Deadman #3 Review and **SPOILERS**

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Am I My Brother’s Peeper?

Written, Drawn and Colored By: Neal Adams 

Lettered By: Clem Robins 

Cover By: Neal Adams 

Cover Price: $3.99 

On Sale Date: January 10, 2018

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

Okay, brace yourselves: we’re going back into a Neal Adams miniseries. Some of you won’t be coming back in one piece. Some of you may not be coming back at all. But you’re all brave, and just to have the mental fortitude to withstand a Neal Adams comic makes you heroes in my eyes. I am proud to call you my brothers and sisters. Let us not dally! Carry on to my review of Deadman #3, right here!

Explain It!

How to explain a Neal Adams comic book? Nothing to it but relate what I have seen, and no more. For I am but a witness to the events unfolding before me, a willing participant in the roiling floodwaters that are this Deadman mini-series. After Deadman-as-Tiny murdered that man issue, Etrigan, the Spectre, and the Phantom Stranger cheese off before the cops show up. Deadman-as-Tiny also lies to the cops, as well does his pal Vishnu, and after the Spectre advances time so the police drift away, Deadman-as-Tiny heads over to the Brands’ trailer, where Cleveland is having a fight with his dad Bill. Seems Bill wants to just replace the trapeze artist that died in the beginning of last issue (not the same guy Tiny killed), but Cleveland thinks it can’t be done because something something. Deadman-as-Tiny gets involved and—it’s unbelievable to behold, but Billy Brand beats the living crap out of him. Boston slips out into his brother Cleveland’s body, and Bill proceeds to clobber his own son. It’s amazing, in part because Neal Adams’ expressive art makes every punch seem like it’s been delivered by a sledgehammer.

Then the Spectre shows up again, compresses Deadman into a pinball, and shoots him into his father’s brain. Why not? Inside Bill’s brain, Deadman learns that his mother had a fatal illness, so his dad brokered a deal with the League of Assassins to give them their first born in exchange for, you know, saving his wife’s life. I liked this angle because, intentional or not, it ties in with the Court of Owls having recruited from circuses, and seems just silly enough to be believable. Having no children at the time, Billy was more than glad to have his wife dipped into a Lazarus Pit. Of course, when the first born son Aaron was born, suddenly the Brands had to make good on their deal. So they put Aaron with a traveling circus where he was found almost instantly, and enticed to join the League of Assassins by visiting…Nanda Parbat! This is treated as a reveal when it seems like the most logical location, being the League’s homebase, but whatever.

And I didn’t even get into the part where the Spectre and Deadman defeat a bunch of clown ghosts with hatpins. There’s so much going on in this issue aside from what I’ve related, it must be seen to be believed. Or at least recorded as having existed. The story here is fairly straightforward, and if you’re a Deadman fan I imagine it would be quite compelling. Me, I’m here for the tortured faces and overwrought reactions, and there’s plenty of ‘em here. If ever one could accuse a comic book of overacting, this would be it.

Bits and Pieces:

More rubber-faced goodness from the mind of Neal Adams. I can't, in good conscience, give this a high score because I think it takes a certain sensibility to get into it. But if you are of that sensibility, then you'll have great fun with this comic book. Do you enjoy Godzilla vs. Hedorah? The Butthole Surfers' music? That's the kind of sensibility I mean.

6/10