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Shade the Changing Man Omnibus #1
Shade, the Changing Man by Peter Milligan Omnibus Vol. 1
The surreal superhero epic penned by Peter Milligan is back in print, now collected in omnibus format for the first time!
Along with fellow classics like The Sandman, Animal Man, and Hellblazer, Shade, the Changing Man—a subversive reinvention of a character created by comics legend Steve Ditko—helped usher in the era of DC’s Vertigo imprint, populated by stories with a distinctly mature sensibility and fearless creative vision.
Now, Shade, the Changing Man—written by acclaimed scribe Peter Milligan and with art by Chris Bachalo, Mark Pennington, and more—is collected in the omnibus format!
Shade, the Changing Man starts with Kathy George's encounter with Shade's arrival on Earth from his home dimension of Meta—in the body of her parents' killer. From there, Shade and Kathy journey into America's collective unconscious to find the evil known only as The American Scream. From there, it’s a mind-bending journey into the heartland of a nation, in the most celebrated work of Milligan’s prolific career!
Collects Shade, the Changing Man #1-41, and a story from Vertigo Jam #1, along with a brand-new introduction by Peter Milligan.
Along with fellow classics like The Sandman, Animal Man, and Hellblazer, Shade, the Changing Man—a subversive reinvention of a character created by comics legend Steve Ditko—helped usher in the era of DC’s Vertigo imprint, populated by stories with a distinctly mature sensibility and fearless creative vision.
Now, Shade, the Changing Man—written by acclaimed scribe Peter Milligan and with art by Chris Bachalo, Mark Pennington, and more—is collected in the omnibus format!
Shade, the Changing Man starts with Kathy George's encounter with Shade's arrival on Earth from his home dimension of Meta—in the body of her parents' killer. From there, Shade and Kathy journey into America's collective unconscious to find the evil known only as The American Scream. From there, it’s a mind-bending journey into the heartland of a nation, in the most celebrated work of Milligan’s prolific career!
Collects Shade, the Changing Man #1-41, and a story from Vertigo Jam #1, along with a brand-new introduction by Peter Milligan.
138 pages, Hardcover
Published July 15, 2025
11 people are currently reading
77 people want to read
About the author
Peter Milligan
1,309 books393 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Peter Milligan is a British writer, best known for his work on X-Force / X-Statix, the X-Men, & the Vertigo series Human Target. He is also a scriptwriter.
He has been writing comics for some time and he has somewhat of a reputation for writing material that is highly outlandish, bizarre and/or absurd.
His highest profile projects to date include a run on X-Men, and his X-Force revamp that relaunched as X-Statix.
Many of Milligan's best works have been from DC Vertigo. These include: The Extremist (4 issues with artist Ted McKeever) The Minx (8 issues with artist Sean Phillips) Face (Prestige one-shot with artist Duncan Fegredo) The Eaters (Prestige one-shot with artist Dean Ormston) Vertigo Pop London (4 issues with artist Philip Bond) Enigma (8 issues with artist Duncan Fegredo) and Girl (3 issues with artist Duncan Fegredo).
Series:
* Human Target
* Greek Street
* X-Force / X-Statix
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Peter Milligan is a British writer, best known for his work on X-Force / X-Statix, the X-Men, & the Vertigo series Human Target. He is also a scriptwriter.
He has been writing comics for some time and he has somewhat of a reputation for writing material that is highly outlandish, bizarre and/or absurd.
His highest profile projects to date include a run on X-Men, and his X-Force revamp that relaunched as X-Statix.
Many of Milligan's best works have been from DC Vertigo. These include: The Extremist (4 issues with artist Ted McKeever) The Minx (8 issues with artist Sean Phillips) Face (Prestige one-shot with artist Duncan Fegredo) The Eaters (Prestige one-shot with artist Dean Ormston) Vertigo Pop London (4 issues with artist Philip Bond) Enigma (8 issues with artist Duncan Fegredo) and Girl (3 issues with artist Duncan Fegredo).
Series:
* Human Target
* Greek Street
* X-Force / X-Statix
Ratings & Reviews
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 19, 2025
(Zero spoiler review) 3.5/5
A very mixed bag, but ultimately a rewarding Vertigo experience. Some issues were great. Some were middling. Some were just far too abstract and would have made for a far more enjoyable experience had they never been written in the first place.
Chris Bachalo's art is phenomenal and always elevates the material. It's no surprise that the streak of weaker issues are penciled by others in the latter half of the book. None of the fill in artists are bad by any means, they're just not Chris Bachalo.
All in all, not my favourite Vertigo series, nor even close to it, but it has certainly earned a purchase of omnibus volume 2 whenever it releases. 3.5/5
OmniBen.
A very mixed bag, but ultimately a rewarding Vertigo experience. Some issues were great. Some were middling. Some were just far too abstract and would have made for a far more enjoyable experience had they never been written in the first place.
Chris Bachalo's art is phenomenal and always elevates the material. It's no surprise that the streak of weaker issues are penciled by others in the latter half of the book. None of the fill in artists are bad by any means, they're just not Chris Bachalo.
