Wesley Dodds: The Sandman #2 (of 6)

Lyles Movie Files

There’s a welcome simplicity to this title with a darker mystery just around the corner. I’m loving the direction of this book and all of the fun possibilities this creative team can take it.

Geek Dad

While he doesn’t discover anything shocking this issue, we do get our first glimpse of the main villain at the end—and that is a good enough hook to keep this entertaining old-school book high in my regards until next issue.

DC Comics News

Wesley Dodds: The Sandman #2 is even better than the premier issue. The plot moves forward, the mystery deepens and the characterization is effective as Venditti and Rossmo recapitulate the world of the early days of the Sandman. There’s nothing Earth shattering about this series, it’s just THIS type of story done really, really well. It should come as no surprise with Venditti’s track record on Hawkman. It’s a classic noir detective story in the 1940’s at the birth of the mystery men of the DC Universe. Plus, it seamlessly incorporates a consistent characterization and tone. Damn near perfect!

Graham Crackers Comics

Writer Robert Vendette gave us a brief taste od a Justice Society connection in issue 1 but we are back to the Mystery Theatre this issue and it is a wonderful treat. Someone has discovered Wesley Dodds secret and has decided to follow in his footsteps just not with sleeping gas. And following in the footsteps of the evil Golden Age Flash villain, The Rival, there’s a new Sandman in town. The mystery builds as Wesley tries to rebuild his shattered real life while figuring out who stole the formulas for his deadly mistakes. This title is shaping up to be a good read.

Comic Watch

Issue two has almost as much bite as the first while further setting up a larger story. A fantastic read with sumptuous pencils that are plated perfectly by the colors and lettering, serving readers a satisfying feast.

AIPT

Without expressly spoon-feeding the reader the cultural context, Wesley Dodds: The Sandman still implies the gravity of weaponized gas -- and of Wesley's culpability in using them.

ComicBook.com

Readers of the cult favorite Sandman Mystery Theater will appreciate the tone of Wesley Dodds: The Sandman #2 as it lays out and slowly puzzles over a clear mystery with a mysterious villain over plenty of low key drama and fine 40s fashion. Wesley's methodical approach to life might make him appear cold to observers but makes for an excellent narrator who lays out the questions in an inviting fashion for mystery fans. His investigation provides both new clues and a brawling action sequence that is both exciting and fundamentally human in its mechanics. Wesley may be a martial artist, but in the most honest fashion of that term readers will find in superhero comics. He is far from an obvious victor when stumbling across common crooks and suffers for his mistakes; it makes for a much more exciting action sequence as the consequences are clear. Rossmo's portrayal of this and other superhero-adjacent elements provides them with plenty of flourish while maintaining a consistent sense of weight amidst both combat and more mundane sequences. Wesley Dodds: The Sandman offers itself as an excellent pulp detective fiction with an irresistibly modern style in what threatens to be a spiritual successor for one of Vertigo's best overlooked series.

Weird Science DC Comics

Wesley Dodds: The Sandman #2 leans heavily into the detective noir genre when Dodds tracks down a villain who stole lethally dangerous information. Venditti's writing is a love letter to the Golden Age of detective comics, and Rossmo's art is much improved.