The Sandman Mystery Theatre

Under the radar and just out of reach of all but those who loved their darkness tainted with hints of jazz, pre-WW2 america, and an art style far removed from the superhero set was the sleeping gas filled wonder known as The Sandman Mystery Theatre.

It was known for it's wonderful mystery tales who's influences ranged from the golden age of mystery novels (Think Nero Wolfe, Poirot, and Ellery Queen books) to the hard boiled club of guys like Chandler and Cain. It was one of those rare wonders where the characters lived with the same pulse of their creators but forged a path where they soon became alive and hard to resist. Rex Stout achieved it with the above mentioned Nero Wolfe as did Richard Stark with Parker.

Unlike it's cousin (or child in a way) Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, The Sandman Mystery Theatre revolved around the all too human Golden Age Sandman who was basicly a guy in a trench coat, gas mask, and gas gun. He was closer to hero's like The Shadow, The Green Hornet, and to a lesser extent the Golden Age Batman. What made him a bit diffrent was the world he had to deal with. In the series he pretty much went up against your typical corrupt men of power, white coller criminals, and the kind of scum that normal cops couldn't handle or want to. All of it told with a poetic style that drew you in like a dream. The series lasted quite a long time given that it was never a huge seller or popular amoung even hardcore comic fans. It's all but forgotten really.

That's sort of a good thing since you can score the entire run for the same price as the issues were when they came out. This is a title worth going to the comic book shop for...picking up an entire story arc (about 4 issues) and sitting at home in a comfortable spot and just surrrendering too.

You won't be dissapointed...it's an Adult title that stays clear of using "mature" cliche's like profanity and violence for shock value and never gets too full of itself to the point it's pretentious. It's simply solid writing, mesmerizing art, and one of the most interesting cast of characters to ever hit fiction.

The first story arc is avalaible in a collected format but sadly few of the others are but many places still have it in their back issue bins. I encourage any of you who enjoy a good mystery or crime story to check this series out.

It was published by DC/Vertigo and creative team was (Mainly) Matt Wagner, Steven T. Seagle, and art buy Guy Davis.

Each are masters of their craft and while each has done projects that have earned them much more praise and attention like Grendel and Mage (Wagner) The Marquis (Davis)...and House of Secrets (Seagle)...The Sandman Mystery Theatre always remained one of those titles that each never quite duplicated or surpassed. It was so different and unique that time has really been kind to it in that it not only feels fresh...but remarkably contemporary. It just doesn't "age" like other works from it's era do.

It may not be as epic and genre breaking as The Sandman but the quality in both story and art is.

Hope some of you check it out.

I remember the comic, never got the chance to read it though.

good recomendation tequila. maybe i'll have to check it out again, because I wasn't too impressed the first time. and that's saying a lot since other than this series, I own nearly ever single comic made by mr. matt wagner. I guess I just picked it up and saw a noir story by wagner NOT about a criminal and a sandman story NOT about morpheus (especially considering the wesley dodds cameo in Gaimen's story) and I felt maybe it was getting too much pressure from it's predeccesors (even if that was not it's intention) that I couldn't get in the right frame of mind for it. I suppose you just have to look at it fresh and not consider those others, but those comics are so close to my heart that I guess I hold them up against ALL other comics.

When I first picked it up it was pretty early in it's run (around issue 18 or so) and at the time I was only just getting into the stories and style it was emulating and paying homage too. I had to put the series on my backburner till I could appreciate it more. As time passed though I grew to see why it's fans were so big on it and how well executed it was. It has some of the most beautiful covers to ever grace a DC/Vertigo book and hopefully finds a new audience now that they have finally decided to collect the series into trade paperbacks.

Of all the Vertigo line this was one of the few I thought could have a more mainstream appeal but Vertigo managed to maginalize it. It never hit the intended audience all that directly...a real shame too since that killed a lot of their other books around that time in terms of potential. Still I do thank them for not cancelling it...it had quite a long life that these days would never happen. Had it been published now it probably wouldn't have gone past issue #4.

Look what I found? Has this thread been lost?
I was actually working in comic shops when this came out. I was really excited. Superheroes of the 30s/40s were so much more my thing, elegant, sexy and hopped up on whatever the times had for them. Every once and a while in some of the Justice Society of America specials and issues you can find some great little snippets of stories with him in it, and the rare story with just him. If you also get a chance, check out the golden age Sandman collection from DC too. He's a class act! Kind of reminds me of the old Inner Sanctum radio plays, along with the Shadow, of course too, when I read it.