Sandman Mystery Theatre was an ongoing comic book series published by Vertigo Comics, the mature-readers imprint of DC Comics. It ran for 70 issues and 1 annual between 1993 and 1999 and retells the adventures of the Sandman, a vigilante whose main weapon is a gun that fires sleeping gas, originally created by DC in the Golden Age of Comic Books. In a similar vein to Batman, the Sandman possesses no superhuman powers and relies on his detective skills and inventions. In this film noir-like series by writers Matt Wagner and Steven T. Seagle, Wesley Dodds (the Sandman) and his girlfriend Dian Belmont (daughter of the District Attorney) encountered several, often grotesque, foes in multi-issue storylines. The team of Dodds and Belmont were a nod to Nick and Nora Charles of The Thin Man novel and movies. Art The first artist was Guy Davis, who defined the visual look of the character. Davis changed Dodds from the traditional portrayal as a tall, square-jawed figure, making him shorter, round-faced and slightly overweight. He also gave Dodds a pair of round spectacles, visually echoing the round eyepieces of the gas mask he wore as the Sandman. Davis also redesigned the Sandman costume. In the original 1930s comics, the Sandman wore a green suit, purple cape, orange fedora and blue-and-yellow gas mask. For Sandman Mystery Theatre, the color palette was toned down to gray, olive green and brown. The super-heroic trappings were downplayed in favor of a "real-world" sensibility, such as a trench coat instead of the cape. For the second and third story arcs, "The Face" and "The Brute", art was provided by John Watkiss and R. G. Taylor respectively. A minor controversy developed around the second storyline, "The Face". A coloring error resulted in Asian characters being portrayed with bright yellow skin. The editor apologized for the error in the letter column of a subsequent issue. Guy Davis returned for the fourth arc and the remainder of the series with occasional additional work from Vince Locke and Warren Pleece. Themes and guest stars Set during the late 1930s, before Dodds became a founding member of the Justice Society of America, this series dealt with mature themes such as abortion, racism, and anti-Semitism, as well as historical themes such as the rise of Nazism and international appeasement. As the series progressed Wesley encountered in his adventures other "mystery men" of the era,