Shadowline is an American comic book sub- imprint of the

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

imprint

Epic Comics Epic Comics (also known as the Epic Comics Group)Shooter, Jim. "Bullpen Bulletins: The Truth About the Epic Comics Group!" Marvel comics cover-dated November 1982. was an imprint of Marvel Comics from 1982 to 1996. A spin-off of the publisher's ...

that was originally published from

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

. It was created and edited by Archie Goodwin and encompassed three series. Informally called the Shadowline Saga, it was Marvel's first attempt at a mature audience line of superhero comics, and the first by Epic Comics to utilize a planned

shared universe A shared universe or shared world is a fictional universe from a set of creative works where more than one writer (or other artist) independently contributes a work that can stand alone but fits into the joint development of the storyline, chara ...

Fictional universe

The Shadow Dwellers, a race similar to human, evolved more rapidly and with superior abilities compared to humans, while humans dominated numerically. Upon maturity, Shadow Dwellers' aging stopped until they reproduced. This provided a natural balance, preventing their potential immortality from leading to overpopulation. Because of humans' greater number, this other race lived as a shadow race among humans, sometimes as protectors, sometimes as predators, and over the centuries becoming the basis of many human legends myths, both heroic and supernaturally monstrous. By the late 20th century, it had become near-impossible to continue living in secret, both because of the proliferation of humanity and its technology and temperament. The Shadow Dwellers felt it had become necessary to emerge and to influence humanity. Scattered worldwide, with differing ideas and motivations, the Shadow Dwellers included, among the most public, Doctor Zero, Powerline, and the Order of St. George. The Shadowline Saga stories were set in a

within the

Marvel Comics Multiverse Within Marvel Comics, most tales take place within the fictional Marvel Universe, which in turn is part of a larger multiverse. Starting with issues of ''Captain Britain'', the main continuity in which most Marvel storylines take place was des ...

which was retroactively designated Earth-88194.

TItles

Original line

*''Doctor Zero'' (created by Archie Goodwin) (8 issues) :The most ancient and powerful of the Shadow Dwellers, effortlessly manipulates humanity in Machiavellian fashion. *''Power Line'' (created by Archie Goodwin) (8 issues) :Two young Shadows joined together with the noble goal of balancing Dr. Zero's manipulations with acts of true heroism. *''St. George'' (created by Archie Goodwin) (8 issues) :The Knight of The Order of St. George, a human priest armed with Shadow-designed armor created to prepare its wearer for battles against today's dragons.

Second era

''Doctor Zero'', ''Power Line'', and ''St. George'' #9 - 13 were supposed to be part of The Shadowline Saga "Critical Mass" crossover. Due to poor sales, Epic cancelled the three Shadowline series and published the story in an anthology format as the ''Critical Mass'' limited series. *''Critical Mass'' (created by D. G. Chichester and Margaret Clark) (seven issues) :The abilities of ''Doctor Zero'', ''Power Line'', and ''St. George'' have been called upon to put an end to the insane plans of Professor Henry Clerk, a physicist ready to set loose the dark forces of nuclear power on the heartland of America. But there are two things remaining before they can match their power against Clerk's: first, Powerline must come to the aid of Michael Devlin, the Knight of the Order, in his race to reforge his shattered armor; and then, Devlin must struggle to redirect Doctor Zero's blood rage to bear on Clerk, as the modern day St. George battles against Zero, an impossibly powerful dragon.

Other versions

Alternate reality versions of Doctor Zero and St. George appear in the first issue of

Squadron Sinister The Squadron Sinister is a supervillain team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Squadron Sinister first appeared in the final panel of '' The Avengers'' #69 (October 1969), created by Roy Thomas and Sal Buscema. ...

as a part of the Marvel ''

Secret Wars ''Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars'', commonly known as ''Secret Wars'' for short, is a twelve-issue American comic book crossover limited series published from May 1984 to April 1985 by Marvel Comics. The series was written by Jim Shooter, with ...

'' event.

External links

Appendix to The Handbook of the Marvel Universe: The Shadowline Saga
{{Marvel Multiverse Defunct American comics Epic Comics