Who's Who - The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #20 [1986]

Of the various Ditko creations for DC, Shade is probably the most Ditkoesque. A very inventive series, with a lot of great imagery, a constant stream of new ideas and a lot of potential.

He made a brief return to that world for this profile page almost a decade after it was abruptly cut short (with one completed issue still not published, and I'm sure plans for more). A nice taste of just some of the stunning visuals that Ditko designed for the book.

Shade, the Changing Man #3 [1977]

SHADE was one of Ditko's major mainstream works of the 1970s, a decade during which he mostly drew stand-alone short stories and stories from other writers. He did plots and art for SHADE, though, with Michael Fleisher handling the script. The book lasted for 8 issues, with a 9th issue only showing up for copyright reasons in the CANCELLED COMICS CAVALCADE #2 photocopy package.

The series was pretty densely written, with a lot of characters and concepts introduced in the first few issues, and a pretty unusual pacing, with a lot of short scenes jumping from character to character. A very weird sort of intensity, and also some weird visuals, perhaps none moreso than the villain, Sude, who operates behind a giant red globe head with hands. Seriously, what's that about?

In this issue, "Escape into...the Trap!", Shade escapes from his love, Mellu, who thinks Shade is behind a bomb attack on her parents. Shade returns from Earth to Meta and is on the run, hoping to find a way to clear his name, while Sude has sent another agent, the invisible Cloak. Shade manages to escape, but not before being framed for another death, and going back on the run.

Ditko plots and draws the 17-page story and draws the cover.

"Escape into...the Trap!" J-4720
Cover C-475