Shade, the Changing Man #1

History

Shade the Changing Man was the brainchild of Steve Ditko, who had returned to DC after years of working on independent projects including his Mr. A. title; it was the first wholly new character he had created for a mainstream publisher in a long time. Editor Jack C. Harris structured the creative arrangement so that Ditko provided both the plots and all the artwork, while writer Michael Fleisher was brought in specifically to write the dialogue — a collaboration that Fleisher himself reportedly did not find particularly satisfying. DC had originally planned to feature Ditko's name prominently above the title as a solo-creator credit, but Ditko, characteristically ethical about the collaborative nature of the book, vetoed that idea. The issue was on sale March 8, 1977, carrying a June–July 1977 cover date, and the logo itself was a split design: letterer Gaspar Saladino crafted the 'Shade' portion while Bill Morse designed 'The Changing Man.'

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of Rac Shade (Shade, the Changing Man), N-Agent Mellu Loron, Wizor, Zokag the Demolisher, 'Big Jake' Gole, and Leno — all debuting in the lead story 'Escape to Battleground Earth!'
• Created by Steve Ditko (plot, pencils, inks, cover); dialogue scripted by Michael Fleisher; edited by Jack C. Harris at DC Comics.
• On-sale date: March 8, 1977; cover-dated June–July 1977; 36 pages, full color.
• Shade's defining power comes from the M-Vest (short for Miraco-Vest, named for its inventor Dr. Miraco) — a stolen prototype that projects a protective force field and manifests a fear-amplifying, distorted version of the wearer as perceived by opponents.
• The series ran for exactly eight bi-monthly issues before being axed in the 1978 DC Implosion, one of more than thirty DC titles cancelled simultaneously; a fully completed ninth issue only saw circulation in the hand-xeroxed Cancelled Comic Cavalcade #2 (1978).
• Ditko had plotted the series 17 issues ahead at the time of cancellation, indicating substantial long-term creative plans that were never realized in print.
• The entire original eight-issue run, plus the unpublished ninth issue, was collected for the first time in The Steve Ditko Omnibus Vol. 1 (DC Comics, 2011), a hardcover that also reprints Ditko's other 1970s DC work.
• The character was later adapted as one of the launch titles for DC's Vertigo imprint in 1990, re-imagined by writer Peter Milligan and artist Chris Bachalo, with editor Karen Berger; that series ran 70 issues and is widely regarded as one of Vertigo's most critically significant runs.

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