The Deadman #5 Preview

 

Boston Brand’s visit to Hell gave him an existential crisis. His trip to Heaven brought him peace. But while Boston wrestles with his place in the universe, the Soul-Eaters are breaking the divine order. And as the spiritual realm grows increasingly imbalanced, it traumatizes the already troubled spirits in his community. Unbeknownst to Boston, a soul in Heaven has been influencing his best friend. And when Bobby realizes what’s been done to him, an accident transforms Boston.

Will Boston’s seemingly bad luck give him a second chance at love? And are the Soul-Eaters’ activities related to the Doom Patrol’s recent discovery?

Here's all the info from DC Connect: 

 

The Deadman #5 Preview

Writer: W. Maxwell Prince

Artist & Cover Artist: Martin Morazzo

Variant Cover Artists: Javi Fernández, Taurin Clarke, & Chloe Brailsford

Publisher: DC Comics

Issue Length: 32 Pages

Price: $3.99 US | Variant $4.99 US (Card Stock)

Release Date: October 7, 2026

 

The Future Of The Deadman!

 

In this loving ode to an occult-classic comic, the Deadman finds himself flung to one of a few feasible futures in which the forward march of Earth’s phantoms has fallen off…for good. Boston Brand—human once more!—must survive a strange sojourn through a soulless tomorrow, featuring the freakiest-ever futuristic takes on a few familiar faces belonging to the DCU’s phantasmagoric foothold. Soldier on, photon stranger, through the psycho-spiritual swamp that is…the Gr33n.

 

Now, let's take a look inside:

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to DC Comics for sharing this preview with us.

For how Boston appeases St Peter, see The Deadman #4 Review. 

For Boston's descent through the levels of Hell, see The Deadman #3 Preview. 

For what happens when we die, see The Deadman #2 Review. 

To meet the love of Boston's life, see The Deadman #1 Review.

For another story featuring the Deadman, see Justice League Red #4 Preview. 

The Deadman #4 Review

 

The Deadman #4 Review

Writer: W Maxwell Prince

Artist: Martín Morazzo

Colorist: Chris O’Halloran

Letterer: Good Old Neon

Editors: Chris Rosa & Paul Kaminski

Cover Artists: Martín Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran

Variant Cover Artists: Chris Brunner & Rico Renzi; Hayden Sherman; Chloe Brailsford

Publisher: DC Comics

Price: $3.99/$4.99

Release Date: September 2, 2026

 

Boston Brand believed his job was important. He assisted the dying as they transitioned to the next stop on their eternal journey. He even granted them amnesty from eternal suffering if someone loved them. But on his recent visit to Hell, the Deadman realized he isn't the final arbiter of how a soul spends eternity. So now, Boston isn't conferring with the Rama Kushna. He's acting on his own initiative and thinking higher thoughts.

 

Will Yahweh be less parsimonious with the truth about the Syphons who devour souls like Mr M dines on the living? And what colors of crayons make God rejoice? Let’s leap into The Deadman #4 and see!

 

Story

The more he contemplates what he learned in Hell, the angrier Boston Brand gets. Rama Kushna led him to believe that what he did was important. But after discovering that Lucy could override his decisions, Boston’s role in eternity seems purposeless.

 

In The Deadman #4, Boston lives in Robertsville along with other spirits of the departed. While he has a body and freedom of movement, the others aren't so fortunate. Even though he's dead, Boston can still learn and grow like a living person. Most of the ghostly residents of Robertsville are stuck in their final moments of life, reliving the traumas that tormented them. Bobby died many years ago. Yet, he retains a boy’s interests, emotions, and attention span. He lacks a job to define him. So, after accompanying Boston to Hell, Bobby regards the forces disrupting the souls' cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth differently.

 

Boston may have an inflated opinion of his cosmic importance. He may not be as virtuous as he believes. Yet, as Boston undertakes a journey in W Maxwell Prince’s story, he gradually remembers that he is a servant. Boston can make requests. But just like Boston plays fast and loose with the rules, his bosses don’t have to play by his rules. And while he is accustomed to looking down on the boy because of his limited understanding, Bobby both helps and hinders Boston’s search for understanding in The Deadman #4.

