I hope these glow-in-the-dark covers from the '90s didn't use radium.
Last issue, we learned that Deadman would have committed suicide if he wasn't already dead because the love of his unlife moved on without him. I don't mean she got a new job on the West Coast; she went to Hell. Or Heaven. Whatever. I didn't read Mike and Kelley's first Deadman series (or, if I have, I've completely forgotten it). Instead of killing himself, he simply went crazy and decided to torture some Bostonian named Hugh because, according to Boston Brand, Hugh deserved it. If you think that means Hugh is a paedo or serial killer or right-wing piece of shit, you'd be wrong. He's just a guy who works in the circus but doesn't like the circus. Or "worked in", anyway, because he's dead now. Deadman has possessed his broken necked body to try to save Madame Waxahachie and Hugh's therapist, Joanne. Nobody would need saving if Deadman had just gone crazy among the fungus out in the cemetery behind the old church in a respectable fashion. But instead, he just had to torture a guy because the guy didn't love the circus the way Deadman had loved the circus. If that's not enough reason to sort of hate Deadman by the middle of this story, he was also making Hugh bash gays in Boston while he possessed him. So, you know, do we even care what happens at this point? Deadman can get fucked for all I care. Besides, The Phantom Stranger had appeared at the end of the last issue to save Madame Waxahachie! Who fucking needs Deadman?
"Why do I suck so bad?!"
I'm not sure what lured The Phantom Stranger to this place. Isn't The Phantom Stranger the hand of God's vengeance? Who here has pissed off God? The spirits of Reverend Shattuck, Chief Nebagamon, and Centurion Lucian have been stranded here for hundreds of years without God caring about them. And according to Christians, God supports Deadman's gay bashing. Maybe the members of the band Abscess are so fucking metal that they're an affront to God. I'd love it if The Stranger were all, "Just let me kill these young punks and y'all can go about your business drowning that therapist and hitting this lady with your stick." It's not like The Phantom Stranger is a hero. He works in mysterious ways!
The Phantom Stranger doesn't realize how powerful these spirits are in this place, the place of their hallowed church, their revered burial grounds, and their, um, ancient Roman steps and columns? His ass is kicked into the ethereal plane by Chief Nebagamon who follows after to kick it some more. This leaves Reverend Shattuck to get back to the business of beating women. But Lucian doesn't approve, possibly because he's in the body of a woman and possibly because he's just a good dude, you know? They have a little scuffle that results in the kind of results you'd expect if a 17th century Puritan battled a Roman Centurion.
The Phantom Stranger doesn't realize how powerful these spirits are in this place, the place of their hallowed church, their revered burial grounds, and their, um, ancient Roman steps and columns? His ass is kicked into the ethereal plane by Chief Nebagamon who follows after to kick it some more. This leaves Reverend Shattuck to get back to the business of beating women. But Lucian doesn't approve, possibly because he's in the body of a woman and possibly because he's just a good dude, you know? They have a little scuffle that results in the kind of results you'd expect if a 17th century Puritan battled a Roman Centurion.
Nobody seems to care too much that Lucian just killed the lead guitarist of Abscess.
Shattuck's Anton-Arcane looking spirit goes flying off to find a new body for Lucian to stab to death with his gladius. He encounters Deadman and they fight over the corpse Deadman has hermit crabbed himself into. It's not like there's a lot of choices for evil spirits to possess out in the woods. Although we have seen Deadman possess a falcon (which died after Deadman left it), so isn't that at least a temporary option? I'd love it if Shattuck came raging back in with his vengeful God rhetoric in the body of a raccoon.
Deadman wins the body battle and makes his way to beneath the church to either help Madame Waxahachie fight the spirits or possibly to chide Madame Waxahachie for releasing them. At about the same time, Chief Nebagamon and The Phantom Stranger return from wherever the fuck spirits go when they get thrown through the saloon window version of reality. And once we see The Phantom Stranger and Deadman in the same place, it seems like maybe Deadman was The Stranger's target all along. So — get this — maybe Christians have been wrong about God hating homosexuals all along! It would make sense since Christians also believe God hates masturbators but the proof they give for that logic is the story of Onan and that fucking story isn't about masturbation at all! It's not even about the rhythm method being terrible (which it could be, at least!). It's about respecting your father's wishes and breaking contracts! God is angry at Onan not because he pulled out while fucking his dead brother's wife but because he negotiated a verbal contract with his father that he would be able to fuck his dead brother's wife if he gave his father grandchildren. But Onan was all, "Fuck you, old man! I'm going to spunk my spunk and eat it too! Or, you know, whatever!"
