| Deadman | |
|---|---|
 Deadman Collection Hardcover. Art by Neal Adams. |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Strange Adventures #205 (October 1967) |
| Created by | Arnold Drake (writer) Carmine Infantino (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Boston Brand |
| Team affiliations | Seven Soldiers of Victory Sentinels of Magic Black Lantern Corps |
| Abilities | Invisibility, flight and intangibility. He can instantly and completely possess any sentient being. |
Deadman (Boston Brand) is a fictional character, a comic book superhero in the DC Comics universe. He first appeared in Strange Adventures #205 (October 1967), and was created by Arnold Drake and Carmine Infantino.[1]
Contents |
Publication history
The series is most associated with the art of Neal Adams and the writing of Jack Miller, who took over from Drake and Infantino after the first story. The first story and all of the Adams stories were reprinted in 1985 as a seven-issue series. Although he appeared from time to time in the 1970s and 1980s as a supporting character in various comics, including Jack Kirby's Forever People, Deadman did not get his own series again until 1986, in a four-issue limited series written by Andrew Helfer and drawn by José Luis García-López, which picked up the story where Adams left off. Deadman's next major storyline was in Action Comics Weekly, in 1988-89. After this, he starred in the two-issue series Deadman: Love After Death, drawn by Kelley Jones and written by Mike Baron. This was followed by the limited series Deadman: Exorcism in 1992, also written by Mike Baron and drawn by Kelley Jones. Jones' gaunt, zombie-like rendition of the character would later appear in the pages of Batman. There was a Deadman ongoing series in 2002, which lasted nine issues, as well as a couple of standalone issues. His cameo appearances also continued, including several issues of Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing, and Neil Gaiman's The Books of Magic. He had a cameo in book two of Batman: Gotham County Line, which was released in November 2005. In 2009, Deadman was a featured title in the Wednesday Comics.
The character and self-titled series have won several awards over the years, including the 1967 Alley Award for Best New Strip (by Arnold Drake and Carmine Infantino in Strange Adventures), and the 1968 Alley Award Hall of Fame (for Neal Adams).
DC Comics published a slipcased hardcover edition collecting the original Deadman stories in December 2001, which remains in print.
Fictional character biography
Deadman is a ghost, formerly a circus trapeze artist named Boston Brand who performed under the name Deadman, a stage persona including a red costume and white corpse makeup. When Brand is murdered during a trapeze performance by a mysterious assailant known only as the Hook (in fact his last words were "Gee, from up here it almost looks like that guy with the hook for a hand has a gun..."), his spirit is given the power to possess any living being by a Hindu goddess (created for the purposes of the story) named Rama Kushna (a corruption of Rama-Krishna), in order to search for his murderer and obtain justice. It is established in Green Arrow Vol 4, #4, that Deadman believes Rama is the supreme being of the universe.[1]
The origin story involved the hero fighting narcotics smugglers, in the first story to involve drugs with the permission of the Comics Code Authority. The criminals used the traveling circus they worked for to smuggle "snow" -- either heroin or cocaine.
In the pages of Nightwing (issues #102 and #103, respectively) it is implied that Brand got the idea for his costume from "Johnny" Grayson, father of Dick Grayson.
At the end of the Neal Adams story line, Deadman seems to discover the truth behind his murder and we learn the ultimate fate of Hook, who killed Deadman as part of an initiation into a society of contract killers who then kill him to silence him. However, in 1972 writer/artist Jack Kirby was told by the DC editors to put a Deadman crossover into his book The Forever People. Kirby had never heard of Deadman, but he obligingly included the character in The Forever People 9 and 10. In reading the Neal Adams issues to understand the character, Kirby noticed something that had apparently slipped by everyone else. In the origin story, Hook has his hook on his right hand. Yet in the penultimate Neal Adams story, where his secret is revealed and he meets his fate, the man we think is Hook has his hook on his left hand. This was probably just an artist's error -- in the final Neal Adams Deadman, in the synopsis of the previous issue, the hook is back on the right hand again. Kirby, however, uses this clue to reopen the case of Deadman, with the real Hook one among many one-handed men who work for an organization known as "The Scavengers".
Various missions
Over the course of several years, Rama Kushna has Deadman confront the sorcerer Caldera multiple times over the fate of the souls of several deceased superheroes. Two of them are the Flash and Robin. During the Robin incident, he tries to possess the Joker but was driven out by the man's insanity.
