Cream to Off-White pgs; Census Rank 2 Highest Graded; Restored holder; Moderate Professional Restoration; CGC#0743425001
classic Creig Flessel cover, Bob Kane art; 1st app of Sandman (07/39) Comic Book Impact rating of 8 (CBI)
While 1939's New York World's Fair comic is Sandman's actual first appearance, many consider Adventure Comics #40 to be the issue that breathed life into the character, as it contained the first story conceived for the suit, gas mask, cape, and fedora-wearing hero. Gardner Fox and Bert Christman are credited with creating the character under the pseudonym "Larry Dean," along with illustrator Creig Flessel. Together, they spawned a crime fighter that held strong ties to the dark, moody pulp magazines that acted as the precursor of, and inspiration to, the nascent comic book industry. The eerie Sandman cover image falls directly in line with the hard-nosed, no-nonsense style DC employed in the golden era. Shown firing his gas gun, Sandman strikes a harrowing chord of fear that would soon step aside for a less-frightening incarnation of Dodd's alter ego.