DC Comics; June-July 1977

Cover by Steve Ditko

Title: “Escape to Battleground Earth!”
Synopsis: A mishap allows Rac Shade — a former Metan security agent wrongfully accused of treason and murder — to escape to Earth.

Writer (story): Steve Ditko
Writer (dialogue): Michael Fleisher
Penciler: Ditko
Inker: Ditko

Review: One of the coolest developments of the Bronze Age was seeing longtime artists like Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko set free to share their own creative visions. Ditko didn’t get nearly as many shots in the writer’s chair as the King did; that’s a shame, because Shade, the Changing Man bristles with a manic creativity similar to Kirby’s best work from the era. Though scripted by Michael Fleisher, Shade is all Ditko: groovy alternate dimensions, street thugs in fedoras, meditations on crime and punishment. The real crime? That the DC Implosion ended this book after just eight published issues.

Grade: B+

Cool factor: Ditko + other dimensions + crime and justice = very cool.
Notable: First appearance of Shade, the Changing Man.

Character quotable: “Soon the puny earthlings will prostrate themselves in awe before the power of Zokag!” — Zokag, self-described all-powerful demolisher

Copyright ©2014 Off the Wahl Productions, all rights reserved. Each week, T. Andrew Wahl takes a look at a Bronze Age Fantastic First. For more reviews like this one, check out Wahl’s website, ComicsBronzeAge.com.