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Shade, the Changing Man (Collected Editions) #1
Shade, the Changing Man, Volume 1: The American Scream
Shade is back in this new printing of the groundbreaking Vertigo trade from writer Peter Milligan.
Beginning 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.
These are the classic Vertigo stories written by Peter Milligan, so if you've been digging the acclaimed writer's work on Greek Street and Hellblazer, be sure to pick up this new printing of Milligan's earlier work!
Collecting: Shade, the Changing Man 1-6
Beginning 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.
These are the classic Vertigo stories written by Peter Milligan, so if you've been digging the acclaimed writer's work on Greek Street and Hellblazer, be sure to pick up this new printing of Milligan's earlier work!
Collecting: Shade, the Changing Man 1-6
168 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
29 people are currently reading
1725 people want to read
About the author
Peter Milligan
1,296 books386 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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Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews
February 18, 2022
Nope.
Can’t do it, I started out not liking this and it never really got better. For novels I have a 100 page rule, I’ll give any book at least 100 pages before I give up, but for graphic novels? I don’t know, I tried but I just never bought it and life’s too short.
I didn't like the writing, didn't like the art. Just nope.
Reminiscent of early Hellblazer or Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing, I thought I might get into it. Very unusual idea, a young woman’s parents are savagely murdered and the murderer, as he is electrocuted, is possessed by an extra dimensional being, the Changing Man. So they go on adventures?
And then something about Kennedy’s assassination and it just got weird and I didn’t want to look at it anymore. So DNF, you can hate me for the one star.
Can’t do it, I started out not liking this and it never really got better. For novels I have a 100 page rule, I’ll give any book at least 100 pages before I give up, but for graphic novels? I don’t know, I tried but I just never bought it and life’s too short.
I didn't like the writing, didn't like the art. Just nope.
Reminiscent of early Hellblazer or Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing, I thought I might get into it. Very unusual idea, a young woman’s parents are savagely murdered and the murderer, as he is electrocuted, is possessed by an extra dimensional being, the Changing Man. So they go on adventures?
And then something about Kennedy’s assassination and it just got weird and I didn’t want to look at it anymore. So DNF, you can hate me for the one star.
April 11, 2016
An alien named Shade wins up in the body of a killer while he's being executed in the electric chair. Shade and Kathy, daughter of two of the killer's victims, go on a strange odyssey and combat the American Scream...
When people talk about British comic writers, Peter Milligan is usually an afterthought after the big three of Moore, Gaiman, and Morrison. While Shade isn't my favorite of Milligan's work, it gives hints as to what he's capable of.
Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing lead to a lot of British writers getting work reviving some of DC's forgotten characters. Milligan ended up with Shade, an old Steve Ditko character, and put out a book that consistently competed with the Doom Patrol as one of DC's weirdest books.
My plot summary doesn't do the book justice. The weirdness level is high and Milligan works JFK, Hollywood, and a lot of other distinctly American things into the mix. It's a fun ride even though I'm not quite sure what happened in parts. I'm giving it a 3, partly for nostalgia reasons and partly because I know it only gets better from here.
When people talk about British comic writers, Peter Milligan is usually an afterthought after the big three of Moore, Gaiman, and Morrison. While Shade isn't my favorite of Milligan's work, it gives hints as to what he's capable of.
Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing lead to a lot of British writers getting work reviving some of DC's forgotten characters. Milligan ended up with Shade, an old Steve Ditko character, and put out a book that consistently competed with the Doom Patrol as one of DC's weirdest books.
My plot summary doesn't do the book justice. The weirdness level is high and Milligan works JFK, Hollywood, and a lot of other distinctly American things into the mix. It's a fun ride even though I'm not quite sure what happened in parts. I'm giving it a 3, partly for nostalgia reasons and partly because I know it only gets better from here.
December 8, 2007
Inescapably one of the finest comics I've ever read, but unfortunately, only the beginning of the series is available, and it is the weakest part. It will be a crime if the lack of success of these early bits forestalls the entire series becoming available, because it stands up as the equal of any other Vertigo title. Milligan is still trying to find his voice in these early stories, which are more standard fare, but soon he catches his stride and reaches levels of thoughtfully absurd wit to rival Moore's 'Swamp Thing', Gaiman's 'Sandman' or the better arcs of 'Hellblazer'.
Good as they can be, it's a shame Morrison and Gaiman get the lion's share of the attention for the Britwave movement, because Milligan wrote a much more innovative book. The art is solid, if not always remarkable. Bachalo is a bit weak at the beginning but he does some of the best work of his career around the middle. The illustrators who replace him for the closing of the series are competent, but don't have the same strikingly idiomatic visions.
