horrible tradgedy for Dodds, to be sure) and the wealthy playby adopted as his ward, her nephew Sandy Hawkins.

Now following in the tradion begun by Batman's Robin, he gained a kid side-kick "Sandy, the Golden Boy" and squeezed himself and his ward into flashy purple & gold and red & gold suits! NOW they could flex their muscles!


That's right, just a couple issues later, the dynamic team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby came on board the National payroll, and they took on The Sandman & Sandy as their first assignment!

Here's a little dash of the dash of Simon/Kirby Sandman from Adventure Comics #91! That my friend is some swash-buckling derring do!












Zap! Bang! Kazowie!


I'll be back for more "A 'Slight' History of Golden Age Comics Book Super Heroes" and more of the heroes of Adveenture Comics next Tuesday. Until then, I hope you keep coming back to see what else is in my head for "OTR Friday with Vic & Sade", "Unca Jeffy's Toy Box Saturday", "Sunday Funnies" now in glorious full color! and "Mad COMIC BOOK Monday".

Talk to you soon.
Posted by at 9 comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Search This Blog