Deadman wins the body battle and makes his way to beneath the church to either help Madame Waxahachie fight the spirits or possibly to chide Madame Waxahachie for releasing them. At about the same time, Chief Nebagamon and The Phantom Stranger return from wherever the fuck spirits go when they get thrown through the saloon window version of reality. And once we see The Phantom Stranger and Deadman in the same place, it seems like maybe Deadman was The Stranger's target all along. So — get this — maybe Christians have been wrong about God hating homosexuals all along! It would make sense since Christians also believe God hates masturbators but the proof they give for that logic is the story of Onan and that fucking story isn't about masturbation at all! It's not even about the rhythm method being terrible (which it could be, at least!). It's about respecting your father's wishes and breaking contracts! God is angry at Onan not because he pulled out while fucking his dead brother's wife but because he negotiated a verbal contract with his father that he would be able to fuck his dead brother's wife if he gave his father grandchildren. But Onan was all, "Fuck you, old man! I'm going to spunk my spunk and eat it too! Or, you know, whatever!"
Okay, Stranger, hurry up and kill this asshole please.
The Phantom Stranger points out that all of this is Deadman's doing because he's gone insane. So the ghosts aren't real. But The Phantom Stranger goes on to say they're real enough so they're going to have to battle them anyway? What he's trying to say is reality is fluid and if it seems like something is about to kill you, you should probably fight it now and worry about whether or not its the figment of your (or somebody else's) imagination later. His plan is for Lucian and Madame Waxahachie to accompany him to Hell or the Negaverse to battle Chief Nebagamon. He leaves Joanne the Therapist behind to psychoanalyze Deadman (who is currently in Hugh's dead body so these will definitely be billable hours).
This is what Madame Waxahachie has to battle with the help of The Stranger and Lucian.
This is Joanne's battle. I'd rather fight the demons from Hell.
Deadman's reaction to therapy is a bit like Tony Soprano's. He calls his therapist a cow and then tries to enter her. I know that's a gross exaggeration of the way Tony treated his therapist. He probably would have never tried to rape her even if he did treat her as horribly as he could. Also, he might have tried to eventually rape her if she hadn't been raped by some rando shit-heel first. Pretty sure he just didn't want to rape somebody somebody else had already raped. He was not a good guy. At all. I hope he did get shot in the face as soon as the series ended.
After Deadman possesses Joanne, the Reverend Shattuck returns to continue his battle with Boston. Now they're fighting over Joanne because Joanne's body can keep its head upright and its pants aren't filled with a massive death shit.
Back on Hell's doorstep, The Phantom Stranger tries to stall Chief Nebagamon's advancing army of 217,652 warriors by charming some of the local demonic residents to his side. He also turns into a the worst kind of Twitter user.
After Deadman possesses Joanne, the Reverend Shattuck returns to continue his battle with Boston. Now they're fighting over Joanne because Joanne's body can keep its head upright and its pants aren't filled with a massive death shit.
Back on Hell's doorstep, The Phantom Stranger tries to stall Chief Nebagamon's advancing army of 217,652 warriors by charming some of the local demonic residents to his side. He also turns into a the worst kind of Twitter user.
"I have mortally wounded you with my knowledge of philosophical pistols, you illiterate plebe. Let's see you try to make a stupid joke that I did not understand around these parts again!"
At this point in the Year of Our Lord, 2025, what's the point in even distinguishing Twitter users by which are the worst? They're all fucking terrible. Get off that app, dummies!
As Deadman and Shattuck battle, Joanne stands by yelling things like "He's a manifestation of your hatred!" and "You're only battling with yourself!" and "Free will is a metaphor which allows us to ignore the mortal possibility that we will never be or do the things we dream of being and doing!" But none of that helps so she grabs a hatchet off the wall and wades in to battle Boston's projections turned real. She chops Shattuck in the skull and he turns on her. As he hauls her off into the darkness, her calls for help cause Deadman to slip into another delusion: Joanne is Rama Kushna. He picks up the hatchet and goes Benihana on Shattuck's apparently corporeal ass. After that guy's taken care of, Joanne and Deadman return to regular therapy.
As Deadman and Shattuck battle, Joanne stands by yelling things like "He's a manifestation of your hatred!" and "You're only battling with yourself!" and "Free will is a metaphor which allows us to ignore the mortal possibility that we will never be or do the things we dream of being and doing!" But none of that helps so she grabs a hatchet off the wall and wades in to battle Boston's projections turned real. She chops Shattuck in the skull and he turns on her. As he hauls her off into the darkness, her calls for help cause Deadman to slip into another delusion: Joanne is Rama Kushna. He picks up the hatchet and goes Benihana on Shattuck's apparently corporeal ass. After that guy's taken care of, Joanne and Deadman return to regular therapy.
If she can't medicate him, stick him back out among the mushrooms! I bet that was all that was keeping him from going off the deep end!
Everything was fine with Deadman as he lie in the church graveyard ribcage deep in fungus. It wasn't until he started going on his weekend jaunts to Boston to torture a guy who just wanted to earn a paycheck that things really got fucked up. If he is schizophrenic, talk therapy ain't gonna cure him! He needs to get his brain chemicals rebalanced! Um, hmm. He's a ghost. He doesn't have brain chemicals. Maybe talk therapy will work. This issue is called "Exorcism" for a reason.
During talk therapy, Joanne mentions that Boston was using Hugh to bash gays and Deadman, just like Hugh, responds, "I would never do that." Joanne decides to hypnotize Boston Brand to find out why he subconsciously hates gay people so much and possibly why he loves yelling the N-word (other than that he needs to do those things to make sure this comic book gets its mature rating. I wish Mike and Kelley had just gone with making the female member of Abscess run around naked for thirty pages).
