A
super-hero created by
Arnold Drake and
Carmine Infantino
for
DC Comics. The character first appeared in
Strange
Adventures #205 in September 1967.
Boston Brand was a aerilist for the circus, whose act included
dressing up in red tights and putting on ghostly white make-up.
His performance character was called Deadman, showing that he
worked for a rather creepy circus where kids had other things
to be scare of than just the clowns. His stage name was an
ironic form of foreshadowing, for during one of his performances,
Brand was shot dead by a man with a hook. His ghost continued
to exist and was granted by Rama Kushna the right to seek after
his killer from beyond. Rama Kushna is some made-up Eastern religion
supreme deity who seemingly won rights to Brand's eternal destination
during a cosmic card game, as Brand never gave evidence of ever
having ascribed to Eastern beliefs in life. In this way was
Deadman "born."
Deadman possessed the normal ghostly ability of being undetectable
to the living and passing through objects unhindered. He also
has the ability to possess people and animals, who awake
after he leaves with no memory of their actions while they were
possessed. Brand tracked his killer, the Hook, eventually finding
out that his death was the Hook's initiation into the League of
Assassins. Brand later brought his killer to justice. He has
since wandered the DC Universe helping those in need when he
could.
Deadman does answer one of the age old questions of humanity: "
What
will I wear in the afterlife?" Seemingly, if we are to take
the case of Boston Brand as an example, we are doomed to wear
for all eternity, whatever we were wearing at the time of our
deaths. This makes a major case for being particularly careful
when showering or when dressed up for Halloween. Eternity
in the
buff or wearing a
Barney outfit would grow very old.