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Wesley Dodds is a fictional character, a superhero who appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The first of several DC characters to bear the name Sandman, he was created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Bert Christman. 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. 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's ''Sandman'' (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.〔Top 200 Comic Book Characters of All Time, Wizard Magazine〕 ==Publication history== ===Golden Age of comic books=== Artist Bert Christman and writer Gardner Fox are generally credited as co-creating the original, Wesley Dodd version of the DC Comics character the Sandman. While the character's first appearance is usually given as ''Adventure Comics'' No. 40 (cover-dated July 1939), he also appeared in DC Comics' 1939 ''New York World's Fair Comics'' omnibus, which historians believe appeared on newsstands one to two weeks earlier, while also believing the ''Adventure Comics'' story was written and drawn first.〔(The Sandman ) at Don Markstein's Toonopedia: "''Adventure Comics'' No. 40 wasn't quite the character's first appearance, though. The 1939 issue of ''New York World's Fair Comics'', an extra-big anthology DC put out to capitalize on the eponymous event, contained a Sandman story, and probably hit the stands a week or two before his first ''Adventure'' story (though the one in ''Adventure'' is believed to have been written and drawn earlier)." (Archived ) from the original December 5, 2011.〕〔(''New York World's Fair'' #1 (1939), DC, Detective Comics, Inc. imprint ) at the Grand Comics Database: "First Sandman story to appear in print (before ''Adventure'' #40)."〕 Each of the two stories' scripts were credited to the pseudonym "Larry Dean"; Fox wrote the untitled, 10-page story in ''New York World's Fair'' #1,〔 while he simply plotted, and Christman scripted, the untitled, six-page story, generally known as "The Tarantula Strikes", in ''Adventure'' #40.〔(''Adventure Comics'' #40 ) at the Grand Comics Database〕 Creig Flessel, who drew many early Sandman adventures, has sometimes been credited as co-creator on the basis of drawing the Sandman cover of ''Adventure'' #40,〔 but no other evidence has surfaced. Following these two first appearances, the feature "The Sandman" continued to appear in the omnibus ''Adventure Comics'' through No. 102 (March 1945). One of the medium's seminal "mystery men", as referred to at the time, the Sandman straddled the pulp magazine detective tradition and the emerging superhero tradition by dint of his dual identity and his fanciful, masked attire and weapon: an exotic "gas gun" that could compel villains to tell the truth, as well as put them to sleep. Unlike many superheroes, he frequently found himself the victim of gunshot wounds, both in the Golden Age and in stories in DC's modern-day Vertigo imprint, and he would continue fighting in spite of his injuries. In his early career, Dodds (the character's surname was given as "Dodd" in his first four appearances; he became "Dodds" in ''Adventure Comics'' #44) was frequently aided by his girlfriend, Dian Belmont, who is aware of his dual identity. Unlike many superhero love interests, Belmont was often, though not always, portrayed as an equal partner of the Sandman, rather than a damsel in distress. Later stories would reveal that the two remained together for the duration of their lives, though they never married. The Sandman was one of the original members of the Justice Society of America when that superhero team was introduced in ''All Star Comics'' No. 3, published by All-American Comics, one of the companies that would merge to form DC. In ''Adventure Comics'' No. 69 (December 1941), Dodds was given a yellow-and-purple costume by writer Mort Weisinger and artist Paul Norris, as well as a yellow-clad kid sidekick, Sandy the Golden Boy, nephew of Dian Belmont. Later that year, the celebrated team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby took over this version of the character. In 1942, Dodds enlisted in the U.S. Army and served as an anti-aircraft gunner during World War II.〔''All-Star Comics'' No. 11 (June–July 1942)〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sandman (Wesley Dodds)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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