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Boston Brand, Deadman Reading Order

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Created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Carmine Infantino in Strange Adventures #205 (1967), Deadman was a risky concept. At a time when the Comics Code Authority strictly regulated horror, editor Jack Miller had to navigate the fine line between a ‘ghost’ and the prohibited ‘walking dead.’

The character was born from the era’s growing fascination with the mystical. Drake utilized themes of Zen and reincarnation to explore a hero who was neither living nor dead. The saga begins with Boston Brand, a selfish circus trapeze artist, murdered mid-performance by a mysterious assassin with a steel hook. Instead of moving on, Brand is granted a reprieve by the deity Rama Kushna: the power to possess the living so he may find his killer.

While Arnold Drake left the title early (after two issues over creative differences), the character reached new heights when Neal Adams took over, bringing a cinematic art style to the book. Though Strange Adventures was eventually canceled, Deadman stayed in the realm of the living. From his 1980s revival to his pivotal role in Justice League Dark, Boston Brand has evolved from a restless spirit seeking vengeance into a key figure of the DC Universe’s supernatural side.

Deadman Reading Order

Pre-Crisis Deadman: The Recurring Appearances of Boston Brand

Deadman’s initial solo run in Strange Adventures didn’t last, and he became a nomad of the DC Universe. To follow Boston Brand’s journey during these years, you have to track his appearances through various anthology series and team-up books.

However, DC Comics released a comprehensive Deadman Omnibus in 2020 (reprinted in 2025). This volume collects his entire foundational journey, from his 1967 debut and the legendary Neal Adams run through his numerous guest spots in the 1970s, culminating in the character-defining limited series from the mid-80s.

  • Deadman Omnibus [2025 Edition]
    Collects Strange Adventures #205-216; The Brave and the Bold #79, #86, #104 and #133; Aquaman #50-52; Challengers of the Unknown #74 and #84-87; Justice League of America #94; World’s Finest Comics #223 and #227; The Phantom Stranger #33 and #39-41; Superman Family #183; DC Super-Stars #18; DC Special Series #8; Adventure Comics #460-466; DC Comics Presents #24; Detective Comics #500; Deadman #1-4 (1986); Secret Origins #15; and covers from Deadman #1-7* (1985).

*In 1985, DC Comics published a 7-issue Deadman series that reprinted Strange Adventures #205-216 and Brave and the Bold #79 & #86.

In 2026, Deadman is joining the growing DC Finest collection with a first volume reprinting a good part of what is in the omnibus, but not everything. It collects around 570 pages of material, covering the years 1967 to 1977.

  • DC Finest: Deadman – How Many Times Can a Guy Die? [2026]
    Collects Strange Adventures #205-216; The Brave and the Bold #79, #86, #104, and #133; Challengers of the Unknown #74; Justice League of America #94; The Forever People #9-10; World’s Finest Comics #223 and #227; The Phantom Stranger #33 and #39-41; The Superman Family #183; and Aquaman #50-52.

Those Deadman stories were also previously collected in other smaller editions.

  • Deadman Book One – Collects Strange Adventures #205–213.
  • Deadman Book Two – Collects The Brave and the Bold #79 and 86; Strange Adventures #214–216; Aquaman #50–52; Challengers of the Unknown #74. Those are also available in The Deadman Collection (Strange Adventures #205–216; The Brave and the Bold #79, 86, 104; Aquaman #50–52; Challengers of the Unknown #74).
  • Deadman Book Three – Collects The Phantom Stranger (vol. 2) #33, 39–41; The Brave and the Bold #133; Superman Family #183; World’s Finest #223, 227; DC Super-Stars #18.
  • Deadman Book Four – Collects DC Special Series #8; Adventure Comics #459–466; DC Comics Presents #24.
  • Deadman Book Five – Collects Deadman (vol.2) #1–4; Secret Origins #15; Challengers of the Unknown #85–87.

The Swamp Thing Icon/Logo Reading Order

Deadman guest-starred in the great Alan Moore’s Saga of the Swamp Thing, in Vol. 2 #49-51, which can be found in Saga of the Swamp Thing: Book Four and Book Five.