All in all, not my favourite Vertigo series, nor even close to it, but it has certainly earned a purchase of omnibus volume 2 whenever it releases. 3.5/5
OmniBen.
January 16, 2026
That was some of the weirdest, craziest stuff I’ve read in some time. I probably didn’t understand half of it, but it was always compelling and kept me turning the pages. Enough that I read almost 1000 pages in 6 days. It’s not for everyone, for sure, but if you want something waaaaaaay off the beaten path, this is for you.
September 27, 2025
The first 37 issues of one of my earliest "for mature readers" comics. It might be too trippy for its own good at times but nice to revisit this world in my favourite comics format of a ruddy big hardback. In my opinion it gets great around issue 20-ish, but that might be because that's the point I originally started reading the comics back in the 90s in my "mature" comics discovery era.
August 25, 2025
This scratches the same itch as Sandman, Swamp Thing, Animal Man, Doom Patrol and Hellblazer do. Unfortunately it's the least interesting among these early Vertigo titles.
The first ten issues in this book were a chore to read and the book couldn't hold my attention for even a single issue at a time. The origin is quirky and interesting enough, but the random adventures told in these early stories simply aren't good.
Shade, the Changing Man can do random stuff. That's about as much as I can describe this character after reading 37 issues. It's very ambiguous and the writer just does seemingly random things with the character. Coupled with him having amnesia and no overarching storyline and almost no supporting cast of characters makes the book grow stale very quickly.
After about ten issues the dynamic between Shade and Kathy, the female protagonist, shifts, when Lenny is introduced. Suddenly there's a love triangle at play and elements of soap opera freshen and enrich the (still) random stories. As the stories move along an idea of an overarching plot forms and the three are going on different kinds of quest. These stories are the better ones in this book.
Unfortunately, the writer felt compelled to disrupt the status quo quite often. Shade's appearance changes (ok, that's literally the title), the location shifts, there is a time gap and the dynamics between the 3 are explored from scratch again.
I've used the word 'random' a few times in this review, and I do feel like it describes this book well: There's supernatural elements, strange powers and things happen without explanation, giving me the feeling that everything can happen here, yet it matters very little.
Regarding my initial comparison with other Vertigo books: The muddy artwork, the adult themes of sex, betrayal, conspiracy, murder, heaven & hell; it's all here, as it can be found in other titles. But here, it often feels shoved towards the reader and it's less subtle, less clever than I've seen in other books.
The artwork is typical for the early 90s. Nothing to marvel at and clearly inferior to super hero titles published in the same period.
All in all, the book failed to convince me, due to the lack of great characters (beyond the 3 protagonists), the clumsy use of mature topics and the sheer randomness. Completionists of Vertigo titles will pick this up, others should read Sandman or Swamp Thing before considering this.
The first ten issues in this book were a chore to read and the book couldn't hold my attention for even a single issue at a time. The origin is quirky and interesting enough, but the random adventures told in these early stories simply aren't good.
Shade, the Changing Man can do random stuff. That's about as much as I can describe this character after reading 37 issues. It's very ambiguous and the writer just does seemingly random things with the character. Coupled with him having amnesia and no overarching storyline and almost no supporting cast of characters makes the book grow stale very quickly.
After about ten issues the dynamic between Shade and Kathy, the female protagonist, shifts, when Lenny is introduced. Suddenly there's a love triangle at play and elements of soap opera freshen and enrich the (still) random stories. As the stories move along an idea of an overarching plot forms and the three are going on different kinds of quest. These stories are the better ones in this book.
Unfortunately, the writer felt compelled to disrupt the status quo quite often. Shade's appearance changes (ok, that's literally the title), the location shifts, there is a time gap and the dynamics between the 3 are explored from scratch again.
I've used the word 'random' a few times in this review, and I do feel like it describes this book well: There's supernatural elements, strange powers and things happen without explanation, giving me the feeling that everything can happen here, yet it matters very little.
Regarding my initial comparison with other Vertigo books: The muddy artwork, the adult themes of sex, betrayal, conspiracy, murder, heaven & hell; it's all here, as it can be found in other titles. But here, it often feels shoved towards the reader and it's less subtle, less clever than I've seen in other books.
The artwork is typical for the early 90s. Nothing to marvel at and clearly inferior to super hero titles published in the same period.
All in all, the book failed to convince me, due to the lack of great characters (beyond the 3 protagonists), the clumsy use of mature topics and the sheer randomness. Completionists of Vertigo titles will pick this up, others should read Sandman or Swamp Thing before considering this.
Review of advance copy
Pretty good, but does not hold up to my memories of reading these stories when they were first published. I’ve changed in the subsequent 30+ years, and the stylistic techniques aren’t as novel to me now.
Want to read
June 13, 2024Libro de historietas con ISBN propio. Primer omnibus de la serie.
Want to read
June 18, 2024Omnibus con más de 41 capítulos de la serie.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews