The major difference between comic book
and television is that Grodd had the backing of Gorilla
City, having already killed off the wise Solivar. Though
fun in spurts, the only thing about the event that had any
long-lasting effect in the DC Universe was allowing Blockbuster,
the crimelord of Bludhaven, to get a heart transplant from
an ape, thus allowing him to bedevil Nightwing for a few
years longer.
Gorilla City appeared in animated form
in "The Brave and the Bold" on the original Justice League
series. It should also be noted that in this episode we
saw several golden gorillas battling the Secret Society,
a species noted for the obscure DC character Congorilla.
Other obscure but notable characters appearing
included Blockbuster himself, in a much less evolved form,
and the non-existent Devil Ray, who looks suspiciously like
Aquaman's nemesis Black Manta.
It seems that when the time came to make
"Dead Reckoning," Warner Brothers had decided that all Aquaman
related characters needed to be locked up for any potential
Aquaman franchise opportunities, like a series on the WB.
So Black Manta changed his name to Devil Ray for this episode,
and too bad. There's probably more honor in getting killed
by a Deadman-possessed Batman than Aquaman's army of fish,
though the army of fish is a creepier way to go.
Which leads us to Boston Brand. Created
by Arnold Drake for Strange Adventures as one of
several sixties characters meant to answer to Marvel's kookiness,
Deadman had a brief but cool run before becoming a go-to
supernatural guest-star in a variety of stories over the
decades.
A trapeze performer, Boston Brand actually
wore that get-up in life. Billed on circus posters as Deadman,
he routinely performed ultra-dangerous stunts until the
night his life was cut short by an assassin's bullet. Just
before dying, he caught a glimpse of the rifle being held
by a man with a hook, and when the deity Rama Kushna allowed
him the chance to find his killer, Brand at least had a
clue.
Much of his series played out like The
Fugitive, with very few outside supernatural influences.
Brand would backtrack and try to figure out if he had any
enemies and end up helping others solve their problems.
Look for him on a future episode of My Name Is Earl.
Eventually with the Batman's help, he tracked
the killer down to the League of Assassins. To his dismay,
it turned out that he was only a random target, a method
of initiation for his killer to get into the League. Before
Deadman could exact some sort of justice, his own killer
was killed for being unworthy.
Faced with the chance to move on, Deadman
instead chose to continue trying to balance the scales of
justice, though in recent years he has become something
more like DC's version of Charon, helping others cross over.
In a couple of different revivals, DC editors
have tried to make his motivation deeper than just the need
to see justice done. Though the revivals haven't stuck,
the character's simple design and overall coolness keeps
him a fan favorite.
For the best look at the Deadman saga,
DC has reprinted the entire thing in The
Deadman Collection
.
