A Vertigo character that I guarantee you, nor any other comic reader, expected just popped up in the most unexpected place. While the heyday of the original Vertigo era is long gone, its influence lives on, not just in creator-owned works like 100 Bullets or Y: The Last Man, but in books that existed in that weird, quasi canon with the mainline DC Universe. I’m, of course, talking about books like Doom Patrol and Sandman, the ones that ended up, one way or another, influencing the direction of beloved DC Comics characters today.

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As interesting as it was, that brief overlap of the Vertigo and DCU corners was separated some time ago. Certain characters were folded back into DC continuity during Flashpoint, while the Vertigo imprint was recently relaunched as a line for solely creator-owned titles. All that said, you never know when characters who existed in that weird, in-between period are going to pop up. Maybe it’s Animal Man on a team, or maybe one of the Endless gets a cameo somewhere. Or, as is the case with the Absolute Universe, a Vertigo character is overhauled into a cosmic monstrosity.

Shade the Changing Man is Back as an Absolute Villain

Absolute Green Lantern #13 by Al Ewing, Eleonora Carlini, Ivan Plascencia, and Lucas Gattoni takes a break from Jo Mullein and her Earth-based adventures to tell a tale set in deep space. On the planet Rann, an overseer of the Blackstars is being chewed out by the Controller of MU (the Absolute Universe’s Sinestro). The Controller is worried that Tomar Re and Jo have met and are on their way to take out the Blackstars’ greatest weapon, Mogo. Knowing they have to pass through by Ran, Sinestro orders the planet’s overseer to take them out by any means necessary.

The overseer dispatches a few Black Hands to deal with the Re and Jo before dealing with another issue, a scientist who has experimented with forbidden technologies. Sardath, the scientist, claims he was just creating a communication beam. The overseer doesn’t buy it and interrogates Sardath with the overseer’s secret weapon: The M-Vest. Yes, this Adam Strange-looking man is actually Rac Shade, whose planet was conquered years ago by the Blackstars. Shade uses the M-Vest to grill Sardath while revealing how Shade was lobotomized and conscripted into the Blackstars’ service.

Shade finishes his interrogation and goes to see Sardath’s Zeta Beam for himself. Thanks to the M-Vest, everywhere Shade goes, people see visions of monsters and other cosmic horrors. Shade and his Blackstar flunkies inspect the Zeta Beam, only for it to summon an O.S.S. agent named Emily Hawke. Hawke makes a run for it, only to run into Shade, who unleashes the full power of his M-Vest, becoming a horrifying kaju (at least, that’s how he’s perceived). However, Emily doesn’t fear him, and she’s able to grab onto his true form, breaking his neck and killing the overseer.

Anything is On the Table in the Absolute Universe

This book really got me, because for a moment, the book really did want you thinking this was some messed-up version of Adam Strange (it’s set on Rann, his supporting characters appear, etc). But the reveal that the overseer was actually Rac Shade was a gut-punch. Aside from this being one of the biggest appearances of Shade in years outside of his small appearance in Shade, the Changing Woman, this is a great example of how amazing the Absolute Universe can reinvent things to tell new and interesting stories.

For those unfamiliar, Shade was a poet, and the last thing he’d ever want to do is follow the orders of a fascist like the Controller of MU (much less lead part of his army). But in the Absolute Universe, evil has the upper hand. Shade even mentions he wanted to study poetry before he was ‘corrected’ and made to serve as the overseer of Rann. It’s tragic, and it really highlights the cruelty and how pervasive darkness and totalitarianism are in this world Darkseid fashioned.

I hate that Shade had to die, especially since you don’t see him too often these days. But as a fan of the character, I’m happy just seeing creators remember that he exists. In a perfect world, he would have popped up in a book more suitable to his Prime counterpart (say, Absolute Martian Manhunter). But for the story this book is trying to tell, I suppose I can understand reinventing him as a cosmic villain. It sucks, but at least Shade’s time with the Blackstars was short.

What did you think about Shade’s appearance in Absolute Green Lantern? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts on the ComicBook Forum!