It’s October – and that means that the weather is getting cooler, the leaves are beginning to turn shades of yellow, orange and red, and you’re probably mulling over what Halloween costume you’ll be wearing at the end of the month.
It’s October – and that must also mean…horror! How delicious!
As Biff Bam Pop! brings you the 2016 edition of our annual 31 Day of Horror features, the next four Wednesday Run columns will attempt to highlight some of the more (a-hem) seasonal comic book releases.
Who better to kick that off than everyone’s favourite dead man, Deadman – in his new, Gothic-tinged miniseries, Deadman: Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love!
Deadman: Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love #1
Written by: Sarah Vaughan
Illustrated by: Lan Medina
Published by: DC Comics
Ah, Deadman! One of my all-time favourite comic book characters!
Created by industry legends Arnold Drake and Carmine Infantino within the pages of Strange Adventures #205 in 1967, Deadman is the high-flying circus trapeze artist, Boston Brand, who was shot in the chest during a climactic, no-net leap, by an unknown (but hooked-handed) assailant.
Brand fell to his death, but his spirit lived on via the intervention of the Hindu god, Rama Kushna. Able to inhabit the bodies of the living, Brand attempts to solve his murder and bring his assassin to justice!
It’s amazing fodder for story – that shares some resemblance to the television and film series, The Fugitive. But, you know, with a supernatural bent. Still, the great thing about Deadman is the ability for writers and artists to portray different interpretations of the character. Neal Adams took over art duties for Infantino in the late 60’s and made him look like and move like a bonafide superhero, all muscular and athletic. Jose Luis Garcia Lopez continued this tradition during a mid-1980’s mini-series that served to reestablish the character and expand his world and rogues gallery.
But it was writer Mike Baron and artist Kelley Jones that took the ethereal Boston Brand to a whole new place in two separate miniseries’, visually turning the heroic-but-doomed spirit into an emaciated corpse. Their take on Deadman was iconic.
Today, we get another reexamination of the character, set in the style of a Gothic romance comic from the 1960’s and 1970’s, as told by writer Sarah Vaughan (Alex + Ada) and illustrator Lan Medina (Fables).
Deadman: Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love is a three-issue, bi-monthly, prestige-format miniseries. Here, Deadman is trapped within the physical confines and the mystery of the Gothic mansion, Glencourt Manor, whose secrets harbor a vengeful spirit, and a human woman who can communicate with the dead.
Make the run to your local comic book shop today and pick up Deadman: Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love #1…this book should be on everyone’s October reading list!