Rama also maintained a city for some time, called Nanda Parbat. The most evil people in the world came to live there, where Rama's power kept them sane and good. One of the worst was Darius Caldera, who almost destroyed the world when he left the city. Unfortunately, Nanda later fell due to a combined military and mystical force. All the evil people are now back in the real world, still a danger.
His twin brother, Cleveland, is killed while possessed by Boston, while doing Boston's circus act. The killer was out to kill Boston Brand. His "benefactor," Rama Kushna, also dies in order to defeat Jonah, a spirit similar to Deadman.
Around this time, Deadman assists the Spectre in defeating a newly formed demonic being (and werewolves). Formed from the skeletons of many souls in hell, this blue-eye, blonde-haired being comes to Earth to foment chaos and death. It manages to actually remove much of the Spectre's substance. Deadman is forced to merge with Spectre until things are stabilized.
Later, Deadman receives a birthday present from his diminutive friend, Max Loomis. Max places himself in a trance so he could "meet" Deadman and the two take a pleasant journey down "memory lane," mainly Deadman's more pleasant memories of Nanda Parbat. Soon after, Loomis meets with old circus friends and Deadman involves himself in a case of suspected murder. Deadman wants to go after the escapees of Nanda Parbat, but Max thinks pursuing the murder is a better course.
Youth and Hell
In the "Sins of Youth" incident, Deadman is one of the dozens of heroes reduced to a preteen age by Klarion the Witch Boy and an alien machine owned by Doiby Dickles. He is still a spirit, now with a small d on his chest. He assists Secret in confronting Teekl, Klarion's companion, in an effort to restore everyone. He also joins in the fight against mystically created and mystically altered villains.
During the "Day of Judgment" incident, Boston Brand travels with a group of heroes to the frozen wastelands of Hell. Their goal is to restart the demonic fires, thus recalling all the demons from the earthly plane. An accident strands Brand and the others under the frozen waters of the River Styx, forcing them to live out what would be to them, Hell. For Brand, it is that the sharpshooter hits him in the shoulder, thus he survives. Brand feels he needs to die in order to learn 'how to live'.
His battles against the demons would come back to haunt him. In the four part Black Baptism miniseries, Deadman and several other "Sentinels of Magic," the magical group formed out of the "Day of Judgment" incident, are hunted by the Diablos. Partly fueled by revenge, they subdue many of the Sentinels and drain their magic. The JLA eventually rescue them all and destroy all the Diablos.
Blackest Night
In Blackest Night #2, Boston Brand begins to hear the voices of the dead and his own remains calling for him to protect them.[2] Being a spirit, he is unable to stop his body from being raised as a Black Lantern. He attempts to possess his own body but is ejected after experiencing extreme physical and emotional pain during the attempt. He is currently assisting Batman, Robin, and Red Robin in repelling the invasion of the Black Lanterns.[3] Deadman manages to save Commissioner Gordon from the Black Lanterns by possessing the body of his daughter, spiriting them both to safety.[4] Deadman is later sent by Batman to possess the body of Jason Blood, invoking the power of Etrigan. Deadman uses Etrigan's demon flame to hold back the Black Lanterns, but struggles to maintain control over the demon's body, finally being forced out. Deadman then frees Batman and Red Robin, who had frozen themselves to escape the Black Lanterns' onslaught.[5]
Powers and abilities
Being a ghost, Deadman is granted intangibility, invisibility, and flight. He also can possess any sentient being.
Other versions
- Deadman was in issue #6 of the comic book Batman: Gotham Adventures (based on Batman: The Animated Series) where his origin was very much alike to his mainstream comic except he was in the Haley Circus and Rama Kushna was male. He was friends with Dick Grayson, and he was in an issue before he gained his powers in The Batman and Robin Adventures #15.
- Deadman appeared briefly in Mark Waid and Alex Ross' Elseworlds story Kingdom Come, where he offered some words of encouragement to Norman McCay. His appearance is notable because by the time of the story (set 10 years in the future) he has either lost or foregone his normal appearance, and appears as a skeleton wearing his Deadman uniform. He introduces himself as simply "Boston," and also appears in the sequel The Kingdom as a guide to time-lost, deceased versions of Superman. This version of Deadman was made into an action figure by DC Direct for Series 3 of their Kingdom Come line.[6] Ross states that Brand's more skeletal appearance was a result of Brand accepting his role as a spirit.
