Doll Man | A Retrospective | Golden Age Hero

[@Kingcj2001]

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

[@brib6046]

Lol it’s rare for media in general

[@KennAKALeo]

Joan Williams and Jay Garrick; Carter Hall and Shiera Sanders; Jim Barr and Susan Kent; Darrel Dane and Martha Roberts; Dinah Drake and Larry Lance. All solid couples. Even in the 1960s and 70s, we had Katar Hol and Shayera; Ralph and Sue Dibny; Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance; Barry Allen and Iris West; Aquaman and Mera. They were all solid couples. Then Iris was killed. And the Crisis happened, and the multiverse was messily crunched into the singleverse. And... solid relationships were undone. Thanagarians reinvented. Oliver Queen retconned into a "playah." Mera goes nuts. And all of a sudden, Clark Kent and Lois Lane's relationship is being written as stable and mature. Everything was topsy-turvy. But make no mistake, for 50 years, DC had a place for stable couples.

[@EllaAngeli]

They're supportive of each others interests and dont belittle each other Le gasp

[@IloveHamberger]

Hey now, spiderman and bad luck have been going strong since the 60's

[@sertorrhenclegane]

@@IloveHamberger They did have that period where they broke up in the late 2010s when Peter was a billionaire. Those were rough times, but now they're back together.

[@Awestefeld6612]

So when does Doll Man marry Lois Lane?

[@zachwise476]

He's handsome, with powers?! All the Lois points.

[@Leadeshipcoach]

🤣🤣👍👍

[@pauldesigncomics2625]

Did everyone but Superman marry Louis back then?

[@americanidiot41]

@@pauldesigncomics2625 Pettiness is a hallmark of silver age Clois

[@leephillips4402]

From the start, you just couldn't see him.

[@Ektalon]

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

[@jesseperrett3692]

owch! lmao....., ok Doll Man COULD have gotten out from under the wastebasket, he was ....waiting for the right moment & something else happened!

[@paulsardinasify]

It is not strength that has him traped but hight. Anyone can punch though a drywall ceiling but can you pull yourself into the attic. In a light weight house you can't lift it off while jumping.

[@Ektalon]

@@paulsardinasify Might be valid, if it wasn’t a wire waste paper basket he was under. All he has to do is grab the wires and lift.

[@SirDankleberry]

​@@paulsardinasify If I was trapped in a giant doll house I'd just bust through the wall.

[@davidiihouston6883]

​@@paulsardinasifynope. Just grab the edge and flip

[@GBY005]

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

[@EdieBird]

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

[@HandofOmega]

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*!

[@tomcruisenukedmyaccount5388]

Lmao. Black Condor is whack.

[@ScreamingScallop]

Some Golden Age heroes were best left to history's dustbin. My favorite part of BC's origin is how, upon deciding to rejoin human civilization, he almost _immediately_ comes across a murdered senator who looks exactly like him, and successfully assumes his identity. His only human contact prior to this was a hermit who raised him after he left the condors, and bam, he's a fake congressman.

[@Xehanort10]

And when he found a guy's dead body he stole that guy's name and identity and married his fiancee.

[@DIEGhostfish]

@@Xehanort10 Like a true carrion bird.

[@marktaylor6553]

He did all those things because Black Condor Lives Matter. He was ahead of his time.

[@Rognik]

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.

[@glennsapaden7543]

Well articulated.

[@Leadeshipcoach]

And in his own SMALL way he made more than a LITTLE difference😉🤣

[@changvasejarik62]

In all seriousness though, some know him as a farce, some know him as the first shrinking superhero, Morrison saw him as the first JW superhero, but me I know him as the guy who almost beat an injustice level superman with a time bubble when Wonder Woman, the freedom fighters, and a green lantern uncle sam(a guy who has the willpower of 400 million people) sacrificed themselves, and only lost because absolute power superman lost his ☠️☠️☠️☠️ and destroyed earth when his heat vision combined with the time bubble and human bomb.

[@AesculapiusPiranha]

Relationship stability: Truly a superpower.

[@jonahstirbis3408]

That is indeed

[@treynevs4888]

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

[@Xehanort10]

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

[@arpitpatel2781]

That would have been nice to see.

[@galio7741]

Dollmaker makes my skin crawl...

[@Awestefeld6612]

@@galio7741 don't you like Weird Al?

[@brianthomas2434]

To say nothing of one off Iron Man villain Mr. Doll.

[@leephillips4402]

One of those is still true.

[@Xehanort10]

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

[@ariellakahan-harth8831]

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.

[@qwellen7521]

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

[@Rognik]

Brave and the Bold should've had a go with him.

[@legendary3952]

Rognik they did He was in the Uncle Sam and the freedom fighters episode

[@galio7741]

Or ruin it, like they do

[@nymphrodellsalavin]

Or the Doom Patrol show...

[@tomcruisenukedmyaccount5388]

This is a good idea.

