Shade

HISTORY

An immortal around 200 years of age, Shade has a long and winding history filled with a many stores of heroics, villainy, darkness, love, tragedy, and practically every other dramatic element. He has served as a hired killer, been an adventurer, a villain, and in recent times has been considered what others refer to as a “hero.” He has gone by many aliases in his lifetime, Mr. (James) Black, Louie Fox, and so on. Many famous figures form history he has met during his extended life. During the ritual that made Swift change into an immortal, Swift was exposed to horrors to this day he will not dare recount.

Despite succumbing to amoral apathy, Swift eventually redeemed himself in the fight for his only true love, Opal City. He has by now come to the realization that many have helped him along a lighter path, though not one of the light and the white. He’s still revels in his amoral sense of life, likely fallout from his immortality.

PRE-IMMORTALITY

The man who would come to be known as the Shade, Richard Swift, was born in London, England sometime in the close of the 18th century. Swift has disclosed little of his early life. What is known is that he was a sort of dapper rake, though far from evil, practically like a character out of Dickens. And speaking of Dickens, Swift was friends with the author during his younger years, at the least. Richard possibly inspired a few characters in the author’s writings, and his later events in life possibly inspired one of Dickens’ novels.

In the 1837, Swift met the dwarf Simon Culp, and the two were immediately the opposite of friends. Culp was definitely a very evil man, one with no morals, and seemed to hate Swift.

1838 - TRANSFORMATION

Swift somehow found himself in a “bad, dark part of London,” (Tiger Bay) one day in 1838 on a pitch black night. That night, 104 souls were lost to Heaven and Hell. Likely through inadvertently stumbling upon (or being forced into) a ritual, Swift gained his immortality and umbrakinesis. Little is known of what transpired that night, except that it was so horrible, years later, Swift still doesn’t wish to regale anyone with the tale, and that the event had a deep impact on him mentally. In his own words, they were “events that hurt to this day to recall.” Simon Culp, following Swift, also gained the powers, but Swift did not know this until later on.

1838 - 1942  THE INBETWEEN YEARS

After his transformation, Swift was wandering in one of London’s most dangerous areas, dazed and with tattered clothing. A family by the name of the Ludlows rescued him from the dangerous streets. Swift was treated as a guest by them; however something was unsettling about the family. He learned their “gratitude” was nothing more than a part of a wealth-enhancing plan, using Swift as the scapegoat in a murder they had committed. Taken to their latest job, Swift was seconds away from death. That wasn’t to be. The darkness Swift had gained in the ritual then kicked in – he realized at that instant that he had it, and that it was his to command. He killed every Ludlow present. Little did he know, two Ludlow children remained alive.

Swift left, eventually running into Charles Dickens, and slowly began to recall what had transpired in days past. The Ludlows meanwhile did not forget the man who killed their family.

1863, Shade found himself opposing an occultist (possibly Lord Maximilian Trockworth, mentioned later on). He was sent to another dimension, and managed to escape after a few years.

In 1865, Swift was fired upon by hired gunmen from a Ludlow by the name of Rupert. Still learning how his shadows worked, he was shocked by the pain. It had been the first “fatal experience” for him. The Ludlow gloated, and Swift killed him with a shard of shadow. There were more instances such as this to come throughout his life.

He killed countless Ludlows, and of course crossed paths with Culp. India, Vienna, China. All over the world he could never escape the devils. He almost met the devil in Iceland, when he had visited for a friend's wedding. Offered power and a place with the Devil's minions, because of his shadowy powers, Swift hardly took any time to decide. He rejected the Devil. When the Devil said Shade would be tortured beyond comprehension once he died, Shade responded in the following words:

"By then I may have the power to kill you and take your throne. Don't threaten me. I'll skin you and make slippers for my feet from your hide."

He first visited America in the 1870s, and took a liking to Opal City. here, he met the Kiowa-raised Brian Savage, or Scalphunter. Despite their differences in personality and background, the two became good friends.

