THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR COVERING THIS shade the changing man is one of the first vertigo tites I read alongside sandman and preacher and it's one of my all time favorites that never gets talked about
Thank you! Niche channels like this one should lean into niche material like this. Actually, before I made this video I was surprised that it was highly unrepresented.
@@StrangeBrainParts¿have you though of doing a video on some Franco Belgian comic book series? I personally feel Bande Dessinee is really underrated among many comic book youtube channels (at least in the english speaking one).
@@StrangeBrainParts i would also recommend a video on Philemon by Fred, a bande dessinee from pilote magazine. It's deeply surrealistic and psychedelic.
For me this was the BEST Vertigo series of all time. It was further out than even Morrison's stuff at times, and Bachalo's art was sublime, and for me the definitive Shade artist. His faces are always so expressive. And Milligan never got the recognition he really deserved. It also had the best covers in all of Vertigo.
Shade is one of the most surreal, experimental, subversive and progressive comics that has ever been released by a mainstream publisher and one of the most unique that's ever existed. Also, regrettably, is one of the most overlooked. I've loved it from the moment I first read it. Thank you for dedicating an entire video to it, Alan. 👍🏻👍🏻
“Lenny’s Story” has always been my favorite issue of SHADE: the tale of her life as she and Kathy are sorting out what they (or Kathy) want to be is classic, beautiful storytelling. Along with Bachalo’s artwork, tho tale presents Lenny’s own long-term insanity being integrated into Shade and Kathy’s, giving us a beautiful, unique character to also fall in love with ❣️🖖♾
When I saw this video on my sub feed I screamed. Finally an in depth video about one of my favorite comics? It's just slightly less rare than the chance of a series so dramatically weird lasting 70 issues in the market today. I'm tempted to reread the whole thing now. Keep up the great work!
A scream of delight? I will take that any day. And, I agree! This series is woefully unrepresented on UA-cam. That has now been slightly, marginally corrected.
...that is AWESOME. What a great idea. I have a reversible jacket (grey and red) that has target-like patterns embroidered into it. It kinda reminds me of the Shade clothing. PS your username kicks ass
This the only comic I still actively look for in the cartons. God do I want a collection. All of the best artists working the vibes of the Vertigo era. When I read Sandman and Hellblazer from this time, I'm transported back to being 9 years old and how beautiful and inscrutable and terrifying alternative music could be. Every comic I've found from Shade has been like finding a new Nirvana or Smashing Pumpkins song. Thank you for posting so much of the art and walking thru the major story arcs. The treasure hunt is fun, but I have no idea if I'll ever actually get to read the whole run.
I really appreciate your analysis of the core relationship in this series, and agree completely with its description, and critique. It's this kind of thing that keeps me coming back to this channel. ... though i wouldn't have minded if it was like, twice as long >.> Seriously though; great work
Hey its that comic where my pfp comes from! Jokes aside, incredible comic, my favorite forever. I read it young and it was a blast, 70 issues of madness and characters that made me what I am today. Thank god it got reprinted whole in spanish years ago!!
I absolutely love the artwork in those early issues, Chris Bachalo & Mark Pennington were such a dreamteam (not to forget the outstanding coloring by Daniel Vozzo).
Thank you for making this video! I am obsessed with early Vertigo (or shall i say proto-Vertigo) titles. This era has so much to love in this era. Weird and psychedelic writing, Bachalo finding his voice, Richard Case strongly off Doom patrol. I have hunted down the three trades covering The American Scream amd am deeply angered by the fact DC has never covered the rest of the series. I'm eagerly waiting for your bideos covering more of the lesser covered (proto)Vertigo tiles!
Congratulations to a great video. Shade is the series that made me a Milligan fan, and I lament the fact that it hasn't been collected so far, so I had to hunt back issues. Only 11 to finish. Thanks for the research.
I also vote for the old theme. Hearing it before the video set the mood for your style of analysis, and also told me from video 1 that this was not going to be like every other comic book channel…that I’d stumbled across something special.
Ever since I read "Swamp Thing" I've been curious about reading Shade. Hearing your views and opinions on it has made me felt like I should read it myself to get my own opinion (Much like many other series you have discussed) but also has really helped; in a way validate my identity. Without getting into too much I've gone through a lot lately and have thought a lot about my identity and future as a young individual and just listening to you over the course of this video has really helped me so thank you for that as well as the fantastic content as always, I only wish I had the means to support you.
Loved this series do much that along with The Sandman, Hellblazer and Bookd of Magic became my first Vertigo reads. This series though underrated was nominated for best ongoing series in the 1994 Eisner Awards. Great analysis of it. This and Enigma were Vertigo cornerstone titles. Thanks a lot.
Thank you for covering this. I only first read Shade a few years ago and it was a very challenging but worthy read. Yes it was experimental but in a good way and it expanded my perceptions in good ways.
