SAND (Sanderson Hawkins)	BIOGRAPHY
Created by Mort Weisinger and Paul Norris

PERSONAL DATA

Real Name: Sanderson Hawkins
Aliases: Sandy the Golden Boy, Sandman IV
Identity: Unrevealed
Occupation: Adventurer
Citizenship: American
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: Dian Belmont (aunt; deceased);Lawrence Belmont (grandfather; deceased)
Base of Operation: New York City, NY
Group Affiliation(s): All-Star Squadron; Justice Society of America; JSA; JSA All-Stars
Gender: Male
Height: 5' 11" (as Sandy): 5' 9 1/2"
Weight: 162 lbs. (as Sandy): 143 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond
First Appearance: Adventure Comics #69/6 (December 1941): "The Case of the Giant Bees"
Creators: Mort Weisinger and Paul Norris

OVERVIEW

Core member of the current JSA and former sidekick to the original Sandman, Sanderson Hawkins is blessed or cursed with prophetic dreams, which he 'inherited' after his mentor's death. Sand's body is entirely silicon giving him a range of strange abilities which he uses to complement his decades of experience as a crimefighter.

HISTORY

Young Sanderson Hawkins was a big fan of the Sandman strip in Thrill Comics and liked to identify himself with Sandman's sidekick Sandy, who looked a lot like Sanderson and even shared his surname. Dreaming of one day himself becoming the sidekick of the Sandman he began working out and training himself as an athlete. Sanderson even created a costume for himself based on that from the Sandman strip, and pretended to be Sandy while playing.

When his parents died, Sanderson was taken in by his aunt Dian Belmont, close confidante and girlfriend of Wesley Dodds, the real Golden Age Sandman. At some point Sandy got involved in one of the Sandman's cases and although the very idea of ever getting a kid sidekick, thereby bringing a child's life in danger, was totally foreign to Wesley he was so impressed with Sanderson's skills and courage that he decided to give the boy a chance. Soon afterward Wesley made him his ward as well, and before long Sandy learned that he was really the Sandman.

Partly inspired by Sandy and partly because of the realization that because of the looming war, heroes needed to be in the public's eye to help people feel safe, Wesley created a costume for himself like the one worn by the comic book Sandman (itself based on a costume that Dodds once wore) that he wore while working alongside Sandy. Sandman and Sandy soon became a renowned team and they were among the founding members of the wartime All-Star Squadron in 1941. When the teen heroes of the All-Star Squadron were banded together as the special Squadron branch named the Young All-Stars and sent on a War Bond Drive, Sandy voted himself in as he didn't fully trust the Japanese born Tsunami. Although he started out thinking of the other members as nothing but no-good rookies he eventually came to respect every single one of them and formed long-lasting friendships.

After the War, Dodds decided that he needed to up the efficiency of the duo and tried to create a "silicoid gun" that could be used to fight crime. During a testing, however, the gun exploded and activated Sandy's metagene and transformed him into a menacing giant. Dodds quickly put him to sleep and began looking for a cure, keeping him sedated.

After several years of failure, Wesley set up a system to keep Sandy in an eternal stupor, unable to speak or move. He was hypnotized to forget the terrible accident. Decades passed and Sandy became psychically tuned to the earth.

As the East Coast was under terrific tectonic stress, Sandy became able to break free and try to stop the approaching earthquakes using new found abilities. At first attacked and then aided by both the Justice Society and the Justice League, Sandy was able to speak after the tremors had subsided.

Dodds placed Sandy under the care of other doctors and accidentally became re-hypnotized to forget Sandy. A murder attempt on his life broke the trance and he sought Sandy out, and after defeating a villain who wanted to blackmail the government using Sandy's abilities, was able to transform him back to a human form.

Sandy tried to acclimate himself to modern life, but spent much time alone in one of Dodd's properties, slowly training himself with his new abilities. After his mentor's death, he joined up with the newly reformed Justice Society, even becoming its first chairman.

Uncomfortable with the role, he relinquished his duties and Mr. Terrific was elected chairman.

Sand still serves with the Justice Society, and also aids the New York City police in cases.

POWERS AND WEAPONS

Due to the effects of the Silicoid Gun, Sandy Hawkins organic body morphed into a body composed of silicon, still mimicking the actions of a normal human (breathing, giving off heat, ect.) unless consciously stopping them.

Sand is able to discorporate his body and travel through the earth, reforming his body anywhere there is earth. He is able to identify the location of samples of soil and mimic their qualities.

Hawkins also has disturbing prophetic dreams, usually horrific in nature, inherited from the first Sandman. Sometimes they are symbolic in nature and open to interpretation. Sand is often sleep deprived since he sometimes is unwilling to fall asleep due to the dreams.

CHRONOLOGY

For a definitive list of appearances of Sand in chronological order click here

PROFILE REFERENCES

Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #20 (October 1986)

JSA Secret Files #1 (August 1999)