Gray Lama
Slade Vincent grew up on the pulse-pounding adventure stories -- with riveting "and then some things happened that are still a secret today!" omissions -- of his two grandfathers: Harry Vincent and Jericho Druke. Both men were agents of The Shadow, famed man of mystery, and in the course of many years' service their spine-tingling escapades created the kind of bond that is closer than mere brotherhood.
Slade worked for a while at the secret rehabilitation facility/colony run by his namesake, the elderly Slade Farrow, on an island in the West Indies. He has returned home to the U.S. to co-found a training gym for bodyguards, a chance for troubled youths to turn their "street tough" skills into honorable, admirable careers. Secretly, he also plans to investigate the current Metropolis crimefighter calling himself "the Shadow". Is the elderly superhero back in business, and without a word to his loyal agents? Has someone made free with their mentor's hard-won reputation?
Tracking down this new "Shadow", Slade discovered that this Shadow was not the original but the next generation that seemed to have been trained by the original!
History
Slade Vincent is a very tall, strong-built man of mixed ethnic heritage. He could easily pass for Mediterranean, Indian, or his mother's African-American heritage with only a few changes to his wardrobe. Disguising his height and musculature would be a little more difficult, which is why he has adopted a gray mask and a gray cape-and-cowl for any mystery-man-style adventuring he might do.
He has a limited formal education but he reads widely; his quick, curious mind responds to nothing faster than to a puzzle or a challenge. He is a practicing Buddhist who spent several years studying to be a religious teacher. Even now, he seeks to alleviate the suffering of the world by thwarting villainy. He does not carry a gun, nor will he use one, believing that such a weapon would make him no better than those he fights.
Slade may not realize that he has certain abilities of physical might that go beyond the limits of normal men. These are a combination of mystic arts taught in his Buddhist studies and the side effects from some old villainous plots on his ancestors.
Slade inherited his maternal grandfather's girasol ring, the secret sign of a true agent of the Shadow!
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