Adventure Comics #72
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeAdventure Comics #72 marks the debut of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's run on the Sandman — the first bylined, fully signed work the team produced after defecting from Timely Comics (the future Marvel) to DC. Simon and Kirby didn't merely continue a flagging strip; they pivoted its entire narrative identity, weaving dreams and nightmares into the storytelling fabric and beginning a four-year run that would keep the feature on the book's cover through issue #102. The issue also closes out the original Paul Kirk Manhunter by Ed Moore and stands as the opening chapter of one of the most consequential creator-assignment decisions in Golden Age DC history — landing the architects of Captain America on a property that had been quietly sliding toward cancellation.
In "Case of the Magic Bloodstone!", Hourman races to stop a mysterious criminal mastermind behind a series of sabotage attacks on Allied shipping, uncovering a bizarre scheme involving a glowing stone and hypnotized submariners. Written by Ken Fitch and brought to life with bold art by Bernard Baily, this 1942 adventure blends wartime intrigue with early superhero mystery. The cover, by Jack Burnley, captures the tension of the moment with sharp, dynamic lines.
In "Case of the Magic Bloodstone!" from Adventure Comics #72 (1942), Starman investigates a series of mysterious deaths tied to an ancient bloodstone unearthed in the Arabian Desert, where a forgotten temple holds secrets too dangerous to remain buried.
In "Dr. Glisten's Submarine Pirates," the Hourman races to stop a mysterious villain who uses a glowing serum to enslave submarine crews, turning them into phantom pirates to sabotage Allied shipping—while framing enemy forces. With the fate of the seas hanging in the balance, the hero must outwit a mad scientist whose mind-control scheme is as deep as the ocean itself.
In "The Riddle of the Slave Market," Sandman stumbles into a terrifying trap when his investigation into rumors of a secret slave market run by Pete Bragg ends with him sold into bondage—just another face in a lineup of desperate captives, with no way to escape and no one to recognize his true identity.
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After leaving Timely Comics in late 1941, Simon and Kirby spent their first weeks at DC on ghosting assignments before publisher Jack Liebowitz essentially gave them creative latitude. They were handed the Sandman — which Mort Weisinger and Paul Norris had already redesigned only three issues earlier (in #69) by swapping the gas-mask-and-fedora look for a yellow-and-purple superhero costume and attaching a Robin-style sidekick named Sandy — and a 'New Sandman' banner was added to the cover of #72 to signal the creative change to readers. The cover and lead Starman story were penciled and inked by Jack Burnley, with the issue's editor credited as Whitney Ellsworth (under the house pseudonym F. W. Ellsworth), though Murray Boltinoff served as actual editor; the Sandman story itself was signed by Simon and Kirby, making it the first DC work the duo openly claimed.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date March 1942 (on-sale date January 27, 1942); published by Detective Comics Inc. under the 'A Superman DC Publication' brand; 68 pages, ten cents.
- First Joe Simon and Jack Kirby Sandman story ('The Riddle of the Slave Market') — the debut of their celebrated, dream-themed interpretation of the character that ran through Adventure Comics #102.
- Sandy's surname officially changes from McGann to Hawkins within this issue, the form retained in all subsequent DC continuity.
- First appearance of villain Dr. Glisten in the Hourman story ('Dr. Glisten') — a hypnotist who uses bioluminescent skin to control victims and commandeer submarines.
- Final appearance of the original Paul Kirk Manhunter as drawn by Ed Moore; the Simon and Kirby version of Paul Kirk II would debut in issue #73.
- Lead Starman story ('Case of the Magic Bloodstone!') written by Gardner Fox with pencils and inks by Jack Burnley; the Starman cover was also drawn by Burnley.
- The Sandman story was later reprinted in The Sandman by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby (DC, 2009), which collects Adventure Comics #72–102; the Starman story was reprinted in Golden Age Starman Archives Vol. 1 (DC, 2000).
- The issue also contains a Shining Knight story ('The Adventure of the Stolen Armor') and a Steve Conrad: Adventurer story ('The Bullet-Proof Tigers'), reflecting the anthology format typical of Golden Age Adventure Comics.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Wanted. The World's Most Dangerous Villains #7 (1973), Mighty Comic #114 (1976), Golden Age Starman Archives #1 (2000), The Sandman by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby #[nn] (2009), DC's Wanted: The World's Most Dangerous Super-Villains #[nn] (2020)
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