Deadman, Book One

Deadman Collection

by Neal Adams, Carmine Infantino (Illustrator)

Before his groundbreaking runs on BATMAN and GREEN LANTERN/GREEN ARROW, legendary comics artist Neal Adams first made his mark in superhero comics with Deadman, star of the DC Comics series STRANGE ADVENTURES.
Inspired by the hit TV series The Fugitive, the Deadman stories star costumed highwire performer Boston Brand, who is assassinated by an unknown marksman in his first story. A mysterious deity called Rama Kushna gives Boston Brand the chance to revisit the land of the living as Deadman, with the mission of finding his murderer.
DEADMAN features spectacular, bravura artwork by Neal Adams, then leading the field with an amazing, hyper-realistic style and trompe-l’oeil unlike anything seen in comics before or since.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Fiction, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics

171 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 1968

About the author

Neal Adams was an American comic book and commercial artist known for helping to create some of the definitive modern imagery of the DC Comics characters Superman, Batman, and Green Arrow; as the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates; and as a creators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and recognition for Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Adams was inducted into the Eisner Award's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1998, and the Harvey Awards' Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1999.

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Mathew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection starts very strong and has a nice introduction, not to mention a re-envisioning of the character's origin but done decades later. Deadman is a really weird, but interesting character and although the stories are basically DM just going down the VERY long list of people who possibly wanted to kill him and gain tiny bread crumbs of what really happened, the stories still have quite a bit of variety, although they tend to be a bit bang-bang-punch-pow, especially for a character who has no physical form. DM just isn't very smart (yet) for example, I'm not sure why he would choose to jump into the body of a guy with a gun pointed at him, as opposed to the guy with the gun...

The whole no body thing is something that I'm really into, but I did notice a few times where there were either visual mistakes, like DM picking up something corporeal, or plot holes that could be forgiven for a one and done book, but add up over the course of 166 pages.

Something that I think is interesting is that DM is growing as a character, he's still pretty impulsive, but as time goes one, he's becoming a better and smarter investigator/hero type. I love the dramatic poses he strikes as he's screaming out his frustration and or revelations, while the world who can not hear him, completely fails to react. At the end of this book there is also a start into DM as a more mystical character capable of not only inhabiting bodies, but going into minds and otherwise extending his powers.

Apart from the above holes and or mistakes, and a single culturally cringe issue regarding Mexico, I really liked this book and think it will be a fun series to continue!

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the books that started to take 60s DC from campy stories to more serious tales. It's amazing just how good Neal Adams was/is. His art stands apart from most art at the time like color TV stood apart from black and white. His art was just a notch above almost every other artist out there at the time. (Berni Wrightson being an exception, although Wrightson and Adams are probably my two favorite comic artists, so I'm biased.)

The story isn't bad either. It's basically a long murder mystery with Deadman attempting to hunt down his own killer, "The Hook." The finale of the story isn't in this volume, so at the end of this we still don't know who the killer is.

It's just much different from most 60s comic both in story and art, showing the start of a comics evolution.

[Todd Glaeser · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art, where Neal Adams is becoming "Neal Adams" is always interesting. The plots however are very repetitious. Brand overhears something about someone who has a reason to want him dead, he investigates and finds out this person couldn't have done it. Why does he never ask himself what kind of jerk he was when he was alive that EVERYBODY wished he were dead? Why doesn't the little fortune teller explain Karma to him?

[C. Varn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deadman Book One collects the stories originally published in issues #205-213 of "Strange Adventures," which seemingly represented a transition between Silver age and Bronze age comics as was happening in the late 60s. Neal Adam's work here is solid, if a bit dated, but not as dated as one would expect. The introductions by Arnold Drake and Carmine Infantino write informative introductions that show that Arnold Drake really set up the building blocks that Adams would use. The "skin-riding" element is interesting but the "mystery" gets somewhat redundant as a concept fairly quickly and one can see the limits of the pitch. Still, for the time, this character seems particularly innovative without going into the silly or regrettable or half-baked territory. The hints at Boston Brand's relationship to Rama Kushna in these early books just feels like a vaguely orientalist gloss that would develop into a lot of promise over time. One feels that Brand is limited by the comics code and by the conventions of late silver age and early bronze age comics in a way that does let the premise really shine. In short, the premise was before its time, and in these early adventures feels slightly redundant. Still the hints at circus life, the vague eastern mysticism, the increasing flirtations with the more occult elements of the DC universe give you all the makings of something truly interesting. The late 1960s art is really strong, but on gloss paper or even a computer screen, the colors are "too adjusted" for the original feel such a comic with have. While I don't feel this is the distraction in the way purists would, it should be noted.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collecting Strange Adventures #205-213 (1967-1968), and featuring the first appearance of Deadman, this book chronicles the murdered circus aerialist's attempts to find his murderer, 'The Hook', and bring him to justice. The main draw for me with this book, however, was the chance to see some of Neal Adams' early work. This was in fact his breakout series.

