Deadman Comics, Issue by Issue

This blog is a chronological issue by issue review of one of my favorite comic book characters, DC comics DEADMAN! the ARCHIVE is available at the bottom of this intro piece, so look down there to search the blogs individual posts. ...... \/ ...... I was born in 1960's and read comics my whole life, but i was more of a Marvel Zombie than a DC reader, so I didn't get introduced to Deadman until i read a story that was reprinted in the Best of DC Digest #5 (cover date June 1980, originally published in Adventure Comics #466) that really struck me - Deadman was different from any comic hero that i had read before since he was, well, dead! Later on I was exposed to The Spectres back story (The Spectre is another of DCs 'spooky dead heroes'), but there's only one Deadman for this guy. Also I had heard a lot of talk about his early appearances that were drawn by Neal Adams, as a fan of his work this also drew me in. Deadman first appeared in Strange Adventures #205 (Oct 67) and was the lead feature in that comic until Strange Adventures #216 (Feb 69). While he has had his own short lived series a few times, Deadman has basically been a free agent, guest starring here and these over the years but never published on a regular basis. This has caused his back story (or continuity) to be pretty mixed up. As different creative teams have used the character they have added and changed things willy nilly over the years. Recently I went out and bought every one of his major appearances, and most of his minors ones too. So i thought it would fun to do a blog where i review each issue. I'm not really go too in depth here - I'm just gonna write a basic outline and what ever else pops in my head, and oh yeah - SPOILER WARNINGS! Sometimes. And in comic that have multiple stories I'm only gonna review the Deadman stories, except when I change my mind, 'cause that's my prerogative! There are a number of reprints of the classic Neal Adams stories you can find for not too much scratch. The first major reprinting was the baxter paper reprints from 1985, you can still find those pretty cheap on eBay. "The Deadman Collection", a 356 page hardbound reprint, came out in 2001 and covers almost every Neal Adams story, but it's kinda pricey if you can find it. In 2011 DC published a new trade paperback DM reprint, and my hope is they do a series of B&W "Showcase" reprints, and collect Deadmans adventures through the 1980's and beyond. - Brian Foss PS - Thanks to comicvine.com for the cover scans. Here's a few Deadman related links - http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Deadman http://darkmark6.tripod.com/deadmanind.htm http://www.dcuguide.com/chronology.php?name=deadman http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/150/ and of course Deadman images and other stuff that I didn't personally create is copyright DC comics (or whoever) and not me.