Written by James Robinson
Illustrated by Cully HamnerAfter surviving a brutal attack in Opal City, the Shade must leave his beloved home in search of answers. His first stop is Hamburg, Germany, where the violent, invulnerable private investigator Von Hammer has the first piece of the puzzle. But to reach the detective, the Shade must duel with darkness against French shadow villain Bete Noir. The menace and mystery are just beginning in this second part of the Shade’s global odyssey!
I need to apologize to anyone who read my review of The Shade #1. I let my (self-coined) nerd-rage get the best of me, and the continuity issues within the comic became the focus of my review, instead of the at-times beautiful artwork and the story. And, to be honest, if I wasn’t focusing on showing restraint, this review could have been a lot of the same, with Bobo Bennetti suddenly being a young man and whatnot. But, I’m taking this one-day at a time, and I promise to not let this get stuck in my craw too badly.
So, leaving all issues involving looking backwards at the Starman series behind, what do I think about The Shade #2? Click the jump to find out just how far I can go before breaking my word.
Consider it broken at word 1, because there is no way to discuss this effectively without some mention of Starman. Taking The Shade as a separate entity, divorced from the Starman series, leaves this series as a pretty genuine bore. It features characters that are unfamiliar, given no real introduction, and don’t have clear motivations.
The issue begins directly where #1 ended, with the Shade in pieces after being hacked apart by Deathstroke. Only, psych!, it wasn’t really Shade that was hacked up, it was a shadow form version of him. So, despite the fact that Shade is immortal, he still sends a shadow version? From there we meet Von Hammer, a German hero who tries to warn the Shade what is coming for him via a message from Bobo Bennetti. After tying up his loose ends in Opal, the Shade takes off for Germany, where he meets Von Hammer and they, together, fight Bete Noir, another shadow wielder.
This should all be right in Robinson’s wheelhouse, and yet it falls flat. The characters have been drained of their rich histories, and therefore, are reduced to simple interactions that leave the reader wondering what happened. The aforementioned Bobo Bennetti is, admittedly, a minor player in this story, but there is so little given to him here that he is reduced to a bad sex joke. In the Starman series he is transformed from a petty crook to a proud hero, and eventually becomes one of Opal’s most important residents. Why use him at all, if Robinson wasn’t planning on doing something special with the character?
And that is the feeling that this whole series is giving me. Why do this Shade story? Perhaps in the pre-DCnU days, where there could have been more focus on the Golden Age historical elements, this could be a story worth telling. Robinson is at his best when weaving threads of the past into his work, and without that present here, there isn’t much worth reading. This may also explain why the original solicitation for the series mentioned the Starman Museum, and yet that is nowhere to be found here — in the DCnU, there is no Starman Museum (I’m showing major restraint here not to go into a continuity wormhole).
Cully Hamner continues to do nice work here, showing his version of Opal City as inspired by the original Tony Harris design, but not beholden to it. Hamner’s inks are interesting; they do wonders for Shade and Bete Noir, but they also manage to cast everyone else in just a slightly darker light, perfect for this book. My one point of contention is still the inconsistency of the Shade himself, but that appears to be working it self out more so in this issue; lets hope by #3, Hamner’s last on the book, the look becomes more familiar.
Overall, this book is simply a disappointment. Starman is a series that had such few missteps that this feels worse than it really is, but that isn’t an excuse. The only reason to bring this character back in his own book would be if there is a story to tell, and so far, this story has not be a particularly interesting one. Part of that is because the final arc of Starman, “The Grand Guignol,” told a Shade story that was far more engrossing, exciting, and meaningful than the one here. Hopefully, the story picks up over the next 10 issues, but right now, I can’t endorse this book.
Final Verdict: 4.7 – Pass
