Who's This? A potential boyfriend for Barbie.
The facts: Created by Will Eisner for Feature Comics #21 (December 1939), Doll Man was one of Quality Comics' earlier superheroes and the first ever shrinking hero. A certain popularity would yield him a Quarterly mag as of September 1941, which would last 47 issues (until 1953), whereas he would appear in Feature until issue 139 (1949). After DC obtained the rights to Quality's heroes, he was relegated to Earth-X (where the Nazis won WWII) and become part of the Freedom Fighters. Justice League of America #107 (1973) would first present the concept, but the FF would go on to have a short-lived series and continue to appear here and there, later with a new Doll Man (Lester Colt), over the years.
How you could have heard of him: Newer readers are more likely to know the version from the Battle for Blüdhaven or else Dane Maxwell, the Doll Man who co-starred in a mini-series with Phantom Lady in 2012. Well, maybe not as likely as from his appearance on Batman: The Brave and the Bold in "Cry Freedom Fighters!" He is not to be confused with Dollman, played by Tim Thomerson in all those Full Moon Entertainment movies.
Example story: Doll Man Quarterly #3 (Summer 1942) "The Hollywood Spies" by John Cassone
Our example story starts with Darrel Dane's girlfriend Martha (MARTHAAAAAAAAA!!!) and her father Dr. Roberts, out in Hollywood, "en route to a naval base". What a pit stop to make on the government's dime. Roberts is probably working with the War Dept., but the story doesn't really say. All we need to know is that foreign agents with thick German accents are going to try to get him out of the way - although their motivations are confused to say the least. The morning after their stay at a luxury hotel on taxpayer money, they kidnap Roberts and then try to also kidnap Martha as leverage. Enter Darrel Dane, action scientist, showing he's a hero even when he's not Doll Man:
Love the movie credit entrance. He and Martha follow the clues to a movie studio and again, Darrel gains entry without the benefit of the Doll Man identity.
Of course, he's only really beaten up studio security. The pair split up and Martha falls straight into the villains' hands. Their scheme involves giving her a gun and making her shoot her dad for a scene in a movie that Dr. Roberts has also been scammed into starring in. Why don't they just shoot him themselves? Why grab the daughter if not to force Roberts to spill secrets? It's almost as if SHE'S the real target, but nothing supports this. And where's Darrel in the meantime? Why, on the set of a musical, ogling dancing girls.
So the sum up, three security guys and now one stagehand (plus the two Nazi agents who try to grab Martha, to be fair). Let's also pause for a Brobdingnagian moment...
But now as Doll Man, Darrel sneaks around the rafters and finds the villains, and hears them repeat their plan. So he's at hand to stop Martha from making a mistake she wouldn't be able to live with. The moment will also prove she doesn't know Darrel's secret, and I think we can assume that Doll Man's size makes his features hard to read, but yo, dude don't wear a mask. I guess he can never take his pants off in front of Martha, because she'd go, "those thighs look familiar".
Though Doll Man swings off a strand of hair (he got lucky, on THAT head), he's suddenly captured in a convenient fish net. They drop him when an air raid siren goes off (for a movie), and abandon the Robertses who they STILL have not shot. Doll Man races after them and now we're going to test the true value of a shrinking hero. He has to interact with (to him) giant props!
After Doll Man is knocked out, the last remaining Nazi kills him... no, strike that, he ties him to a toy train set's tracks and sticks around to watch him get run over. We're in Quality Comics' backyard here, which means can go almost entirely visual, and I really appreciate that the artist knows a toy train isn't heavy enough to do ANYTHING to Doll Man.
I mean, try it yourself! Put an action figure in your model train's way and see what happens. Doll Man may be small, but he still has his normal strength and can punch your tooth out.
It's in these types of sequences that Doll Man found an eager audience that supported him appearing a two books, including one devoted to him entirely, and therefore on the same level as Superman, Batman, Flash and Captain Marvel. Impressive, considering his D-list status today.
Who's Next? A mute swimmer.
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