"The Sandman Saga" | |
---|---|
Publisher | DC Comics |
Publication date | January – September 1971 |
Genre | |
Title(s) | Superman #233–235, 237–238, 240–242 |
Main character(s) | Superman |
Creative team | |
Writer(s) | Denny O'Neil |
Penciller(s) | Curt Swan |
Inker(s) | Murphy Anderson |
Editor(s) | Julius Schwartz |
"The Sandman Saga" is a Superman story arc published in 1971 in Superman (Vol. 1) #233–235, 237–238 and 240–242. This is the first Superman storyline under editor Julius Schwartz and the first Bronze Age-era Superman story. [1]
In 1971, DC attempted to revamp and streamline the Superman universe, "de-powering" Superman so that he was no longer a god-like character who was impossible to beat. [2]
Many of the concepts introduced during this time, such as a powered-down Superman, Intergang, the Cadmus Project, the Guardian and Darkseid, would later be used in the Post-Crisis incarnation of Superman that first appeared in John Byrne's The Man of Steel .
Mort Weisinger, the editor on the Superman titles, retired from his 30-year career at DC at the end of 1970. A prolific editor, DC replaced him with four people: Mike Sekowsky ( Adventure Comics and Supergirl ), Murray Boltinoff ( Superboy , Action Comics and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen ), E. Nelson Bridwell ( Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane ) and Julius Schwartz ( World's Finest and Superman ). The new editors streamlined the Superman mythos: things like kryptonite, imaginary stories, Mister Mxyzptlk, Bizarro, Krypto the Superdog, Jimmy Olsen's Elastic Lad stories, Lana Lang's Insect Queen stories and Titano the Super-Ape would all be removed and forgotten.
After a series of house ads including two-page center-spreads, DC published Superman #233 in January 1971. With the tagline The Amazing New Adventures of above the Superman title, and the displayed "1" which was actually part of the slogan "Number 1 Best-Selling Comics Magazine", it led some to believe that the book was actually called The Amazing New Adventures of Superman #1. Writer Denny O'Neil, known from his memorable runs on the Batman books and Green Lantern/Green Arrow and artists Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson began the "Sandman Saga" in this issue. The story would open up with an archetypal situation where a scientist is trying to create an engine powered by kryptonite when the experiment goes awry. However, because of this "freak accident", all kryptonite on Earth becomes nothing more than harmless iron. [3] The same incident opens a portal to another dimension, leading to the creation of a sand version of Superman called Quarmer. Following this development, Clark Kent is reassigned by his new boss, Morgan Edge, as a television reporter of WGBS, and O'Neil dumps the wimpy-Clark Kent persona.
After the conclusion of the storyline, DC pulled the plug on this "new" incarnation and Cary Bates came in to script Superman #243. It is possible that DC was competing with its past and followed the advice of those fans who were more interested in seeing cosmic conflicts. While the "new" Superman still occasionally popped up, O'Neil's vision of Superman disappeared after the final "Sandman Saga" issue. In 1992, Walt Simonson wrote and drew a Post-Crisis version of the "Sandman Saga" in Superman Special #1.
In January 2009, the storyline was collected as Volume 1 of the DC Comics Classics Library and titled Superman: Kryptonite Nevermore ( ISBN 978-1401220853). It was later reprinted as a stand-alone trade paperback in 2012 ( ISBN 978-1401234782) and a 50th anniversary hardcover edition in 2021 ( ISBN 978-1779507525).
Kryptonite is a fictional material that appears primarily in Superman stories published by DC Comics. In its best-known form, it is a green, crystalline material originating from Superman's home world of Krypton that emits a unique, poisonous radiation that can weaken and even kill Kryptonians. Kryptonite radiation can be transmitted through any element except lead. Thus, Superman has a special lead suit to protect himself from the radiation. There are other varieties of kryptonite, such as red and gold kryptonite, which have different but still generally negative effects.
Douglas Curtis Swan was an American comics artist. The artist most associated with Superman during the period fans call the Bronze Age of Comic Books, Swan produced hundreds of covers and stories from the 1950s through the 1980s.
Action Comics is an American comic book/magazine series that introduced Superman, one of the first major superhero characters. The publisher was originally known as Detective Comics Inc., which later merged into National Comics Publications, before taking on its current name of DC Comics. Its original incarnation ran from 1938 to 2011 and stands as one of the longest-running comic books with consecutively numbered issues. The second volume of Action Comics beginning with issue #1 ran from 2011 to 2016. Action Comics returned to its original numbering beginning with issue #957.
Jimmy Olsen is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Olsen is most often portrayed as a young photojournalist working for the Daily Planet. He is close friends with Lois Lane and Clark Kent, and has a good working relationship with his boss Perry White. Olsen looks up to his coworkers as role models and parent figures. From 1954 to 1982, Olsen appeared in 222 issues of the comic series Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen and Superman Family, in addition to the main Superman titles.
Krypto, also known as Krypto the Superdog, is a superhero dog appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the character Superman. In most continuities, Krypto is Superman's pet dog, usually depicted as a white dog of a generic pedigree.