 

Art

Martín Morazzo portrays Boston's heavenly journey via nine-panel grids. As Boston unleashes his anger, his features take a demonic turn. Bobby's youthful features also transform when he tries to tamp down Boston’s anger. Like most souls, flames rise from Bobby’s head. And as the ghosts fly above Robertsville, they resemble burning people. Cognizant of the bigger picture, Boston takes an escalator to Heaven. Yet like the souls circling above his town, the escalator doesn’t take a straight path through the sky.

 

Despite his usual calm, thoughtful demeanor, Boston’s red costume links with the anger that leaps to the forefront when faced with injustice. Chris O’Halloran uses blue to link Mr M with someone Boston meets in Heaven. Like the fiery yellow souls, Boston rides a yellow escalator. While the Syphons have violet skin, beige fills Heaven. Even more strangely, while faded green links Robertsville with Heaven's gatekeeper, green glows vibrantly amid Mr M’s beautiful cycle in The Deadman #4.

 

Good Old Neon fills white and colored boxes and balloons with black lowercase letters. The letters showcase a wide range of sizes and fonts. White uppercase letters in black balloons express anger, while colored letters in black balloons convey power. Balloons grow spiky when Mr M takes an important video call and when he listens to a radio report about cosmic events facing a superhero team. Yet while a chime offers hope, red uppercase letters in black boxes seem intent on robbing Boston of victory. Thanks to DC Comics for sharing this story with us.

 

Final Thoughts

While Boston Brand exists outside of time, Mr M fears it. The former Nazi has done his best to defy it. As he disrupts Rama Kushna’s Spiritual Math, Mr M rejoices in the beauty of his alternative cycle. While the Syphons from the Book Of Bedlam devour souls, Mr M hopes his New Math will give him a youthful glow for eternity in The Deadman #4.

 

Rating 9/10

 

To look inside see The Deadman #4 Preview. 

 

For earlier issues, see

 

 

 

 

The Deadman #3 Preview  

 

 

 

The Deadman #2 Review and 

 

 

The Deadman #1 Review  

 

The Deadman #4 Preview

 

Boston Brand believed his job was important. He was a great benefactor to the dying, granting them amnesty from eternal suffering if he sensed even an infinitesimal iota of love in their hearts. But on his recent visit to Hell, the Deadman realized he isn't the final arbiter of how a soul spends eternity. So now, Boston isn't conferring with the Rama Kushna. He's acting on his own initiative, and thinking higher thoughts.

Will Yahweh be less parsimonious with the truth about the Syphons who devour souls like Mr M dines on the living? And what colors of crayons make God rejoice?

Here's all the info from DC Connect: 

The Deadman #4 Preview

Writer: W. Maxwell Prince

Artist & Cover Artist: Martín Morazzo

Variant Cover Artists: Chris Brunner, Hayden Sherman & Chloe Brailsford

Publisher: DC Comics

Issue Length: 32 Pages

Price: $3.99 US/Variant $4.99 US (Card Stock)

Release Date: September 2, 2026

 

 

As Below, So Above!

 

 

After last issue’s truth-telling trek through the tortuous, torturous terrain of Torment Town, Boston Brand must balance the scales and make his way to that…other place. But this ain’t the Heaven you know, man. Prepare yourself for an Elysium like you’ve never seen ’em, as the Deadman continues to unravel the mystery of the Soul-Eaters…while the Realm of the Living bears the cost!

 

Plus: a brief history of Mr. M!

 

 

Now, let's take a look inside:

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to DC Comics for sharing this preview with us.

For what happened earlier, see:

 

 

The Deadman #3 Preview 

 

 

 

The Deadman #2 Review and

 

 

 

The Deadman #1 Review 

The Deadman #3 Preview

 

Boston Brand may have died. Still, he has never been busier. As the Deadman, he has dedicated his afterlife to helping souls transition to whatever comes next. Sometimes, Boston can intervene, and give the dying another shot at life. But most of the time, he eases the soul onto their next journey on the great wheel of Samsara. 

Unfortunately, Jesse "Flyeater" Hollern won't get that chance. After he crashed his Harley, a four-armed demon devoured Jesse's soul. Boston must act promptly to prevent the imbalance between the forces of life and anti-life from threatening all life on Earth. But how will Boston fare in the Underworld? And how many people will Professor M abduct and kill in Boston's absence?

