Recently I’ve gotten veryy into Wesley Dodds Sandman and managed to collect his whole run in trade. Everyone please tune in to Sandman Mystery Theatre it is such a brilliant series. Its characters are incredible charming, it has a lot of very poignant sociopolitical messaging and doesn’t shy away from acknowledging the privileges of its protagonists, and it is really very fun. It’s anthology-like with every arc being a semi-contained story, but there are definitely overarching themes, plots, and relationships.
I’ve been very charmed by Wesley Dodds as a hero and my bias towards noir characters aside he’s really interesting! I think he subverts the idea of what a superhero / a superhero comic is in a fun way. His story and character are very grounded, but never boring. He is a well educated, philosophical man who is incredibly compassionate and connected to the people around him. He does not have any real martial arts prowess, any powers to speak of, or even many fancy gadgets (while he does use things like the sleeping gas and such it is nothing state of the arts or at all ground breaking. Everything could, and for the most part does, justifiably exist). He relies on wit and quick thinking, and he is never very violent.
It is veryy good and touches on a lot of topics characters of that genre don’t really venture into, especially at the time given the CCA. Highly recommend!