A few months ago I enjoyed a robust reading of the Deadman saga as it unfolded in the pages of Strange Adventures and then on into the greater DC Universe in such comics as Challengers of the Unknown, The Forever People, Phantom Stranger, and elsewhere. The core of that reading was the two recent colorful trades from DC featuring the "Deceased Daredevil". Now with a third volume DC has collected up many of those stories I read using various Showcase volumes and whatnot. It's handier, but alas far from complete.
On the upside, we get two previously uncollected and charming stories by Bob Haney and Dick Dillin from World's Finest in which Deadman teams up with Superman and Batman. There is a team up with Lois Lane from the pages of Superman Family which I'm glad to have now. The other material is all stuff I have in hand from various sources, mostly the two Phantom Stranger Showcase volumes. But it's neat even then to have it now in...ahem...living color.
That said, for whatever reason some of the vintage stories featuring Deadman have been omitted here. There's an earlier Brave and Bold entry which isn't included for some reason. Also those Forever People stories are not present, a looming gap in Deadman lore. DC seems to want to get these Deadman stories in print again, and that's good. But I wish they'd be a bit more circumspect about getting the stuff as complete as possible as they go.
Below are the Deadman stories included in this latest volume in order. Alas there's no table of contents at the beginning of the book. I hope this means the next volume (if there is one) will collect Deadman's escapades from his run in Adventure Comics, where he is rendered by the great Jose Garcia-Lopez.
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