Deadman #1 –
DC Comics
Written by Neal Adams
Art by Neal Adams
Letters by Clem Robins
Deadman is always a character that I felt deserved his own comic. He played a very strong, and important, role with the Justice League Dark during the New 52 and also in other larger arcs. After having a mini-series around the time of Rebirth, I thought may be all we get. Enter legendary artist Neal Adams, who also takes on writing duties, for a new Deadman book.
This story follow Boston Brand trying to uncover the circumstances surrounding his death, and also appears to be seeking some sort of vengeance. There is also part of the story with Commissioner Gordon serving as an ambassador for a nuclear site inspections. We see a couple of more familiar character, which I will not spoil, but there is also quite a bit of bouncing around between storylines. That makes it really difficult for me to tell you more about this book, other than we get a lot of detail about who was involved in killing Deadman, and who else may be trying to come to that conclusion.
I really wanted to like this book, but it is all over the place. There were times that I felt completely lost, and even times where I lost track of where in the story I actually was. It was so difficult, it actually made me think that I was starting on Issue 4 of a series instead of the first issue. To that point, I have read the second arcs of books before without reading the first one, and I was still able to pick up on the story and it’s direction. I also felt like every familiar character in this book was quite OUT of character. One character in particular, who is the most recognizable in the book (who isn’t the title character) just felt completely off to me. The art by Adams is good, and at times, gave me a nice 80s throwback vibe. I read a lot of comics, and have written a lot of reviews, and I have no idea where this book was going or is going. For that reason, I think I’ll have to pass.
This story follow Boston Brand trying to uncover the circumstances surrounding his death, and also appears to be seeking some sort of vengeance. There is also part of the story with Commissioner Gordon serving as an ambassador for a nuclear site inspections. We see a couple of more familiar character, which I will not spoil, but there is also quite a bit of bouncing around between storylines. That makes it really difficult for me to tell you more about this book, other than we get a lot of detail about who was involved in killing Deadman, and who else may be trying to come to that conclusion.
I really wanted to like this book, but it is all over the place. There were times that I felt completely lost, and even times where I lost track of where in the story I actually was. It was so difficult, it actually made me think that I was starting on Issue 4 of a series instead of the first issue. To that point, I have read the second arcs of books before without reading the first one, and I was still able to pick up on the story and it’s direction. I also felt like every familiar character in this book was quite OUT of character. One character in particular, who is the most recognizable in the book (who isn’t the title character) just felt completely off to me. The art by Adams is good, and at times, gave me a nice 80s throwback vibe. I read a lot of comics, and have written a lot of reviews, and I have no idea where this book was going or is going. For that reason, I think I’ll have to pass.
RATING: DROP