Shade (comics)
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- The Shade is distinct from Shade, the Changing Man.
| The Shade | |
 The Shade as painted by Tony Harris on the cover of Starman #6 (1995) |
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| Publication information | |
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| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Flash Comics #33 |
| Created by | E E Hibbard/James Robinson |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Richard Swift |
| Team affiliations | Injustice Society |
| Notable aliases | Dicky, Mr. Black, Louie |
| Abilities | Shadow manipulation(ability to control darkness) - ability to travel great distances in short amounts of time, and create constructs out of shadows; does not age; virtually immortal. |
The Shade is a fictional character developed in the 1940's for National Comics. Debuted as a villain, Shade was best known in story line for fighting against two generations of superheroes, most notably the Golden Age and Silver Age versions of The Flash[1]. He eventually became a mentor for Jack Knight, the son of the Golden Age Starman Ted Knight whom Shade had also fought in the comic's history[2].
Though initially just a thief with a cane that could manipulate shadows, the character was reinvented in 1994 as a morally ambiguous Victorian era immortal who could control and manipulate shadow naturally.
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[edit] History
[edit] Pre-Crisis
The Shade was introduced in Flash Comics #33, as a villain for the original Golden Age Flash. A common thief who could manipulate the shadows with his cane, he fought both the Golden Age Flash and his Silver Age counterpart Barry Allen. He was member of several supervillain teams, including the Injustice Society of America. Shade was the villain used for the first meeting of the two heroes in the famous Flash of Two Worlds [3] story, which reintroduced the Golden Age Flash to the Silver Age.
[edit] Post-Crisis
Shade returned in print in 1986, as a member of the Wizard's new incarnation of the Injustice Society. The Shade's next appearance was in a flashback story in Secret Origins #50 (1989), which explained the story of the post-Crisis first meeting of Jay Garrick and Barry Allen. This story was later retconned after the events of Zero Hour.
[edit] Post Zero-Hour
After Zero Hour, The Shade's origin was changed drastically. The Shade was retconned to a English gentleman named Richard Swift. One night in London, Swift was trapped amidst an unexplained mystical tragedy which gave him his powers, making him indescribably powerful, but alienated from humanity in general in return. Shade's powers were also changed, not being based from his cane but by tapping into an alternate dimension of shadows, which he could manipulate and shape into whatever form he wanted. He could use them to attack, and also to teleport himself and others.
Shade traveled within the literary circles of the Victorian Era England, befriending authors such as Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde. As time passed, he began using aliases for himself such as "Mr. Black", though he called himself "Shade". He also developed enemies, such as Culp and the Ludlow family. These last were, in fact, a family that had picked up the Shade while he was still reeling from the magical blast that tied him to the darkness. While at first feigning to help Shade, they actually intended to kill him and use him to stage a "failed" robbery/homicide, while making off with the intended victim's assets, a scheme they had perpetrated many other times. Unfortunately for the family, their attempt to kill him caused Shade to reflexively discover and unleash his shadow powers, killing the entire family except for two children, a girl and a boy, not present at the time. The children subsequently devoted their lives and their descendants' lives to vengeance upon Shade. Shade, in return, killed countless Ludlows until the family was all but abated with a single descendant in 1997, whom the Shade convinced to let go of his silly vendetta and live a good life with his son.
Shade eventually fell in love with the fictional United States east-coast city of Opal City. Setting up residence there, Shade befriended the sheriff, Brian Savage, better known as DC's Western hero Scalphunter. He amassed a small personal fortune, including real estate in Opal, while also moonlighting as a "problem solver" using his powers.
The Shade went back to England during the early days of World War II, to aide the Allies in fighting the Nazis. While on patrol with the British hero Captain X, Shade was ambushed by Culp when a bomb fell from a German fighter plane onto the two men. To survive, Culp was forced to seek shelter by merging with Shade without his knowledge.
