Deadman
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- Deadman is also an alternative term for a Dead man's switch
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Deadman is a DC Comics superhero created by Arnold Drake and Carmine Infantino in the comic book series, Strange Adventures, specifically in issue #205 (October 1967).
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[edit] Publication history
The series, which could be described as a mixture of the The Fugitive and Quantum Leap, is most associated with the naturalistic art style of Neal Adams and the writing of Jack Miller, who took over from Drake and Infantino shortly after the series began. The Adams run was reprinted in 1985 as a 7-issue series. Although he appeared from time to time in the 1970s and 1980s as a supporting character in various comics, Deadman did not get his own series again until 1986, namely a four-issue limited series written by Andrew Helfer and drawn by José Luis Garcia Lopez which followed the plot immediately after the Adams storyline. Deadman's next major storyline was in the limited series Deadman:Exorcism in 1992, 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 another Deadman series in 2002, this time nine issues, as well as a couple standalone issues. His cameo appearances also continued, including several issues of Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing. He had a cameo in book two of Batman: Gotham County Line, which was released in November 2005. He appears most recently in issue #1 of Justice League of America (2nd Series), beginning the "The Tornado's Path" story arc.
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.
[edit] Fictional character biography
Deadman is a ghost, formerly a circus acrobat named Boston Brand, who was murdered during a trapeze performance by a mysterious assailant known only as Hook. His spirit was granted the power to possess any living being by a Hindu goddess named Rama Kushna, in order to search for his murderer and obtain justice. However, Brand found himself obliged to help others while on his search, using his power to intervene and control living persons to help the innocent.
The origin story involved the hero fighting narcotics smugglers, in the first story to involve drugs since the introduction of the Comics Code Authority. The criminals used the travelling circus they worked for to smuggle "snow" -- either heroin or cocaine.
Ultimately, the character eventually found out the truth about his murder and came to accept his role as an intervenor in mortals' lives. The road Deadman has walked has been one fraught with death however, as his brother Cleveland was killed while possessed by Boston, and his 'benefactor' Rama Kushna was killed in order to defeat Jonah, a spirit similar to Deadman.
[edit] Vertigo
In August 2006, Vertigo unveiled a reimagined Deadman series written by Bruce Jones. The new protagonist is a former airline pilot named Brandon Cayce. For reasons yet unexplained, his brother and copilot Scott drugged him during a flight, causing them to crash into Heathrow International Airport. Rather than "cross over" into an uncertain next life, as his brother urged him, Cayce decided to reinhabit his former body and try to discover why he was killed. Cayce then finds he shows up in numerous alternate realities yet to find an answer to his memory of all these or whether he is still alive or dead.
[edit] Appearances in other media
- 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 as the champion of the now Buddhist Goddess Rama Kushna in the season three Justice League Unlimited episode, "Dead Reckoning". He resides in a temple in Nanga Parbat. When he saw Devil Ray aiming at Wonder Woman, he possessed Batman and shot him with a gun, accidentally killing him. He was played by Raphael Sbarge. His previous appearance in the Batman Adventures comic is also referenced in this episode.
- Deadman appeared as Boston Brand in Neil Gaiman's The Books of Magic, possessing various people to save Timothy Hunter's life and to make cryptic comments to Hunter.
- A live action TV series for TNT may have been under development at one time, but it seems that this has been shelved.
- The French musical duo Cassius did music videos for "1999" and "Feeling For You" that featured Deadman.
- Deadman appeared briefly in Mark Waid and Alex Ross' Kingdom Come, where he offered some words of encouragement to Norman McCay. His appearance is notable because somehow by the time of the story (set at a non-specific point in the future) he has either lost or foregone his normal appearance, and appears as a skeleton wearing his Deadman uniform. He is also never identified as "Deadman", and simply introduces himself as "Boston".
- Warner Bros. Pictures will bring DC Comics' Deadman to the big screen. The film is being produced by Guillermo del Toro along with Angryfilms' Don Murphy and his producing partner Susan Montford.