Great book! I always thought the first fifty issues were some of the most compelling and unified serialized comics I'd ever read--right up there with Grendel and Moore's Swamp Thing. All the mini-arcs fit within the larger arcs and all the larger arcs held together into a satisfying and rich long-term experience. Milligan clearly knew exactly what he wanted every step of the way, and it was thrilling to follow that kind of confident, skilled storytelling. It was also a completely new experience for this reader to spend so much time with such deep, identifiable characters and then end the story with them in utter defeat. Issue fifty was devastating, at the raw end of all their flaws and mistakes, sacrificing everything they cared about and had worked for. The hero losing completely is not a common trope in the comics world, but for everything the team had built up over two and a half years, it make perfect sense. The damn thing just worked. I'm not sure I agree with the thrust of your take on what came after. Those fifty issues are a hell of a thing to live up to--how hard it must have been to continue the story without diluting the impact of Milligan's original vision. I don't see it as much as a deliberate sabotage as a deconstruction of the themes he'd been playing with, as befits the series overall. It was certainly more hit and miss, but the mad flourishes of creativity made up for whatever faults crept into the series. There was a bit too much sadboy/goth grimness for my taste, and it began to resemble more of the lesser end of the Vertigo titles. Still definitely worthwhile though. I never decided if I was okay with the "time travel to fix everything" conclusion (speaking of undermining the original story). I'll have to re-read it all someday soon.
Absolutely going to check this out, and would love to hear your other thoughts on it! Also thank you for your positive summation of the lgbt plotlines! As a trans/genderfluid lesbian whos struggled finding youtubers that discuss (or even acknowledge) these elements in any meaningful or non-bigoted way; I sincerely appreciate the thoughtful, concise, and constructive approach you take. Plus your narration and editing style are top notch!
Thank you very much! I may not have the life experience to discuss LGBTQ+ plots in depth but I will at least acknowledge them and respectfully discuss them. Comics are inclusive! And even if they're not I will be. :)
Found Shade to be a bit out there for me( i was mostly into straight superhero comics at that age) and didnt appreciate more introspective titles. In my defense shade really wasnt a title for adolescents. I do want to give it a shot now. Great video!
That Shade the Changing Man #1 cover is bringing back early 90s proto Vertigo vibes and memories of trekking down to the Silver Snail on Queen St. West in Toronto. It's a time and a place that is now long ago and far away. But thanks for tugging on those threads and letting a little bit of it flow back to me. Ahh to be 21 again.
Easily one of the most underappreciated Vertigo books. I had a friend that lent me the whole run. Even if he didn't like moving past 50, he took it into some interesting places. Damn, I miss this era.
Thank you for covering Shade, ine of my favorite titles during the years it was active. Count me in as very eager to hear more from you in this title should you choose to continue. I would be especially interested into any insights regarding Milligan's attempt to revive the character during New 52 er and how/why that fizzled out so disappointingly.
This actually sold me on the series, thank you. i always had a weird confusion between this and animal man, idk why... maybe i encountered them at the same time. thank you for another great video!! :)
Maybe the confusion was due to Milligan taking over Animal Man after Morrison left? It probably happened roughly at the same time as Shade. Or slightly before.
When I skimmed through the comments, I got the impression that most of the people watching the video are already very familiar with the run by Peter Milligan. I ain't. So let me add from that perspective that I enjoyed your analysis immensely, respect that you didn't argue as a fanboy but from a measured distance and by doing so helped me decide to invest in the upcoming omnibus edition. Haven't checked out more of your channel yet, but please continue this excellent work in analyzing and contextualizing the comic book medium. Cheers mate!
Yes, dude. I love this book so much. I will say that I know the back end of the series is kinda disliked, but I love the idea of the book becoming just as untethered as Shade ends up, and losing your self and humanity forces everything to fall apart. The book and the character are a reflection of that. The ending is one of my favorites. Who was the real Shade at the end of it all? Kathy isn't sure who Shade is, but was Shade ever sure either? The sense of self is something constantly in flux shaped by our environment. I love it all.
I didn't want to spoil that bit, but the fact that we don't see the woman Shade is talking to leaves open the possibility he's not talking to the Kathy we know. So, who she is and how familiar she might be is very questionable.
Interesting seeing all this modern LGBT stuff from the perspective of writers from black in the day. It’s actually seems like is actually part of the story instead of propaganda
I remember really enjoying this series, and I remember losing interest after Kathy's death -- not because of fondness for the character but because the remaining characters (and the story) seemed to lack purpose and direction. It was never, as you pointed out, heavily plot oriented, but there was forward movement. Anyway, thanks for covering this.
I just started reading this after finishing Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol. Immediately won over, naturally, by the first issue, and further won over by the immediate dive into the weird and wild of American Pop Culture. Very excited to get a little background on this work as I plunge in!!! Cheers!
@@StrangeBrainParts There's been a full first omnibus volume published by Panini in Italy. Collects the first 35 issues of the series (in italian of course). I do not know when the 2nd omnibus volume is planned for release.
In North America I think only the first 18 issues have been collected. So, the Italian reprint is doing better than the original publishing company. :)
Hey, Strange Brain Parts, thanks for covering one of the best Vertigo titles. I was wondering, do you plan on analysing the lesser known Vertigo titles featuring DC characters (Kid Eternity, Black Orchid, Human Target, Angel and the Ape, Vertigo Visions...)?
This series is the literal redheaded child of Vertigo comic books and I love it just for being published (I would take it over Sandman, Preacher and Lucifer). I also think that Karen Berger made a big mistake for insisting Milligan to continue the series after issue 50. I also have to command Milligan to be one of the few writers in the comic medium who is not afraid to "kill his darlings".
I mean maybe but I also hindsight is 20/20. I feel as though I can see why Karen thought it would be a great outgoing series like hellblazer because there are so many ways to tackle madness.