[@GenerationWest]

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.

[@spookydookie4046]

Batman: Brave and the Bold! Hell yeah!

[@conradojavier7547]

OH NO! NOT ANOTHER MARTHA JOKE!

[@marktaylor6553]

I'm old enough to have read him when he had small stories in the back of mainstream comics (most comics back then had two stories like that).

[@LUISPRIME]

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

[@Leadeshipcoach]

Yes! one of the reasons I loved the show!!

[@carlthejedi]

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

[@mokwella]

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

[@Leadeshipcoach]

🤣👍... hey... Don’t be-LITTLE the other Dollmen!🤣 We must be BIGGER than that😉🤣

[@Shamazya]

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

[@kcollier2192]

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...

[@notproductiveproductions3504]

And then there’s Dante who can’t even afford to flush the toilet or turn on the lights

[@DavidJoh]

The funny thing is, when they were doing it seriously at the start it was male characters who would usually end up in that situation and would frequently be rescued by the heroine. After all in stage melodramas it wasn't the heroine who the villain wanted to kill. She faced a rather different kind of peril.

[@sunshineyrainbows13]

@@twig8523 If you think a person tied up in a situation where they could die is hot, get therapy.

[@annettemalaski1967]

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.

[@larryguidry2856]

Yes! I had him autograph that splash page in my comic book. He apologized for his drawing the cat in the book because he said he has trouble with drawing animals. I laughed, I said no one was paying attention to the cat! I talked with him about Lou Fine and other influences he had. Also talked his JSA Brave & bold and Showcase appearances as well as that iconic JSA group shot!

[@johnkrier8021]

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.

[@jazzmyn5804]

Just looked it up...O...M..G

[@BlUsKrEEm]

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).

[@genegreigh8782]

At just seven issues Captain Science deserves the accolades. Woody begins to stretch out his fingers on this stuff!

[@itzelramirez4801]

If ya don’t mind me asking internet dudester where could I find issues of the red bee :)

[@cyberp1ss]

@@itzelramirez4801 hello, I had the same question, so I did some research and you can find the Red Bee stories in Hit Comics magazine, he's on the cover of the first issue btw with some lovely stripped leggings

[@welcometothetroyiverse8864]

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

[@zachwise476]

They really were just handing out powers.

[@dadoctah]

And to the dwarf-star matter that both created the Golden Age Atom and powered Starman's cosmic staff..

[@Leadeshipcoach]

You know that is not a bad idea : tying in the hard water of Jay Garrick/Flash with Dollman’s liquid formula and with the miraclo discovered by Rex Tyler aka the Hourman! Maybe explain they came from one substance that under different conditions created different effects.

[@DCMarvelMultiverse]

They did. In both a Phantom Lady mini and recently in a Freedom Fighters maxiseries.

[@paulsardinasify]

@@Leadeshipcoach Don't forget Elongated Man's Gingold soda.

[@mandelabutterfly9162]

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.

[@Leadeshipcoach]

Yes .. More golden age! Like TNT and Dan the Dyna-mite!!

[@donrobinson3172]

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

[@KierTheScrivener]

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!

[@justicierodelaliga]

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).

[@galio7741]

Superman and Shazam? They're not similar.

[@justicierodelaliga]

@@galio7741 "The Man of Steel" and "The World´s Mightiest Mortal". In general they´re the same. Just that Shazam´s powers are based on magic.

[@CovenantD]

@@galio7741 - Similar enough to have Fawcett sued and lose to DC.

[@matthewhood7844]

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".

[@everythingabouteverything3304]

I need a Dollman CW Show. Just Imagine How Glorious it would be

[@truefanforum3273]

That would be fun. But until then I think he would fit in well in Stargirl. The show already has the JSA.

[@jesseperrett3692]

short lived, right?

[@Linda-hf7vr]

no doubt some "threatened" fanboy out there would insist he would have to be Action Figure Man

[@truefanforum3273]

@@Linda-hf7vr Yeah, that seems about right.

[@katsomeday1]

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.)

[@scottboswell6406]

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!!

[@philliprudin5315]

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

[@LinguarumFautor]

I’d have to check, but isn’t that the replacement Doll Man, not Darrell Dane?

[@changvasejarik62]

It was fascinating the idea of a JW superhero (especially ones that are not farcical) it’s one of the reason why i was so disappointed when the 2018 series killed off the mastermen freedom fighters.

[@bobdobbolina8376]

"...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.

[@moonlilly467]

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!

[@HandofOmega]

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!

[@unigenius]

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.

[@alexanderf8451]

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).

[@TimothyMReynolds]

“Look! Down on the floor!” 😹

[@imwhatthekidscallcringy3858]

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

[@tomcruisenukedmyaccount5388]

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

[@i-love-portal]

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

[@terrasimone5528]

Same. I'd boost that omnibus to 2 sales!