The real star here is the writing, and Milligan is a talent who deserves to be better known and widely respected. His 'Enigma' is as unusual and insightful as Watchmen, his Extremist and Skin are darker and more transgressive than anything else put out by a major publisher. Yet Shade is his most imaginative and wide-ranging book, an amazing feat of constant reinvention with a smart, literary sensibility unrivaled in comics.
When people ask what my favorite comic is, I still say 'Shade', and I'm always sad at the lack of recognition when I say it.
My Suggested Reading In Comics
Good as they can be, it's a shame Morrison and Gaiman get the lion's share of the attention for the Britwave movement, because Milligan wrote a much more innovative book. The art is solid, if not always remarkable. Bachalo is a bit weak at the beginning but he does some of the best work of his career around the middle. The illustrators who replace him for the closing of the series are competent, but don't have the same strikingly idiomatic visions.
The real star here is the writing, and Milligan is a talent who deserves to be better known and widely respected. His 'Enigma' is as unusual and insightful as Watchmen, his Extremist and Skin are darker and more transgressive than anything else put out by a major publisher. Yet Shade is his most imaginative and wide-ranging book, an amazing feat of constant reinvention with a smart, literary sensibility unrivaled in comics.
When people ask what my favorite comic is, I still say 'Shade', and I'm always sad at the lack of recognition when I say it.
My Suggested Reading In Comics
July 10, 2017
An interesting concept, not the best execution. Milligan literally based his series around madness, so it's easy to say that this book is crazy for the sake of being crazy. There are some cool ideas here, and the very first issue especially is brilliant. The following "who killed JFK" storyline was dull and repetitive, but the final couple of issues centered around a movie production were good, and very Sandman-esque. Shade is a quintessential nineties Vertigo book, so if you've read comics like Sandman, Animal Man and The Invisibles, you pretty much know what to expect. I still think that Enigma is the best thing that Milligan has ever written, and is a better book to get to know his style, but Shade feels more ambitious and wider in scope. As far as I know, this series was never entirely collected in trades (only the first three volumes were released before Vertigo stopped publishing them), but the entire 70-issue run is available in singles on Comixology, right now on sale for only a dollar per issue. So if you're interested, and if you're a fan of the more famous Vertigo "British invasion" comics, why not give this obscure classic a spin.
March 16, 2013
Absolutely one of the weirdest comics I've ever read. The writing is quite good, and Milligan really put in some extra effort in developing the characters, especially Kathy. But I kind of feel like the entire point of the series was weird just for the sake of weirdness, and maybe I'm just full up on that. Glad I read it, because it was an interesting read. But this will probably be it for me.
August 1, 2019
There's some mental gymnastics required for this one, running around strange concepts and jumping between bizarre manifestations of madness with little hand-holding. It's dizzying, sure, but a lot of fun!
January 18, 2024
The character backstory is pretty cheesy and the character looks like a bad incarnation of Doctor Who, but it has some interesting things to say and the writing is strong.
March 6, 2021
Read with a group. It looks and feels very similar to other things from Vertigo at the time like Sandman and Doom Patrol. The character has potential, and I've heard that the best issues come later, but I'm not in any hurry to read more. The character with an obsession with the JFK murder gets old fast for me, but that Kennedy-rhea almost seems quaint compared to some more recent conspiracy theories.
June 20, 2017
Revisiting this book after some foggy years of comic fandom and personal turmoil has been an interesting gift that I am forever grateful for. Sometimes, we find that the things that resonated with us when we were younger seem alien to us as we change and our world changes alongside us, but I am always pleasantly surprised to see that I get more out of Peter Milligan's work as I age.
Shade's scope is vast, image is wild, inspirations too human and real. This makes the juxtaposition between his (then) modern conflicts/views of society's issues (at the time) and dreamlike mythologies both contrast and fuse in ways unexpected and, shockingly, even now, still relevant.
I was rereading this outside the coffee shop in the wake of the news of two citizens in Portland's act of standing up to a racist incident on public transit, where they were fatally stabbed. The ideas of JFK, the martyr, the symbol, the death of the American dream (or new form?), and the constant resonance of "Who shot JFK?" as a means to mirror our own American Scream of "Who Killed Our Idealism? When did reality invade? Are there no more heroes and god-kings?" is all the more stinging and painful to me as an adult trying to make sense of it all.
Shade's scope is vast, image is wild, inspirations too human and real. This makes the juxtaposition between his (then) modern conflicts/views of society's issues (at the time) and dreamlike mythologies both contrast and fuse in ways unexpected and, shockingly, even now, still relevant.