I've been a huge fan of Milligan's writing ever since his early days on 2000AD, particularly his collaborations with Shade cover artist, Brendan McCarthy. If anyone wants to dive deeper into Milligan's work, Strange Days (or Paradax, which reprints one of the strips from Strange Days) and Rogan Gosh are just as good and just as weird as Shade. I'd also recommend Bad Company. It's not that weird but it's a great sci-fi war story.
I'd also recommend Milligan's Haircut (I'm going from memory, it might be Mulligan's) for anyone who like oddball stuff. Also a collaboration with McCarthy! Great, strange work.
@@StrangeBrainParts I think it was Hewligan's Haircut, which was originally serialised in 2000AD. I don't think it was a collaboration with McCarthy though, I'm pretty sure it was Jamie Hewlett, hence the portmanteau Hewligan in the title.
Yes! That's it! I completely messed up the artists and that's why I couldn't remember the name of the story. Well, serialized story. Thank you for that!
i've been slowly going through these issues because of nostalgia for the vertigo vibe i was too young to understand when it was coming out. plus i miss bachalo's old style
Shade is one of those characters I first learned about from poring over Who's Who in the DC Universe. That, along with The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, gave many pleasant hours of eyestrain (such crap paper and such crap printing, back then). There's so much in this video that connects -- hard -- and that I could comment on at length. I'll just say: incisive and erudite, this episode isn't merely good -- it's *great.* My sincere thanks for your work, and the result. PS: Lately I've been catching up on your older videos that I missed. And, re-watching several too, for I have always been blessed with a memory like a sieve. I'll probably leave comments on some, and there are some that even non-comics friends would appreciate having forwarded. I'm not requesting your attention to that per se; it's that one does what she can to appease The Ravenous Fickle Mighty Algorithm to whom we bow. I adore you. Stay safe. Edit: corrected omission
Thank you so very much. Lucky for me (I suppose) that your memory has forgotten a bunch of older videos. Mind you, I might be hard pressed to remember a good portion of them too. As always, it's good to see you 'round and spreading the word.
I had a really hard time getting into Shade. Didn't help that I missed the entire first story arc, but I gradually grew fond of the character's dynamic. The art did not help me either as I found it inconsistent. Sometimes it was perfectly adapted to the madness theme, other times I didn't get what the artist wanted me to see. The madness shown wasn't trully madness from my point of view, it was just... weird. The cover art followed the same trend: some were adsolute masterpieces that I kept lying around just to admire and other were simply awful. A month between issues is too long for a series like Shade, so I collected the entire series, but read it a few issues at the time, knowning that I might be missing some details or forget the plot altogether. It's one of the series that I intend to re-read, videos like this one help me reconnect and better appreciate it. Thanks!
Great video on a great comic. It was bonkers when it first came out but after the death of Kathy it went completely off the rails (for the time). It was always on my pull list.
Shade The Changing Man was genius! At least for me, this version was, the others were premature. I got visually seduced by Duncan Fegredo's covers, it made me wish I could've bought one of them-back in the day. I'd no idea he was part of Suicide Squad, must chase down a copy of those issues, as I've already got the rest. I've been houseless twice w/in the past two decades, had to give up my private library of 700+ volumes, nearly a hundred of them monographs no longer available, these I donated to my (then) local public library, making several trips across the street at night to stuff its drop box w/ my collection of monographs, I figured that at least this way the loss isn't so painful-as others will hopefully enjoy them enough to compel them to maybe steal one, or more, but anyway since then I managed to collect the entire set of this series & it's presently still w/ me.& I also have other series that Vertigo produced all safely/tightly ensconced in a black plastic milk crate. Thanks for sharing your insight w/ us.
I was nervous and curious when I saw this one come up. I didn't read Invisibles but suspected it was too jumbled and woo woo to bother with, but your review makes it seem well worth looking into. But, your review of Transmetropolitan was less stellar. I have fond memories of the serious, but without rereading I found your comments to be likely valid. Kid Eternity, was another one, I read that I believe you did a video on, but really there just isn't that much in the series. I like parts of it greatly, but its short and doesn't really get to fully explore it potential, in my opinion. I miss that era of vertigo. I think a sort of recreation of it, in the sprit of X-Men 97 would be very interesting. A sort of retrospective continuation that honors and updates the material. Also, with the benefit of all the material existing, it could be interesting to tie it together somewhat more than it ever was. If I was a better and braver writer I would try to make something that would be meant for a Virtigo publication, in the 90's. Shade, I also read during my most vulnerable teenage years. No idea if it helped or hurt, but it resonated and resonates with me, to this very day.
Well done review. I agree with it completely. Especially what you get out of it depends on what you come with. Have you read Kid Eternity from Vertigo?
Someday, this medium will receive the respect it deserves relative to other art... When that day comes, these videos will be here, waiting to educate everyone.
Shade is one of my all-time favorite comics. I think the displacement aspects resonated with a lot of people even if on an unconscious level. Milligan also returned to the character during his tenure on Hellblazer and i'm surprised you didn't mention it. Perhaps when you go in more depth about this series you could bring that up as well? I'd love to see it.
I can’t watch the video because I don’t want to spoil the series for myself, but just wanted to say it’s a shame that outside of the 3 trade paperbacks the series isn’t collected in English.