[@ogfail1867]

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

[@ken.droid-the-unique]

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

[@junglekiity]

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

[@Jezee213]

It seems like Daryl and Martha are the template for Hank Pym and Janet . They both shrink down and fight crime together, they're both a couple.

[@marktaylor6553]

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.

[@glennwatson3313]

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

[@fredcampbell4066]

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.

[@Gauldame]

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

[@p.j.w7564]

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! 😎

[@sunshineyrainbows13]

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.

[@nesto2947]

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

[@Ray-mw3js]

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.

[@LordDarque]

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.

[@Zagrius1]

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

[@SphinxMagoo]

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.

[@bazzfromthebackground3696]

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

[@sorensanderskov]

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 :-)

[@d-manthecaptain1382]

Instead of "Doll-Girl", they should've called her "Doll-Doll"

[@Red-Wolf-Ben]

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

[@mynardomacaraig2697]

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

[@nohandlenotme]

Back then they never had explain the costumes!

[@lolaseiss]

Wonder Woman 🤝 dollman: having plenty of bdsm bondage in the golden age

[@marcdemeulles272]

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.

[@paulmoody4750]

I was a big fan of the Freedom Fighters as a wee one, and I remain interested in these less popular golden age heroes. Thanks for this video, it really filled in a lot of blanks for me.

[@jpistolas]

22:06 Darrel sure looks, um, pleased with himself.

[@mdrglxix3699]

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.

[@Blofeld001]

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

[@nigelcox-hagan6820]

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.

[@bellaususfitzpinguidpalate8732]

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 :)

[@joehinman1026]

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

[@VariablePenguin]

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

[@queenannsrevenge100]

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.

[@misteranother2252]

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.👍👍

[@nicholascardwell88]

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...

[@pauloverly2868]

DC has, except for one panel in "JSA: The Golden Age", completely ignored the existence of Wildfire, who was an excellent heroine (with pretty nice art by a young Jim Mooney). And they needlessly mutilated Neon, who was a powerful guy. Despite having a reliable constituency in the comic-reading audience, DC's mindset with Golden Age characters has long been, "They're old; how can we get rid of them?"

[@MechaTrekAD]

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!

[@davidmcmahon4633]

Kid Eternity! He needs a review!

[@jamesdavis8532]

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

[@daveassanowicz186]

My introduction to Doll Man was the 2018 Freedom Fighters. This was very informative and entertaining, thanks!

[@athenahitchin7738]

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

[@NORMAN728]

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.

[@ivane5110]

Great in-depth coverage of who was once my favorite hero. I got to liking him in a step-by-step way; Back in the 70's I saw the Freedom Fighters mentioned in a Superfriends comic (some alien robot that was made up of the combined powers of a dozen or so murdered supervillains boasted of having defeated them and the Teen Titans) and checked them out, then liked him so much I got a stack of his old comics later that year from the 10 cent box at the flea market. By the end if that weekend I was his #1 fan. Even dressed up as him for Halloween (just my luck everyone kept thinking I was just bad at making a Superman costume--*sigh*). Thanks for making it. What a time trip

[@jameswalker4397]

Great presentation, as usual. Love Doll Man.

[@TarSpartan]

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

[@jamesobrien7432]

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

[@armoghetto]

Thank You!! Always wanted to know more about his character. Amazing that he was one of the first shrinking characters who each have had stories about their powers affecting their mind and being a key scientist on their team! With teams like Suicide Squad, JL Dark, etc., there are many ways a good writer could use this character & it would still be refreshing to have his sense of equality as well as his strength of self on display against other characters today. Thank you!

[@NerdettesNewsStand]

I absolutely love this

[@noxrandolph86]

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?

[@landreaulover]

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.

[@DanBrownPierces]

New to the channel so I’m not sure if you’ve covered the rest of the Freedom Fighters but if not, I’d love to see a Human Bomb video. He’s such a cool concept. Especially when you consider the era in which he was created.

[@glantern88]

More videos like this... PLEASE! You're the best, Sasha!!! Have you ever done a video about Doom Patrol??? Especially Danny the Street/Brick/Ambulance??? Or maybe a couple of shorter ones about characters like Matter-Eater Lad, Arm-Fall-Off Boy, or Gin Genie?

[@ashleytuchin7693]

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.

[@thebloodedge284]

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

[@bryanabbott6169]

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

[@jmguinn7029]

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.

[@michaelgarza6735]

This was great! More Golden Age coverage, please!

[@JackieSmalls]

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.

[@Ldastro]

Thank you! I had forgotten about The Freedom Fighters!

[@constipatedinsincity4424]

23:28 Doll Man coming up short!🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@DrPluton]

I first heard of him through the recent Freedom Fighters series from DC. That comic was a trip with Doll Man, Black Condor, Phantom Lady, Human Bomb, and Uncle Sam.

[@lamontevalentine2156]

Can we talk about how you wig game is ON POINT