The Deadman #2 Review

 

The Deadman #2 Review

Writer: W Maxwell Prince

Artist: Martín Morazzo

Colorist: Chris O’Halloran

Letterer: Good Old Neon

Editors: Chris Rosa & Paul Kaminski

Cover Artist: Martín Morazzo

Variant Cover Artists: Lucio Parrillo, Mark Spears, Alex Eckman-Lawn & Stevan Subić

Publisher: DC Comics

Price: $3.99/$4.99

Release Date: July 1, 2026

 

While the patients in the Outer Gotham Rural Hospital ride the morphine drip, Boston Brand rides through their memories. Sure, he's a voyeur. But he likes people. He'll give a villain a pass into Heaven if someone loved them. And as Boston assists souls in transition, he sometimes performs a miracle to give the dying a second chance at life.

 

But while Boston Brand reveres life as an Outfit Changing Spectral Super-Entity, others feed off it. They devour souls of the newly dead and relish the taste of living flesh. Can Rama Kushna empower Boston Brand to defeat more than light bulbs? And why have demons invaded Gotham? Let’s leap into The Deadman #2 and see!

 

Story

Rama Kushna may reprimand Boston for never being on time, but she enjoys a childlike love of the world around her. Only the world around her isn't just Earth, but the wheel of Samsara on which our souls generate Karma. Yet just as Darkseid threatened to turn Earth into Apokolips, and a plague spirit threatened to wipe out musicians in the Magical Realm, Rama Kushna believes that spirit-eating demons threaten the balance between life and anti-life. So, she sends Boston Brand to Gotham to help identify the demon that chomped Jesse "Flyeater” Hollern’s spirit-head after his road accident.

 

While Rama Kushna believes Batman can help Boston Brand identify the demon, Batman also conducts a supernatural investigation in The Deadman #2. Aided by Plastic Man, Batman seeks to prevent Lazarus Rising from smuggling capsules of resin from Ra's al Ghul's Lazarus Pits into Blackgate Penitentiary. Yet Boston seems reluctant to leave his tiny suburb of Robertsville. Lorna still lives there. And like him, she

mourns the life they might have had.

 

As W Maxwell Prince shares Boston and Batman's investigations, Rama Kushna and Plastic Man address the reader. While they reveal the crimes that threaten Humanity, Boston, charged with caring for people's souls, seems reluctant to play his role in this cosmic struggle. But then, Boston reveres life. By slipping inside people, he can share their joys and sorrows. And as Boston Brand leaves his comfortable home in Robertsville, he will confront people who treat the living like dirt in The Deadman #2.

 

Art

Martín Morazzo opens with a series of one-page introductions. An intricate gold frame introduces Rama Kushna’s spiritual teachings and her instructions to Boston Brand. Plastic Man’s body elongates around panels as he shares his investigation with Batman. The title page sandwiches Boston's relationship with the woman he lost between panels of himself and the friend he found. Then, a banner headlines the Bibliophile’s cautionary tale. As the action gets underway, Batman and Plastic Man tackle mummies at the Gotham Wharf. And while contorting himself more than Lorna’s sorrow twists her soul, Plastic Man forms his body into a coffin, and one fist into a pyramid.

 

As Rama Kushna and Boston Brand set the Samsara-ending stakes, Chris O’Halloran casts this nighttime world of The Deadman #2 in blue. Batman wears a brighter blue as Boston’s white face also takes on a blue hue. Red links Plastic Man with Boston, two heroes with ignoble pasts. Bobby, trapped in his spirit form, wears yellow clothes. While a light green fills the Blackgate Penitentiary, richer shades define Batman. And as Rama Kushna wears an indigo dress, the king of the soul devourers wears an indigo sweater. Yet when Mr M confronts his next victim, orange fills his eyes, and his glasses capture a nearby yellow light as he casts a sapphire shadow.

 

As W Maxwell Prince packs his story with dialogue and Boston’s thoughts, Good Old Neon fills boxes with black lowercase letters. The letters showcase a wide range of sizes and fonts. Batman and Plastic Man introduce their investigation with blue and red boxes. While letters in black boxes locate the reader on the physical plane, a spiky balloon highlights Batman’s search for answers. Yet colorful sound effects and screeching force Boston to rethink his strategy as he undertakes his own search for the truth. Thanks to DC Comics for sharing this story with us.

 

Final Thoughts

Even though Boston Brand knows people can change, he tends to regard people in static terms. As he slips into people to experience their minds and souls, he finds them more complex than he imagined. Yet while Boston seeks help identifying Jesse “Flyeater” Hollern’s spirit-killer, the abduction of Gotham’s brightest stars continues in The Deadman #2.

 

Rating 9/10

 

To look inside see my preview of The Deadman #2. 

 

For what happened last time, see my review of The Deadman #1.

For the creators' last series, see my review of Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum #1.