I loved Ditko's Shade the Changing Man, and think he got short shrift by cancelling his series after only eight issues. If he'd gotten 50+ issues like Peter Milligan did, there's no telling what he might have done with the character. Anyway, sure I picked up the Peter Milligan series when it came out, but I was so disappointed by how different it was from Ditko that I probably didn't give it a fair chance on its own terms. I only bought the first dozen or so issues before giving it up. But apparently a lot of other people bought and enjoyed it. It just wasn't doing much for me.
THANK YOU FOR COVERING THIS. I love Shade TCM it changed how I viewed comics when I read It at 18 . I NEED an Omnibus/reprint of the whole 70 issue run
bruh what is crazy that you can't even buy decent physical release of this story in english but in my country, in Poland one of the companies releases Shade right now in deluxe editions, 13 chapters per book in hardcovers also with great paper and color quality...
How the hell would we go about getting the rest of the series as a TPB? I really don't like reading digital (bad eyesight), so anything I'm interested in has to be in print or it essentially doesn't exist for me. It's really a shame, since Enigma by Milligan is one of the most compelling stories I've read since getting back into comics
I feel like Shade is one of the few Ditko characters where I don't get an objectivism angle or political angle at a glance compared to Mr. A, Question or Hawk and Dove. I might be wrong but I never really saw Shade, Speedball or Squirrel Girl quoting John Galt.
I never read any Shade books. The first series was Ditko, and... uh, while I think he's a first rate thinker with a strength of character that would be admirable in anyone, that art is just too stylized for me. Too, too, way too stylized. The second series (I assumed) was some of that self- consciously "adult" Vertigo dreck that wanted to be mature but more closely resembled the performative antics of kids at summer camp away from home (and their parents) for the first time. You make it sound better than that.
Oh dear -- did you really say "Bob DODDS"?!? Now I'm starting to regret jumping ahead and posting a link to this over at the Facebook SubGenius page...
This was a very enjoyable watch. Arohanui Mr Shady. And those Brendan McCarthy covers are glorious, visual candy. They are also a good fit with your descriptor: intellectual psychedelia. Neat.
Whats up with Ditko characters always being used to create subversive works? The Question, now Shade. I guess the direction these story go are a response to their creation.
I've read a ton of old Vertigo titles, and honestly, unless you want a lot of material to dig into, I would skip Shade and read Enigma instead. Also written by Milligan with excellent art by Duncan Fegredo, it accomplishes in eight issues what Shade attempts in seventy. It also plays with the ideas of reality and identity, of self definition and forces in the world, of the fluid nature of self and sexuality, and it concludes itself with a somewhat mysterious ending that loops back to the beginning, ending on a final battle about to take place, but not telling us the outcome. Shade is okay for what it is, but I personally found it to be too distracted, too obtuse, and making too little in universe sense for me to really value it as a story. I would direct people to almost any other Vertigo title, especially The Invisibles or any other Morrison work, over this, or perhaps Animal Man, which Morrison began and Milligan continued. I love Vertigo of this time and I love Milligan as a writer, I just would not pick Shade as the best example of either one's offerings.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR COVERING THIS shade the changing man is one of the first vertigo tites I read alongside sandman and preacher and it's one of my all time favorites that never gets talked about
Thank you! Niche channels like this one should lean into niche material like this. Actually, before I made this video I was surprised that it was highly unrepresented.
@@StrangeBrainParts¿have you though of doing a video on some Franco Belgian comic book series? I personally feel Bande Dessinee is really underrated among many comic book youtube channels (at least in the english speaking one).
How about Norwegian writer/artist Jason? Look for that soon.
@@StrangeBrainParts cool idea, i really liked his book "the last musketeer".
@@StrangeBrainParts i would also recommend a video on Philemon by Fred, a bande dessinee from pilote magazine. It's deeply surrealistic and psychedelic.
For me this was the BEST Vertigo series of all time. It was further out than even Morrison's stuff at times, and Bachalo's art was sublime, and for me the definitive Shade artist. His faces are always so expressive. And Milligan never got the recognition he really deserved. It also had the best covers in all of Vertigo.
I think vertigo has to many different genres to say this is the best. Like how can one compare this to say war stories in any meaningful way
Ah the early 90s, when a Shade the Changing Man series could endure for seventy issues. What a time that was.
Shade is one of the most surreal, experimental, subversive and progressive comics that has ever been released by a mainstream publisher and one of the most unique that's ever existed.
Also, regrettably, is one of the most overlooked.
I've loved it from the moment I first read it.
Thank you for dedicating an entire video to it, Alan. 👍🏻👍🏻
This is one of my favorite episodes of all time. Thank you for what you do
Thank you for watching!
“Lenny’s Story” has always been my favorite issue of SHADE: the tale of her life as she and Kathy are sorting out what they (or Kathy) want to be is classic, beautiful storytelling. Along with Bachalo’s artwork, tho tale presents Lenny’s own long-term insanity being integrated into Shade and Kathy’s, giving us a beautiful, unique character to also fall in love with ❣️🖖♾
I agree. That's a pretty great issue. I love the final line of that story: "So, how was your day?" It perfectly captures Lenny, in my opinion.
Kind of insane this series has never been fully reprinted it’s been unavailable our single issues for decades
When I saw this video on my sub feed I screamed. Finally an in depth video about one of my favorite comics? It's just slightly less rare than the chance of a series so dramatically weird lasting 70 issues in the market today.
I'm tempted to reread the whole thing now. Keep up the great work!
A scream of delight? I will take that any day. And, I agree! This series is woefully unrepresented on UA-cam. That has now been slightly, marginally corrected.