For a 60's comic, this was quite fun to read. I'm looking forward to Deadman, Vol. 2 and the conclusion of this story arc.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise of Deadman is at once very high-concept and simple: a daredevil acrobat is murdered, and subsequently his spirit is tasked with the investigation of his own murder. Though written solidly in the Silver Age, Deadman has one foot solidly in the Bronze Age, with a sordid noir tone and tackling topics like narcotics and human trafficking. Neal Adams' take on Batman is usually heralded as the transition to the Bronze Age in DC, but his artwork here is, if anything, even more dramatic. There are some truly awesome compositions and page layouts here, highlighting Deadman's melodramatic expression of shock against bold, almost psychedelic backdrops. While the concept is very engaging, the storytelling falls into a rut of repeating the same episodic formula again and again. Deadman discovers a seedy character, wonders if it's his murderer, uses his power to possess someone and save the day, only to realize that the villain of the week has an alibi on the night he was murdered. His use of his possession powers is also very strange- often he just possesses a random guy and then just investigates like a normal detective. In one case, as a good guy is threatened by a gun-wielding villain, instead of possessing the villain to disarm him, Deadman takes hold of the good guy and then just punches the other guy! What's the sense in that? All in all, not a very satisfying narrative (yet), but the artwork is outstanding and the soap-opera/noir atmosphere is top-notch.

[Andrew Garvey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure why I latched onto Deadman as a character to read up on. I certainly like the look and the basic concept but struggled with this volume for a few reasons. Firstly, while this is clearly moving away from some of the really basic, child-focused storytelling of the earlier 1960s, I still find it too simplistic compared to what I'm used to reading. Secondly, the origin story itself is told and re-told over and over again, throughout, to the point it all gets quite dull. There's some cool ideas and the occultism and vague stabs at using Eastern mysticism (popularised for many by the Beatles) are fun and Neil Adams' artwork, even today, is still striking and memorable. It's just, the storytelling. I think I need to just read more modern Deadman stories and leave the distant past - stuff written before even I, a man who feels very, very old - alone.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first comic where Neal Adams got noticed. Boston Brand was the best trapese artist around until one day a man with a hook shoots him while he's performing. Each issue had him going through the huge list of people who wanted to kill him as he instantly accused them until ultimately learning they were somewhere else when he was murdered. Brand constantly acts first and thinks later.

Adams's art is really good. I can see why it stood out at the time. For some reason the 2nd issue had been recolored by Adams with modern techniques and it looks quite a bit different. Not sure what was up with that. I had a good time with this and plan on working my way through all five of these collections.

[Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than I thought it be.
Drake is the closest to a silver age marvel writer at DC in this time. Makes rhw stories more breezy than most non Marvel silver age stories.

The art is pkay. I imagine Adams only gets better here and starts becoming Neal Adams.

All the stories are basically the same of Boston brand searching for his killer.

[alejandro galvez · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was decent.

I just noticed most of the people involved in this book are all dead. But they left behind a wonderful piece of DC history. Such good stuff to have their work immortalized In this classic tale of...Deadman!

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't finish this, due to repeated, overlong recaps, inconsistent characterisation (sometimes within the same page 🙄), but the it did pick up once Neal Adams took over on art duties after the first issue, which is why I got to just over halfway through this collection...

[শুভঙ্কর শুভ · Rating 3 out of 5]

ডেডম্যানের যাত্রা শুরু।

[Kris Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

The gist- Boston Brand was a circus trapeze artist who was assassinated during a performance. Brand was a difficult man to get along with, and the murderer could be anyone. The Indian God Rama Kushna refuses to let Brand pass on to the afterlife until he finds his murderer. As Deadman, no one can see, hear, or feel him, and he is quite alone in his torment. He can enter people's bodies and essentially possess them, using their eyes and mouth and body to fight crime and search for his murderer known only as The Hook. I love the serial whodunit, on the trail of the murderer vibe of the comic. It's a great hook (no pun intended).

The writing is generally excellent but has some dated rough patches. Ham-fisted dialogue, characters with unbelievably short fuses, and sexism are all hallmarks of the Silver Age of comics. Once Adams took over the writing he helped massage some of these rough edges off and helped DC move forward to better compete stylistically with Marvel. Marvel had buried DC during this time and left DC looking like Elvis at a Grateful Dead concert in 1969: conspicuous and painfully out of step with what was going on at the time.

Modern comic book fans might not realize how brilliant Neal Adams' artwork was/is without proper context. Aside from Ditko and Steranko, there was no one more innovative with their panel layouts and use of perspective and depth in comic books during the Silver Age. Adams is a true visionary whose impact on comic books as an artform is beyond measure. Thankfully we can all sample his genius in these affordable trade paperbacks.