I was rereading this outside the coffee shop in the wake of the news of two citizens in Portland's act of standing up to a racist incident on public transit, where they were fatally stabbed. The ideas of JFK, the martyr, the symbol, the death of the American dream (or new form?), and the constant resonance of "Who shot JFK?" as a means to mirror our own American Scream of "Who Killed Our Idealism? When did reality invade? Are there no more heroes and god-kings?" is all the more stinging and painful to me as an adult trying to make sense of it all.
March 7, 2009
Shade has come to an equivalent of our dimension from the realm of madness, where his other body wears a vest that shifts our reality. Yeah. Milligan was part of the wierdy British horror invasion into U.S. comics that took off in the late 80's. The whole series ran 70 issues, and this only covers 6 (the only ones available in trade, I think). If you've read all of Sandman and Hellblazer and are looking for something else from that period of Vertigo publishing that was weird, violent, and surreal, you might check this out. The first issue really drew me in, but the issues that followed surrounded JFK, which was annoying to me for some reason. Conspiracy theories in general annoy me, so that might explain it. There is a Hellblazer run that plays with the same imagery of an undead JFK in another dimension, which I also had trouble reading and also found annoying. If anyone uses a 9/11 conspiracy theorist as a driving character, I will probably also find that unbearable. You get the point.
Milligan has recently taken over Hellblazer, and I like the issues he has done so far, so.... I don't know if I would recommend these issues, per se, but it could be an interesting series.
Milligan has recently taken over Hellblazer, and I like the issues he has done so far, so.... I don't know if I would recommend these issues, per se, but it could be an interesting series.
April 21, 2014
This comic is a bit frustrating. It is right on the cusp of being really good. It has a lot of weirdness, which is carried very well by the artwork, but it hangs right on the edge of being so weird that it fails to create a cohesive story line. The characters have plenty of hints to becoming interesting enough that I would want to read more, but in this volume, they aren't quite there. The first half of the book that revolves around the mind of a JFK conspiracy nutter is better than the second half. Normally I can't stand conspiracy nonsense, but because this book is based on madness, and it appears that this man's madness is influencing the events, it makes it less annoying, and the idea of possibilities all overlapping is kind of cool. I think I'll track down the second volume to see if the story improves.
September 10, 2014
I'm ready to lose Chris Bachalo on art duties as soon as possible -- it seems like he was the go-to guy for Vertigo (or soon-to-be Vertigo) back in the day, and I don't really feel like he suits Milligan's style.
Milligan is a natural fit for the psychedelic nature of Steve Ditko's original series, but Shade 2.0 (much like early Sandman) is still suffering from a need for the macabre that doesn't really suit Milligan's strengths. There's also only so much I'm going to get out of the book's pet theme of "American Madness," and when we've already done the obligatory bits on conspiracy theories and Hollywood glam in the first 6 issues, I'm not sure I can hang much longer.
I will hang on, of course, but I might not be happy about it until there's some kind of shakeup.
Milligan is a natural fit for the psychedelic nature of Steve Ditko's original series, but Shade 2.0 (much like early Sandman) is still suffering from a need for the macabre that doesn't really suit Milligan's strengths. There's also only so much I'm going to get out of the book's pet theme of "American Madness," and when we've already done the obligatory bits on conspiracy theories and Hollywood glam in the first 6 issues, I'm not sure I can hang much longer.
I will hang on, of course, but I might not be happy about it until there's some kind of shakeup.
December 31, 2020
First arch in an extraordinary & seminal series
I discovered shade the changing man from a mutual recommendation. Many interesting concepts and threads are presented here and whilst this first chapter in the series does underwhelm I have it on good authority that Peter milligan finds his feet with the voice and tone for the series. The story definitely falls into the category of graphic novel for grown folk. I enjoyed the characters and the premise is unique, I look forward to the upcoming chapters.
I discovered shade the changing man from a mutual recommendation. Many interesting concepts and threads are presented here and whilst this first chapter in the series does underwhelm I have it on good authority that Peter milligan finds his feet with the voice and tone for the series. The story definitely falls into the category of graphic novel for grown folk. I enjoyed the characters and the premise is unique, I look forward to the upcoming chapters.
May 4, 2020
Milligan, being a part of the "British Invasion" along with Moore, Delano, Morrison and Gaiman of American comic books in the 1980's, sets the tone for the coming generation of comic book consumers, both writers and readers, with a bizarre head trip of a book well worthy of its recognition. The characters and writing were at the time, groundbreaking to the say the least. I daresay I enjoyed this book much more than the popular Sandman by Neil Gaiman.
