| Doll Man | |
|---|---|
 Doll Man on the cover ofFeature Comics #77 (April 1944), Quality Comics. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Quality Comics DC Comics |
| First appearance | (Dane) Feature Comics #27 (December 1939) (Colt) Crisis Aftermath: The Battle for Blüdhaven #1 (Early June 2006) |
| Created by | (Dane) Will Eisner (Colt) Jimmy Palmiotti Justin Gray |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Darrel Dane Lester Colt |
| Species | Metahuman |
| Team affiliations | (Dane and Colt) Freedom Fighters (Dane) All-Star Squadron (Colt) S.H.A.D.E. |
| Abilities | (Both)
(Dane) (Colt)
|
Doll Man is asuperhero first appearing inAmerican comic books from theGolden Age of Comics, originally published byQuality Comics and currently part of theDC Comicsuniverse of characters.[1] Doll Man was created by cartoonistWill Eisner and first appeared in a four-page story entitled "Meet the Doll Man" inFeature Comics #27. He was Quality's first super-powered character.[2]
Introduced in 1939, Doll Man is the first comic booksuperhero with the ability to shrink. He predates the more well knownRay Palmer (DC's Atom) andHank Pym (Marvel Comics' Ant-Man) by two decades.
Thesecret identity of Doll Man, "The World's Mightiest Mite", is research chemistDarrel Dane, who invents a formula that enables him to shrink to the height of six inches while retaining the full strength of his normal size.[3] He was the first example of a shrinking superhero, and also one of the few that was unable to change to a height in between his minimum and maximum sizes (though artists would fail to keep his scale visually consistent). His first adventure inFeature Comics #27 involves the rescue of his fiancée, Martha Roberts, from a blackmailer.[4] He subsequently decides to fight crime and adopts a red and blue costume sewn by Martha.[5] Years later, somehow Martha's wish to be able to join him in his small size comes true, and now possessing the same shrinking powers, she becomes his partner known asDoll Girl inDoll Man #37.[6] He also has the aid of Elmo the Wonder Dog, aGreat Dane who serves as his occasional steed and rescuer, and the "Dollplane", which was deceptively presented as a model airplane in his study when not in use.[7] In his adventures published duringWorld War II, Doll Man was also frequently depicted riding abald eagle.
The covers of Doll Man's comics frequently portrayed him tied in ropes or other bindings, in situations ranging from being tied crucifixion-style to a running sink faucet, to being hogtied to the trigger and barrel of a handgun. The persistence of this male bondage motif in Doll Man comics among others can be contrasted with other comic books which historically portrayed women in positions of vulnerability and submission.
Doll Man was the lead feature of the anthology seriesFeature Comics through #139 (October, 1949), with Eisner writing the early stories under thepen name William Erwin Maxwell, and art contributed first byLou Fine, and later byReed Crandall.[8] Doll Man's own self-titled series ran from 1941 until 1953, for forty-seven issues. After the cancellation ofDoll Man, original stories involving the character were not published again for two decades.[9]
After Quality Comics went out of business in 1956, DC acquired their superhero characters. Doll Man and several other former Quality properties were re-launched inJustice League of America #107 (October 1973) as theFreedom Fighters.[10] As was done with many other characters DC had acquired from other publishers or that were holdovers from Golden Age titles, the Freedom Fighters were located on a parallel world, one calledEarth-X where Nazi Germany had wonWorld War II. The team were featured in their own series for fifteen issues (1976–1978), in which the team temporarily leaves Earth-X forEarth-1 (where most DC titles were set). Doll Man was an occasional guest star inAll-Star Squadron, a superhero team title that was set onEarth-2, the locale for DC's WWII-era superheroes, at a time prior to when he and the other Freedom Fighters are supposed to have left for Earth-X. Doll Man then appeared with the rest of DC's entire cast of superheroes inCrisis on Infinite Earths, a story that was intended to eliminate the similarly confusing histories that DC had attached to its characters by retroactively merging the various parallel worlds into one. This erased Doll Man's Earth-X days, and merged the character'sAll-Star Squadron andFreedom Fighter histories so that he is primarily a member of the Squadron, of which the Freedom Fighters are merely a splinter group.[1]
Until the relaunch of theFreedom Fighters characters in 2006, Doll Man was little used by DC except for the retelling of his origin fromFeature Comics #27 inSecret Origins #8 (November 1986). According toUncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #5 (January 2007), Darrel Dane is currently alive and confined to an unnamed mental institution.
InUncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters v2 #3 (November 2007) Dane (whose given name is given as "Darryl" or "Darrel") appears as the leader of a subersive group of doll-sized soldiers. He reveals that the years spent at compressed size have damaged his mind, leaving him mentally unstable.
A new Doll Man, alias Lester Colt, was introduced inCrisis Aftermath: The Battle forBlüdhaven, a mini-series published by DC in 2006.[1]
Lester Colt is a famous U.S. special operator, holding a B.A. in international politics and advanced degrees in the sciences. He is an "Operational Management and Strategic Adviser" toS.H.A.D.E. Colt seems to be highly trained in the martial arts, as well as being a very capable battlefield leader. Lester has a series of action figures named in his honor. However, he follows an "ends justifies the means" policy in his mission, and inUncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #1 is shown cold-bloodly killing a drug dealer in front of the man's young son at the boy's birthday party (he had infiltrated the drug dealer's home disguised as one of his own action figures). This action earns his a severe rebuke from the revivedUncle Sam in later issues when he detects from S.H.A.D.E. and joins the new Freedom Fighters.
Colt is a highly decorated "old soldier", and his personal decorations include theLegion of Merit, sixSilver Stars for gallantry, fourteenBronze Stars for Valor, and seventeenPurple Hearts.
Colt is romantically involved with scientist and former S.H.A.D.E. employee, Emma Glenn. Eager to contribute to his country, in something other than war, Lester agreed to an experiment created by Emma's father, which reduced him to his present height. A S.H.A.D.E. squad, masquerading as a terrorist group, killed Emma's father and destroyed the lab. Now stuck at a permanent height of six inches tall, Colt attempted to distance himself from Glenn, hoping to spare her the pain of a miniaturized boyfriend. Despite this, there are still strong feelings between the two and they are learning to cope with their new situation. This is aided by trips to The Heartland, the current Freedom Fighters' extradimensional home base, where Colt is mystically restored to full height for brief periods.
In the newFreedom Fighters series (2007–08), Lester undergoes a procedure with several other shrunken people, including Darrel Dane, to be returned to normal size. The experiment goes horribly wrong, and the group are fused together into a human-sized monstrosity. Lester is eventually freed, returns to his normal size, and seemingly retires to start a family with Glenn.
By willing himself, Doll Man can shrink to theheight of six inches and a proportionate weight or return to his normal size.[11] At his six-inch height, Doll Man retained the strength and athletics of a full grown man. In recent years, he have developed psionic powers, enabling him to levitate objects or destroy them with a mental blast. He has apparently aged a little, but not at all for decades, perhaps due to themysticpresence of Uncle Sam. Dane wears a special costume that changes size as he does. As Doll Man, he possesses a brilliant mind, as well as unarmed combat skills.
The second Doll Man has similar powers and access to high-tech equipment.