Deadman Does Halloween

Category: Deadman
Last article published: 18 September 2016
This is the 7th post under this label

Halloween is in a couple weeks, and Deadman just rolled in on my alphabetical exploration of the blog's labels. So let's look at a Deadman story written for a Halloween special (DC Universe Halloween Special 2010 #1 to be exact). He teams up with Wonder Woman against Felix Faust and Cheetah in a crowded 8-pager about Faust summoning a Lovecraftian Elder God, and Boston Brand being turned visible and solid temporarily as part of the spell.

One of the interesting things about Deadman is that he's just a regular guy. He talks like Ben Grimm, but instead of a rock monster, he's an invisible ghost that can possess people. Few have ever seen him, because when he interacts with DC's heroes, he's usually in someone else's skin. And that's not always practical.

Gotta say, writer Vinton Heuck nerfs him quite a bit in this story. He doesn't want to possess Faust because he's afraid of the magical energies going through him. He doesn't want to possess Cheetah cause she scares him (and later, because she's moving too fast... there's a speed limit?). So even before Faust's spell makes it possible for him to get the stuffing beat out of him, he's not allowed to BE Deadman. Shame.

But the story is less about that than Boston's reaction to Wonder Woman. He's immediately taken with her, and we spend some time with them after the action is over. Diana becomes one of the few people to see him "in the flesh" so to speak, and recognizing his ghostly loneliness, gives him a little kiss before he vanishes.

It's sweet. Not exactly visceral terror, but that part of Halloween that makes me want to watch The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, y'know?

Wonder Woman is just the best.