(I originally read these comics in early July 2016)
These comics are the latest in my chronological read-through of Deadman's solo adventures, and the first 'post-Crisis' stories to feature the character.
The limited series is a great, if wordy, read by Andy Helfer (heretofore known as an editor) and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez. (Man, can he draw!) The story does its best to fix the inherent limitation of the character, that being, once undead spirit Boston Brand, former circus aerialist, had tracked down and brought his own killer to justice, where else did he have to go? Helfer deftly succeeds in giving him a whole new mission. The plot's actually pretty involved and full of mystical mumbo jumbo, so I won't go into detail. The 'Secret Origins' issue came a year after the conclusion of the series but seeing as it re-tells Deadman's origin in the new, post-Crisis continuity, I opted to read that first. The Spectre origin tale in that issue is by Roy Thomas and Michael T. Gilbert and is passable.
I did intend to plough straight on with the Deadman limited series by Mike Baron and Kelley Jones, starting in 1989, but it appears the character first had a long run of stories in Action Comics Weekly and as yet I have none of those.
Secret Origins (1986) # 15 and Deadman (1986) # 1-4 are collected in:
Softcover:
