"The Sandman Saga" is a

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

story arc A story arc (also narrative arc) is the chronological construction of plot in a novel or story. It can also mean an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, board games, vide ...

published in 1971 in ''Superman'' (Vol. 1) #233 - 235, #237 - 238 and #240 - 242. This is the first Superman storyline under editor

Julius Schwartz Julius "Julie" Schwartz (; June 19, 1915 – February 8, 2004) was a comic book editor, and a science fiction agent and prominent fan. He was born in The Bronx, New York. He is best known as a longtime editor at DC Comics, where at various t ...

and the first Bronze Age-era Superman story.

History

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. Many of the concepts introduced during this time, such as a powered-down Superman,

Intergang Intergang is a fictional organized crime syndicate appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Armed with technology supplied by the villainous New Gods of the planet Apokolips, they consistently appear as enemies of various DC super ...

, the Cadmus Project, the Guardian and

Darkseid Darkseid () is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer-artist Jack Kirby to serve as the primary antagonist of his "Fourth World (comics), Fourth World" metaseries, and was firs ...

, would later be used in the Post-''Crisis'' incarnation of Superman that first appeared in John Byrne's '' The Man of Steel''.

Mort Weisinger Mortimer Weisinger (; April 25, 1915 – May 7, 1978) 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 a ...

, 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 Michael Sekowsky (; November 19, 1923 – March 30, 1989) was an American comics artist known as the penciler for DC Comics' ''Justice League of America'' during most of the 1960s, and as the regular writer and artist on ''Wonder Woman'' during t ...

(''

Adventure Comics ''Adventure Comics'' is an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1938 to 1983 and revived from 2009 to 2011. In its first era, the series ran for 503 issues (472 of those after the title changed from ''New Adventure Comics''), ...

'' and ''

Supergirl Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. The character made her fir ...

''),

Murray Boltinoff Murray Boltinoff (January 3, 1911 – May 6, 1994 in Pompano Beach, Florida) was a writer and editor of comic books, who worked for DC Comics from the 1940s to the 1980s, in which role he edited over 50 different comic book series. Biograph ...

(''

Superboy Superboy is the name of several fictional superheroes appearing in American comicbooks published by DC Comics. These characters have been featured in several eponymous comic series, in addition to ''Adventure Comics'' and other series featuring ...

'', ''

Action Comics ''Action Comics'' is an American comic book/Comic anthology, magazine series that introduced Superman, one of the first major superhero characters. The publisher was originally known as National Allied Publications, and later as National Comics ...

'' and ''

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' is an American comic book series published by DC Comics from September–October 1954 until March 1974, spanning a total of 163 issues. Featuring the adventures of Superman supporting character Jimmy Olsen, it co ...

''),

E. Nelson Bridwell Edward Nelson Bridwell (September 22, 1931 – January 23, 1987) was a writer for ''Mad (magazine), Mad'' magazine (writing the now-famous catchphrase, "What you mean...we?" in a 1958 parody of ''The Lone Ranger'' in Mad) and various comic books ...

(''

Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane ''Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane'' is an American comic book series published monthly by DC Comics. The series focusing on the adventures of Lois Lane began publication with a March/April 1958 cover date and ended its run in September/October 1 ...

'') and

('' World's Finest'' and ''

''). The new editors streamlined the Superman mythos: things like

kryptonite 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 r ...

, imaginary stories,

Mister Mxyzptlk Mister Mxyzptlk (, ), sometimes called Mxy, is a character who appears in DC Comics' '' Superman'' comic books. He is usually presented as a trickster in the classical mythological sense. Mxyzptlk possesses reality-warping powers with which he en ...

Bizarro Bizarro () is a supervillain/anti-hero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Otto Binder and artist George Papp as a "mirror image" of Superman, and first appeared in ''Superboy'' #68 (1958) ...

Krypto the Superdog ''Krypto the Superdog'' is an American animated television series produced by Warner Bros. Animation, based on Superman's canine companion Krypto, which premiered on Cartoon Network on March 25, 2005 (exactly 50 years after his comic debut), an ...

, Jimmy Olsen's

Elastic Lad 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 Superman, Clark Kent ...

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 Dennis Joseph O'Neil (May 3, 1939 – June 11, 2020) 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 retir ...

, known from his memorable runs on the ''

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

'' books and ''

Green Lantern Green Lantern is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They fight evil with the aid of rings that grant them a variety of extraordinary powers, all of which come from imagination, fearlessness, ...

Green Arrow Green Arrow is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Mort Weisinger and designed by George Papp, he first appeared in ''More Fun Comics'' #73 in November 1941. His secret identity, real name is Olive ...

'' and artists

Curt Swan Douglas Curtis Swan (February 17, 1920 – June 17, 1996) 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 195 ...

and

Murphy Anderson Murphy C. Anderson Jr. (July 9, 1926 – October 22, 2015) was an American comics artist, known as one of the premier inkers of his era, who worked for companies such as DC Comics for over fifty years, starting in the Golden Age of Comic Books in ...

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. Following this development, Clark Kent is reassigned by his new boss,

Morgan Edge Morgan Edge is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Originally a supporting character, he is a media mogul who acquires ''The Daily Planet'' and employs Clark Kent as a television journalist for his WGBS ...

, as a television reporter of WGBS, and O'Neil dumps the wimpy-Clark Kent persona.

Aftermath

After the conclusion of the storyline, DC pulled the plug on this "new" incarnation and

Cary Bates Cary Bates (born 1948) is an American comic book, animation, television and film writer. He is best known for his work on ''The Flash'', '' Superman'', ''Superboy, the Legion of Superheroes'' and ''Captain Atom''. Biography Early career 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 Walter Simonson (born September 2, 1946) is an American comic book writer and artist, best known for a run on Marvel Comics' ''Thor'' from 1983 to 1987, during which he created the character Beta Ray Bill. He is also known for the creator-owned w ...

wrote and drew a Post-''Crisis'' version of the "Sandman Saga" in ''Superman Special'' #1.

Collection

In January 2009, the storyline was collected as ''Volume 1'' of the '' DC Comics Classics Library'' and titled ''Superman: Kryptonite Nevermore'' (). It was later reprinted as a stand-alone

trade paperback Trade paperback may refer to: * Trade paperback, a higher-quality softcover version of a book * Trade paperback (comics) In comics in the United States, a trade paperback (shortened: TPB or trade) is a collection of stories originally published ...

in 2012 () and a 50th anniversary hardcover edition in 2021 ().

References

External links

History of ''The Sandman Saga''
* Adaptation of ''The Sandman Saga''
''Superman Adventures'' #54

''Superman Adventures'' #55
{{Sandman navbox Comics by Dennis O'Neil Sandman