Doll Man | A Retrospective | Golden Age Hero 

We actually have a stable relationship in a comic book? Gasp!

Dollman: Retains his strength while shrunken. Also Dollman: Trapped by an overturned wire wastebasket with a couple of books on top.

wow a relationship where each person is an individual and can stand their own - i feel like someone tied Me up to a bathtub and turned on the water. refreshing

Relationship stability: Truly a superpower.

Doll Man got legs and he ain't afraid to show them.

Poor Doll Man. His run was definitely SHORT lived. But truly, he's a MODEL for future heroes. When they made him, they really broke the MOULD.

So when does Doll Man marry Lois Lane?

Ah, the appropriately named "Crack Comics"...which also brought us the madness of Black Condor, a hero who learned to fly because he was...literally *raised by condors*!

Doll Man: A toy plane is trying to kill me. Superman. I can relate. That happens to me every time I fight Toyman.

Luckily for Doll Man and Doll Girl they've never met the Flash villain Rag Doll or the Batman villain Dollmaker.

Doll Man: "Martha!" Batfleck, out of nowhere: "Why did you say that name?!?!?!?"

"There were attempts at other Doll Men but they were SHORT lived." ha

I remember Doll Man from Batman The Brave and The Bold cartoon. That show was great for Golden Age and Silver Age characters.

I would kind of love to see an Elseworlds story where Dave answers that he'll be a villain and it's all kept in the style of the Golden Age comics, art and tone

Doll man is the kind of D lister that the Harley Quinn show would totally reinvent in a fun way.

The Simpson's Comic Book Guy would say "He's not a doll! He's an action figure man!"

Between Doll Man and Wonder Woman, I'm legitimately impressed by the amount of kinky imagery some artists worked into their comics in the Golden Age.

Okay Sasha, if you want to get into some weird and wild Golden Age stuff, then check out Catman. More specifically....do your patented deep dive on Catman's sidekick Kitten and her origin.

Back in the seventies, DC reprinted most of the other companies golden age characters they bought. These reprint books were great, and introduced me to comics that my father's generation enjoyed. I loved the Freedom Fighters because of the patriotic feel of the books. Also the Secret Orgins book rum had a Doll Man story. It was one of the last stories drawn by Murphy Anderson.

Doll Man, making Ant-Man even more cooler, like, woof, that kinky lil' costume. I'll give them credit they took some big ass risks. Oh yes, I knew of him, I watched his cold open team uip with the Freedom Fighters in Batman: Brave and the Bold. We had a solo Martha comic... I'm too lazy to make another BvS joke.

Was honestly not expecting an almost 30 min video about Doll-Man. 15 mins at most. Would love to see you cover the other Freedom Fighters or golden age heros.

I like it. They could tie the fluid to Jay’s heavy water that made him the Flash. Bring The Dollman back lol.

Doll Man is right up there with Plastic Man as my favorite Golden Age heroes. Right up there with The Red Bee (who I swear is gay coded), and Captain Science (the most brutal hero of all, with some amazing art).

Villains and heroes have been dealing with bondage issues ever since the first mustache twirling scoundrel tied a helpless female to the railroad tracks- it seems to be a time honored trope. Doll Man seems to have a lot of adventures like the pulp fiction stories of Doc Savage, Tarzan and later Conan the Barbarian- weird, fantastic and all over the place. I like it, honestly. Weird is good, sometimes...

I first ran into doll man in The Multiversity in the Earth X issue where he was depicted as a Jehovahs Witness which was part of a bigger motif of every member of the Freedom Fighters being a member of a group persecuted by the Nazis which is pretty interesting

I was about to say that there´s not a need for characters with similar powers to be but then I just remembered: Elingated Man and Plastic Man, Superman and Shazam. So yes, even with Atom he could still be around (though not changing his main power to acomodate him to Atom). However, I´d still have him on The Freedom Fighters. PS Now a video of Phantom Lady (read about her and was very interesting) and Phantom Stranger (this one is so weird yet so important and powerful to DC).