The long wait is over, youre finally covering one of the more underrated vertigo titles, time to get weird
Revel in the madness.
Thank you. Shade content seems rare. I keep hoping Shade makes a comeback. In the meantime I will comb through Google for a Shade coat.
...that is AWESOME. What a great idea. I have a reversible jacket (grey and red) that has target-like patterns embroidered into it. It kinda reminds me of the Shade clothing.
PS your username kicks ass
I didn't notice the name until @TitularHeroine pointed it out. That is very awesome. If you can find a Shade coat, let me know!
This the only comic I still actively look for in the cartons. God do I want a collection. All of the best artists working the vibes of the Vertigo era. When I read Sandman and Hellblazer from this time, I'm transported back to being 9 years old and how beautiful and inscrutable and terrifying alternative music could be. Every comic I've found from Shade has been like finding a new Nirvana or Smashing Pumpkins song. Thank you for posting so much of the art and walking thru the major story arcs. The treasure hunt is fun, but I have no idea if I'll ever actually get to read the whole run.
Such a well-done video. You just continue to get better and better with your analyses, writing and production.
Thank you very much. I hope that opinion never changes.
I really appreciate your analysis of the core relationship in this series, and agree completely with its description, and critique. It's this kind of thing that keeps me coming back to this channel.
... though i wouldn't have minded if it was like, twice as long >.>
Seriously though; great work
Hey its that comic where my pfp comes from!
Jokes aside, incredible comic, my favorite forever. I read it young and it was a blast, 70 issues of madness and characters that made me what I am today. Thank god it got reprinted whole in spanish years ago!!
I absolutely love the artwork in those early issues, Chris Bachalo & Mark Pennington were such a dreamteam (not to forget the outstanding coloring by Daniel Vozzo).
Thank you for making this video! I am obsessed with early Vertigo (or shall i say proto-Vertigo) titles. This era has so much to love in this era. Weird and psychedelic writing, Bachalo finding his voice, Richard Case strongly off Doom patrol. I have hunted down the three trades covering The American Scream amd am deeply angered by the fact DC has never covered the rest of the series.
I'm eagerly waiting for your bideos covering more of the lesser covered (proto)Vertigo tiles!
Congratulations to a great video. Shade is the series that made me a Milligan fan, and I lament the fact that it hasn't been collected so far, so I had to hunt back issues. Only 11 to finish. Thanks for the research.
Bring back the old theme song please. it was perfect. it set such a cool mood for the videos. Love your videos!
The ancient theme from about three years ago? That's a maybe. :) You never know when it might appear again.
I also vote for the old theme. Hearing it before the video set the mood for your style of analysis, and also told me from video 1 that this was not going to be like every other comic book channel…that I’d stumbled across something special.
The covers are just epic. Whenever I find them I grab them up.
Thanks for covering this powerhouse of a comic, truly deserves more love and attention! 🙌🙌
Ever since I read "Swamp Thing" I've been curious about reading Shade. Hearing your views and opinions on it has made me felt like I should read it myself to get my own opinion (Much like many other series you have discussed) but also has really helped; in a way validate my identity. Without getting into too much I've gone through a lot lately and have thought a lot about my identity and future as a young individual and just listening to you over the course of this video has really helped me so thank you for that as well as the fantastic content as always, I only wish I had the means to support you.
Loved this series do much that along with The Sandman, Hellblazer and Bookd of Magic became my first Vertigo reads. This series though underrated was nominated for best ongoing series in the 1994 Eisner Awards. Great analysis of it. This and Enigma were Vertigo cornerstone titles. Thanks a lot.
Thank you for covering this. I only first read Shade a few years ago and it was a very challenging but worthy read. Yes it was experimental but in a good way and it expanded my perceptions in good ways.
Great video mate. My brother alwaysed loved this series and its sequels. I remember my first exposure being the DC nation short.
Those shorts were too short. Could have used some Lenny too.
Great job man :)
Great book! I always thought the first fifty issues were some of the most compelling and unified serialized comics I'd ever read--right up there with Grendel and Moore's Swamp Thing. All the mini-arcs fit within the larger arcs and all the larger arcs held together into a satisfying and rich long-term experience. Milligan clearly knew exactly what he wanted every step of the way, and it was thrilling to follow that kind of confident, skilled storytelling. It was also a completely new experience for this reader to spend so much time with such deep, identifiable characters and then end the story with them in utter defeat. Issue fifty was devastating, at the raw end of all their flaws and mistakes, sacrificing everything they cared about and had worked for. The hero losing completely is not a common trope in the comics world, but for everything the team had built up over two and a half years, it make perfect sense. The damn thing just worked.
I'm not sure I agree with the thrust of your take on what came after. Those fifty issues are a hell of a thing to live up to--how hard it must have been to continue the story without diluting the impact of Milligan's original vision. I don't see it as much as a deliberate sabotage as a deconstruction of the themes he'd been playing with, as befits the series overall. It was certainly more hit and miss, but the mad flourishes of creativity made up for whatever faults crept into the series. There was a bit too much sadboy/goth grimness for my taste, and it began to resemble more of the lesser end of the Vertigo titles. Still definitely worthwhile though. I never decided if I was okay with the "time travel to fix everything" conclusion (speaking of undermining the original story). I'll have to re-read it all someday soon.