When superheroes started fighting supervillians after the war, Shade began (unknowingly influenced by Culp) to commit crimes. He became known as "The Shade". He committed crimes in various cities in the DCU, most notably in Keystone City with Flash Jay Garrick as an adversary. The Shade would privately refer to his battles as "the joust," which he engaged in for the thrill of combat with other super-powered combatants. Shade would speak fondly of his time "jousting" with the Flash and other superheroes.
Despite being considered a supervillain, it was explained in Times Past that Shade would not perform a crime in Opal City, being protective to the point of using his powers to stop criminals. He even would engage in the occasional heroic act, such as saving Howard Hughes from Johnny Sorrow.
[edit] Starman
James Robinson decided to use Shade, giving the character a starring role in his new Starman series in 1994. In the first story arc, Sins of the Father, Jack and Shade worked together to save Opal City from the Mist and his family.
Later, Jack and the reader would be privy to the Shade's journals, learning much of his life and experiences. Some of these journal entries were told in flashback issues of the comic called "Times Past". They often dealt with different Starmen, including Jack's father Ted, as well as other characters from the Starman mythos such as Brian Savage. There were a total of 5 "Times Past" issues in the 80 issue series. Other "excerpts" were alternated with the comic's letters column, often giving additional background related to the story or background into Shade's motivations. These excerpts were written as prose, as opposed to a more traditional comic style, with occasional illustrations, and as journal entries being written by the Shade himself at different points of his existence.
One of the many adventures the Shade undertook was aiding Jay Garrick against a fake hero calling himself the Spider during a period during a brief period of retirement on the hero's part during his middle career. The villain, a Ludlow by birth, had collected particles of the Shade's shadow-matter and attempted to plant them at a double-homicide setting, with the victims being Jay Garrick and his wife Joan, with the Shade himself bound and weakened by the only thing capable of dispelling his shadows: fire, in this case, a roaring fireplace. However, the Shade countered by revealing that to truly weaken him, he would have to be fully surrounded by fire, and using the darkness cast by his body in the fireplace's light, he killed the Spider and the would-be assassins, and delivered the evidence to the Flash. When asked why he hadn't taken the opportunity to seize control of Keystone by killing Flash, Shade replied that he did not want the city; he merely wanted the challenge to do combat with a superpowered adversary whom he perceived as worthy of his time.
While helping Jack, Shade met the O'Dare Family, a clan of police officers who assisted Jack. He befriended Matt O'Dare, a crooked cop who, after an adventure with Jack and Shade, had decided to go straight. Shade assisted him in his efforts, saying it was to put another good cop in the city that he loved.
A particularly important point in the life of Shade came when he met the demon-lord Neron. Neron offered, as he had to many supervillains before, to augment his power. However, Shade saw little use in Neron's offer, as he saw no need to increase his already substantial wealth, was already immortal, and saw little opportunity to increase his powers, seeing as how he could eventually learn to fine tune his abilities to the point he could be practically indestructible in the battlefield. Neron, angered by his rebuttal, swore vengeance against Shade.
Another notable point during the series' run came when the Godwave struck the DC universe, depowering almost all superheroes. In a confrontation between Starman, Matt O'Dare, Green Lantern, and The Infernal Doctor Pip, in which Pip almost blew up a large section of an Opal hospital, Shade appeared at the last minute and drew Pip into the Darklands, which serve as his power source, before the bomb could explode. The important plot twist was that his powers were unaffected by the depowerment, with a note indicating there were powers not even God wanted to have anything to do with, referencing the dark origins of the Shade's massive powers.
