Deadman (character)

Deadman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by scripter Arnold Drake and artist Carmine Infantino, the character made his debut in Strange Adventures #205 (1967). He has been a frequent supporting character in several comic titles since the 1970s, as well as an occasional protagonist in numerous limited series. In his supporting roles, he is often depicted as a member of a superhero team, such as the Justice League Dark.

Deadman is the superhero persona of Boston Brand, an aerialist who performed at a circus until he was murdered in the middle of his act by an assassin with a hook prosthetic hand. His spirit was then reincarnated by the deity Rama Kushna so that he could take revenge on his killer. As a spirit, he is invisible to the mortal eye and has the abilities of flight, intangibility, and the possession of human bodies. Additionally, he has training in unarmed combat, acrobatics, and also practices in occultism.

Deadman has been adapted into a variety of other media, including television, film, and video games.

Arnold Drake spoke on the development of Deadman and revealed the 1966 original concept sketch of the character, which was initially a muscular skeleton. Drake further stated, "They were looking for something to bolster a magazine that was about to die, and I came up with Deadman, and they were going to turn it down, [but] then they bought the idea, but decided to turn down the title, because they were afraid, that the board would not permit them to title [the comic Deadman], because of the comics code of authority, so I said you fight for that, it's a good title, they did and Deadman succeeded.

Drake later recalled in an interview, "So here I was in the middle of a Zen-Buddhist movement and I thought, 'Maybe I can use that for my main character.'"

Deadman's first appearance in Strange Adventures #205, written by Arnold Drake and drawn by Carmine Infantino, included the first known depiction of narcotics in a story approved by the Comics Code Authority. The series is most associated with the art and writing of Neal Adams and the writing of Jack Miller, who took over from Infantino and Drake 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 occasionally 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 1988–1989. 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 books two and three 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, 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. Deadman's retconned origin is revealed in Brightest Day #14 (2010), written by Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi. Deadman had a three-part miniseries called Deadman: Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love written by Sarah Vaughn with art by Lan Medina.