Character Spotlight—Dead Boy Detectives
Charles Rowland and Edwin Paine are the founding members of the Dead Boy Detectives. They are dead, they are boys and they are detectives.
Charles and Edwin appear in a couple of stories and a crossover before getting a couple of different series of stories. The characters are unusual as they are both static (they are dead and so cannot grow up or die) and develop (there is self-discovery, romantic interest and overcoming fears).
Charles and Edwin first appear in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman #25 in 1991. Charles is a student of St Hilarion’s boarding school who has been left at the school over the Christmas break because his father is overseas and his mother is dead.
At first, only the Headmaster and matron are at the school. During the break something strange happens and ghost appear in the halls of the school. The headmaster and matron are occupied by ghost of their past. The headmaster’s mother and the matron’s lost children arrive. This leaves Charles alone, except for the ghost of dead students and a dead headmaster.
The arrival of the headmaster begins lessons. He doesn’t seem to care it is a Christmas break. Unfortunately for Charles, ghost don’t need food or breaks. As Charles goes in search of food, he encounters three bullies who torture him. Charles is saved by Edwin’s ghost who hides Charles in the attic.
Edwin reveals that he was used as a human sacrifice by the living versions of the three bullies that tortured Charles. The bullies didn’t manage to raise any demons, but they did hide Edwin’s remains in a trunk in the attic. When Death arrives to take Charles, she doesn’t want to take Edwin. Charles is unwilling to go without Edwin and Death says she will come back later.
And so starts the duo Charles and Edwin. They escape from the school and head off into the world together.
At this point, they are both dead and still boys, but not yet detectives.
The detective part of the duo arrives with The Children’s Crusade crossover. The seven part story crosses over into the annuals of Black Orchid, Animal Man, Swamp Thing, Doom Patrol and Arcana along with a two part Children’s Crusade special edition. Charles and Edwin start the story by accepting a job from a girl whose younger brother has disappeared from a small village. With the help of a number of other characters, Charles ad Edwin successful solve the case and they official become detectives.
In the continuing stories of Charles and Edwin, they encounter a number of a ghosts and demons. They start in England and add Crystal Palace, the daughter of a performance artist and a rockstar, to their agency. In further stories, they encounter ghosts from different cultures.
The stories of Charles and Edwin is focused on two apparently pre-teen boys, but involves elements of horror (we wouldn’t except much less from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman universe).
If you are looking for an introduction to the Dead Boy Detectives, you could do a lot worse than Toby Litt and Mark Buckingham’s DC Black Label.
Pick up your copy of Dead Boy Detectives by Toby Litt & Mark Buckingham (this is a paid affiliate link and as an Amazon Associate I will earn a small income from qualifying purchases, but won’t cost you any more).