Bloodlines (comics)

For other uses, see Bloodline (disambiguation).

Bloodlines
Bloodbath #1 starring the Justice League, art by Ed Hannigan
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
Format	one-shot
Publication date	Issue #1 early December 1993 Issue #2 late December 1993
No. of issues	2
Main character(s)	Justice League
Creative team as of December 1993
Created by	Alan Grant Dan Raspler Christian Alamy
Written by	Dan Raspler
Penciller(s)	Chuck Wojtkiewicz Sal Velluto
Inker(s)	Agop Gemdjian Jeff Albrecht Del Barras
Colorist(s)	Stuart Chaifetz

Bloodlines was an intracompany crossover that spanned all of the annuals published by DC Comics in 1993. The event was bookended by two 'Bloodbath' specials, written by Dan Raspler, with issue one at the beginning of the event drawn by Chuck Wojtkiewicz and issue two at the end of the event drawn by Sal Velluto. The alien parasites premiered in Lobo annual vol. 2 #1 written by Alan Grant and drawn by Christian Alamy.

History

The villains of the crossover were the formerly imprisoned survivors of a race of alien parasites named Angon, Gemir, Glonth, Lissick, Pritor, Ragnorak, Venev, and Slodd that could shapeshift into humanoid form. These humanoid forms were based on the initial entities they first encountered, a squadron of L.E.G.I.O.N. soldiers, most of whom perished. The bite of the Bloodlines Parasites was administered to the back of the neck by a mouth-within-a-mouth. This bite is intended to remove the spinal fluid for sustenance. This usually killed the victim for food, but occasionally awakened superhuman powers in the recipient. This was also the means by which the creatures could reproduce.

Each of the annuals involved in the crossover used this plot device to introduce a new super-powered character to the DC Universe. The only character to attain any long-standing notoriety was Hitman, who first appeared in that year's Demon Annual and went on to star in his own sixty-issue ongoing series.

The Bloodlines crossover event spanned 23 of DC's regular titles and wrapped up in the 2-part mini "Bloodbath". The alien parasites that came to Earth to gather spinal fluid sacrificed themselves to help birth a gigantic alien known as the Taker. Many long-term heroes were absorbed into the monster, only to be saved by the very heroes the parasites had created.

This series spun off into the Blood Pack mini-series. Gunfire also had a short-lived series.

Some of the heroes created by the aliens died in the 2005-2006's Infinite Crisis event, but as was depicted in the Bloodlines specials, there were close to a thousand New Bloods in North America.

Bloodlines Parasites

The nine Bloodlines Parasites are fictitious aliens, owned by DC Comics, who exist in that company's DC Universe. They first gained prominace in the Bloodlines crossover. The parasites premiered in Lobo annual vol. 2 #1 written by Alan Grant and drawn by Christian Alamy.

The Parasites hail from the same dimension as a powerful Shaman named Pax who gained his own powers due to being bitten by one of them and left for dead. The parasites escaped from their prison dimension and ended up on Earth, while there they took to feeding on humans.

The aliens feed by draining the spinal fluid of their prey after administering a small dose paralytic venom, if the feeding process is performed on a human possessing the metagene, the trauma of feeding on that victim will usually activate their metagene granting them superpowers. Those so activated took to calling themselves "New Bloods"⁽¹⁾

The nine aliens were Angon, Gemir, Glonth, Pritor, Slodd, Lissick, Venev, Ragnorak, and the Taker.

New Bloods

Some of the characters whose metagens were activated by the parasites are Argus, Loose Cannon, Razorsharp, Terrorsmith, Hitman and Gunfire. If too much parasite venom was absorbed by the host's system it would cause hideous abnormalities, as seen with Terrorsmith. The mother alien known as the Taker, was destroyed with the help of all the human new bloods. Pax helped banish these aliens by sealing them up in the other-dimensional home of the Taker.

Blood Pack

With corporate backing some of the New Bloods formed a superhero team known as the Blood Pack. The series was created by Charles Moore and Christopher Taylor. Most of the members of the Blood Pack were killed off by Superboy-Prime in the final issue of 2005-2006's Infinite Crisis event.