I'm familiar with him through the Freedom Fighters era, but I didn't realize he has such a rich history. Very interesting.

I love this deep dive. I would love to see more of him. A man comfortable in 'non traditional masculine role' and in a loving stable relationship and a fiance that becomes his crime fighter and is a boss in her oen right. Yes! I would love to see this! Also adore your shirt!

I know we're all here for the knowledge but I want to take a moment to appreciate how nice Sasha looks today. May your pool of knowledge always be as deep and rich as that lip colour!

Quality comics had some crazy ideas and talented creators. Your overview of Doll Man kind of encapsulates what Quality Comics were. The 1940s was an interesting time in superhero comics because it was new and they were trying to figure out what worked. It seems like there was a lot of "let's throw it at the wall and see what sticks".

“Look! Down on the floor!” 😹

OK, I *must* know more about the "puppet underworld"! (Also, interesting that his color scheme so closely hews to Superman's...coincidence??) I kinda wish Sasha had inhaled some helium for her Dollman voice!

Thank you for highlighting the somewhat more obscure heroes! The love you have for these characters really comes across. Interestingly, Centaur Comics's Minimidget was around a few months earlier. He and his girlfriend Ritty were just shrunk down and could not become normal size again, though they still had the strength as if they was normal sized. Also, Ritty was not nearly as well written as Doll Girl. Centaur didn't last long, but they were interesting. They had a bunch of odd heroes like the Magician from Mars and Speed Centaur. Also, the had the Arrow, an archery hero that predated Green Arrow. The good news is that since they're in the public domain you can get free scans online. (Not Minimidget in particular but in general if you check out Centaur and their predecessor companies, just be prepared for the occasional 1940's cultural cringy stuff.)

I'm a toy collector, so if they bring back Doll Girl as a stylish doll, this would be metal.

Woah, why is this not a better known comic? It seems to have been written so much more sophistication than others of the time and genuine adult themes (as opposed to modern "adult" themes).

Honestly having such a simple hero that doesn't rely on tropes sounds sooo appealing. Would love to see someone do some fan stories for him since DC gave up on him

My first (and only) run in with Doll Man is when the Freedom Fighters made a guest appearance on Batman: Brave and the Bold. It was a fun episode. But Doll Man was very much the man of action of that incarnation.

Couple: Hi! We are having problems in our marriage. Sasha: Well. Why not read.... These issues of Dollman comics... And see me next week.

"a judge with a hanging fetish" I'm sure that's not the only fetish

"but it all worded out, look she's shaking his hand" HA, that made me laugh out loud for real.

I first saw Doll Man in that JLA/JSA team up, and that carried over to the Freedom Fighters book and all of their later appearances, love all these Golden Age heroes!! I definitely have a different perspective from younger (I'm 54) fans. We had hundreds of thousands of hours of self contained movies, tv shows, comics, all kinds of pop culture. Character development wasn't really a 'thing' until the 70's in general (Marvel changed that in comics in the 60's). Most entertainments were just meant to be like cotton candy, nice while it lasts but not meant for anything more. Golden Age Doll Man looks outstanding! LOVE THE ART!! Like the way the stories could go in any direction! Brin on more Golden Age Heroes!!

I am in love with the idea of Martha sewing her husband a tiny super hero outfit.

Doll Girl & Doll man my favourite freedom fighter! I love the idea of them & the fact their powers have them stay the same size of a He-man action figure! 😎

"...other Doll Men but they were short-lived." That subtle humour MUST be acknowledged! I have no idea know why, but I thought he became a LSH member. Nope.

With a name like Darrel Dane he would fit right in at marvel.And is she some other hero's mother after all her name is Martha.Short lived i see what you did there.

I confess, I hadn't heard of him outside of the Freedom Fighters (pick an iteration) prior to adulthood (and even me claiming to be an adult is questionable). He always just seems to be a second tier Atom to DC.

"Will it be good or evil?" Choose evil. *mermaid man kicks in door* EEEEEVIIIILLLL!!!