Absolutely going to check this out, and would love to hear your other thoughts on it! Also thank you for your positive summation of the lgbt plotlines! As a trans/genderfluid lesbian whos struggled finding youtubers that discuss (or even acknowledge) these elements in any meaningful or non-bigoted way; I sincerely appreciate the thoughtful, concise, and constructive approach you take. Plus your narration and editing style are top notch!
Thank you very much! I may not have the life experience to discuss LGBTQ+ plots in depth but I will at least acknowledge them and respectfully discuss them. Comics are inclusive! And even if they're not I will be. :)
I'm so glad this popped up on my timeline! Shade is one of my favorite comics of all time and no one EVER talks about it!
Found Shade to be a bit out there for me( i was mostly into straight superhero comics at that age) and didnt appreciate more introspective titles. In my defense shade really wasnt a title for adolescents. I do want to give it a shot now. Great video!
That Shade the Changing Man #1 cover is bringing back early 90s proto Vertigo vibes and memories of trekking down to the Silver Snail on Queen St. West in Toronto. It's a time and a place that is now long ago and far away. But thanks for tugging on those threads and letting a little bit of it flow back to me. Ahh to be 21 again.
Easily one of the most underappreciated Vertigo books. I had a friend that lent me the whole run. Even if he didn't like moving past 50, he took it into some interesting places. Damn, I miss this era.
Glad I am not the only one that felt Shade fell apart after issue 50. That is the final issue in my personal head cannon.
Still the greatest content creator of the 21st century. Good lawd, i love this channel man
Thank you for covering Shade, ine of my favorite titles during the years it was active. Count me in as very eager to hear more from you in this title should you choose to continue. I would be especially interested into any insights regarding Milligan's attempt to revive the character during New 52 er and how/why that fizzled out so disappointingly.
The first series of floppies I collected! I’ll admit that I liked the first half much better than the second but I appreciate it for what it is.
This actually sold me on the series, thank you. i always had a weird confusion between this and animal man, idk why... maybe i encountered them at the same time. thank you for another great video!! :)
Maybe the confusion was due to Milligan taking over Animal Man after Morrison left? It probably happened roughly at the same time as Shade. Or slightly before.
@@StrangeBrainParts That is very possible. May I should check Animal Man as well :)
When I skimmed through the comments, I got the impression that most of the people watching the video are already very familiar with the run by Peter Milligan. I ain't. So let me add from that perspective that I enjoyed your analysis immensely, respect that you didn't argue as a fanboy but from a measured distance and by doing so helped me decide to invest in the upcoming omnibus edition. Haven't checked out more of your channel yet, but please continue this excellent work in analyzing and contextualizing the comic book medium. Cheers mate!
Yes, dude. I love this book so much.
I will say that I know the back end of the series is kinda disliked, but I love the idea of the book becoming just as untethered as Shade ends up, and losing your self and humanity forces everything to fall apart. The book and the character are a reflection of that. The ending is one of my favorites. Who was the real Shade at the end of it all? Kathy isn't sure who Shade is, but was Shade ever sure either? The sense of self is something constantly in flux shaped by our environment. I love it all.
I didn't want to spoil that bit, but the fact that we don't see the woman Shade is talking to leaves open the possibility he's not talking to the Kathy we know. So, who she is and how familiar she might be is very questionable.
Excellent video I love shade the changing man all time classic
Finally! Someone covered a bizarre and cool character. Thank you.
Interesting seeing all this modern LGBT stuff from the perspective of writers from black in the day. It’s actually seems like is actually part of the story instead of propaganda
Exactly. That's the difference. Those elements seem organic and not an attempt to condescend to the readers.
One of the best comic series Ive ever read.
How this has not been given the live action treatment is a crime.
I love your analyses, I find myself so drawn to grounded yet wild concept stories like this, Preacher, or Resurrection Man. Keep it up :)))
I remember really enjoying this series, and I remember losing interest after Kathy's death -- not because of fondness for the character but because the remaining characters (and the story) seemed to lack purpose and direction. It was never, as you pointed out, heavily plot oriented, but there was forward movement. Anyway, thanks for covering this.
I just started reading this after finishing Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol. Immediately won over, naturally, by the first issue, and further won over by the immediate dive into the weird and wild of American Pop Culture. Very excited to get a little background on this work as I plunge in!!! Cheers!
One of my all time favorite comic stories is Invasion of the Normalcy Snatchers.
Fingers crossed for DC making compendiums for this series one of these days.
I think the American Scream is the only storyline that's been collected. :/
@@StrangeBrainParts There's been a full first omnibus volume published by Panini in Italy. Collects the first 35 issues of the series (in italian of course). I do not know when the 2nd omnibus volume is planned for release.
In North America I think only the first 18 issues have been collected. So, the Italian reprint is doing better than the original publishing company. :)
Planeta DeAgostini in Spain also collected the whole series in TPBs years ago.
Hey, Strange Brain Parts, thanks for covering one of the best Vertigo titles. I was wondering, do you plan on analysing the lesser known Vertigo titles featuring DC characters (Kid Eternity, Black Orchid, Human Target, Angel and the Ape, Vertigo Visions...)?
The entire Vertigo catalog, including obscure titles, will be covered as much as possible.
I love kid eternity that will be an awesome video
This series is the literal redheaded child of Vertigo comic books and I love it just for being published (I would take it over Sandman, Preacher and Lucifer). I also think that Karen Berger made a big mistake for insisting Milligan to continue the series after issue 50. I also have to command Milligan to be one of the few writers in the comic medium who is not afraid to "kill his darlings".
