Guest artist Teddy Kristiansen illustrates the first in a series of interspersed one-shot stories delving into Opal City's past, drawn from the diaries of the enigmatic Golden Age villain, The Shade. In the 1880s, Shade brings his perverse brand of justice to play against a circus of the damned...

A cold, winter night finds Jack Knight reading The Shade's Journal...

June 1882, Oscar Wilde is on his American tour. He is enjoying an afternoon with The Shade - also known as "Mr. Black" - at the outdoor Cafe de Salle in Opal City. Mr. Black is approached by one Jason Mayville. Mayville seeks to employ Mr. Black to recover his sister from the thrall of the Pepper Stage Troupe and its leader Lune...