At various times, Culp occasionally was able to take control or subtly influence The Shade, as he did when he was fighting the Flashes. At one specific point, Culp takes momentary full control to talk to Jack, in the process making a mistake about the name of a Wilde story. Around the time Jack returns from space in the Stars, My Destination story arc, Culp was able to assume full control over Shade's body for an extended period of time. Gathering an army of villains whom Jack had battled over the course of the series, Culp used Shade's powers to cast a spell that allowed him to trap Opal City in a bubble of shadow and force a confrontation with the city's heroes. Many of the supervillains helping Culp had been gathered by either Neron, who wished revenge upon Shade, the still-vengeful daughter of the Mist, or one of the last Ludlows in existence, the son of the false hero the Spider. The story was the climax of the series, told in the Grand Guignol arc. Shade eventually was able to cast out Culp, losing his shadow powers in the process. However, Culp underestimated the Shade, and was tricked into allowing a small shadow imp loyal to Shade to be absorbed into his own shadow, leading to a battle of wills in which Shade drew all the darkness into himself, leaving Culp powerless. Shortly later, Culp attempted to buy his ticket to freedom by threatening the younger Mist, but was killed in the process by the elder Mist. This ended up being a turning point for Shade, as he now truly had freedom of choice, and was able to discern right from wrong, and therefore, able to decide whether he wished to remain a villain or became a true hero, protecting his city.
[edit] Post-Starman
Since the end of the Starman series, The Shade has made cameo appearances in several comic series, including Green Arrow, JSA, and Birds of Prey, and was listed alongside magical-based villains such as Felix Faust and Circe. He also had a brief appearance in DC's Brave New World in 2006.
[edit] Possible Futures
During the Starman story arc Stars, My Destination Jack is thrown into a future where Shade's powers overtook him due to a disease that Culp had infected him with during their final battle. His shadow began expanding into the universe and began threatening areas protected by the Legion. Rescuing him, the future Shade explained how Jack may be able to stop it from ever happening by using his cosmic rod on him in the past. In the final issue of Starman Jack apparently was able stop the disease before it had the chance to effect Shade, apparently changing the future that he had seen on his space voyage.
Starman Annual #1 shows a possbile future for Shade, as the protector of a Utopian planet thousands of years from the present. As with the current Shade, he enjoys telling tales of his past.
[edit] Character Inspiration
It is likely that The Shade's post-Zero Hour origin is influenced by Charles Dickens' story The Old Curiosity Shop, which featured an English Rake also named Richard, and a dwarf named Quilp. In continuity, it is suggested that Shade's story instead inspired Dickens to write The Old Curiosity Shop. James Robinson has stated that he drew some inspiration for the Shade's mannerisms and speech patterns from the British stage and screen actor Jonathan Pryce.
[edit] Other Versions
- On Earth-33, there is a magician called Shade, with all his powers. He is a member of the League of Shamans.
- The Shade(Possibly of Earth-3). An alternate version of the heroine Nightshade, she shares with him his namesake and all his powers, and she wears a top hat and a cane. She's killed by Eve of the Shadows, another Nightshade counterpart.
[edit] Other media
The Shade has also appeared in the Justice League animated series, where he has appeared as a member of Lex Luthor's Injustice Gang and Aresia's Injustice Gang. He was later recruited into Gorilla Grodd's Secret Society, although, by this time he was skeptical of its success due to seeing such efforts fail twice in the past.
When Grodd's Secret Society was defeated by the Justice League in a football field in front of thousands of people, Shade stated "I knew this wouldn't work." before attempting to flee and being stopped by Batman.
In the Justice League Unlimited series, Shade joins a fourth anti-Justice League organization, Gorilla Grodd's new Secret Society, later taken over by Lex Luthor. The Shade is prominently shown for the last time in the series in the episode "Alive", where he sided against Luthor during the mutiny led by Grodd, who was freed by Tala. During the mutiny, Shade, and all other villains that opposed Luthor, were frozen by Killer Frost. The Shade is voiced by Stephen McHattie.
In both series, his powers are a product of his staff, which he calls the "nightstick," much like that of his pre-Robinson years. When he first joined Grodd's group, he was attracted to Giganta, who seemed to return his affection. When he found out that she had once been a gorilla he is shocked, but then looks at her and shrugs with a smile on his face indicating he didn't seem to care.