Julius "Julie" Schwartz was an American comic book editor, and a science fiction agent. He was born in The Bronx, New York. He is best known as a longtime editor at DC Comics, where at various times he was primary editor over the company's flagship superheroes, Superman and Batman.
Mortimer Weisinger was an American magazine and comic book editor best known for editing DC Comics' Superman during the mid-1950s to 1960s, in the Silver Age of comic books. He also co-created such features as Aquaman, Green Arrow, Johnny Quick, and the original Vigilante, served as story editor for the Adventures of Superman television series, and compiled the often-revised paperback 1001 Valuable Things You Can Get Free.
World's Finest Comics is an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1941 to 1986. The series was initially titled World's Best Comics for its first issue; issue #2 switched to the more familiar name. Michael E. Uslan has speculated that this was because DC received a cease and desist letter from Better Publications, Inc., who had been publishing a comic book entitled Best Comics since November 1939. Virtually every issue featured DC's two leading superheroes, Superman and Batman, with the earliest issues also featuring Batman's sidekick, Robin.
Dennis "Denny" Joseph O'Neil was an American comic book writer and editor, principally for Marvel Comics and DC Comics from the 1960s through the 1990s, and Group Editor for the Batman family of titles until his retirement.
Earth-One is a name given to two fictional universes that have appeared in American comic book stories published by DC Comics. The first Earth-One was given its name in Justice League of America #21, after The Flash #123 explained how Golden Age (Earth-Two) versions of characters such as the Flash could appear in stories with their Silver Age counterparts. This Earth-One continuity included the DC Silver Age heroes, including the Justice League of America.
"Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" is a 1986 American comic book story published by DC Comics, featuring the superhero Superman. Written by British author Alan Moore with help from long-time Superman editor Julius Schwartz, the story was published in two parts, beginning in Superman #423 and ending in Action Comics #583, both published in June 1986. The story was drawn by long-time artist Curt Swan in one of his final major contributions to the Superman titles and was inked by George Pérez in the issue of Superman and Kurt Schaffenberger in the issue of Action Comics. The story was an imaginary story which told the final tale of the Silver Age Superman and his long history, which was being rebooted following the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths, before his modern introduction in the John Byrne series, The Man of Steel.
Carmine Infantino was an American comics artist and editor, primarily for DC Comics, during the late 1950s and early 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comic Books. Among his character creations are the Black Canary and the Silver Age version of DC superhero the Flash with writer Robert Kanigher, the stretching Elongated Man with John Broome, Barbara Gordon the second Batgirl with writer Gardner Fox, Deadman with writer Arnold Drake, and Christopher Chance, the second iteration of the Human Target with Len Wein.
The Bronze Age of Comic Books is an informal name for a period in the history of American superhero comic books, usually said to run from 1970 to 1985. It follows the Silver Age of Comic Books and is followed by the Modern Age of Comic Books.
Edward Nelson Bridwell was an American writer for Mad magazine and various comic books published by DC Comics. One of the writers for the Batman comic strip and Super Friends, he also wrote The Inferior Five, among other comics. He has been called "DC's self-appointed continuity cop."
Superman is an ongoing American comic book series featuring the DC Comics superhero Superman as its protagonist. Superman began as one of several anthology features in the National Periodical Publications comic book Action Comics #1 in June 1938. The strip proved so popular that National launched Superman into his own self-titled comic book, the first for any superhero, premiering with the cover date summer 1939. Between 1986 and 2006 it was retitled, The Adventures of Superman, while a new series used the title Superman. In May 2006, it was returned to its original title and numbering. The title was canceled with issue #714 in 2011, and was relaunched with issue #1 the following month which ended its run in 2016. A fourth series was released in June 2016 and ended in April 2018, while the fifth series was launched in July 2018 and ended in June 2021. The series was replaced by Superman: Son of Kal-El in July 2021, featuring adventures of Superman's son, Jon Kent. A sixth Superman series was released in February 2023.
Titano the Super-Ape is a supervillain who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics, primarily as a foe of Superman. The character is a small chimpanzee named Toto who was sent into space for test flight, until an exposure of combined rays have made him grow to gigantic size and gave him Kryptonite-like powers. As a "Super-Ape", Titano rampaged through Metropolis several times in Superman and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen during the Silver Age, and also appeared in some "Tales of the Bizarro World" stories in Adventure Comics. After a poorly-received 1978 appearance, Titano was not used again in the comic.
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"Superman Red/Superman Blue" refers to two different comic book storylines published by DC Comics featuring Superman.
Notable events of 1971 in comics.
The Quarmer, a.k.a. the Sand Superman, is a fictional character from DC Comics, created by Dennis O'Neil and Curt Swan. He was a living sand doppelgänger of Superman and first appeared in Superman #233 in "The Sandman Saga", the first issue that introduced the Bronze Age Superman.
New editor Julius Schwartz, new scripter Denny O'Neil, and regular artist Curt Swan removed the Man of Steel's greatest weakness from the face of the Earth.