Every once in a while a comic gets it right. I’m talking about having good characters, an entertaining plot and good artwork. While there are a number of comics out right now that fit one or two of those criteria, DC Comics’ “The Shade” is my favorite example that fits all three.
The final issue of this 12-issue series came out Wednesday, Sept. 12, and although it’s a bit late for me to tell you all to start buying it, it’s not too late for me to recommend the series as a whole.
The character The Shade originated as a two-dimensional villain with shadow powers, created in the 1940s in order to fight The Flash.
He stayed that way until writer James Robinson revamped the character to use in his 1994 series, “Starman.” The Shade was now an immortal from Victorian-era England, still with black powers but now with a rather gray morality.
“Starman” ran for 80 issues, spawning a dozen spinoff issues, The Shade appearing in most of them. He would often help the protagonist, Jack Knight, defend the fictional Opal City, as it was the one location where The Shade would not break the law. Eventually, Jack Knight’s adventures came to an end, and The Shade slipped into the shadows, no pun intended.
However, some sort of magic must have happened and DC decided that The Shade deserved his own limited series.
Robinson agreed to revisit the character he had recreated almost two decades prior and who had only appeared sporadically in the 11 years since “Starman” ended.
Perhaps it was because “Starman” had just been collected in its entirety in six hardcover volumes; perhaps DC felt like taking a risk or two in the wake of their “New 52,” where all of DC’s titles restarted at issue number one, an event that did very well in sales terms.
Whatever the reason, the enigmatic Shade was off on a year-long, globe-trotting adventure.
The series, which culminates in the final revelation of The Shade’s unknown, 1838 origin, manages to do an awful lot with the number of pages given.
Storylines were resolved satisfactorily in three or four issues, and each storyline had a different artist to accompany it, including such talents as Darwyn Cooke, Javier Pulido, Frazer Irving and Gene Ha.
I realize most people will have no clue who any of those people are, but don’t worry, they’re pretty great.
Let’s take a moment to mention some of the things present in this book that most, if not all, other books do not have: vampire pirates; a Satanic Spaniard who calls himself “The Inquisitor;” forgotten Egyptian gods, imprisoned by a British cult and Nazis, and the fighting thereof.
What’s more, this series has The Shade facing all of these challenges, accompanied by his shadow powers and cutting wit.
To focus in on the final issue, it’s fitting that the last installment be about The Shade’s long-hinted origin, with a special guest appearance by Charles Dickens.
Thanks to The Shade’s many appearances in “Starman,” we know his origin also gave shadow powers to a dwarf named Culp, whom The Shade would fight for the next century and a half. We know it killed 104 people. Beyond that, however, we were almost entirely in the dark.
This issue explores what happened that night, as well as whom The Shade was before his transformation.
Richard Swift, as he had then been known, had a wife and family.
However, Swift gains immortality, only to lose his memory and all traces of the man he was before.
Tragic? Perhaps, but time heals all wounds, as they say, and The Shade has had plenty of that.
If you do feel like picking up “The Shade,” I recommend you look for previous issues in the series as well. Though they are not completely essential to understanding this final issue, they are a great read nonetheless. And, hey, if you want, the whole series will be coming out in a paperback collection next March, in addition to the six “Starman” omnibus volumes currently available.
