About Heroes

This Review Was Submitted by The Dude
Writer: Bruce Jones
Art/Cover: John Watkiss

Coming from DC's Vertigo you know already this book is not gonna be upbeat and happy, the fact that it's called Deadman probably doesn't help with the notion either. So what's it about? Well the very first page is an image of the universe, with quotes from Albert Einstein and Wittgenstein and then BAM 2 page spread of a 747 careening through the air a wing exploding in flames as it hits the side of a building. Weird huh. Yeah it only gets weirder throughout the book BELIEVE ME. The main focus of the story are two brothers, Brandon and Scott, both pilots. Brandon is deadheading (mind the pun) with his brother Scott. Throughout this issue you see what you can only interpret as dreams from Brandon as he is dozing slightly. You have snippets interspersed of Brandon's past, and present. Towards the end you start to realize, Brandon isn't dreaming and that in fact him and his brother are in an afterlife sort of place, going backwards in time up to the very present aka the 747's crash. Brandon's brother warns him throughout the whole journey to pass over before it's too late. Eventually you see that Brandon's body has been in a coma, one of the only people surviving the plane crash. His body eventually dies but, Brandon still crosses over to the living, which makes for a somewhat amusing scene in the hospital morgue. In the end Brandon escapes from the hospital morgue, noticing he has no pulse and apparently can't even fog up a mirror. Zombie, you say? No. Vampire maybe? not sure. Pretty much all you know at the end is that things are likely only going to get weirder.

Bruce Jones wrote this spooky little title to which upon hearing I know some groan. Do me a favor, IGNORE NIGHTWING, ok, you got that. This story as a #1 starts out better then most #1 issues anymore. Jones' writing in this title gives the reader a feeling of eeriness and maybe confusion, of reality outta whack a little maybe? Think 12 Monkey's except maybe weirder in some respects. I know, I know, this is only the first issue, still if Jones keeps up with this level of writing, your definitely gonna wanna stick around. Ok so Jones does a good job but, what about the art. You'll either love it or hate it, that's the best way to put it. John Watkiss, least in my opinion was a good fit for Jones for Deadman. The cover is neat and throughout the rest of the book Watkiss conveys Jones' feeling of slight unsteadiness. The way in which coloring is done adds to everything as throughout most of the issue your inundated with dark tones, the occasional bright explosion standing out more so. I will agree that the lines on some of Watkiss' stuff are a little thick but, hey I like it. So, is Deadman worth reading another issue of, absolutely. Forget Nightwing, read THIS. A-