Ugh. Why does DC allow Neal Adams to rewrite, or more accurately, redraw history? Much like George Lucas, Adams likes to tweak and refine past works and make them “better”. Except that, like Lucas, he makes them worse. He re-inked and recolored the story in Issue 206, eliminating George Roussos' original inks. It looks like shit. Adams' modern inking style sticks out like a sore thumb when mixed in with his clean inking style of yore. This was done for a 2001hardcover release of this material. The re-coloring in that lone issue also looks like shit when compared to the rest of the book's traditional, flat coloring. I noticed one or two other panels in the book that look “improved” by Adams. I believe that old comics are essentially historical documents, snapshots of a bygone era and should be left alone, for better or for worse. Remastered and presented in collected editions, sure, but redrawn and recolored with a color palette completely unfaithful to the original? Absolutely not.

[Kevin Mann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neal Adams. First, the things that drove me crazy about this TPB. They retell Deadman's origin at some point in EVERY single story, which after a while becomes really tedious and for reason's i will never understand, ol' Neal took it upon himself to re-ink, re-color and re-caption/letter one of the stories collected in here during the early 2000s and it looks absolutely horrible and was the worst piece in the book. It actually hurt my eyes. (WHY, NEAL? WHY?!?!?!) Now for the positive parts, Neal is at top of game here once the book gets rolling, putting on a clinic in art that no one else in the business was doing at that time. I was pleasantly surprised that i much more enjoyed the stories Neal wrote toward the end of the run, way more than the Arnold Drake stories. I did not expect that to happen. For what this TPB is, it's well worth the money, but i wish they would extract that one story Neal redid in early 2000s. It marrs what would have been a masterpiece.

[Alger]

Topically this sounds like a unentertaining concept, but it just goes to show you that done properly any idea can be made into a good one. A superhero being a ghost who issue after issue goes around possessing people might sound utterly cliche, but under the excellent writing of Arnold Drake, Jack Miller, and Neal Adams it comes out beautifully in a mystic tale of a ne'er-do-well circus performer who's pissed off the world, being murdered during his act and being granted the ability by an Indian goddess to wander the world possessing people's physical forms until he discovers the identity of his murderer. Neal Adams and Carmine Infantino bring their genius to the art making it both visually and literarily stunning. Definitely worth checking out, as Deadman has of late reentered the DCU in a major way in both Brightest Day and the reboot of their main continuity.

[arjuna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Came to this through the recent DC Universe Presents reboot - very glad I did. While the overall premise is a little thin (I can see why the new version twisted it as it did), Boston Brand is just dislikeable enough to be an interesting hero, and one becomes caught up in his travails rather quickly. The artwork has a deceptive vitality - a lot more going on, and a lot more dynamic, than it looks at first glance; it sneaks up on one and has some beautifully striking moments. Not entirely sure why I like this so very much, but it appeals - biffy, revenge, handwavey occult and just plain getting on with things. Can't wait to get hold of volume 2.

[Colton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deadman is an unusual concept paired with an excellent execution. The writing and art for the series were exactly what I was craving. Apart from the horrid recoloring of the first issue, the only thing that keeps this collection from a perfect score is the repetitive beginning of each issue. I understand that because this wasn't a solo title it was necessary during the initial publication, but it makes for tedious reading when done all at once.

[Indika de Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

This comic book is awesome. It talks about how the Deadman came to existence. Or rather how he died and then came to existence.

I have always been fascinated with the Deadman and the following book tells us of the back story of Boston Brand aka the Deadman and his quest to find his killer. Yes. He is very dead... The name Deadman should been your clue.

The graphics are very 1960s. So very cool and nostalgic. The story is very engaging.

The story continues in Part 2...

[Jack Haringa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Closer to 3.5 stars than 4 (for whatever that's worth), this volume's weak scripting is redeemed by Neal Adams' brilliant artwork. Deadman as a character requires fluidity of line and innovative poses, both of which Adams delivers in spades. Jack Miller's dialogue is more stilted than the average comic's of the period, though the plot itself is fine if a little repetitious. When Adams takes over scripting, things get a little better.

[PJ Ebbrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read. I had not read these early Deadman stories and found them a little episodic at times, but well written and good artisitically. Neal Adams' art is not bad, but I find his style a little too realistic and the panel layout is not too dramatic. Colour is a little harsh, but definitely worth reading.

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

I reread these stories today for the first time since the 1980s reprinting on better Baxter paper. In the second story, from Deadman's second appearance and Neal Adams' first appearance, Adams reworked the original George Roussos ink job for a 2000 reprint. The effect is a bit anachronistic, but not unpleasing.

[Sam Poole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was awesome. Thank you, Neal Adams. Crazy trippy totally ahead of its time art, repetitive but inventive story telling and a fun meld of superhero, horror and mystery stories. Wish it had the rest of the series though. And more women actually doing stuff. Boston Brand is just. A fun character.

[Mike Gallagher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great character with a rough beginning. The single reinked recolored story was wildly out of place. Otherwise it was good.

[时间的玫瑰 · Rating 4 out of 5]

跟超级英雄没太大的关系男主还丑得呼呼不过我喜欢这个故事。34D-24-34简直笑尿……【Why me?】【命运如幻象……

[ComicNerdSam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Def cooled down on this series since college, but I still think Adam's art has some neat pages. Also I think Deadman is just cool. Other than that, not much to latch onto.

[Charlie]

This book is impossible to rate or review.