Here’s what I originally
knew about character called the Shade:
1. He’s
a DC villain who can control darkness, using it as a weapon, tool, or means of
escape.
2. He
was from Earth-2 and was a nemesis of the original Flash, later seen in the
classic Flash issue where Barry Allen meets the golden age Flash
3. He
was a sometime member of the Legion of Doom in the Justice League cartoon series.
That’s all I knew, but
when I found this at the library, I figured I would give it a short. I like
when comics focus on the villain, even to the point of giving them their own
series. Villains are much more interesting because their moral code is all over
the place. The Shade doesn’t disappoint. Here, he’s found love and wants to
settle down. It’s just his pesky past that keeps getting in the way. After a
blotched assassination attempt, the anti-hero goes on a world-wide quest to
track down his supposed killer. It ends up being a trip down memory lane.
Perhaps my least favorite
thing about this 12-issue series is the art. There are so many different arts,
probably used for each period of the Shade’s life. But, with so many artist
styles, it’s a little hard to keep the Shade out of costume straight with a
dark hair random guy in a black suit in the background. The write was fantastic
and didn’t leave me feeling unease.
Though not a Halloween comic, with Egyptian
deities, vampires, aliens, magicians, the undead, sinister business men, and
angels and demons; it’s a pretty good read to get one in the haunted spirit
without tons of gore and graphic violence. It’s not the ‘perfect comic”, but at
times, it comes pretty darn close.
Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.
Fright Factor: 5 out of
10.