Lenny Shapiro

LENNY SHAPIRO

Real Name: Leonora Shapiro

Class: Human

Occupation: Artist, teacher

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: Lilly (daughter), unnamed ex-husband

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mobile

First Appearance: Shade, the Changing Man II #8 (February, 1991)

Powers: Lenny was a skilled artist and teacher.

History: (Shade, The Changing Man II #8, 9) - Lenny was an eccentric artist who fell into a suicidal depression. She moved into the former apartment of artist Ray Sterling, and became obsessed with his utter banality until she no longer felt motivated to kill herself. She questioned her sexual identity, and not having any clear cut answers decided to be abstinent and take up heavy drinking instead. Kathy George showed up at her apartment looking for Ray, and Lenny invited her in for drinks. After polishing off a bottle they went to the liquor store and came upon the Pan-Weirdness Church of America, who saw the madness spreading across the country as divine. Kathy revealed that her traveling companion Shade was battling the American Scream, the cause of America's growing madness. Shade pulled himself away from San Francisco, briefly manifesting to Kathy and Lenny, but then disappearing. Lenny robbed a taxi driver at gunpoint, telling Kathy she needed something to do with her free time. The American Scream had given powers to aging hippy Arnold Major, and he convinced Shade that America needed to spiritually die and be reborn as a nation of love. Shade's subconscious was transformed into a giant fetus, and appeared in Lenny's apartment. The fetus told Kathy he loved her, even if his conscious mind didn't realize it, and asked her to help him pull away from Arnold Major be calling to him. Shade saw cracks in Major's work, and when he upset Major he was attacked by werewolf boy scouts. Major tried to merge himself to Shade and Scream, and succeeded to a degree. Shade entered the All the Girls Really Like Me Commune, where the members were dissatisfied with Major. Major said he was a jealous god, and blinded the complainers. Pink Heaven began to unravel, but Major refused to admit that the Scream was manipulating him for his own ends. The Pan-Weirdness Church broke into Lenny's apartment and proclaimed Shade the fetus as the Anti-Weird and prepared to burn him alive. Lenny and Kathy fought off the cultists while Shade, seeing Major on a crucifix, finally made him see that his vision of love was really one of ego, causing his worlds to crumble. Shade emerged from his fetus self, and Kathy demanded the cultists leave. Kathy decided to spend the night with Shade, but as passion dulled his reason yhe manifested the dying Major, turning off Kathy. Lenny reported that the government had performed a surgical strike on the center of San Francisco, destroying Major and his communes.

(Hellblazer I #268, 269) - Lenny left the madness of her days with Shade behind her, and gave up smoking and carousing. She got herself together, and found an enjoyable job teaching art to elementary school children. Shade came back to her world when John Constantine summoned him, and he told Lenny he needed her help. She wanted nothing to do with it, but he reminded her that she owed him. Kissing Shade John thought about the time he'd kissed Kathy George, and how unforgettable she was. John sensed that Shade was no longer a gentle poet, but malicious and eaten alive by bitterness. John convinced Shade and Lenny to have a drink at the pub with him, and when Lenny mentioned that Kathy thought John was sexy Shade threw a fit and destroyed their table with a bolt of energy. Lenny said she'd fulfilled her obligation to Shade, and had him send her home, reminding him she was Kathy's friend, not his, and if Kathy had listened to her she would have dumped Shade.

Comments: Created by Peter Milligan & Chris Bachalo.