DC Universe Presents (2011-2013) Vol. 1: featuring Deadman & Challengers of the Unknown

Out of all of the New 52, DC Universe Presents is a series not like the others in two ways. The first being is this series has nothing to do with continuity with the rest of the 51 titles going on. That means no story tie-ins, crossovers, or any other conflicting plots with the other books. The second thing, as well as most important, for DC Universe Presents is that it is a title that spotlights the DC Universe super heroes. What this means is a single character or any amount of characters at one time for any inscrutable amount of story telling. DC Universe Presents could make any amount of short stories on any character (good or bad), or any amount of issues (1, 2, 3, 6, etc.), and have whatever writer and artist on the project. Added with the title having no conflicting ties to the other 51 DC books out, this is leaves a vast amount of possibilities to be had.But for the most part, DCUP showcases more lesser known characters who probably wouldn't be able to hold their own ongoing series, as well as introducing these same lesser known characters and new ones for new audiences without prior experience. For volume 1, we get none other then Deadman and Challengers of the Unknown.DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS VOL.1 FEATURING DEADMAN & CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN collect issues #1-8. Issues 1-5 star Deadman, AKA Boston Brand, an ex-acrobat who dies and becomes a ghost, gets a second chance thanks to a god named Rama, who gives him the power to inhabit peoples bodies and help solve each persons life he comes into contact with for redeeming his soul from years of being a jerk when he was living. After so many years of helping others, Deadman is tired of helping others and seeing nothing for it, so he makes a plan to free himself of Rama's control. Issues 6-8 star the Challengers of the Unknown, a group of people on a reality show that get caught up in a plane crash and foresee a situation around an old Himalayan talisman that leads into some troubling and bizarre situations.Paul Jenkins writes and Bernard Chang pencils the Deadman issues, and without a doubt, it is the best thing for this volume. DC thankfully keeps a vast majority of Deadman's original origin, and yet new readers don't have to have any prior knowledge of Deadman before the New 52. I'm a Boston Brand fan and this is truly something to be hold. This has humor, action, wit, emotion, and some fantastic usage of mysticism and philosophy--without melting the readers brains. You see this progression of the jerk Boston is, and in trying to seek the answers to why he's been jumping hoops for a god for years, it becomes a fun and emotional journey. Deadman helps out a legless soldier, break into an occultist club, have a spiritual journey and discussion with the devil (all happening during a rollercoaster!), and even stand up to a god. And art by Bernard Change does the narrative well, both art and writing stay strong. The art may not be the best, but it does just fine. Other then those details, this has it all. I would love it if Jenkins and Bernard could do more Deadman stories in the future. I honestly feel this is stronger then quite a few other DC books on the market. And if Deadman gets you interested, he is also on Justice League Dark (again, he's well done their too). 4 ½ score.Dan Didio writes and Jerry Ordway pencils for the Challengers issues, and sadly, is no where near as strong the Deadman story before it. Not that it's Didio's fault considering two different stories with a different staff, but when issues are collected like this, it feels noticeable. Didio loves doing odes to Jack Kirby in his writing, especially the Silver-Age (as evidence in  O.M.A.C. Vol. 1: Omactivate! (The New 52) ), and his writing fits well with it. But OMAC felt fun within its context, whereas Challengers feels a bit lacking. It could be the modern touch of putting the Challengers on a reality show, other then the original silver-age version being random and crazy science fiction scenarios, I am not sure. Even legendary artist Jerry Ordway's silver age drawing style fits well for the material, but with the modern day touches make for a mixed feeling of style. Had the team stuck to the original concept of people doing crazy situations, without the reality show angle, I think the book would of felt better in that context. Is Challengers bad? No. Is it great? No. It just feels mediocre. 2 ½ - 3 score.Overall, DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS VOL.1 FEATURING DEADMAN & CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN looks to be the start of some interesting characters and stories that you have no idea what to expect. Future issues include a 3-part Vandal Savage story, 1-shot Kid Flash story, a 64-paged 0 issue featuring most currently dead comic series Blackhawks, Hawk and Dove, Mister Terrific and OMAC; all of which will be collected in Vol.2,  DC Universe Presents Vol. 2: Vandal Savage (The New 52) . After that, a 4-part Black Lightning and Blue Devil...and yes, a 1-shot issue of Arsenal and 1-shot issues of Starfire, both from Red Hood and the Outlaws.Other then that, Deadman gets a 4 ½ score and Challengers gets a 2 ½ - 3 score. So overall, it's a 4 star review for the whole book.

Challengers of the unknown created in 1957. Deadman created in 1967. Born ten years apart, both dealt with the strange and unknown. The Challengers and Deadman even worked together in the few issues of the Challengers book. Dc has over the years has tried to revive both comic creations number of times after their cancellations, with limited success. Now in this book they even tried to recreate their origins. I've just read four graphic novels of the adventures of Deadman, from his original series and beyond his canceled series. I liked three out the four novels, and love the character, can hardly wait for fifth novel. I also loved the Challengers omnibus, by Jack Kirby. I tried to keep a open mind with the new origins in this book, I liked them. But they could use more work. I hope to see more of their adventures in the future.

The Deadman story in this comic is out-of-sight-amazing! You really get a sense of who Boston Brand aka Deadman is as a character and what he's doing here. A very fun and informative read for sure. If you're a Deadman fan, this is a must read. However the CHallengers of the Unknown story was hard to get through. I wasn't interested or concerned for any of the characters and the story was just interesting enough to keep you reading, but not enough to make the reader enjoy it. IMO, if you're a trade buyer like me, this is worth picking up just for the Dead man story - as long as you don't mind only liking half the book. Otherwise I recommend buying the individual issues.

I've been reading Justice League Dark where Deadman has been appearing. I just finished this book and I've been a fan of Paul Jenkins for years. If this was the first story I had ever read, there wouldn't be a second. Too much talking and with the result of nothing more than messing with my head. It reminds me of the scene from the 2nd Matrix movie when Neo is confronted by the Head programmer who just happened to look like Colonel Sanders and he did nothing but babble for 10 minutes as the movie came to a stop. Just like this story. Better luck next time.Challengers of the Unknown wasn't worth a dime. Ordway looked good, but what a dumb story.

The Deadman portion of this graphic novel was quite entertaining. However, I can't say that about the Challengers of the Unknown portion. It was boring and I didn't even finish it.

I was interested in deadman before picking up justice league dark vol 1...but now im a fan. After reading his own origin story in this small collection, he is now a character i will follow from now on! Good buy, good story!

Fun and exciting read from one book to the next. Was sad to finish the series. Wish I could read more

I've always loved the character Deadman - this collection saved me time & money getting all the old issues together.

I live the idea of this series, short cameos for more minor characters in the DC Universe without having to build big arcs. The format certain works here. The 1st half of the book is Deadmans aka Boston Brand and explores his 'mission' in the DCU. It works well and the art is good. I'm not sure I'd buy into an new ongoing Deadman series but it helps flesh out a character thats popped up in Swampthing and Justice League Dark, worth buying for this story alone.The 2nd part of the book is where things fall down. The Challengers of the Unkown is a story of reality TV stars who get involved in a real mystical event that ties into the rest of the DCU. But.... it's just not engaging or interesting for me. The characters are pretty thin and I never really cared much for what happened to them.Deadman gets a 4 maybe 4.5, Challengers of the unknown a 2 at best.It's still worth it for the Deadman story though.

The delivery was really fast. Highly recommended!