#dc shade

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Shade, the Changing Man (DC/Vertigo) Promotional Poster (1994). Source

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New blorbo!! Sorry, Shadebringer, but this guy is way cooler than you.

[ihassheepquake]

DC's Stargirl 2.04 "Summer School: Chapter Four" has aired on the CW, and I'm here to talk about it.

It's two days late as I spent all of Wednesday travelling but we're finally here! We started setting up some important stuff last week, so let's what this week has to offer.

OMG is this an Artemis episode? Starting with her seeing her parents in jail, what fun. The guard is a dick, smh.

I still want to know how Chuck knows Eclipso is out. I'm sure it'll be explained at some point (and even if it isn't, it's not that big a deal) but I would like to know. I think it's cute how Beth is trying to get her parents to reconnect. It's really unfortunate how they seem to not have time for her, but at least we can tell that they love her.

I'll continue to admit that I don't much about Eclipso. What I do know is that he's bad news and he was the original spirit of Wrath, aka what the Spectre is now. He was deemed to be uncontrollable or something and was replaced & locked away. I imagine Dr Fate had something to do with him getting defeated, we know he was on the old JSA since we saw the helmet of fate in the JSA manor last season. Are they going to need to find a new Dr Fate to stop him, or will they come up with something else? If it was me, I'd want to use this opportunity to bring back my favourite character, one Joey Zarick, and have him become a new Fate for a bit and then let him do his own thing, maybe make the Wizard a hero. It would hardly be the first time Fate has intervened in possible death.

I wonder if Cindy is going to turn anti-hero? She's dealing with immediate regret about what happened to her mum, and she's maybe even a little afraid of Eclipso now. She's seen what he can really do. And as much as I would like to see Artemis as a hero, I can see why she might not be here. I don't think she'll ever be a real bad guy, but I can definitely see her wanting to work against and take down the new JSA.

Oh this isn't good. Tigress and Sportsmaster are back and ready to cause problems.

Pat, I feel you should've maybe called some of the others before you just went in like that. Yeah, you beat Sportsmaster last time, but barely. Are you really going to beat both of them now? I think no matter what, if he called in the others or not, they'd still be other classed. But the JSA has been training for months, they must know how to work as a team. They might, just might, be able to pull it off. Okay, there's no way we believe they're just going to break back into prison after tryouts right? Like, that's fucking crazy. I will admit, they're kinda funny.

Okay yeah, the parents bonding like this is easily the funniest scene in the entire show.

This is the good shit right here, the group figuring shit out the old fashioned way in books and shit. This is what I want in my teen superhero stories. And Rick is so awkward, I love him. "Can I get a dozen burgers for my dog" fucking what?

I really like Shade so far. I think he's a more interesting antagonist for Courtney and the JSA as a whole than the ISA was. And yeah, he has a real point. Bad and evil are two, very different things.

I feel really bad for Artemis. I mean, I kind of always did, but I feel for her even more now. And now she's being manipulated to hell and back by Cindy.

I wonder what exactly "everything" is. We'll absolutely know eventually, I imagine specifically either Barbara or Pat will be forced to tell them. Maybe the JSA was controlled, turned against each other, by Eclipso before.

OMG, Chuck isn't the AI anymore. He's the actual Dr Midnite. Or I guess he probably got sucked into some pocket dimension or something of Shade's and he's able to use the broadcasting signal of his old goggles to try and communicate. So a new story beat for this season, and what an interesting twist.

Cindy has finally started making her move, Artemis is getting involved, and we had a big reveal. What a great episode. I imagine next episode is going to focus a lot on what's going on with the old Midnite and what the group could do now. But that's what we'll find out next week on Stargirl, in "Summer School: Chapter Five"

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199's Shade, the Changing Man Vol.2 #23 unpublished cover by Jamie Hewlett (Tank Girl, Gorillaz). Source

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1993's Shade, the Changing Man Vol.2 #39 cover by Chris Bachalo.

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1994's Shade, the Changing Man Vol.2 #56 cover by cover artist Duncan Fegredo. Source

[ihassheepquake]

DC's Stargirl 2.03 "Summer School: Chapter Three" has just aired on the CW, and I'm here to talk about it.

A Christmas flashback, just like we started the show on. How cute. And our first look at the old Star-Spangled Kid suit! And the old Johnny Thunder, who was apparently benched. This is clearly the night that the old JSA was defeated. So now we know why Johnny wasn't around for that. Or actually, he was. So where was he?

Poor Mike is being bullied, fuck those kids. He's clearly feeling left out, which we been knew. Maybe Cindy's plan to recruit Mike might have some validity? Obviously, I don't want him to be a bad guy, but I love when people are manipulated to work against their loved ones. But we got another Jakeem name drop, and Mike found the pen. This is obviously going to go great. AND THERE'S THE THUNDERBOLT, HELL YEAH! He looks pretty good too. Why does it feel like he's not exactly benevolent? But yay genie rules!

Man, I wonder how they could possibly defeat Shade. If only one of the JSA was able to manipulate light (in some ways). That seems like it'd be really helpful.

I doubt this is it but I can't help but feel like that giant playing card in the American Dream's archives or whatever is a Royal Flush Gang reference. I do wonder if the Wizard's wand is hiding in this collection. We still don't know what happened to it after he was killed by Icicle. So what Shade was after is the box that Eclipso's gem was kept in, which means Shade must want Eclipso for something. The question is, what? And what's he going to do when he learns that Cindy has it?

I'm actually really glad that we're seeing Yo really struggling with killing Brainwave in the finale. In most modern adaptions of comics for the screen, that's something that tends to get glossed over (not all the time obviously). I think that's something that I appreciate a lot about tv shows in general, they have the time to be able to do that which films usually just don't. It tells us a lot about Yo as a character, and the show itself, that this is something she's visibly struggling with.

Yeah yeah yeah, I definitely have some reservations about the Thunderbolt. I don't really know the character so I don't know if my instincts are correct or not, but this seems like a lot.

A perfect sentence writing montage is the fastest way to come up with a foolproof wish for a genie to grant.

The proper authorities you say? ARGUS perhaps?

I like how Shade was just waiting for them. Badarse bad guy. This new JSA is of no concern to him. "If there's one thing worse than a man who wants to rule the world, it's a man who wants to save it." How interesting. That feels like a very familiar quote, is it from something? A quick google search isn't telling me anything but who knows. Either way, it feels like it isn't just a critique on Jordan Mahkent, but a critique of superheroes. I mean, how many heroes have we seen in fictional who become the villain?

A short and simple fight to show us exactly why the JSA is of no concern.

THE THUNDERBOLT WENT TO JAKEEM!! The Thunderbolt is where it belongs!!!!

Pat needs to stop being so vague and cryptic. Hold on, how does Chuck know about Eclipso? Like I get how he knows general, but how does he know Eclipso is out?

What if Shade wants Eclipso not for some evil scheme, but because he wants to keep him from doing whatever evil shit he's gonna do? Not in an "oh I'm gonna be a hero" way, but in a "this bitch getting out is going to destroy everything and I still have shit to do" way. We have no idea what he wants. We might be able to take his quote earlier seriously. He has no desire to save the world or whatever, but he doesn't want to see the world fall apart or be consumed by Eclipso.

Well, that's it for Stargirl 2.03. I have nothing else to say for now, which means I'll see you next week for DC's Stargirl 2.04 "Summer School: Chapter Four" only on The CW.