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.

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