Shade (comics)
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- The Shade is quite distinct from Shade, the Changing Man, who was a separate character entirely.
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The Shade is a DC Comics character, a villain created in the 1940s who would fight against two generations of superheroes, most notably the Golden Age and Silver Age Flashes. Initially a man with some unexplained control over the dark, his powers were revealed to be a connection to the Shadowlands, a dimension of primordial, quasi-sentient darkness which Shade, as well as other characters with similar powers, can channel for various effects.
He would serve as a member of several ad hoc super-villain teams and played a role in the first meeting of the Golden Age and Silver Age Flashes.
The Shade would also battle the children of the Golden Age heroes. In 1986-1987, during the period of the DC mini-series Legends, the people of America were turned against heroes, and law was made that no one could operate legally wearing a costume. This did not affect the villains much, as they were already breaking the law. For the Shade it proved an opportune time to join with his old comrade the Wizard in his new Injustice Society – now called Injustice Unlimited. They overcame the security at the International Trade Conference in Calgary, Canada — namely Infinity, Inc. and a contingent of the Global Guardians — and forced the heroes to help in some mayhem. The Shade took Fury (Lyta Trevor) to Athens and, with her help, stole a piece of the Altar of Erebus from within the Hill of Ares (the Areopagus). After a brief brush with the Olympian the Shade and Fury returned to Calgary, the Shade to share in the stolen wealth being gathered by the Wizard. But the plan went haywire when Hourman Rick Tyler revived and freed himself, as well as when Solomon Grundy was brought in from the Arctic Circle. It was the Green Flame who incapacitated the Shade, and after the confusion he was taken into custody by Canadian law enforcement. (Infinity Inc 35-37 1987)
[edit] 1990s Revisioning
In the 1990s, writer James Robinson, launching a new Starman series, took the liberty of reviving the Shade and adding him to the cast of the new comic. During the course of the seven-year run of Starman, the Shade went from a routine villain to an ambiguous figure of mystery, honor and guile. Robinson borrowed from Charles Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop for many of the details (telling readers that the Shade's life inspired some of the events in his friend Dickens's book) and drew on actor Jonathan Pryce for inspiration in fleshing out the Shade's voice.
The Shade was actually Richard Swift, an English gentleman present at an undetailed mystical tragedy. He (as well as the mysterious dwarf Culp) survived the event, but was left linked to a reservoir of darkness, a man but also a monster of sorts, never aging and rarely feeling any pain or true connection to others. In Victorian London, he would make enemies of the corrupt Ludlow family, whose efforts to kill him would span 150 years (and would be recounted in the 4-part 1997 limited series, The Shade). He was friends with author Charles Dickens, and he also was an acquaintance of Oscar Wilde, who told him the "true story" behind The Picture of Dorian Gray.
As time passed, Swift began using aliases for himself such as "Mr. Black", and went by "Shade" to those he was on good terms with. He eventually fell in love with United States east-coast city of Opal City in Maryland. During this time, Shade was known to be a hitman of sorts, and took on jobs that he found worthwhile. He also befriended Opal City's sheriff, Brian Savage (once DC's Western hero, Scalphunter). All the while, he would amass a personal fortune while rejecting conventional morality.
Swift aided the Allies in England alongside Captain X, where he came into battle with his dwarfish opposite number. Unknown to the Shade, when a German bomb landed in his vicinity, the explosion left him fused together with Culp, who could take control of him on occasion, whenever Swift was tired. When the age of costumed heroes began, Swift decided to give himself the name "The Shade" (added a 'the') in 1942 and sought combat for its own sake, "the joust," as he referred to it, but left Opal City alone, never seeking to fight Ted Knight, the original Starman. His favourite foe was the Flash, Jay Garrick, and later the Flash, Barry Allen. In the 1950's, the Shade sought Dr. Fate's aid against Culp, little realizing they were one in the same being.
With the arrival of Jack Knight, star of the new series and son of the original Starman, the Shade cultivated an unlikely friendship with the new hero. Jack (and the reader) would be privy to the Shade's diaries, learning much of his life. The Shade's pivotal role in rescuing Ted Knight from another villain gained him the provisional trust of Jack and the Opal City police. The Shade's behavior would still come under scrutiny, however, and for good reason as Culp was laying the groundwork for his re-emergence.
Near the end of the series, Robinson and artist Peter Snejbjerg tied up the history of the Shade as part of the 13-part "Grand Guignol" story, allowing the Shade to rid himself of his archfoe for good and to, perhaps leave his villainous ways behind.
The Shade still makes occasional appearances in DC's comics, most notably in Brad Meltzer's run writing Green Arrow in 2002, in the "Princes of Darkness" storyline in JSA.
Recently, The Shade appeared in JSA #81. He has apparently become Opal City's reluctant hero in the absence of both Elongated Man and Black Condor. Shade briefly visited Stargirl with a heavy heart, informing her that her estranged father had been killed during an explosion caused by Infinite Crisis effects in Opal City.
Shade also appeared in a cameo in Birds of Prey #97, and was grouped along with magical-based villains such as Felix Faust and Circe, and was called "one of the greatest living users of the mystic arts," despite not being such.
He also had a brief appearance in DC's Brave New World in 2006, where his late dinner in Madrid, Spain was interrupted by a 16th century serial-killer/occultist he had killed years earlier named Lord Maximilian Tockworth. Oddly, Shade was drawn with energy-like powers in the scene, likely an artist/author error.
The first Starman annual shows that the Shade is still alive uncountable thousands of years in the future, where he is the protector of a utopian planet.
[edit] Other media
He has also appeared in the Justice League cartoon, 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 it success due to seeing such efforts fail twice in the past. When Grod'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 cartoon, Shade joins a forth anti-Justice League organization, Gorilla Grodd's new Secret Society, which was taken over by Lex Luthor in the episode "Dead Reckoning". 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 Grod, who was freed by Tala. During the mutiny, Shade was frozen by Killer Frost. The Shade is voiced by Stephen McHattie.
In the animated series, his powers are a product of his staff, which he calls the "nightstick," much like that of his pre-Robinson years.