Crisis on Infinite Earths Icon Reading OrderThe famous Crisis on Infinite Earths took place around that point in time, rebooting parts of the DC Universe. Like all characters in the DCU, Deadman appeared during the event (in #5, 7, 11-12). While many heroes saw their origins rewritten, Deadman served as a witness to the chaos. As the dust settled on a new, unified Earth, Boston Brand’s journey didn’t end. This leads us into the next major chapter of his afterlife.

Post-Crisis Deadman: From gothic horror to Brightest Day

In the wake of the Crisis, Deadman finally stepped out of the shadows of guest appearances and into his own spotlight. This era is marked by a shift in his mission, moving past the hunt for his killer and toward his duty as an agent of Rama Kushna, maintaining the delicate equilibrium between the world of the living and the spirit realm.

Deadman by Kelley Jones

In the late 1980s, Deadman underwent a visual transformation. Working with writer Mike Baron, artist Kelley Jones embraced the macabre, adopting a haunting, skeletal style that would influence the character’s appearance for decades to come.

Written by James Robinson (Starman) and fully painted by John Estes, Batman/Deadman: Death and Glory is a prestige one-shot from 1996 in which Deadman must help Batman clear his name.

Written by Steve Vance with art by Leonard Kirk, Dead Again is a miniseries that takes Boston Brand on a journey through the afterlife of the DC Universe itself. The book eventually set up Vance’s follow-up run. Volume 3 of Deadman was launched in 2002 and was short. It only lasted 9 issues. Vance’s Deadman was a supernatural procedural, with Boston traveling from place to place to solve the problems of the living.

It is important to note that the fourth volume of Deadman, published under the Vertigo imprint and partly collected as Deadman: Deadman Walking (only 5 of the 13 issues), is not a Boston Brand story. This series is about Brandon Cayce, who refused to pass on into death and was sort of resurrected.
Deadman by Kelley Jones

While the other ‘Deadman’ was being resurrected at Vertigo, the true Boston Brand got his biggest role yet in the main DC Universe. During the Blackest Night storyline, Deadman appeared in the miniseries Blackest Night: Batman. Deadman was one of the few heroes who could see the “Black Lantern” threat for what it truly was. But the must-read Deadman story of that period came after, as he was one of the stars of Brightest Day where he was tasked by the White Lantern Entity to complete a mission.

The Post-Crisis/Modern Age era concluded with the Flashpoint event that gave us an alt-timeline story featuring Deadman. In Flashpoint: Deadman and the Flying Graysons, Boston Brand is with Dick Grayson and his parents, Kent Nelson, and others are part of a circus entertaining the surviving nations of the East until the war caught up with them.

New 52 Deadman: The Justice League Dark

In 2011, the DC Universe was reset once again. For Boston Brand, this meant a return to his roots as a spirit. Deadman made his comeback in DC Universe Presents: Deadman, written by Paul Jenkins, which rebooted the character by bringing him back to his struggle with the “rules” of possession and his service to Rama Kushna.

But this era is also the one when Deadman became a founding member of DC’s premiere supernatural team: The Justice League Dark. Alongside John Constantine, Zatanna, Madame Xanadu, Shade the Changing Man, and Mindwarp, Boston became a key player.

We have already covered this team’s adventures in depth in our Justice League Dark Reading Order, so head over there if you want a detailed breakdown of that era. You’ll find all you need in the omnibus or in the recently published compendium edition.

  • Justice League Dark: The New 52 Omnibus
    Collects I, Vampire #7-8; Justice League Dark #0-40; Justice League#22-23; Justice League Dark Annual #1-2; Justice League of America#6-7; Trinity of Sin: The Phantom Stranger #14-17; Constantine #9-12; Trinity of Sin: Pandora #6-9; Justice League Dark: Futures End #1.
  • Justice League Dark: The New 52 Compendium [2026]
    Collects Justice League Dark #0-40; Justice League Dark Annual #1-2; Justice League Dark: Futures End #1; Constantine #5, #9-12; I, Vampire #7-8; Justice League #22-23; Justice League of America #6-7; The New 52: Free Comic Book Day Special Edition #1; Trinity of Sin: Pandora #1-3, #6-9; and Trinity of Sin: The Phantom Stranger #11, #14-17.

