My reasons not to do deadman as a stand-alone:
1) 13-issues would be about half the size of my regularly bound books. Might look nice, but I probably can't afford such luxeries.
2) There are so many short titles I like that I'll have to combine titles anyways. Putting 2 titles on one spine would mean one less I'd have to squeeze in elsewhere.

I'll look into some of your suggestions. One option might be adding "Beware the Creeper" and "Strange Adventures" to it. Are either of them good stories?

If I added "Kid Eternity" to it instead, would the Morrison 3-issue series be needed as well? Is that like a prequel or is it a totally separate entity? Wikipedia says the Vertigo series moved away from Morrison's story, but that seems to imply it started off in continuity with it...