Story: "The Tarantula Act One" (26 Pages)

Credits: Matt Wagner (plot, script); Guy Davis (pencils, inks); David Hornung (colors); John Costanza (letters); Karen Berger (edits)

Feature Character: Sandman I (Wesley Bernard Dodds)

Supporting Characters: Dian Belmont (the daughter of Lawrence Belmont), Lawrence Belmont (a New York District Attorney); Judge Thomas Schaeffer (first appearance), Ross O'Donald (first appearance; a New York police chief), Mayor Lansky

Villains: The Tarantula (Roger Goldman; the son of Albert and Miriam Goldman), Miriam Goldman (the wife of Albert Goldman), Albert Goldman (a mobster and former bootlegger), Celia Goldman (the daughter of Albert and Miriam Goldman; first appearance of all four); Lenny Green (the son of "Young Boy" Eddie Green), Moses Berman (two mobsters; first appearance of both)

Guest Appearances: Joe DeMaggio, Bert Lahr, Tallulah Bankhead, William Powell, Bugsy Siegel

Other Characters: Catherine Van Der Meer (a friend of Dian Belmont's), Pascal (a police officer), Charlie Malloy (a taxi driver; first appearance of all three)

Comments: The first Sandman Mystery Theatre story arc, that begins in this issue and ends in #4, is a revamped version of the story in Adventure Comics #40.