I remember that cool looking Dollman plane. It was awesome.

I knew nothing about Doll Man prior to this video, but now I am obsessed.

I always liked doll man as a kid. I discovered him through a comic store's bargain stacks, and for some reason always preferred him to the Atom.

The first time I saw this guy was in batman, the brave and the bold. Honestly, that show introduced so many underrated characters.

Back then they never had explain the costumes!

OMG! Someone talked about Dollman?! I was just thinking of this hero the other day! I love you! Also, never let anyone talk you into drinking their 'mysterious fluid' - its never a good idea. As for your end-video question: Instead of giving him a new random power (telekinesis... perhaps they were already thinking about how his mind was being affected?), they should have just leaned-into the whole doll aspect - have him 'go limp' in a sort of hibernation-state while he took-over someone else, like a puppet... or a doll. That way, he has a built-in weakness; if you find his comatose doll-body, you could just kill him that way. Plus, having him turn others into his 'living dolls' is creepy, and also leans into his Golden Age fetish roots. Missed opportunities, I guess.

Look. Down on the floor. It's Doll Man. That deadpan delivery had me laughing so hard.

There was a version of Doll Man that appeared in the 2012 Phantom Lady miniseries. Both Phantom Lady and Doll Man seemed to be written in a CW series kind of manner.

This really makes me want to read all those Golden Age, Doll Man stories. It woukd also be cool if Atom and Doll Man teamed up. I read somewhere there's a comic book where Plastic Man and Elongated Man teamed up, so this would not be unheard of.

Good to know Wonder Woman wasn't only BDSM hero. Awesome video as always, I would make a joke or two but I wouldn't want to be little Doll Man or this video.👍👍

I didn't have high expectations for this at all, but I'm surprisingly invested in Darrell and Martha by 3 minutes in lol. I say DC give them another shot. Reinvent their looks and then they could sort of be like a unique comedic mystery-solving couple with strong separate personalities and interesting plotlines, sort of like DC's version of WandaVision.

The use of "Doll Man" and "short-lived" is a wonderful pun

"look, down at the floor..." That got me good.

"No, EEVIILLL! " You have to love the Golden Age!

Awesome! thank you!! been waiting for years for a great Doll Man feature. You delivered the story and back story perfectly! Can't wait to see more on this mighty super hero with mini super hero costurme

I met Doll Man during the ALL Star Squadron era. Those Human Bomb, Uncle Sam, Phantom Lady stories were great at the time when I read them. I loved Jerry Ordways art and Baron Blitzkrieg as a villain. Doll Man is a great character who just needs the proper creative team to do something awesome with him.

The Terrifics did the relationship with dead lover from another Earth thing too. Mr. Terrific meets a version of his wife while traveling the Multiverse, they team up for awhile. Never finished the series, so I don't know what came of it.

Doll Man got a 16 pages-origin-revamp in Secret Origins #8, November 1986 (Roy Thomas/Murphy Anderson). Here he does try the “science liquid” out on a rat first - the rat’s then eaten by the cat! We see also some naked doll butt of Darrrel Dane, one panel before he creates a loincloth “not to upset the cleaning lady”. That loincloth/diaper is his whole costume for the next 4-5 pages. BTW I expected a “Dull Man”-pun :-)

23:28 Doll Man coming up short!🤣🤣🤣🤣

More Golden Age videos, please! All the Golden Age heroes!

A stable relationship seems like its own comic book super power.

Doll Man was created by the esteemed comics innovator Will Eisner, better known for the Spirit. That might account for the atypically balanced relationship between Darrel and Martha, as Eisner often wrote strong female characters. I think the real attraction of the series was the art of Lou Fine, a major artist in the Golden Age, who also did many of the covers.

Was a big fan of the Earth-X heroes in the '80's. Great seeing Doll Man get some love.

I kinda love that geoff Johns is playing off how so many of these comics are forgotten. With his new Justice Society comic and other ones that connect to it

"Ooh lawdy them sweet gams!"