Here's all the info from DC Connect:

 

The Deadman #3 Preview

Writer: W. Maxwell Prince

Artist & Cover Artist: Martin Morazzo

Variant Cover Artists: Christian Ward, Alex Eckman-Lawn & Tyler Boss

Publisher: DC Comics

Issue Length: 32 Pages

Price: $3.99 US/Variant $4.99 US (Card Stock)

Release Date: August 5, 2026

 

 

The Deadman in Hell! Or…

 

 

The third edition of this morbid disquisition concerning the attrition/detrition of the human condition, which, in the weekly tradition, boasts a four-color exhibition on some printer’s emission. Here, by order of an anonymous optician, watch closely this vision of our titular apparition (armed, you’ll remember, with fresh erudition) try and survive—by another’s volition—a dire and dangerous mission through the hissin’, Stygian conditions of putrid and pockmarked Perdition—a kind of new rendition (depicted as a living, breathing country-sized conniption), which is rich in its list of sick compositions: e.g., reason’s egregious abolition; a pyrotechnic passel of pernicious seditions; hideous, bulging buck-toothed dentition; admittedly ambitious demonic deglutition…of gargoyles and ghouls in decomposition…not to mention an array of impossible physical positions that a physician might consider the work of magicians. So please accept our contrition for this rude imposition, our addled transmission this ungodly, offset-press parturition—one that we wish some brave obstetrician would bring to fruition its quick decommission.

 

 

Now, let's take a look inside:

 

 

 

 

Thanks to DC Comics for sharing this preview with us.

For what happened last time, see my review of The Deadman #2. 

For how this series started, see my review of The Deadman #1. 

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. 

 

 

The Deadman #2 Preview

 

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 gives 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?

Here's all the info from DC Connect:

 

The Deadman #2 Preview

Writer: W Maxwell Prince

Artist & Cover Artist: Martin Morazzo

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

Glow In The Dark Variant Cover Artist: Stevan Subić

Publisher: DC Comics

Issue Length: 32 Pages

Price: $3.99 US/Variant $4.99 US

Release Date: July 1, 2026

 

The Deadman comes to Gotham!

 

Our eschatological escapades continue in this definitive depiction of DC’s Deadest Do-Gooder! An unknown species of demon has eaten the heaven-bound soul of a highway cyclist…compromising the sanctity of Earth’s Spiritual Math…and threatening the fragile glue that holds everything together! At the behest of goddess Rama Kushna, Boston Brand—a.k.a. the Deadman—has finally donned his brand-new super-suit…which is perfect, it turns out, for his latest spectral assignment: a sleuthy sojourn to the city where sin never sleeps: Gotham!

 

 

Now, let's take a look inside:

 

 

 

 

Thanks to DC Comics for sharing this preview with us.

 

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. 

 

The Deadman #1 Review

 

The Deadman #1 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: Tula Lotay; Frank Cho & Sabine Rich; Mike Choi; Hayden Sherman & Mike Spicer; Martín Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran

Publisher: DC Comics

Price: $3.99/$4.99

Release Date: June 3, 2026

 

The Outer Gotham Rural Hospital is where people come to die. Sure, the doctors and nurses try to imbue hope into hopeless situations. Sadly, there's not much they can do for the patients in "the Hospice Hotel."

 

Dr Barrows, Sasha, and Tammy may not be able to offer their charges more than painkillers and kindness. Yet someone walks the halls who can ease them onto the next level of their existence. Who is Boston Brand? And why do they call him The Deadman? Let’s slip on our scrubs, leap into The Deadman #1, and see!

 

Story

Sasha is new to nights at the Outer Gotham Rural Hospital. So as Dr Barrows and Tammy offer Sasha insights on how to approach her work, Boston listens. When Tammy inadvertently passes through Boston, his spirit awakens forgotten memories. While she recalls something that bound her with her grandmother in life, Boston feels the love that time and death have not vanquished. Then, sensing a patient’s end, Boston follows Tammy down the hall.

 

After perceiving events from the staff’s perspective, readers follow Boston Brand’s journey in The Deadman #1. While the story introduces memorable characters, Boston emerges as someone immensely intrigued by those around him. At times, he may wish he had chosen another role in the afterlife. Still, he enjoys a much fuller life than those who linger in Robertsville.

