Deadman Dies!

This past month I've been reading Deadman stories. Thanks to the too-small but still handsome trade reprints of the classic series by Arnold Drake, Jack Miller, Carmine Infantino, Bob Haney, and Neal Adams we have the ghostly series readily available for the modern fan. Without the involvement of superstar Neal Adams, this series would garner little attention, but that said, it was a solid story even before the great Adams put his hand to it.

Deadman is the tale of circus acrobat Boston Brand, a quixotic man who is murdered within the first several pages of the debut, but thanks to the handiwork of the mystical Rama Kushna is given a chance as a ghost to seek out his murderer, a mysterious man with a hook. (Shades of the The Fugitive.) His search for The Hook, leads him to lots of places where he chases many a red herring. Brand seems to have been a man with lots of folks in his past who might want to see him killed. Deadman does some good along the way as he relentlessly seeks his killer, and this is the basis for the series. 

As revealed in the very interesting forward, we learn how Deadman came to be. The death of longtime DC editor Larry Nadel, gave an opportunity for Jack Miller to take the reins of Strange Adventures. He immediately cast about for a new series to spark that waning title and sought out Arnold Drake, creator of the Doom Patrol, to help him out. Drake created Deadman and with the moral support of Carmine Infantino who tweaked the costume design the series was given life of sorts.

Drake wrote only the first two issues then gave way. Miller wrote a few issues himself before his own untimely death. By this time a relatively young Neal Adams had taken artistic control of the series, and his cache was such at the time that he apparently could strike a bargain to write too. He took control and Deadman became his pet project for the remainder of its run, as well as in tandem with Bob Haney on some issues of The Brave and the Bold which are actually pretty much in Deadman continuity. I should say too that Robert Kanigher wrote an issue too along the way. (More on those tomorrow.)

Below is a dazzling cover gallery of the issues with brief story descriptions. Enjoy!

In this blockbuster debut titled "Who Has Been Lying in My Grave?" by Arnold Drake and Carmine Infantino we meet our cast and witness the murder of Boston Brand. 

Under a Mike Sekowsky cover, Neal Adams steps in as artist for the story "An Eye for an Eye" written again by Drake. Deadman infiltrates a motorcycle gang in pursuit of his killer. Neal Adams is the reason these collections exist, so I can understand why he might want to fix something he sees as a problem. That resulted in one issue by him which he found to have gotten indifferent inking by George Roussos, to be re-drawn, or at least re-inked. It sadly seems out of place with the other artwork in the series as striking as it is. I personally wish they'd left well enough alone,

Under a blockbuster cover by Neal Adams who is the artist inside of course we get a story from Carmine Infantino and Jack Miller titled "What Makes a Corpse Cry?" in which Deadman checks out a mobster who once threatened to kill him for helping a young girl. 

"How Many Times Can a Guy Die?" is the story in which we meet Deadman's rival trapeeze artist The Eagle, another chap who Boston Brand irritated enough to issue a death threat to our hero when he was alive. Again, the script is by Infantino and Miller with Adams beginning to get his sea legs. This is four-part, two-issue saga. 

"Hide and Seek" by Miller and Adams puts Deadman back on the trail of the mysterious "Hook". Deadman inhabits the body of the cop assigned to his murder case who has since been discredited and suspended from the force. Deadman's search for a witness leads to tragedy. 

"How Close to Me My Killer?" by Miller and Adams introduces Cleveland Brand, the estranged twin brother of Boston Brand. Cleveland and his daughter live near the Mexican border and he is making money smuggling migrants into the United States. Deadman's search the Hook leads him into more danger for all around. 

Neal Adams takes over the writing as well as doing the art in the story "The Fatal Call of Vengeance". In this one Cleveland Brand and his daughter Lita join the circus and Cleveland seeks to at once take Boston's place and perhaps solve his killing. The Hook surfaces in a convoluted tale that ends up with Tiny's life in extreme danger. 

Under an outstanding cover Neal Adams is again doing both script and artwork as Deadman enters Tiny's mind to attempt to trigger his will to live. Then in the story "The Call from Beyond" our ghostly hero finds himself involved with a bizarre medium who seemingly can call up the dead.  A doctor and his son are in deadly danger, but Deadman is at their side. 

More tomorrow as we look at Book Two of Deadman's strange adventures. 

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