Sandman: Year One

Then

The Sandman is reflecting on his life and thinks about how he can remember specific snapshots. One of his earliest memories of when he was a boy and his mother took him to the beach. This memory stands out because his mother hardly brought him anywhere because she was busy cleaning homes for a living to support herself and her son after her husband, Floyd Baker, abandoned them. The Sandman like to think that his father was there on that day but knows that he wasn’t. That day, young William Baker had built a large sandcastle and tries to wake up his mother — who passed out on her beach towel after drinking too much — and crawled up next to and took a nap. When they both woke up later, William remembered his sandcastle, but by the time he gets his mother to come and see it a coming storm and the incoming tide are already weathering it away. His mother tells William that nothing last forever in the world, that everything goes away sooner or later. His mother then told him to stay put while she gathered their things. Reflecting back on this memory, the Sandman recalls how, at that moment, he would find some way to do something that lasts forever.[1]

Now[2]

Sandman is thinking about all of this while he is fighting Spider-Man at the amusement park on Coney Island. As he uses the sand from the nearby beach to grow himself to tremendous size, he thinks about all the different names he went by in the past and how they will mean nothing, the only name that he has left that will live on forever is the Sandman.

Then

In junior high William Baker developed a crush on his teacher, Miss Flint, who was impressed with his sand sculptures he made. One day after class, William noticed that Miss Flint was wearing a fancy ring. When he asks where she got it, she explains that her boyfriend proposed to her and that he is now her fianceé. He then asked her what her fianceé did for a living and learns that he was a stockbroker. He then asked if that mean he made a lot of money, Miss Flint admitted it was although she thought that was a weird question for William to ask. However, it wasn’t a weird question for William, as her answer proved what he always thought, that guys with money get it all, especially pretty women. After apologizing for asking, William is told to go to lunch after he’s cleaned up. She then remarks on the sand in a bottle design he brought in. William had brought it in as a gift for Miss Flint, but after her big revelation, he had no intention of telling her now. Not long after Miss Flint has left the room does a bully named Vic and his goons enter the classroom. Teasing William they end up trashing all of his sand sculptures, reinforcing what his mother told him not very many years before. He learned a new lesson that day as the bullies beat him up, that there is a certain point where you’re getting hurt when you just stop feeling the pain.

William then sneaked out of school because he didn’t want anyone to see him like this. When his mother came home and started tending to his wounds she blamed herself for what happening, thinking that if she didn’t drink so much William’s father wouldn’t have left and help raise their son to be a man. William disagrees, telling his mother that he is a man and that he can defend himself, vowing that they’ll all see this sooner or later.

Now

The Sandman grabs the ferris wheel and spins it as hard as he can while Spider-Man is still standing on it. As the wall-crawler scrambles for grip, the Sandman likens this scene like life. It’s a gamble, you’re in it to win it and sooner or later what goes around comes around.

Then

As William healed from his beating he pretty much and went whenever he wanted because his mother was drunk more often than not. He regularly went to the beach where he built sandcastles and watched as the water eventually washed them away. He soon came to enjoy watching how the sand moved and changed shape in the water. He spent the next month working on his fighting skills, learning to move like sand in the water.

One day at school when he tripped Vic when he was walking by in the hallway and slammed his face into the ground. When his two goons grabbed William, he quickly ducked out of his jacket and elbowed both of them in the groin. He learned a few things that day, that men feared and respected strength and women are attracted to it. The other lesson he learned as the principal hauled him off to the office is that people in power didn’t care about right or wrong, just having the ability to show you who was boss. As he received a lecture from the principal all he could think of was that he was repaid for being a good student by being bullied and beat up. When he stood up to those people the people with power slapped him down and he quickly realized why: he had become a threat. Once he realized that, William Baker realized he liked that feeling, a lot.

Very quickly, the children in school began to fear William Baker and bullies like Vic and his gang eventually joined up with him. The bullied became the bully and the fear he evoked among the student body continued well on through high school. By that point, William had people calling him Flint, a fitting nickname because it sounded tough, but it also reminded him of the teacher he had a crush on and a reminder to never become the weakling he was back in those days.

