A ninth extra-length issue, featuring the debut of a new Ditko character called the Odd Man, was produced, but was published only as a part of DC's Cancelled Comic Cavalcade in 1978.

After this, Shade was adopted into the DC Universe and made a brief appearance in the Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries as well as becoming a regular character in Suicide Squad.

Shade later joins the Suicide Squad, but has second thoughts, leading Lashina to manipulate him into helping her under the pretense of returning him to the Meta-Zone.

Milligan and Bachalo reinvented Rac Shade as a red-headed lovelorn poet sent to Earth to stop a growing tide of madness from consuming the planet, his M-Vest becoming a Madness-Vest capable of warping reality.

The original series was retconned as a story that Shade made up to amuse himself while traveling to Earth (left unexplained was his stint with the Suicide Squad).

The series employed concepts which were at times controversial and distinct from regular DC titles (for example, JFK's assassination and transgenderism).

In 2003, a special one-off story by Peter Milligan and artist Mike Allred was printed as part of Vertigo's 10th anniversary celebration.

In August 2010, Hellblazer #268 featured the return of Shade, the Changing Man, this time as a supporting cast member for John Constantine in a series of storylines written by Milligan.

According to the Absolute Crisis on Infinite Earths hardcover book, the events of the second series originally took place on Earth-85 in the DC Multiverse before its destruction.

[6] After Flashpoint as part of The New 52 (a reboot of the DC Comics universe), Shade appears as one of the lead characters in the first story arc of Justice League Dark, a new title written by Peter Milligan[7] and drawn by Mikel Janin.