In 1882, under the alias of Mr. James Black, he was hired to save a girl (by her brother) from a hypnotist named Lune. Swift killed Lune and his entire circus troupe in the process. After this, he went on various adventures. After Brian Savage's murder in 1899, Swift somewhat shied away from friendships.

During World War I, Swift aided Canada. In 1931 he fell in love with a woman named Marguerite Croft, under the alias of Louie Fox. She deceived him and was actually a Ludlow. Trying to poison Shade and kill him, she only angered him more than no other, and broke his heart in the process. He killed her, only to withdraw from normalcy even more and revel in amorality.

In 1941, Shade helped the hero Captain X in London against a Nazi-created monster. Culp met up with him, and just when the two began fighting, a German bomb (it was the Blitz) reduced both to nothing but shadow; their shadow essences (since they both gained their powers in the same shadow ritual) fused into one, leaving only Swift. However, Culp's essence was part of Swift's.

1942 THROUGH THE 1980s - A VILLAIN

In 1942 (first appearance, Flash Comics #33), Swift decided to remedy his boredom by joining in the costumed games with super-heroes and super-villains. In his first appearance, he donned a top hat and mask and referred to himself as The Shade. To him, fighting the heroes was a "joust." Swift was one of the Flash's ( Jay Garrick) main villains. He also joined the Injustice Society.

In 1951, he foiled the Spider's (a hero who wasn't a hero and was a Ludlow, putting it simply) scheme to murder Jay Garrick and his wife (The Shade #3). He killed The Spider. He (along with second-string villain Bobo Bennetti) also saved Starman from an assassination attempt a few of the other Injustice Society villains had planned. Swift also clashed with the second Flash, Barry Allen, and was involved in the Keystone City 'sleep' of more than a decade. He also had a plot to destroy the world. Some of his actions were obviously from Culp; whenever Swift was fatigued, the other would assume control of his actions, seeking to discredit Swift and paint him to be even more of a blackheart than he actually was.

In the 1980s, Swift joined Injustice Inc. This was short-lived, and deciding he had had enough of playing a version of himself with reduced powers and getting punched in the face every now and then, he retired from the live of a villain.

THE 1990s AND BEYOND - OPAL CITY'S GUARDIAN

In the early 1990s, he became involved with the Mist's plot to eliminate the Knight family for good. Playing the part of the Mist's ally, he gained valuable information. Annoyed with the crime wave in Opal City, as well as seeing potential in Ted Knight's (Starman I) remaining living son, Jack, Shade helped Jack and the police-family the O'Dares bring the Mist to justice. Swift quickly forged a friendship of sorts with Starman, giving him his journals to read. He later aided in the defeat of a man by the name of Merritt, who traveled city-by-city with a poster that sucked people into Hell. Swift by then learned that Matt O'Dare was his Scalphunter reborn, and went into the poster after O'Dare. In Hell, Shade was ironically seen wearing an all-white ensemble. When asked by Matt O'Dare if he was all right, Shade replied, "No. Look how I've be made to dress. I truly am in Hell."

Despite his amoral personality, Shade agreed he would have given up his soul to free countless innocents who had been taken by the poster. With this agreement, as well as those of Jack Knight (Starman VII) and Matt O'Dare, all were freed, having 'defeated' the demon of that level of Hell. He also met Neron, and completely and utterly rejected the demon's offer of power, citing he was already immortal and had everything he needed (Showcase '95 #12). He also insulted Neron in the process, something that would come back to haunt him. Shade also was seen briefly visiting the funeral of the original Chronos, David Clinton, and later gave a card for Jack Knight's shop, Knight's Past, to one of Clinton's ex-wives (Chronos #6).

Swift helped Matt O'Dare clear his name, aided Starman (Jack Knight) in his quest to the Stars, and helped end the Ludlow-rivalry with one remaining branch of the family (The Shade #4). Upon his return to Opal City after that, he stopped a madman attempting to level the city. Others at this time had no powers (the Genesis storyline), but he still very much had his powers.

