Deadman

Deadman

Created by  Arnold Drake and Carmine Infantino

Real Name:  Boston Brand

Current Occupation:  Hero

Parents:  Unknown

Siblings:  Cleveland Brand (twin brother, deceased)


Spouse:  None


Children:  None


Group Affiliation:  None


Place of Birth:  Unknown


Current Place of Residence:  Mobile


First  Appearance:  Strange Adventures #205 (October 1967)


Biography:


Trapeze artist extraordinaire and part-owner of the small Hills Bros. Circus, Boston Brand performed nightly as Deadman, a garishly garbed and ghastly disguised figure who played on his audience's most morbid instincts. One evening, Brand was murdered by a rifleman who had a steel hook for a right hand.

Yet, despite the death of his body, Brand's spirit lived on, a gift from the Eastern deity Rama Kushna for the many kindnesses Brand had performed during his life. Brand's spirit would continue to live, Rama Kushna told him, until Brand found the man who had murdered him and brought the killer to justice.

Thus began one of the most bizarre manhunts in history, a quest that led Brand's spirit around the world and ultimately to the hidden lair of the League of Assassins, where Brand learned he had been slain as part of an initiation test for a man who wanted to join the League. Brand's slayer was then slain in turn by the dreaded leader of the League, the Sensei.

Denied personal vengeance by the Sensei's act, Brand's spirit confronted Rama Kushna and struck a new bargain: he would be allowed to remain on Earth as a balancing agent between the forces of good and evil until such time as he felt a balance had finally been struck and his soul was satisfied. That time has not yet come and the spirit of Boston Brand continues to walk the Earth, a Deadman dedicated to the cause of justice.

Comments:

Deadman is brought into the Wronskiverse first by his being part of the post crisis DCU, and then by his inclusion in Crosssovers.

His canon appearances are those few entries found in Crossovers (which place him operating in the 1950s) and then the stories that he appeared in from June 1987 (Secret Origins # 15) to December 1992.

Coming soon, Deadman will be leaving the Wronskiverse.  Details coming soon.