I mean maybe but I also hindsight is 20/20. I feel as though I can see why Karen thought it would be a great outgoing series like hellblazer because there are so many ways to tackle madness.
I've been a huge fan of Milligan's writing ever since his early days on 2000AD, particularly his collaborations with Shade cover artist, Brendan McCarthy. If anyone wants to dive deeper into Milligan's work, Strange Days (or Paradax, which reprints one of the strips from Strange Days) and Rogan Gosh are just as good and just as weird as Shade. I'd also recommend Bad Company. It's not that weird but it's a great sci-fi war story.
I'd also recommend Milligan's Haircut (I'm going from memory, it might be Mulligan's) for anyone who like oddball stuff. Also a collaboration with McCarthy! Great, strange work.
@@StrangeBrainParts I think it was Hewligan's Haircut, which was originally serialised in 2000AD. I don't think it was a collaboration with McCarthy though, I'm pretty sure it was Jamie Hewlett, hence the portmanteau Hewligan in the title.
Yes! That's it! I completely messed up the artists and that's why I couldn't remember the name of the story. Well, serialized story. Thank you for that!
i've been slowly going through these issues because of nostalgia for the vertigo vibe i was too young to understand when it was coming out. plus i miss bachalo's old style
Shade is one of those characters I first learned about from poring over Who's Who in the DC Universe. That, along with The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, gave many pleasant hours of eyestrain (such crap paper and such crap printing, back then). There's so much in this video that connects -- hard -- and that I could comment on at length. I'll just say: incisive and erudite, this episode isn't merely good -- it's *great.* My sincere thanks for your work, and the result.
PS: Lately I've been catching up on your older videos that I missed. And, re-watching several too, for I have always been blessed with a memory like a sieve. I'll probably leave comments on some, and there are some that even non-comics friends would appreciate having forwarded. I'm not requesting your attention to that per se; it's that one does what she can to appease The Ravenous Fickle Mighty Algorithm to whom we bow. I adore you. Stay safe.
Edit: corrected omission
Thank you so very much. Lucky for me (I suppose) that your memory has forgotten a bunch of older videos. Mind you, I might be hard pressed to remember a good portion of them too. As always, it's good to see you 'round and spreading the word.
Beautiful analysis man. Gosh I wish I had the complete series.
Makes me think of The Cornelius Chronicles by Moorcock. Identity shifts, psychedelia, angels & resuurections oh my!
Worth the wait.
Thank you!
A great vid man !
This was such an incredible comic.
Thank you for covering Shade. Alongside Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol it was one of the first comic book titles I collected.
I had a really hard time getting into Shade. Didn't help that I missed the entire first story arc, but I gradually grew fond of the character's dynamic. The art did not help me either as I found it inconsistent. Sometimes it was perfectly adapted to the madness theme, other times I didn't get what the artist wanted me to see. The madness shown wasn't trully madness from my point of view, it was just... weird. The cover art followed the same trend: some were adsolute masterpieces that I kept lying around just to admire and other were simply awful. A month between issues is too long for a series like Shade, so I collected the entire series, but read it a few issues at the time, knowning that I might be missing some details or forget the plot altogether. It's one of the series that I intend to re-read, videos like this one help me reconnect and better appreciate it.
Thanks!
I bought all the comics on Ebay. Gonna read them and check the video bit by bit afterwards!
Have you any thoughts on the latest 'Shade: The Changing Girl/Woman' run by Cecil Castellucci and Marley Zarcone?
He talks about it in his young animal video
Yup, I covered that already.
I’ve got a few random issues of this sandwiched between Enigma, Doom Patrol, and The Question. Now I want to find all of them in dollar bins.
Continue on with this series!
Really great commentary on the series.
Brilliant 👏.👏
I have nothing else to say.👌
Thank you! I've nothing else to add, either. :)
Great video on a great comic. It was bonkers when it first came out but after the death of Kathy it went completely off the rails (for the time). It was always on my pull list.
I collected this series when it came out, but was harder to follow on the monthly, I should revisit it. THanks for the interesting content.
please do another video on this series! this one was a homerun!
Shade The Changing Man was genius!
At least for me, this version was, the others were premature.
I got visually seduced by Duncan Fegredo's covers, it made me wish I could've bought one of them-back in the day.
I'd no idea he was part of Suicide Squad, must chase down a copy of those issues, as I've already got the rest.
I've been houseless twice w/in the past two decades, had to give up my private library of 700+ volumes, nearly a hundred of them monographs no longer available, these I donated to my (then) local public library, making several trips across the street at night to stuff its drop box w/ my collection of monographs, I figured that at least this way the loss isn't so painful-as others will hopefully enjoy them enough to compel them to maybe steal one, or more, but anyway since then I managed to collect the entire set of this series & it's presently still w/ me.& I also have other series that Vertigo produced all safely/tightly ensconced in a black plastic milk crate.
Thanks for sharing your insight w/ us.
Hey man .Nice video. Do u know Where can we get these?
Damn the art is beautiful, might read it only to soak it in.