While Starman had left Opal and gone to space for a series of adventures, Shade began exhibiting violent tendencies. Culp was growing more powerful inside of him. Over the years, Culp had slowly been making plans to destroy Opal City and kill Swift, whenever Swift had lost control of his consciousness. When Opal was attacked by multitudes of villains and criminals (the Grand Guignol storyline), Culp was able to make his move, exiting Swift's body and taking all of their shadow essence with him.

A new Ludlow, the Spider II, was going to kill the then powerless Swift, but Matt O'Dare intervened in time, freeing his friend. From there, he joined Starman in stopping Culp. Shade was lucky. He had created a Dark Fey by the name of Smudge, injecting the finer points of his personality within it. Smudge sacrificed himself for his master, enabling Swift to regain his shadow from Culp. He fought his longtime enemy. Swift was victorious and gained Culp's shadow then. Moments away from killing Culp, the Mist beat him to it, revealing he had been given his sanity back by Neron. Neron had aided many of Starman's old enemies in an attempt to strike Opal City because of Shade's rejection.

However, the forces of good won out in Opal City. In Ted Knight's final moments, the first Starman told Shade to help his son guard Opal City and mentioned that he saw a hero in Shade. Shortly after, Shade said goodbye to his friend Matt O'Dare, who swore he would return (and likely has as most recent (and slightly insane) Starman in JSA).

Jack Knight soon moved on from the life of a hero and left Shade and others to guard Opal City. Shade was rather disappointed with Jack's choice to give the Star Rod to Courtney Whitmore. Later, he met Stargirl and Billy Batson (Shazam!) in the Shadowlands, helping them both return to the regular world (JSA #47-48). However, he did not aid in the fight against Obsidian and his allies, despite his experience and powers obviously would have immensely helped the JSA.

Shade was hired by Green Arrow just in case he had died, to gather all proof of his secret identity. However, Shade didn't feel like going to the funeral once Arrow had "died", and also hired Catman to take care of the procuring. He personally refused to involve himself in taking anything from the Flash museum or JLA as well, emphasizing the JLA.

During the Infinite Crisis, Shade was seen grudgingly saving Opal City's citizens from bizarre disasters that the Crisis has caused ( JSA #81). He claimed he was saving the architecture, and not the citizens. During the disasters in the city, Stargirl's father died. Shade briefly visited her and told her of the news.

In the fallout of the Crisis, many strange magical oddities occurred. One happened to Shade; when he was enjoying a late night supper in Madrid, Spain, he was interrupted by a very-deadish Lord Trockworth, the occultist he had killed a century before. Shade put a swift end to the zombie (Brave New World #1). He recently reappeared in the 3rd issue of Justice League: Cry for Justice, meeting with Bobo Bennetti and Charity O'Dare about Prometheus' plot againt the world. In the 4th issue, he appeared again, this time appearing without warning in the home of Jay Garrick. After shrugging off Jay's shock, Shade discussed his worry for Opal city and America. He offerred answers for Jay's questions regarding recent events and then asked for a coffee - black of course.

THE FUTURE

In the future, after Earth is no more ( Starman Annual #1 - Legends of the Dead Earth), Shade is guardian/leader of a rather idyllic world, small, but with all amenities. After the Earth's end, he stops writing his journals. His personality seems somewhat less uptight, and he is well-respected by those on the planet. Much of day he spends telling youngsters of times past. This seems to be a definite in the DCU.

As for the tentative, around 2998, when Swift wasn't "cured" by Jack Knight for the shadow 'cancer,' he attempted to leave earth and withdraw to his shadowrealm. However, the darkness created was so unlimited it began to cause mayhem celestially, blotting out light from planets. When Jack Knight (Starman VII) and Mikaal Tomas (Starman III) ventured into the future, they met this Shade, and he told them of what had happened, warning Jack of what was to come. This Shade also met Umbra, and various Legion of Super Heroes members. This exact future for Shade is unlikely, since Jack most likely cured Shade.

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