Joanne discovers, during hypnosis, that Deadman, um, jokingly raped his brother while they were wrestling?
During talk therapy, Joanne mentions that Boston was using Hugh to bash gays and Deadman, just like Hugh, responds, "I would never do that." Joanne decides to hypnotize Boston Brand to find out why he subconsciously hates gay people so much and possibly why he loves yelling the N-word (other than that he needs to do those things to make sure this comic book gets its mature rating. I wish Mike and Kelley had just gone with making the female member of Abscess run around naked for thirty pages).
Joanne discovers, during hypnosis, that Deadman, um, jokingly raped his brother while they were wrestling?
It's not explicitly stated, just a mention of "I hurt my brother" but then why is this Boston's formative memory that led to his bashing gays?
I'm not a sensitive and compassionate enough writer to discuss why this is a load of truly fucked up characterization on Mike Baron's part. So instead, I'll just bite my tongue and point out that implanted memories by therapists during hypnosis are a thing (remember the Satanic Panic and all the daycare kids remembering fucked up tales of ritual abuse that anybody could tell couldn't be true?). There's a reason the word therapist can be spaced out to "the rapist".
So either Boston Brand has been bashing gays because he's a repressed homosexual. Or he's been bashing gays because his brother once got a hard-on while Boston was wrestling with him and Boston's toxic masculinity basically forced him to beat the shit out of his brother and many, many other gay men later in life. Double or, his therapist just led him to this conclusion while under hypnosis and everybody can just forget that this two-issue series ever existed!
After Boston's revelation, everything goes to shit again. But this time, Deadman takes responsibility. He makes sure everybody else gets out of the church and then he blows himself up, destroying all of his evil imaginary friends.
Rama Kushna appears to Boston to make his undead body whole again but tells him she can't help with his mental state so maybe he should continue going to therapy. Lucian also survives because I guess Lucian was the only real ghost? Rama Kushna figures Boston Brand's too unwell to count on for much longer so she approaches Lucian to become his understudy. Then she sends him off to Madame Waxahachie so he can learn everything he missed in the last 1800 years or so. He does not appear in the body of Abscess's lady member. She survived so I guess she's gone on to appear naked in some other comic book. I don't mean to imply she didn't appear naked here; I'm just being optimistic that one day, I'll see her boobs.
Deadman: Exorcism: Book 2 Rating: D+. Fucking hell, man! What was Mike Baron thinking?! If he's going to go all-in on this Boston Brand needs a mental exorcism thing with a weekly therapy session, at least be clear and up front as to what happened! Did editorial make him take out the explicit stuff? Because if you're going to have Deadman acting on his subconscious hatred for gay men, at least explain exactly why he feels that way. Or else I'm going to simply assume that the character of Boston Brand is a homophobic jerk who got caught and now wants to blame his violent activities on lost memories and a horrible upbringing. Bah. How the hell did I ever keep reading Deadman comic books after this? At least The Phantom Stranger didn't go off on Jews! That would have been terrible too but at least that I wouldn't be surprised by!
So either Boston Brand has been bashing gays because he's a repressed homosexual. Or he's been bashing gays because his brother once got a hard-on while Boston was wrestling with him and Boston's toxic masculinity basically forced him to beat the shit out of his brother and many, many other gay men later in life. Double or, his therapist just led him to this conclusion while under hypnosis and everybody can just forget that this two-issue series ever existed!
After Boston's revelation, everything goes to shit again. But this time, Deadman takes responsibility. He makes sure everybody else gets out of the church and then he blows himself up, destroying all of his evil imaginary friends.
Rama Kushna appears to Boston to make his undead body whole again but tells him she can't help with his mental state so maybe he should continue going to therapy. Lucian also survives because I guess Lucian was the only real ghost? Rama Kushna figures Boston Brand's too unwell to count on for much longer so she approaches Lucian to become his understudy. Then she sends him off to Madame Waxahachie so he can learn everything he missed in the last 1800 years or so. He does not appear in the body of Abscess's lady member. She survived so I guess she's gone on to appear naked in some other comic book. I don't mean to imply she didn't appear naked here; I'm just being optimistic that one day, I'll see her boobs.
Deadman: Exorcism: Book 2 Rating: D+. Fucking hell, man! What was Mike Baron thinking?! If he's going to go all-in on this Boston Brand needs a mental exorcism thing with a weekly therapy session, at least be clear and up front as to what happened! Did editorial make him take out the explicit stuff? Because if you're going to have Deadman acting on his subconscious hatred for gay men, at least explain exactly why he feels that way. Or else I'm going to simply assume that the character of Boston Brand is a homophobic jerk who got caught and now wants to blame his violent activities on lost memories and a horrible upbringing. Bah. How the hell did I ever keep reading Deadman comic books after this? At least The Phantom Stranger didn't go off on Jews! That would have been terrible too but at least that I wouldn't be surprised by!
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