- Deadman also appears in Neil Gaiman's story The Books of Magic, looking very similar to his appearance in Kingdom Come. He possesses the body of several people throughout the comic, trying to warn Timothy Hunter about a coming danger.
- In 2006, Vertigo a DC Comics imprint, announced that it would trade some of its trademark characters with others of DC's. Among the swaps was Vertigo's Jonah Hex in exchange for Deadman. The result was a continuing series published later that year.
- Deadman also had a brief comic in the DC published book Bizarro World where he was interested in meeting girls and dating while in Limbo.
- Deadman appeared briefly in Jeph Loeb's Superman Batman: Absolute Power, where he attempted to possess Superman after he and Batman killed off all the monks of Nanda Parbat (under orders from their adoptive parents, who saw the monks as a threat to their plans in an alternate timeline). Deadman is prevented from using Superman's strength to kill Batman when Batman uses a spell from Zatanna to trap Deadman inside a crystal.
In other media
Television
- Deadman appeared as the champion of the Goddess Rama Kushna in the third season of Justice League Unlimited in episode "Dead Reckoning" voiced by Raphael Sbarge. It is stated that Batman already knew Deadman, having helped Boston solve his own murder. He resides in a temple in Nanda Parbat that the Legion of Doom invades and robs a specific artifact. Deadman heads to the Watchtower and possesses Superman to ask for help from the Justice League. When he saw Devil Ray aiming at Wonder Woman, he possessed Batman and shot him with a gun accidentally killing him when he was sent flying into electric wires. For this mistake causing the scales to become unbalanced, Deadman is denied his sought after termination of his ghostly obligation and required to continue his duties.
- Deadman appears in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold[8] episode "Dawn of the Deadman!", voiced by Michael Rosenbaum. In the episode, Deadman finds the spirit of Batman in London, England when Gentleman Ghost buries him alive. Still depressed because of his condition, he is convinced by Batman to help him stop Gentleman Ghost from raising an army of the undead to destroy London, while Green Arrow and Speedy try to dig out Batman's body. Deadman helps the heroes thwart Craddock, and embrace his destiny as a hero. His origin is almost exactly the same, right down to the hook-handed killer,(Clubfoot), with the exception that Rama Kushna is not mentioned at all; he does not know how or why he was kept from "crossing over", which fuels his melancholic self-pity. Also, it's revealed that Batman has been working his case, since Brand's demise.
Film
- Guillermo Del Toro has taken interest in producing a film of the hero, supposedly from the only source. Bloody-Disgusting has described it as Crow-esque and Nikolaj Arcel is set to direct. [9]
Miscellaneous
- Deadman previously appeared as a "Haley Circus" performer in the Batman & Robin Adventures comic and meets Dick Grayson for the first time since taking over for The Flying Graysons.
- The French musical duo Cassius did music videos for "1999" and "Feeling For You" that featured a character similar to Deadman.
- In the Something Positive Halloween comic for 2007, Davan is dressed as Deadman while taking Rory (who is dressed as Etrigan) trick-or-treating (also, Peejee appears in a Zatanna costume).[10]
References
- ^ a b Greenberger, Robert (2008), "Deadman", in Dougall, Alastair, The DC Comics Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, pp. 96, ISBN 0-7566-4119-5, OCLC 213309017
- ^ Blackest Night #2 (August 2009)
- ^ Blackest Night: Batman #1 (August 2009)
- ^ Blackest Night: Batman #2 (September 2009)
- ^ Blackest Night: Batman #3 (October 2009)
- ^ DC Direct Kingdom Come: Deadman
- ^ WB TV, TNT dig 'Deadman' - Entertainment News, TV News, Media - Variety
- ^ Toon Zone - Your Source for Toon News!
- ^ http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/17228
- ^ Halloween, 2007 - Trick or Treatless
Other sources
- Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams, The Deadman Collection, DC Comics, 2001, ISBN 1563898497 ISBN 978-1563898495.
- Jack Kirby, Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus Volume Three, DC Comics, 2007, ISBN 1401214851, ISBN 139781401214852.
External links
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