This is our first venture into Quality Comics, whose characters will be acquired by DC in 1956.
And we have Quality’s first superpowered hero: Doll Man, who also happens to be the first superhero with shrinking powers, predating Atom (1961) and Ant-Man (1962) by a lot.
Feature Comics #27 (1939)
by Will Eisner & Jerry Iger
In addition to being one of the very earliest superheroes, Doll Man is also the creation of Will Eisner (under pseudonym), who I hope needs no introduction.
We begin with scientist Darrel Dane asking a professor for some clues on how to complete his not-yet-explained formula.
(“Aqua regia”, for the not chemically knowledgeable, is a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid that dissolves most metals)
He should probably pay more attention to the fact that his girlfriend Martha (daughter of the professor) is being blackmailed.
As you might have guessed, Darrell is working to create a shrinking formula.
And in classic Golden Age fashion, he straight up jumps to testing it on himself WITHOUT RUNNING ANY TEST WHATSOEVER.
Not only it works, but it also mysteriously provides him with a pair of pants.
Side effects include evil eyes, dizziness, hallucinations…
…HOMICIDAL RAGE…
…and delusions of grandeur.
Don’t worry about the professor, though. The needle “just grazed his arm”.
Even when it was NOWHERE NEAR his arm.
Hilariously, the professor IMMEDIATELY figures out that Darrel how has the strength of twenty men and seems to be totally fine with his daughter’s boyfriend trying to murder him.
Darrel’s decision to become a superhero is hilariously straightforward: THIS IS THE NEXT PANEL.
This is so sudden that it REALLY feels like a parody.
Also notice Darrel had NO plan on how to return to his normal size. And Martha doesn’t even care!!!
Okay as hilarious as it would be if she was cheating on Darrel, she’s gone to pay the blackmailer. We never learn what “embarrassing letter” he’s threatening to make public, by the way.
Also the blackmailer is a creep.
This is where the (still unnamed!) Doll Man jumps into action…
…and it’s already over!
He doesn’t even get his own costume in his first appearance. That happens in the following issue, which he inexplicably starts at full-size.
Kind of hard to imagine a superhero who has to tap his veins before starting a case, isn’t it?
And yet… Doll Man got his own series in 1941 (!!!) that lasted until 1953 (!!!), for a staggering 47 issues.
There wasn’t all that much to talk about in the 4 pages of Doll Man’s first story, so… let’s jump ahead to the latter part of his career, where he gets a sidekick!
Doll Man #37 (1951)
by William Woolfolk & Dan Zolnerowich
cover by Reed Crandall
I think it’s fair to assume that most people who know Doll Man existed… which granted isn’t a lot… thought that Doll Girl was there from the start. But nope, she’s not a thing until TWELVE YEARS after his debut!
Not a whole lot has changed since 1939: Darrel’s assistant is still his girlfriend Martha.
And he STILL ignores her.
Sooo… did people really use regular trains to transport material for NUCLEAR TESTING in the 50s !?
Naturally the train is the target of the villain of the story, The Skull.
Behold the REAL hero of the story: Elmo “the Wonder Dog”.
At this point in his career, Doll Man could shrink just by thinking about it, possibly because it wouldn’t look great to have him carry around syringes.
Also his costume appears whenever he shrinks because… actually, it’s never explained.
Not that he REALLY needed to intervene, Elmo seems to have everything under control.
Plus it’s not like The Skull is all that good at this whole villains stuff.
At least he’s able to knock out Doll Man.
Not only The Skull had to flee, but he couldn’t even use the stolen thorium anyway.
Doll Man still has his secret identity. I guess that when he shrinks it’s harder to see his face?
Darrel continues to be utterly oblivious to his girlfriend, but I “what in the name of unreason?” is my favorite sentence now.
The fact that The Skull IMMEDIATELY shows up at Darrel’s place to steal the formula should be an obvious clue on his identity.
While Doll Man fights him, the goons knock out Martha… and I’m not sure if they did so by punching her causing her to throw her gun away, or if the goon thew his gun at her.
Obviously, she’s fine. After all she’s the daughter of a professor who can be grazed on the arm by a syringe that hits him on the chest.
Dude, I know there’s a crime to stop and your dog is genuinely amazing, but maybe pay attention to your girlfriend for more than five freaking seconds!
Not many superheroes can ride a dog into battle.
Although I can think of one.
Despite having “the strength of twenty men”, Doll Man immediately loses.
Now you WOULD expect The Skull to just shoot or crush Doll Man, but instead he decides to VAPORIZE HIM WITH A PARTICLE ACCELERATOR.
And his dog too!!!
This is where, thanks to “a sudden gathering of cosmic forces”, Martha manages to transform into Doll Girl.
What in the name of unreason!?
And she immediately proves to be a FAR better hero than Doll Man, because she defeats The Skull and his goons in two panels!
Maybe Doll Man still has a secret identity because this is one of those universe where NOBODY RECOGNIZES ANYONE.
The real identity of The Skull is quite predictable.
I don’t know, Doll Man, I think both Martha and the dog have a better track record than you.
Historical significance: 1/10
This will evolve into the creation of the Freedom Fighters. That’s about it.
I liked Doll Girl and it’s unbelievable she wasn’t given powers earlier, but it’s a shame Elmo doesn’t stick around past the Golden Age.
Silver Age-ness: 10/10
The first story is classic Golden Age madness. The second arguably a little less, but still Martha’s transformation is truly absurd.
Does it stand the test of time?
Doll Man: 0/10
Granted it’s only 4 pages, but there’s a reason why Will Eisner is remembered for the Spirit and not for this. It almost reads like a parody! Darrel jumps to taking the formula without any test FOR NO REASON and without even thinking on how to return to normal (in fact he does it between stories).
The switch to madness is abrupt and truly meaningless, with everyone immediately forgetting it. And the entire blackmailing plot is an afterthought.
The only saving grace are the action scenes at the end, but that’s too little too late.
Doll Girl: 4/10
Definitely a more modern type of storytelling, if still quite dated. And the fact that Doll Man needs TWO sidekicks to deal with a lightweight like The Skull (who is quite forgettable in his own right) really doesn’t help his credibility.
The plot isn’t really anything to write home, but I really enjoyed the artwork on this one.
How close is this to the modern characters? What modern characters?
As mentioned DC acquired the rights to Quality heroes in 1956, but didn’t do ANYTHING with Doll Man until he showed up in 1973’s Justice League of America #107 along with the Freedom Fighters (which included other Quality heroes I’ll eventually cover).
The Freedom Fighters have a bunch of pre-Crisis appearances. Aside maybe from the Human Bomb, Doll Man is probably the least used… the Ray has a very successful post-Crisis incarnation, Uncle Sam shows up from time to time, and Phantom Lady gets more screen time than anyone else for two obvious reasons.
The Darrel Dane version of the character is basically defunct. There IS a modern version of the character, a superspy named Dane Maxwell. But I haven’t read any single story featuring him so I have no comments.