I had never heard of this comic. And I really love shrinking / giantess comics. You really seem to like him. You could get a life-sized dollman action figure for you to crush on.

In the early 70's, DC put out a series called WANTED. It was all reprints from the golden age and some early silver age stuff. It was through that I got introduced to Dollman, along with the Golden-Age Sandman, Starman, and Dr. Fate. The story I never forgot featured a man who got disfigured and wore an iron mask (this was long before Dr. Doom). I remember this story because it had some blood in it. It showed people getting shot by machine guns and blood going everywhere. This was something I wasn't used to seeing in comic books during the 70's. This would be about the same time JLA #107 Crisis on Earth X came out. I loved all those cross over stories. Even the crappy one with Cary Bates as the villian.

🤓👍 My second of four favorite Quality creations , all of them movie inspired! #1 Kid Eternity ( film: Here Comes Mr Jordan) , Doll Man (film: Dr Cyclops) , Plastic Man ( Brother Orchid starring Edward G Robinson , the scenes at the monastery ☝🤓) and The Spirit ( Film: Citizen Kane 🤔). The Bronze Age reprints introduced my knowledge of his existence , Sterankos History of Comics vol 2 furthered my interest , my first GA purchase was Feature Comics #136 (1949) making me the proud possessor of a Doll Man book and the website Comic Book Plus allows me to continue reading his adventures when they were real time escapades! Migrating melodious motions merrily mesmerized measured miniscule melodramas, magnificent!

Think one of my favorites from that time was al. Pratt the original atom whose origin is basically the old bully comic ad and he was a student of wildcat.

Had heard of doll man, but never as a fully flesh out character (more from Freedom Fighters references) so really loved this video.

Worth the wait. Exceptional take on Darryl's abstractions. So many layers to the nuance of this character. You're as insightful as usual, and I'm not even slightly surprised. Okay. Did That bit, so now on to the "ideas": One. Just the one. A side panel sort of schtick gig, outside of all the superhero super drama, wherein the Doll's (You're welcome) are baking in the kitchen. Gingham tablecloth. Martha stewart. Whole thing. What are they baking? Dough, of course! For their famous dill bread! Totally kills it at parties... Doll Man and Doll Girl mixing dill dough. Together. Dough Man's Dill Dough. From their hands to your pans... 😶 ...what?

in All Star Squadron Doll man has a moment where he's carried in a box in issue #31. the series peaked right before Crisis

I started collecting comics around the time Earth 2 was created, and the Seven Soldiers of Victory. I was still reading when Earth X came about. The revival of golden age heroes was fun for me, even if the writers couldn't figure out where they were going with the stories. At about the same time, Marvel was running The Invaders, a WW2 hero based series. I think it all came out of a desire to do something for the bicentennial, but WW2 lent itself more readily to adventure than the Revolutionary War.

I'm a huge fan and something of an aficionado of Golden Age Superheroes, especially those of DC/National Comics and many of the 'lost' comic book publishers of the 30s, 40s, and 50s. I first discovered Doll Man in the mid to late 70s as one of my favorite comics was Roy Thomas' All Star Squadron and any issue in which the JSA appeared. I then went back and researched all the members of the Freedom Fighters. Doll Man, Phantom Lady, and The Human Bomb are just brilliant. Great video! Please do more obscure Golden Age heroes!

Future episode idea! My favorite issues of the Freedom Fighters featured the Crusaders -- a very obvious Invaders homage. I didn't read Marvel Comics at this time, but a few years later started reading the Invaders. I found some old issues at a department store which featured the Invaders fighting another team named the Crusaders. Marvel's Crusaders, were, of course - an homage to the Freedom Fighters -- but the similarities were much more subtle. I believe the issues of Freedom Fighters and Invaders that featured the Crusaders were published at the same time -- but don't know for certain. Aside from Americommando (who was actually the Silver Ghost), none of DC's Crusaders ever appeared again. For Marvel's Crusaders, however, both Spirit of 76 and Dyna-Mite (an homage to Doll-Man) had relevant appearances after the Crusaders story finished.