March 25, 2009
Genius. Massively underrated.
September 25, 2009
I still have all my issues, so I haven't seen this collected volume, but I remember absolutely loving this Vertigo classic.
August 28, 2017
I'm waiting for my brain to reset. This...this was a lot to take in. Definitely need to be in the mood for this level of mind fuckery. I'm going to go read Chamber of Secrets now. Or Grayson. Something easy or fun. Maybe some fluffy fanfic. IDK but it'll be a while before I start Shade vol 2.
April 2, 2020
I don't think this dates very well. Maybe I'm just not that obsessed with the JFK assassination, but Milligan's writing mostly doesn't take off for me. Bachalo's art has a ragged intensity, but I can't get into it here; Brendan McCarthy was much more impressive with a similar approach.
October 27, 2018
Milligan, Bachalo, and Pennington began spectacularly their classic run on the series with these books. Published originally in 1990, the stories reach back to the spirit of the best of the Underground comics and combine it with a hero narrative as Shade takes on the American Scream. The title also helped establish the Vertigo line. The writer and artists take all kinds of chances - really important books in the history of comics - ahem, in the history of graphic sequence story-telling.
June 25, 2021
Interesting series in the vein of Animal Man, though way more trippy. I heard it finds it's footing later on but so far it's enough to draw your attention.
January 15, 2025
There's something incredibly off about the whole thing that sort of works in its favor in terms of being unique but hurts my overall enjoyment of the actual story. I can see this becoming a favorite if Milligan plays his cards right going forward. Unbelievable that this iconic Vertigo story has never been collected in full. Now I'm left to wonder if I should finish out the volumes or wait for the omnibus.
September 8, 2022
A slow start to this tale but I'm ready to read this all the way through this time.
Kathy goes to visit her parents and arrives as a deranged killer is still in the house. In addition to her parents, he murders her boyfriend and gets the death sentence. During the execution, Shade (a mysterious guy from a place called Meta) inhabits the killers body and all sorts of wild things start to happen.
Kathy is forced to give Shade a ride but he manages to convince her he's not the killer.
Rough start, the story is a bit all of the place and the art isn't the best. Classic mid-tier 90s vertigo art.
Kathy goes to visit her parents and arrives as a deranged killer is still in the house. In addition to her parents, he murders her boyfriend and gets the death sentence. During the execution, Shade (a mysterious guy from a place called Meta) inhabits the killers body and all sorts of wild things start to happen.
Kathy is forced to give Shade a ride but he manages to convince her he's not the killer.
Rough start, the story is a bit all of the place and the art isn't the best. Classic mid-tier 90s vertigo art.
December 15, 2021
I first read these stories when they were published as individual issues. I've always enjoyed them. Shade's adventures on earth are weird, bizarre, strange and surreal - seemingly all the best stuff. Now after all these years, they are still just as enjoyable and entertaining. Whether it is pointing the spotlight at Hollywood's hypocrisy or answering the eternal question Who shot JFK?, Shade's adventures are full of unexpected twists and filled with the stuff that is at the brink of nightmare.
Now where's that Shade, the Changing Man motion picture?
Now where's that Shade, the Changing Man motion picture?
May 11, 2012
Take a walk through the giant head of a JFK sphynx as it drops acid and cracks through the hot Dallas pavement near Dealey Plaza. Get pulled into the madness between worlds where the Grim Reaper is only Uncle Sam in disguise. Be a part of the universal horror film created by a lone camera gone mad and directed by a zombie killed by the very film he was making.
God, I love comic books.
God, I love comic books.
July 5, 2023
Re-read, 07/2023: Every few years, I read the three volumes of Shade and lament that the entire series has yet to be collected. One of the greats of what would eventually become Vertigo.
As with most of the early soon-to-be Vertigo titles, this is a little heavy-handed on the horror at times, but Milligan and Bachalo’s portrayal of madness is pretty spot on.
As with most of the early soon-to-be Vertigo titles, this is a little heavy-handed on the horror at times, but Milligan and Bachalo’s portrayal of madness is pretty spot on.
April 22, 2015
Couldn't finish this series (which runs to 70 issues). Too trippy for me, I guess. And no real plot to speak of.
January 3, 2017
4 1/4 stars
August 5, 2017
Incoherent.
May 11, 2020
Interesting idea, poor execution. Too deliberately weird and wacky for me and felt completely incoherent in parts.
did-not-finish
November 21, 2021Just not my jam. Only got through about one issue.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews