Shade, the Changing Man
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Shade, the Changing Man is a fictional comic book character created by Steve Ditko for DC Comics in 1977. The character was later adapted by Peter Milligan and became one of the first Vertigo titles.
Both versions of Shade are distinct from The Shade, another DC Comics character.
Publishing History
The Steve Ditko era
Shade, the Changing Man told the story of a fugitive from the militant planet Meta in another dimension. Shade (whose full name is Rac Shade) was powered by a stolen "M-vest" which enabled him to project the illusion of becoming a large grotesque version of himself. The character was the first Ditko had created, or helped to create, for a mainstream publisher for many years. Prior to rejoining DC Comics, Ditko had worked on characters such as his Mr. A. title. Shade was very much a return to mainstream superheroics, although Shade was set outside the DC Universe.His series ran for eight bi-monthly issues from 1976 to 1978 before its sudden cancellation in the wake of the "DC Implosion", a contraction of DC's line that saw a third of their books axed within an eight week period. A ninth extra-length issue, featuring the debut of a new Ditko character called The Odd Man, was produced, but was published only as a part of DC's Cancelled Comics Cavalcade in 1978. (A revised version of this story appeared a few years later in Detective Comics)
After this, Shade was adopted into the DC Universe and made a brief appearance in the Crisis on Infinite Earths mini series, as well as becoming a regular character in Suicide Squad.
Character history
In his own series
Rac Shade, a secret agent of the world in the Meta-Zone, a dimension near that of Earth, has been framed for treason and sentenced to death. Through various events, Shade spent some time on Earth trying to clear his name, using the retrieved M-Vest (The Miraco-Vest that had been stolen) in the process, but was met with resistance of the Meta-authorities at each point. His name was being cleared bit by bit, but he remained a wanted man, and Shade continued to use the M-Vest.
Running with the Suicide Squad
Shade eventually ended up in a place called the Zero Zone (a dimension between Earth and Meta) and was trapped there for a long time, and he had to live in a place called the Area of Madness, until the Suicide Squad accidentally teleported in the dimension after they had left Nightshade's home dimension. Shade was able to tap into the vibrational frequency of Earth and used the M-Vest to teleport him and the Squad back to Earth.Shade revealed that the Metans had an outpost on Earth, disguised as the Occult Research Center. They disguised their Metan activity in an unique way, by simply telling the truth. Since it is information coming from O.R.C., the media simply laugh it off.
However, the O.R.C. had been taken over a certain Doctor Z.Z., and a group of criminals, hoping to infiltrate Earth and build a powerbase to conquer it, and then Meta. Shade was sent to stop the criminals, in exchange for a new trial. Shade went through the Zero Zone when he was pulled into the conflict of the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and was afterwards returned to the Zero-Zone. As the Earth's vibrational frequency had changed after the Crisis and his M-Vest partially damaged so he could not return to Meta, Shade was stuck, where fortunately the Suicide Squad would eventually find him.
Shade was determined to now stop Z.Z. and the Squad decided to help him. The mission was successful, although Meta authority on Earth wanted to take Shade into custody. Rick Flag simply pointed his gun at the man's head, and Shade returned to Belle Reve with the Suicide Squad.
In exchange for technical help back to Meta, Shade would assisst the Squad on missions, although Shade doubted how the primitive Earth technology would be of use to him. Shade went on several missions and also tried the ex-Squad member Mindboggler, who had become Ifrit and had been digitized by the Jihad.
Shade questioned his choice to join the Squad on numerous occasions, thinking he would fare better on his own, trying to find a way back home. So when Lashina (in the disguise of Duchess) came to him with an offer to return him to his home dimension via a detour to Apokolips, Shade agreed, not knowing what was in store for him. He was given the task of recruiting Vixen, and he knocked her out without a word, as well as Captain Boomerang (although he had little regret with kidnapping the latter). Shade knew that his actions were wrong, but felt he had little choice if he wished to return to Meta.