 

Yet in W Maxwell Prince's story, a threat emerges to threaten Boston's future. He may not be your typical hero. Nor may he seem especially brave. Still, Boston Brand vows to fight it. For while he loves people, he also loves their stories. And despite his wishes that he had been braver when his life ended, Boston enjoys serving others in The Deadman #1.

 

Art

As another soul departs the hospital, the moon forces apart the clouds to gaze down with its crater-eyes. Dr Barrows greets the nurses at their station, while the halls are devoid of family members lingering after visiting hours have ended. As Tammy approaches Boston, he doesn't step aside. Instead, he glows brighter when she passes through him, casting the nurse briefly into shade. When Boston levitates, his white coat and outstretched arms evoke an angel. And when he intervenes at a moment of transition, Boston conjures an image of fragile life from his palm. Then, departing the hospital, Boston leaves behind whisps of cosmic ether as he travels toward another favorite part of his day.

 

As Martín Morazzo packs pages with panels, Chris O’Halloran fills this nighttime world of The Deadman #1 with colorful souls that brighten the darkness. The hospital may resound with muted tones of gray, beige, and green. Yet in the rooms of the dying, green walls suggest the willpower that helps those lingering eke out their final moments. Dr Barrows wears blue scrubs under his white coat, while the nurses who bring comfort to the dying wear violet uniforms. At the frightening moment of death, yellow souls depart gray bodies. Boston wears orange clothing as he savors the thoughts and memories of the living. Yet, his clothing turns red when others' actions infuriate him.

 

As Boston welcomes readers into his world and guides them through his extraordinary evening, Good Old Neon fills gray boxes with black lowercase letters. The letters grow bold with intonation and enlarge when expressing anger. They shrink when relaying minutiae of his existence, or when Boston lowers his voice. Other souls sustained in their moment of death summon yellow dialogue balloons. Like Boston, they were too frightened to venture onto the next phase of their existence. Thanks to DC Comics for sharing this story with us.

 

 

Final Thoughts

Love may help the world grow round, but it also makes the afterlife a kinder, gentler place. As Boston Brand adheres to the strictures of his calling, he finds leeway to exercise kindness. Even when others regard the dying as monsters, he seeks to dispense compassion. Yet as a danger arises that threatens his calling, Boston Brand vows to fight it with all his soul in The Deadman #1.

 

Rating 9.2/10

 

To look inside see my preview of The Deadman #1. 

The Deadman #1 Preview

 

The medical staff try to put a brave face on it. Still, the Outer Gotham Rural Hospital is where people come to die. Sure, the doctors and nurses try to imbue hope into hopeless situations. Sadly, there's not much they can do for the patients in "the Hospice Hotel." 

Dr Barrows, Sasha, and Tammy may not be able to offer their charges more than painkillers and kindness. Yet someone walks the halls who can ease them onto the next level of their existence. Who is Boston Brand? And why do they call him The Deadman?

Here's all the info from DC Connect: 

The Deadman #1

Writer: W. Maxwell Prince

Artist & Cover Artist: Martín Morazzo

Variant Cover Artists: Frank Cho & Tula Lotay

1:25 Variant Cover Artist: Mike Choi

Next Level Variant Cover Artist: Hayden Sherman

Foil Variant Cover Artist: Martín Morazzo

Also Available: Blank Sketch Cover

Publisher: DC Comics

Price: $3.99 US/$4.99 US (Card Stock)

Issue Length: 32 Pages

Release Date: June 3, 2026

 

 

The All-Star creators of 2025’s hit miniseries Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum 

(and the ongoing horror anthology Ice Cream Man) 

are back at DC Comics to lift your spirits!

 

 

The Deadman enters the Next Level!

 

In the millisecond following his murder, the soul of shifty circus aerialist Boston Brand was commandeered by the goddess Rama Kushna, who deputized the erstwhile performer’s ghost with a sacred spectral assignment: the Custodian of All Souls! Now Brand floats—begrudgingly—through this blue-green purgatory we call Earth, upholding the Laws of Spiritual Math and protecting humanity from evil—even if they can’t see or hear him. Open up to this new era of DC’s most lively deceased superhero—the Deadman—in a story about life, death, and everything in between…replete with paranormal activity, possessions, and a profusion of other poignant peculiarities.

 

 

Now, let's take a look inside:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to DC Comics for sharing this preview with us.

For more from the creators, see my review of Superman: TheKryptonite Spectrum #1.