ACW #625 – Deadman
Action Comics Weekly #625 (Deadman)
“Tickle, Tickle”
Writer – Mike Baron
Pencils – Kelley Jones
Inks – Tony DeZuniga
Letters – Albert DeGuzman
Colors – Daniel Vozzo
Editor – Barbara Kesel
Getting this post up a bit later than I intended. Had myself a bit of car trouble yesterday that precluded me from getting this one up and published ahead of time. Apologies if this messes with anyone’s regular-reading-routine!
Today we… hey, look’it that! “Deadman Wraps it All Up!” Looks like we’re in for a rollicking, senses-shattering conclusion.
Yeah… it sure looks like it…
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We open with the army of undead Confederates approaching Peckshaw Estate… at the behest of the Zombie Queens of New Orleans! Inside, Deadman and Madame Waxahachie stand by… and appear to be rather unimpressed with the entire proceeding. One of the horde is Delia and Stella’s father… the specter of whom we met last week. He is put in charge of the “army”, and demands to swap hats with the current zombie General… mayyyybe, it’s Robert E. Lee? I dunno… I think “Confederate General”, and he’s the only name that comes to mind. Couldn’t pick him out of a lineup if I had to!
Whatever the case, this exchange does not go well for Papa Peckshaw.
Deadman then decides it’s time to stop lollygagging… and so, he vacates Groundskeeper Luke’s body, and… get this… scares the spirit of Stella Peckshaw out of the body of whatever Brogden Twin she’s currently occupying.
He then grabs her by her ethereal wrist, and holds tight. He threatens to take her to “a place in Tibet” where she won’t ever be able to escape, unless her sister vacates the other twin. And so, she does! The Brogden twins rush over to Mabel, and everything seems to be alright. Hey, maybe the cover wasn’t lying at all… maybe this week Deadman really does “wrap it all up”!
Well… no, that’s not the case at all. The Peckshaw Twins begin to… and I can’t believe this is a real thing, but… the twins… tickle Deadman. Yeah, like “coochie-coochie-coo”. After Boston loses his grip, the twins decide to take up residence inside the bodies of… Madame Waxahachie and Luke Whatshisface!
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Now this? This was one weird chapter, wasn’t it? I almost can’t believe it’s a thing we just read.
Feels like we’ve been building up to this “Army of the Undead” for a few weeks now… and, their arrival doesn’t actually do a whole heckuva lot. It allows for a little back-n-forth between Papa Peckshaw and (perhaps) Robert E. Lee… but, other than that… it kinda fell flat.
Much of this chapter has to do with Deadman attempting to bargain with the ghosts of the Peckshaw twins. This was pretty weird… but I liked it. Sometimes the most obvious solution is the best to go with… so, if you’re Deadman… you perform a scare-orcism, then threaten the excised spirit with eternal imprisonment. Works for me!
Where this kind of made me raise an eyebrow was… the tickling. I mean… that’s something that happened? For real? Don’t get me wrong, I kinda laughed… but, that’s just so weird, right? Really wasn’t expecting that… though, when a story is called “Tickle, Tickle”, I probably should have!
Overall, I really dug this… weirdness and all. Next week this one actually gets wrapped up (it will be our final ACW Deadman chapter… ever), so we’ll see where all the pieces fall then!
Tomorrow: When she comes crashing down, and it hurts inside…
