Comic Vine Review

9 Comments

The Shade #12 - Times Past: 1833, Family Ties Part 1

5

The Shade's origin story concludes in this final issue of his 12-issue series.

The Good

It was 1838, moments before The Shade came into his own. Before his life was -- at last -- changed, and he, a family man, turned into the man we would know him to be. It's been about a year since the first issue of THE SHADE first hit stores, and it's certainly been a wild ride. Now, at last, we have issue twelve; the culmination of Robinson's work for nearly a year, and the conclusion of the series. At last we will gain a better understanding of who The Shade really is. Who was the man before he turned, and was overcome by sheer darkness?

"For in that moment the blackness overcame me. And I became oblivion."

The language in this issue is truly something else. The internal dialogue does a phenomenal job in setting the tone and mood of this issue. You get a true sense of who this character is and what is important to him. Robinson does this so well that at the very end you might even find yourself mourning The Shade's loss, a little bit. The pacing is just brilliant the way that the creative team creates a gradual progression before going into the story and revealing who he is and where he had come from. The fantastic writing in this issue is paired with the equally stunning art of Gene Ha who seemed to have had a great time illustrating the book. The artist definitely played around a little bit with the structure and the layout of the panels in this issue; it's pretty impressive.

The issue almost reads like prose and does as good of a job creating the setting for the story as the artist does. One thing I really liked about the end of the issue is that while it feels like a conclusion of sorts (it set out what Robinson had initially planned to do), there's definitely still room for more stories. I think that leaving it open ended just a little bit was probably a good move on Robinson's part.

The Bad

Nothing bad here. Definitely one of the best comics this week.

The Verdict

Although you could go into this issue and understand it's events without reading the previous issues, I wouldn't recommend it. Issue #12 of THE SHADE reads as a great conclusion to a long story, but it also reads as a sort of a beginning. This is the start of the character's life as The Shade. Here is the beginning of where we will see him embrace his identity. It's a great issue.

The great thing about this series has been the way that Robinson has successfully managed to embrace and capture The Shade's voice. He really has a voice and a story to tell in this series, and it's especially prevalent in this final issue. This is absolutely a book I will be picking up once it has been collected, and I recommend you do the same. If you like mysticism, black magic and 19th century excitement, you won't be disappointed. I particularly liked the cameo appearance made by one of the most prominent British authors, too.

9 Comments

Avatar image for artisticneedham
ArtisticNeedham

2731

Forum Posts

5732

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By ArtisticNeedham

Reading it now, and I can't stop. Well, I guess I did to write this but...

Avatar image for jonesdeini
JonesDeini

3874

Forum Posts

224

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 212

User Lists: 9

Edited By JonesDeini

Can't wait to get my copy today! Really gonna miss this book

Avatar image for longbowhunter
longbowhunter

9425

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 4

User Lists: 1

Edited By longbowhunter

I'm torn between this and Punk Rock Jesus as pick of the week. This series had a murderers row of artists and Gene Ha has never looked better. He really had fun illustrating a period piece comic. Not sure who was on colors but kudos. The muted tones looked great. True I did mourn Dicky's loss and the ending of this title. But it was a great time had. Seeing Shade getting in Ludlow's carriage at the end was a treat too. Go out and buy Starman everybody!!!!

Avatar image for carnivalofsins00
carnivalofsins00

1224

Forum Posts

53

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 155

User Lists: 8

Edited By carnivalofsins00

Sara, I highly recommend you read Robinson's previous Shade 4 issue mini series. This 12th issue did something really cool, which tied into the first issue of that mini from long ago. The 4 issue mini picks up with Shade's memory wiped and with him meeting that Ludlow fellow.

Avatar image for longbowhunter
longbowhunter

9425

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 4

User Lists: 1

Edited By longbowhunter

@carnivalofsins00 said:

Sara, I highly recommend you read Robinson's previous Shade 4 issue mini series. This 12th issue did something really cool, which tied into the first issue of that mini from long ago. The 4 issue mini picks up with Shade's memory wiped and with him meeting that Ludlow fellow.

I caught that. Really made everything come full circle.

Avatar image for thethe
TheThe

1847

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By TheThe

Thank your for the review. As a big fan of this comic book myself, it's pleasure to see somebody else praising the quality of the work done here.

Avatar image for galacticpunt
GalacticPunt

77

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By GalacticPunt

A fine encore to the story told in the previous 11 issues, and a smart prelude to the 4-issue Shade miniseries released so long ago. The narration is fantastically... alive. It's apparent that Robinson has developed the character's voice to the point where The Shade's Journal practically writes itself. I'd read another 100 issues of this too.

The maxiseries leaves you wanting more. If only there were more pages, we could know

WHY he was hand-picked for infusion (or possession?), not just HOW.
Avatar image for feargalr
feargalr

1245

Forum Posts

431

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By feargalr

The only bad thing about this series is that it ended :(

Avatar image for jonesdeini
JonesDeini

3874

Forum Posts

224

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 212

User Lists: 9

Edited By JonesDeini

@longbowhunter said:

@carnivalofsins00 said:

Sara, I highly recommend you read Robinson's previous Shade 4 issue mini series. This 12th issue did something really cool, which tied into the first issue of that mini from long ago. The 4 issue mini picks up with Shade's memory wiped and with him meeting that Ludlow fellow.

I caught that. Really made everything come full circle.

yeah I'm likely going to dive in the back issue bin to get my hands on those, or are they included in the Starman Omnibuses? Because I started those a few months back.

Also Gene Ha drew his asses all the way OFF in this issue. Man, this book has been a visual treat from start to finish.