Written by James Robinson
Illustrated by by Cully HamnerJames Robinson returns to the world of his acclaimed STARMAN series with a new 12-issue series starring the antihero known as The Shade! An attack at the Starman museum kicks off a globe-hopping, centuries spanning quest that will irrevocably change The Shade’s life, and ultimately shed light on his true origin! Artist extraordinaire Cully Hamner (RED) kicks off the series, and upcoming issues will feature art by such luminaries as Darwyn Cooke, Javier Pulido, Jill Thompson, Frazer Irving and Gene Ha!
The Shade was once a minor Golden Age Flash villain before James Robinson got his hands on him. In Robinson’s Starman series, Richard “Dickie” Swift, aka The Shade, took on the role of mentor/sounding board/cheerleader for the Starmen of Opal City. A lazy interpretation of the character would be to call him an “anti-hero,” but a better term might be “reluctant hero.” A great deal of the Starman mythos was tied up in Shade, and he played an integral role in the grand scheme of the series.
Since Starman wrapped in 2001, the Shade has popped up here and there, most recently as part of James Robinson’s Justice League of America “Rise of Eclipso” storyline. But this is the first time since a miniseries in 1997 that the Shade has been the lead character in a book and, like last time, Robinson is joined by a cadre of diverse artists to tell this sprawling tale.
However, unlike the aforementioned miniseries, this seems like an odd time to resurrect the Shade for a 12-issue series. This series, more than anything else, is meant to be seen as a continuation of the Starman series, and yet here we are, 6 weeks removed from a new clean slate where stories “look forward, not backward.” How does The Shade, as a character and as a series, fit in with the New 52? Find out after the cut.
The story begins with Shade and Mikaal Tomas, the current Starman, having tea on the Shade’s rooftop in Opal City. They have what can only be described as a bummer of a conversation. Later, we see Shade lying in bed with Hope O’Dare, his love interest (established in the Blackest Night tie-in, Starman #81) and they have what can only be described as a bummer of a conversation. At the end of the story, Shade encounters a familiar face and, you guessed it, the interaction is a downer.
The story puts the Shade in a place we rarely have seen him over time: as a man not content in his surroundings. Shade is the proudest citizen of Opal city; he loves the architecture, he loves the various districts, and he is always too happy to sit and bask in Opal. But here, he is longing for something more.
This is a fun place to find the character, because it instantly challenges the status quo for our man Dickie. Hope tells him that he needs to find an adventure, and he sets out to do just that. However, what world is it that Shade is setting out in?
The New 52 frames this series in a very peculiar way. Now, see if you can follow me: The Shade is, as established earlier, a Golden Age Flash villain. However, as far as we know, the Golden Age didn’t happen on New Earth, it happened (is happening?) on Earth-2. Would this be a pre-Flashpoint story? It can’t be, because at issue’s end, we see a character in their New 52 garb (partially designed by artist Cully Hamner), placing this squarely on New Earth. In addition, we see Mikaal Tomas (Starman) and his pal Congorilla is mentioned. Does this mean that on New Earth 5 years ago we saw the formation of the Justice League, but last year it was Dick Grayson, Supergirl, Jade, Jesse Quick, Starman, Congorilla and Donna Troy as the Justice League? How does Opal City and its history, seeped in Golden Age mythology, fit into the post-Flashpoint universe? If this isn’t the culmination of the Starman story, but rather a fresh start for our man Swift, has even the Shade been redesigned for this brave new world?
Continued belowThat would certainly explain a lot of the artistic choices. Much like Robinson’s 1997 The Shade miniseries, we are set to get a rotating cast of artists on this book, with Cully Hamner being the first of the bunch. And Hamner does a fine job with every character, except for Shade himself. Who was once a gaunt, lithe man is now someone who, apparently, hits the gym daily and drinks his protein shakes. In addition to the changes to his physique, Shade looks almost nothing like he did prior to the series. He doesn’t even look the same panel to panel; sometimes we get a Wolverine lookalike (with sideburns and spiky hair), other times a dead ringer for a beardless Abraham Lincoln, and still other times it appears that Craig Bierko was the inspiration for the character, and not Jonathan Pryce (as Robinson has long said). And yet, Hamner’s work elsewhere in the book is beautiful — his Hope O’Dare has managed to soften the tomboy enough to find why an ageless gad like the Shade would fall in love with her. The action sequences are nice enough, and although some of the initial layouts are a little unusual, overall (if we can dismiss the Shade’s appearance) the art is solid. The best art of the issue, however, is found on the cover. Tony Harris, Robinson’s original partner on Starman, provides an absolutely beautiful cover (featuring yet another stylistic interpretation of the Shade), and will be providing them for the entire run of the series. One of the reasons i am not waiting for the trade for these is the prospect of framing all of Harris’s covers.
As a reviewer and DC aficionado, I can’t wait until we get 6 months or so under our belts for the New 52, because I feel like a broken record saying what I’m about to say: this feels like the prologue to a very interesting story, but as a standalone issue, I can’t wholeheartedly endorse it. Part of that is on Robinson; some of the dialogue is stilted and unnatural, especially the opening scene with Tomas and Shade — they bounce around from topic to topic and back again like a pinball, but never in an organic way. These two men have been friends for years, and they talk like they just met, and one of them is translating from a dictionary. There is a slight hint of an overall plot here, but ultimately the issue feels slight. Part of that also falls on Hamner — at multiple points I was taken out of the story by the ever-changing Shade face. This also falls into one of my biggest pet peeves as a comic book reader: the solicitation being grossly misleading. Absolutely none of the action described in the advance previews happens in this book. And, the most frustrating part of that is that this action seems more exciting when summed up in a few sentences.
But most of this falls on not knowing how the hell to read this book. Because of the aforementioned continuity issues, I found myself more often than not putting the book down and having to ponder how all these pieces could fit together in the DCnU. And isn’t that what the relaunch was supposed to provide: a clean, non-confusing place for readers to enjoy the story? This could have easily been a story told with a simple first page box that would set readers in the proper mindset: The events in this story take place before Flashpoint. Robinson announced this book over a year ago, and so I am sure that the story was put into place before Barry Allen tied three universes together in a deus-ex-treadmill, and DC should have let this story happen in the world in which it was conceived. That would have sheltered my nerd-rage and allowed me to move on unencumbered by philosophical questions about a God damn comic book universe. (And let it be known that I know how ridiculous it is to actually give a shit about continuity)
But ultimately, if the story was engaging enough, and the art engrossing enough, I wouldn’t have noticed the glitches in continuity. I will still continue to buy the book, because I have faith in James Robinson, especially in the realm of Opal City and its denizens. I also know that I am being extra hard on this title because of my love for the story it is continuing. Like so many things, I blame the somewhat sloppy execution of the DC higher ups for allowing a potentially great book to come out at a time when a) it wouldn’t get the deserved attention it deserves as a continuation of one of DC’s best runs of the last 30 years because of 52 (54 if you count this month’s Huntress and Penguin books) other new books being launched at the same time and b) lazily putting it in a world where it can’t fully exist without asterisks and convoluted explanations. What is surely not for the last time this New York Comic Con weekend, I found myself shaking my fist and screaming the cry comics fans know so well:
Final Verdict: 6.0 – Wait for the trade, or for at least a few more issues to see how things are shaking out