Flint also discovered a new outlet for his aggression by playing football in high school. His brutality on the field was rewarded and he eventually ended up shacking up with a cheerleader named Marcy. They would usually rent out a sleazy motel room the night of every game so they could have some privacy. One night, Vic came knocking at the motel room door asking for help. Vic needed Flint’s help as he was in deep with the mob over gambling debts and asked Flint to throw the next couple of games so he could recoup his losses before he ended up floating in the Hudson River. At first, Flint refused until Vic pleaded with him, by saying he’s the only person his mother has left. Feeling sorry for Vic, Flint decided to throw the next game to help him out. However, after the game was over, the coach confronted him about his poor performance and accused Baker of intentionally throwing the game because he was gambling. Unwilling to listen to Flint, the coach then threatened to have him expelled from school. Losing his temper, Flint then bludgeoned his coach with his football helmet and then began senselessly beating him.

Now

As Spider-Man glides to the ground with a web parachute, the Sandman thinks about how no matter how many how good you are at landing on your feet you will eventually end up on their backside. He remembers how it was during one of those moments that he first met his father. He remembers how small he felt, but he is getting ahead of himself and recalls how this was just the beginning of the road that led to his meeting his father.

Then

Flint and Vic ended up getting into a life of crime after high school. Small-time jobs like holding up convenience stores. The first time he was arrested he attempted to elude the police by hiding in the back of a dump truck full of sand. However, the cops chasing him were too smart for that and ended up dumping the sand out and catching him. He ended up in Riker’s Island prison where he first laid eyes on his father playing basketball in the exercise yard. When one of the other inmates knocked Floyd Baker to the ground, Flint knocked him out with a single punch and stole the ball. Floyd tells the new inmate that he didn’t need help but admits that he has a good punch, saying if his son had half the guts he wouldn’t have left home. Hearing this, William Baker introduced himself to his father by the name of Flint Marko.

Over the years, Flint Marko spent his time in and out of prison. When he was out he was reunited with Marcy and Vic. Vic always had work lined up for them because the mob would have them do jobs to pay off Vic’s gambling debts. However, when things didn’t go well Flint usually ended up in prison. Sometimes his father was there and they’d spend time hanging out together, sometimes his father was not. Thinking about how his father was free, Flint decided that he wanted to be free as well. Breaking out of prison he ended up on the beach that was contaminated by radioactive waste. Instead of killing him, it transformed him instead. He wasn’t Flint Marco anymore and he was now the Sandman.[3] He then returned home to find Marcy was having an affair with Vic and, angered by this betrayal, used his new power to control sand to try and kill them. However, he decided they weren’t worth it and spared their lives, deciding that he needed enemies that were on his level. He eventually found one when he went to Midtown High leading to his first battle with Sandman.

Recalling that battle, the Sandman remembers how Spider-Man used a vacuum cleaner to trap him. While the whole world though that was enough to defeat the Sandman, the reality was that Flint allowed himself to be captured because he had just learned that his father was arrested and back at Riker’s Island again. Knowing that the guards wouldn’t be prepared for his new power, the Sandman allowed himself to be transported to the prison and then used his newfound abilities to break himself and Floyd Baker out of jail.

After the break-out, the pair retreated to Coney Island where the Sandman had prepared a hideout. Along the way, a confused Floyd Baker asks why Flint went out of his way to free him from prison. But, before the Sandman could explain himself, Spider-Man arrived to send him back to jail. Unknown to Flint Marco, Peter Parker was at Coney Island with his Aunt May when he recognized the Sandman and slipped away and changed into Spider-Man.

