VIRUS VIGILANTE (2)
By:
November 3, 2020
One in a series of posts about the Antiviral Alliance, a now-forgotten squad of comic-book vigilantes who during the years leading up to (and through) WWII worked tirelessly to prevent another Spanish Flu-like pandemic. Fun fact: The original intercompany crossover, this “event” would inspire National Comics and All-American Publications to form the Justice Society of America in 1940–1941.
Wesley Dodds, aka Sandman, was one of the Alliance’s three founding members in 1939… and the one who took airborne viruses the most seriously. Unlike many of those who’d join the group in 1940–1941, the crimefighter in the natty green suit and fedora possessed a keen understanding of how the spread of viruses can be prevented. Which is why he adopted a gas mask — the most extreme measure taken by any of his comrades. Which is why The Clock and the Fantom of the Fair deferred to him on all important team decisions. Although he would leave the Alliance for the Justice Society in 1940, Dodds will always be remembered as the first leader of the world’s first superhero squad.
Publisher: DC Comics
First appearance: New York World’s Fair Comics #1 (April, 1939)
Created by: Gardner Fox, Bert Christman
INTRODUCING… THE ANTIVIRAL ALLIANCE. PRE-COMICS: THE MOON MAN (1933). ORIGINAL TRIO (joined forces in 1939): THE CLOCK | SANDMAN | FANTOM OF THE FAIR. AND THEN THERE WERE SEVEN (joined 1940): THE SHADOW | LADY LUCK | THE LAUGHING MASK | KINKS MASON. SECOND-WAVE SIX (joined 1941): BLAZING SKULL | THE CHALLENGER | THE THUNDERER | DOCTOR NEMESIS | HUMAN BOMB | THE VIGILANTE. LATE TO THE PARTY (joined post-1941): MICRO-FACE | THE DESERT EAGLE.
SIMILAR HILOBROW SERIES: MEET THE L.I.S. | 4CP FRIDAY — themed comic-book detail galleries | CHESS MATCH — a gallery | COMICALLY VINTAGE | DC — THE NEW 52 | FILE X — a gallery | KIRB YOUR ENTHUSIASM — 25 writers on 25 Jack Kirby panels | SECRET PANEL —Silver Age comics’ double entendres | SKRULLICISM