Immediately as they arrived on Apokolips, Lashina showed her treacherous nature, and Shade was ashamed of his actions, having well sent his friends to their deaths. In the ensuing conflict with Parademons and the Female Furies, indeed there were casualties, the pilot Briscoe, civilian Flo and the villain Dr. Light died on Apokolips. After a long time of fighting, Darkseid appeared and settled the conflict, sending the Squad home, except for Shade, who was finally returned to his home dimension. Wracked with guilt, Shade was almost happy to not get the chance to say goodbye, although he felt that he would one day repay the debt.
His whereabouts since then have been unknown.
Peter Milligan and the Vertigo years
In 1990, the title and character were revived and revamped by Peter Milligan and Chris Bachalo. Coming at a time when DC were in the midst of the so-called "British Invasion" of creators, Shade was one of the last to debut in the first wave after Neil Gaiman's Sandman, and Grant Morrison's Animal Man.
This new series used some of the same names and concepts from the original, but these were few and far between; Rac Shade was now a lovelorn poet sent to Earth to stop a growing tide of madness from consuming the planet while his M-Vest was now a Madness-Vest, which he could use to warp reality. The comic still took place in the DC universe - John Constantine turned up for a three-issue story arc, Death of The Endless appeared in a subtle cameo in issue 50 and Shade appeared with a group of other Vertigo characters in 1999's Totems - and the original series was rationalised as being a story that Shade made up to amuse himself while travelling to Earth. However, this did not explain how the original Shade could work with the Suicide Squad.
Working from character designs by Brendan McCarthy, artist Chris Bachalo created a distinctive look for the comic which set it aside from the previous Ditko run and the characters' DC Universe appearances. Milligan made the stories uniquely surreal, and had a habit of killing Shade off only to bring him back in a changed form. In fact, Shade had five different forms throughout the series' run: a red-headed mopey poet; a woman; a black-haired madman; a red-haired, emotionless "mod"; and a bedraggled, unshaven obsessive.
The series used concepts and ideas which were at times controversial (for example, JFK's assassination and transgenderism) and unfamiliar with regular DC titles. To distinguish these more 'adult' themes, DC created a separate imprint to house titles such as Shade. This imprint, called Vertigo started in 1993 and Shade became one of the initial run of Vertigo titles from issue 33.
Shade was always a steady selling title for Vertigo, though it never sold in spectacular numbers. It always had a constant, almost cultish following. The title lasted 70 issues before finally being cancelled in 1996.
In 2003 a one-off story by Peter Milligan and artist Mike Allred was printed as part of Vertigo's tenth anniversary celebrations in an anniversary special. In 2004, the first six issues were finally reprinted as a trade paperback released by Vertigo.
Synopsis
The first issue sees Caucasian Kathy George and her African American boyfriend going to visit her parents in the Southern United States. As they enter Kathy's parents house they find that a serial killer, Troy Grenzer, has murdered her parents. Kathy's boyfriend attacks Grenzer but as the police enter the house, Kathy's boyfriend is shot dead by the police who have instantly assumed him to be the killer. The story forwards to the day of Grenzer's execution and Kathy is there to witness his death in the electric chair. As the switch is about to be thrown the chamber erupts with strange lights and shapes as Shade enters the body of Grenzer using the power of his "Madness Vest".
Shade and Kathy escape in the confusion and eventually Shade convinces Kathy that he is not Grenzer, and Kathy decides to help Shade track down what he calls The American Scream and the madness created by it. Travelling to Dallas, they find the madness has engulfed a JFK assassination conspiracy theorist called Duane Trilby. Trilby searches for JFK's killer in order to answer why his daughter had to die.
This madness has created a 'Kennedy Sphinx' in Dealy Plaza, the site of Kennedy's murder. This Sphinx asks the question ""Who killed John F. Kennedy?" and awaits an answer. Shade uses his powers to take Trilby into the heart of the madness and Trilby answers the Sphinx's question, "Who killed John F. Kennedy?", with the answer, "America". Shade then kills Trilby to stop the madness spreading and the Sphinx vanishes and Dallas returns to normal. Shade and Kathy then start their journey across America in search of The American Scream.
External links
- [Shade, the Changing Man fansite]
- [Shade at ditko.comic.org]
- [Synopsis of the Ditko run]
- [Pete Milligan interview]
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