Now

This is what led to the battle with Spider-Man at the amusement park that is still ongoing at this moment. The Sandman grabs one of the cars from the rollercoaster and tries to throw it at the web-slinger. However, Spider-Man dodges it and the last thing Flint Marko sees is his father seemingly getting crushed by the rollercoaster car. Going into a blind rage, the massive Sandman rips the farris wheel from its mooring and prepares to throw it at Spider-Man. Unfortunately for him, a bolt of lightning strikes the metal ferris wheel and the resulting jolt causes the Sandman to crumble to dust. Spider-Man quickly pulls away the rollercoaster car to check on Floyd Baker whom he managed to save by quickly spraying webbing to cushion the blow. As he frees Floyd from the webbing he asks why he was with the Sandman. Floyd makes up a lie that he was just giving the Sandman directions and that the guy was nothing but a no-good bum to him. Unaware that Baker is an escaped fugitive, Spider-Man is satisfied with the answer and lets Baker go.

The following morning a young boy on the beach at Coney Island comes across a massive sandcastle. He is amazed by the sight until he notices that it includes a small sand sculpture of the Sandman holding the dead body of Spider-Man in his arms. This, sandcastle is, of course, is the Sandman himself. As the tide comes in and begins washing the sandcastle away, the Sandman thinks that about how he wants to accomplish something that would last forever and that his masterpiece will be the death of Spider-Man.

Recurring Characters

Sandman, Spider-Man, Floyd Baker, Aunt May

Continuity Notes

1. The parts of this story that detail William Baker’s past and evolution into Flint Marko and later the Sandman mirror the story he told in Marvel Two-In-One #86. However, the events described here depict a far more brutal and violent Flint Marko. One could presume that the version told by William Baker in Marvel Two-In-One #86 told in a lighter tone because at the time the Sandman was trying to sell the Thing on the idea that he wanted to go straight. That version of events was told in such a way that one would feel sympathetic toward Baker whose past seems like a series of bad breaks, versus someone who willfully became a violent murderer as is the case here. The particular differences were Flint Marko beating his football coach and later, as the Sandman, attacking Vic and Marcy.

2. By “now” this story takes place shortly after the Sandman’s first battle with Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #4.

3. The cause for radiation being on the beach that gives the Sandman his powers has changed with the times making it a topical reference. For example, Amazing Spider-Man #4 states that it was a nuclear test, while this issue and Marvel Two-In-One #86 state that it was a reactor explosion that caused the leak, and Giant-Size Spider-Man (vol. 2) #1 states that it was a toxic spill. Basically, the cause of the radiation being in the sand is usually depicted as a modern-day fear that was relevant at the time of publication. In this particular instance, the closest nuclear plant to New York City was that William Baker could have swum to was Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant. This planet was decommissioned in 1989, making the idea of a reactor explosion happening near Riker’s Island impossible due to the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616.

Leah

A young homeless girl named Leah tires to keep warm in the winter weather by surrounding herself in pages from the Daily Bugle. However, despite her efforts to keep warm, this poor girl has developed a cough. Looking up in the winter sky, Leah is delighted when she sees Spider-Man battling the Vulture on the rooftops above her. You see, Leah is a big fan of Spider-Man and she has pictures of the web-slinger plastered all over the walls of the cardboard box she calls home. She kisses the largest picture of Spider-Man good night then curls up in bedsheets made out of newspaper clippings of her hero. As she sleeps she dreams that Spider-Man comes to her and takes her web-slinging across the city earning the ire of J. Jonah Jameson at the Daily Bugle and meeting other heroes like Thor and Iron Man.

In real life, Spider-Man comes across the little girl sleeping in the alley and rushes her to the hospital. There, Spider-Man is told that the little girl has suffered a failure of both her live and kidneys and the best they can do is make her comfortable until the end. Spider-Man is heartbroken especially after seeing all the photos of himself in her make-shift home. Spider-Man asks if the doctor if they know her name and learns that she had a name tag on her clothes that read “Leah”. Spider-Man pulls up his mask so he can kiss the little girl on the cheek. He tells her that if she can hear him to have sweet dreams. The little girl surprisingly reaches up to touch her cheek and smiles. In her dream, she and Spider-Man are flying across the sky joined by other superheroes as they head toward the setting sun.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Vulture