23:22 “There were attempts at other Doll Men but they were short-lived” 😅

Before this video, I had no idea who Doll Man was. Then, the minute you mentioned the Freedom Fighters, I was completely shocked. I thought he sounded pretty cool from How you were describing him, but I didn't expect to hear that he'd been incorporated into the DC Universe. Thanks for an entertaining and educational video.

I love your commentary. i've been reading golden age for several years now and know Doll man, Thanks for doing him.

I wonder how different would history have been had someone long ago fully figured out Doll Man. Would we see him as the iconic shrinking hero instead of the Atom? Who knows.

Entertaining, witty humor, and a professorial analysis of the subject matter! Excellent!!! Thank you for the content you are sharing with us! 🥳

I love the old Quality Comics characters. Fantastic art by the likes of Will Eisner, Lou Fine, Reed Crandall, and Jack Cole.

I have to admit: Because I mostly discovered Golden Age characters through WW2-oriented revivals, I've tended to think of them as the Captain America Extended Variety Pack, or 500 Flavors of Nazi-Punching. It's nice to be reminded that it was also an era of whimsy, innuendo, slapstick, and crime-solving couples.

Trippy! I was vaguely aware of the Quality Doll Man from writing about Will Eisner's career, but I had no idea it was so ... whimsical. I love the comedic art style and how laid-back Darryl is, all the time. I think one of the things I enjoy most about Golden Age, pre-code comics is the experimental energy they bring to the page. They're making it up as they go along, and there aren't a lot of rules, yet. Except punch Nazis! Which: Yes. I read a few issues of the 1970s Freedom Fighters, which I enjoyed just because they added more color & variety to the DC universe as I understood it, then. But none of the characters exactly stood out for me, except maybe the Ray. I felt like the Freedom Fighters only started to show promise in Grant Morrison's Multiversity, where they're once again an anti-Nazi resistance cell on a "Man in the High Castle" earth--notably, each from a targeted community. But the story was too brief to develop them as characters.

Glad to see you do a video on Doll Man...I'm fond of Quality Comics' characters... they never seem to get enough love which is just weird...it's understandable though because DC for the most part hasn't treated them very well which is a pity since they are pretty cool...the sorta exception to this is, of course, Quality's most popular hero Plastic Man who has had good runs with DC and even became a member of Justice League during Grant Morrison's awesome run on Justice League...but as for Doll Man, the Human Bomb, the Jester, Phantom Lady, the Spider Widow, Neon the Unknown, the Black Condor, the Great Defender, and the Ray, etc. not so much...

LOVED the Quality heroes, like Madam Fatal, Wonder Boy and Black Condor!

The Golden Age of Comics could often feel like the Wild West. Doll Man was one of the few comics from that time period that took its central premise and had fun with it. I would be interested in seeing your take on another Quality Comics hero and fellow Freedom Fighters members - Black Condor. To this day he has the most insane origin story of any superhero.

So we're not gonna talk about the cover with him tied up inside the bell. Too funny.

You are the best comic reviewer I've seen, and I've been collecting comics since the early 70's. Keep up the great work :)

I love how unique this channel is in an already crowded genre, you're really funny and smart, I appreciate that. ... I know is nor Dollman related but I felt like I needed to say that.

The amount of research that went into this story is amazing. Even more amazing is the sense of fun in these stories that is conveyed by Sasha. Where did she find all those vintage comics? As someone who collected the Freedom Fighters comic book in the 1970s , I rather liked Doll Man and I think they could have done without the additional powers

23:53 The Mechanical Man looks like an influence for Don Heck and Jack Kirby's Iron Man design.

Great presentation, as usual. Love Doll Man.

Thank you Sasha, for a truly fascinating retrospective of a superhero I've heard of but knew next to nothing about. I'm eagerly looking forward to more videos of this type. Truly awesome like to dislike ratio by the way.