Deadman Rebirth & Beyond: Leaving the Team Behind

After New 52 came Rebirth, and Deadman mostly stepped away from being a team member, going back to more solo stories. This started with the three-issue miniseries “Deadman: Mansion of Forbidden Love” by Sarah Vaughn and Lan Medina, in which Boston Brand helps a young woman who can see spirits. 

Then, in a Trinity storyline, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman require the help of Dead Man, Zatanna, and John Constantine to help Red Hood, Artemis, and Bizarro, who are sacrificed into the depths of the Pandora Pits.

Volume 5 of the Deadman series saw Neal Adams come back to the character he helped define in the late 1960s. He wrote and drew a six-issue limited series that connects Boston’s origin to Ra’s al Ghul and the League of Assassins. For Adams, it was a continuation of the story that he started in Strange Adventures #207 back in 1967. He didn’t ignore everything that came after, but this is not really a Rebirth story, it’s an Adams story that picked up where he left off 50 years prior (as he explained it).

  • Deadman
    Collects Deadman (vol. 5) #1-6.

A few years later, Neil Adams wrote a follow-up with his Batman Vs. Ra’s Al Ghul miniseries.

During the DC Universe era (following Rebirth), Deadman rejoined a new iteration of the Justice League Dark team based out of the Hall of Justice, with John Constantine, Zatanna, Swamp Thing, and Detective Chimp. This is a brief run by James Tynion IV.

Following the Dark Nights: Death Metal event, the Infinite Frontier era started. Deadman’s most notable role (and still a limited supporting role) during this time was helping Wonder Woman when she was swept away to the Sphere of the Gods. But when Diana lands in Asgard instead of Olympus, where she belongs, an unexpected odyssey begins (from issue #775 to 779).

The original graphic novel Deadman Tells the Spooky Tales by Franco is an anthology horror book in which Deadman is our guide through a series of terrifying short stories. He is not the star of the stories, just the host who introduces them.

Following the events of Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths, the DC Universe entered the Dawn of DC initiative, and Boston Brand is back, joining the Justice Society of America as the series is relaunched by Geoff Johns. As the team deals with time-traveling threats and the hunt for the “Lost Children” of the Golden Age, Boston’s unique ability to navigate the spiritual and temporal planes makes him an invaluable ally to the world’s first super-team. It’s only a supporting role, but his apparitions are limited at that point.

After years of barely noticeable apparitions, Deadman was put forward in the summer crossover event Knight Terrors. When the villain Insomnia plunges the world’s heroes and villains into a perpetual nightmare, Deadman is the only one left standing. Because he is already “dead,” he is immune to the sleeping sickness, forcing him to possess Batman’s body to lead the fight. You can check out our Knight Terrors reading order for more information.

  • Knight Terrors
    Collects Knight Terrors First Blood, Knight Terrors #1-4, Knight Terrors: Night’s End.

Deadman came back for a short story by Marv Wolfman and Paul Pelletier in the Christmas anthology DC’s Batman Smells, Robin Laid an Egg #1.

At the start of the DC All-In initiative, following the events of Absolute Power, the Justice League became Unlimited, but Red Tornado decided to create his own team with a different goal in mind. To reach it, he recruits Deadman (starting with issue #3).

In the aftermath of DC K.O., DC All In went to the Next Level! This new line of comics sees Boston Brand rise from the dead in The Deadman, a six‑issue miniseries from W. Maxwell Prince and Martín Morazzo. The balance between life and death has been thrown into chaos, leaving souls trapped in a dangerous loop of ghostly derangement. Only Boston Brand can possess the living and the metahuman alike to uncover the source of the disruption and restore order before the entire world slips into spiritual freefall.

  • The Deadman 
    Collects The Deadman  #1-6.

Did we forget an important issue? Did we make a mistake? Let us know in the comments!

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