Hmmm…you have intrigued me, sir…going to pick this series up
I was nervous and curious when I saw this one come up. I didn't read Invisibles but suspected it was too jumbled and woo woo to bother with, but your review makes it seem well worth looking into. But, your review of Transmetropolitan was less stellar. I have fond memories of the serious, but without rereading I found your comments to be likely valid. Kid Eternity, was another one, I read that I believe you did a video on, but really there just isn't that much in the series. I like parts of it greatly, but its short and doesn't really get to fully explore it potential, in my opinion. I miss that era of vertigo. I think a sort of recreation of it, in the sprit of X-Men 97 would be very interesting. A sort of retrospective continuation that honors and updates the material. Also, with the benefit of all the material existing, it could be interesting to tie it together somewhat more than it ever was. If I was a better and braver writer I would try to make something that would be meant for a Virtigo publication, in the 90's.
Shade, I also read during my most vulnerable teenage years. No idea if it helped or hurt, but it resonated and resonates with me, to this very day.
I have the first two TPBs that collect issues 1-12 but the third that wraps up that story is tricky to find.
Hey Strange Brain, where did you get the cover image for the video?
Well done review. I agree with it completely. Especially what you get out of it depends on what you come with. Have you read Kid Eternity from Vertigo?
I remember wanting to like this series more than I actually liked it. It IS good but not my favorite.
I gotta read this one day.
I kept hearing about this series but never read it
So this brings the number of devils in the DC/Vertigo universe to like a thousand?
Someday, this medium will receive the respect it deserves relative to other art... When that day comes, these videos will be here, waiting to educate everyone.
Example of "Comic book editors need to edit and stop getting in the writers' way" #43690.
If it wasn’t for Karen Berger you wouldn’t have gotten shade in the first place
Shade is one of my all-time favorite comics. I think the displacement aspects resonated with a lot of people even if on an unconscious level. Milligan also returned to the character during his tenure on Hellblazer and i'm surprised you didn't mention it. Perhaps when you go in more depth about this series you could bring that up as well? I'd love to see it.
Id love for you to do a video on mulligans X-statix
Was Shade ever likable in this run?
I can’t watch the video because I don’t want to spoil the series for myself, but just wanted to say it’s a shame that outside of the 3 trade paperbacks the series isn’t collected in English.
I loved Ditko's Shade the Changing Man, and think he got short shrift by cancelling his series after only eight issues. If he'd gotten 50+ issues like Peter Milligan did, there's no telling what he might have done with the character.
Anyway, sure I picked up the Peter Milligan series when it came out, but I was so disappointed by how different it was from Ditko that I probably didn't give it a fair chance on its own terms. I only bought the first dozen or so issues before giving it up. But apparently a lot of other people bought and enjoyed it. It just wasn't doing much for me.
THANK YOU FOR COVERING THIS. I love Shade TCM it changed how I viewed comics when I read It at 18 . I NEED an Omnibus/reprint of the whole 70 issue run
Dc hurry up and collect this jesus christ
bruh what is crazy that you can't even buy decent physical release of this story in english but in my country, in Poland one of the companies releases Shade right now in deluxe editions, 13 chapters per book in hardcovers also with great paper and color quality...
How the hell would we go about getting the rest of the series as a TPB? I really don't like reading digital (bad eyesight), so anything I'm interested in has to be in print or it essentially doesn't exist for me. It's really a shame, since Enigma by Milligan is one of the most compelling stories I've read since getting back into comics
I feel like Shade is one of the few Ditko characters where I don't get an objectivism angle or political angle at a glance compared to Mr. A, Question or Hawk and Dove. I might be wrong but I never really saw Shade, Speedball or Squirrel Girl quoting John Galt.
I never read any Shade books. The first series was Ditko, and... uh, while I think he's a first rate thinker with a strength of character that would be admirable in anyone, that art is just too stylized for me. Too, too, way too stylized. The second series (I assumed) was some of that self- consciously "adult" Vertigo dreck that wanted to be mature but more closely resembled the performative antics of kids at summer camp away from home (and their parents) for the first time. You make it sound better than that.
Oh dear -- did you really say "Bob DODDS"?!? Now I'm starting to regret jumping ahead and posting a link to this over at the Facebook SubGenius page...
I did indeed invoke the name!
@@StrangeBrainParts Yeah, except it's "DoBBs"!
Thumbs up if you want Rodrigo santoro to play Rac Shades the changing man
This was a very enjoyable watch. Arohanui Mr Shady.
And those Brendan McCarthy covers are glorious, visual candy.
They are also a good fit with your descriptor: intellectual psychedelia. Neat.
I wish they would re-release the tpb
Whats up with Ditko characters always being used to create subversive works? The Question, now Shade. I guess the direction these story go are a response to their creation.
I've read a ton of old Vertigo titles, and honestly, unless you want a lot of material to dig into, I would skip Shade and read Enigma instead. Also written by Milligan with excellent art by Duncan Fegredo, it accomplishes in eight issues what Shade attempts in seventy. It also plays with the ideas of reality and identity, of self definition and forces in the world, of the fluid nature of self and sexuality, and it concludes itself with a somewhat mysterious ending that loops back to the beginning, ending on a final battle about to take place, but not telling us the outcome. Shade is okay for what it is, but I personally found it to be too distracted, too obtuse, and making too little in universe sense for me to really value it as a story. I would direct people to almost any other Vertigo title, especially The Invisibles or any other Morrison work, over this, or perhaps Animal Man, which Morrison began and Milligan continued. I love Vertigo of this time and I love Milligan as a writer, I just would not pick Shade as the best example of either one's offerings.
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