DEADMAN REFUSES TO GIVE UP THE GHOST AS DC EXTENDS THE SUPERNATURAL SERIES TO 12 ISSUES

W. Maxwell Prince and Martín Morazzo’s twisted journey through life, death, and everything lurking between them just scored six additional issues

Boston Brand is not heading toward the light anytime soon.

As The Deadman #3 arrives in comic shops, DC has officially announced that the supernatural DC Next Level series will continue through issue #12. Originally solicited as a six-issue limited series, the book has now been extended by six additional chapters, giving its creative team plenty more room to drag readers through monsters, mysticism, purgatory, and whatever fresh nightmare is waiting around the next corner.

Written by W. Maxwell Prince with artwork by Martín Morazzo, colors by Chris O’Halloran, and lettering by Good Ol’ Neon, The Deadman has embraced everything strange, unsettling, hilarious, and emotionally bruised about Boston Brand’s existence. Instead of sanding down the character’s supernatural edges for a cleaner superhero ride, the series has leaned directly into the madness. That gamble appears to be paying off.

The newly released third issue sends Deadman into one of his nastiest assignments yet. Boston finds himself attempting to survive a dangerous mission through a living, breathing vision of Hell filled with demons, decomposing ghouls, grotesque creatures, impossible anatomy, and enough supernatural chaos to make an exorcist reconsider the career path. Yeah, this book is proudly weird.

The official description for issue #3 reads like a cursed carnival barker swallowed a dictionary, got possessed by a poet, and started narrating the apocalypse. Beneath all that wild wordplay sits the real hook: Boston Brand is trapped in another person’s mission, surrounded by horrors that do not care whether he is already dead.

Prince expressed his excitement about the extension and the response the series has received.

“The response to our Deadman story has been absolutely spirit-lifting,” said W. Maxwell Prince. “We’re having so much fun giving new life to Boston Brand and his purgatorial world, and we’re not ready to give up the ghost just yet. Here’s to six more issues of monsters, mantras, and mystic math!”

With six more issues now locked in, the creative team has additional space to explore Boston’s complicated relationship with death, identity, purpose, and the bizarre spiritual machinery operating behind the curtain of the DC Universe. Deadman has always been one of DC’s most fascinating cult characters, and this series is treating that history like a playground built over a haunted burial ground. That is exactly how it should be. The series has already earned praise for mixing horror, comedy, emotional storytelling, and fearless visual experimentation.

We’ve praised DC for taking a cult character and refusing to “sand down the weird edges,” while ComicBookClique celebrated the creative team’s strange and wonderful interpretation of the afterlife. ComicBook.com described the series as “a whole lot of dark, honest fun,” and GeekDad highlighted its balance of comedy, primal horror, and surprisingly emotional moments.

That combination is where The Deadman separates itself from the usual cape-and-cowl crowd. The book can crack a joke, crawl inside your head, make you uncomfortable, and then hit you with something unexpectedly human before you have time to recover. Boston Brand may be a ghost, but this series has plenty of life in it.

The extension also arrives as DC continues building its creator-driven Next Level initiative, which promises bold new directions for a deep roster of established characters. Upcoming projects are expected to spotlight Zatanna, the Teen Titans, Doom Patrol, Vixen, Jonah Hex, Barbara Gordon, the Legion of Super-Heroes, Lobo, Firestorm, Static, the Demon, Deathstroke, Deadshot, Batwoman, and more.

The expanding initiative features an enormous lineup of creators, including Skottie Young, Joshua Williamson, Stephanie Williams, Kyle Higgins, Jorge Corona, Michael Walsh, Javier Rodríguez, Cody Ziglar, Darcy Van Poelgeest, James Harren, Greg Rucka, Deniz Camp, Mariko Tamaki, Hayden Sherman, Jamal Campbell, Gerry Duggan, Jeff Lemire, and several others.

More titles, creative teams, and story details are expected to be announced as DC continues developing its next wave of storytelling.

The Deadman #3 is available now wherever comic books are sold. Readers can also follow future announcements through DC and explore digital comics through DC Universe Infinite, where available.

Boston Brand came back from the dead, walked into Hell, and somehow earned himself six more issues.

Not bad for a guy without a pulse.