Blood Pack Members

• Jade - Jennie-Lynn Hayden is a living power ring, and the daughter of Green Lantern Alan Scott. Team leader. (deceased; Day of Vengeance Special)
• Ballistic - Korean-American hero Kelvin Mao has an armored carapace, he is an armed and dangerous vigilante. (deceased; Infinite Crisis #7)
• Nightblade - Chinese-American regenerating martial artist Nik Mayak. (deceased; Infinite Crisis #7)
• Loria - Super strong, metal skinned agent of the Quorum. (deceased; Infinite Crisis #7)
• Geist - Dwayne Geyer is a ghostly night-hero, becomes invisible when light is shone on him. (deceased; Infinite Crisis #7)
• Mongrel - Shadowforce blasting African American-Vietnamese hero named Josh Xan. (deceased; Infinite Crisis #7)
• Sparx - Lightning wielding posthuman heroine from Canada named Donna Carol Force.
• Razorsharp - Blade-armed hacker named Rae Sharp. (deceased; Infinite Crisis #7)

Return

A group of parasitic aliens infiltrated a space shuttle returning to earth. When the JLA sent Green Lantern to investigate, his ring's readings showed that these parasites had genetic similarities with the Bloodlines parasites. These aliens, however, were much smaller and permanently attached themselves to their human hosts. They controlled their hosts' minds, could communicate telepathically, and gave each non-superpowered host a superpower. They managed to take control, or incapacitate the entire Justice League on the moon. In order to stop them from reaching earth, Hitman (who was invited to the JLA Watchtower so that his blood could be analyzed) had to kill or maim several of the astronaut hosts. While some members of the JLA felt that this was murder, others recognized that Hitman stopped the invasion the only way he could ⁽²⁾.

Story Order

Bloodlines was divided into four "chapters": Outbreak, Earthplague, Deathstorm, and Bloodbath. The order of the storyline is as follows:

Bloodlines: Outbreak

• Lobo Annual #1

• Superman: The Man of Steel Annual #2

• Batman: Shadow of The Bat Annual #1

• Flash Annual #6

• New Titans Annual #9

• Superman Annual #5

• Green Lantern Annual #2

• Batman Annual #17

• Justice League International Annual #4

Bloodlines: Earthplague

• Robin Annual #2

• Action Comics Annual #5

• Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #4

• Green Arrow Annual #6

• Detective Comics Annual #6

• Justice League America Annual #7

• Adventures of Superman Annual #5

• Hawkman Annual #1

Bloodlines: Deathstorm

• Deathstroke Annual #2

• Eclipso Annual #1

• Demon Annual #2

• Batman: Legends of The Dark Knight Annual #3

• Team Titans Annual #1

• L.E.G.I.O.N. Annual #4

Bloodlines: Bloodbath

• Bloodbath #1

• Bloodbath #2

New Bloods

The superhumans whose powers were awakened by the alien parasites were known collectively as "New Blood." Individually, they were:

• Action Comics Annual #5 — Loose Cannon: "super-strong ex-cop, a mood ring version of the Hulk whose color changes as he gets angrier"

• Adventures of Superman Annual #5 — Sparx: "lightning-wielding heroine from Canada"

• Batman Annual #17 — Ballistic: "Korean-American hero and an armed and dangerous vigilante" (dead)

• Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Annual #3 — Cardinal Sin: "disillusioned priest"

• Batman: Shadow of the Bat Annual #1 — Joe Public: "strength-siphoning patriot"

• Deathstroke Annual #2 — Gunfire: "Able to explosively convert matter to energy."

• Demon Annual #2 — Hitman: "a hitman who gained the powers of telepathy and X-ray vision" (dead)

• Detective Comics Annual #6 — Geist: "ghostly night-hero, ironically only becomes visible in the dark." (dead)

• Eclipso Annual #1 — Prism: "light-manipulating scientist"

• Flash Annual #6 — Argus: "shadow-melding undercover agent from Central City"

• Green Arrow Annual #6 — Hook: "hook-handed former soldier"

• Green Lantern Annual #2 — Nightblade: "Chinese-American regenerating martial artist, survived Mongul's destruction of Coast City" (dead)

• Hawkman Annual #1 — Mongrel: "darkforce-blasting African American-Vietnamese hero" (dead)

• Justice League America Annual #7 — Shadowstryke: "tragic hero, dark force energy"
• Justice League America Annual #7 — Krag: "stone bodied hero, super strength"

Justice League America Annual #7 —Slingshot: "African-American heroine, power to give anything she touches an acceleration factor"

Justice League America Annual #7 —Terrorsmith: "monster-making villain(?)"

• Justice League International Annual #4 — Lionheart: "armored high-tech knight, hero of Great Britain"

• L.E.G.I.O.N. Annual #4 — Pax: "last of his race, space-shaman"

• Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #4 — Jamm: "prodigious surfer-dude"

• Lobo Annual #1 — Layla, "tough-as-nails space explorer"

• New Titans Annual #9 — Anima: "Animus-summoning grunge rocker"

• Robin Annual #2 — Razorsharp: "sword-armed hacker" (dead)

• Superman Annual #5 — Myriad: "personality-absorbing assassin"

• Superman: The Man of Steel Annual #2 — Edge: "blade-hurling community hero"

• Team Titans Annual #1 — Chimera: "illusion-creating heroine of India"

• Showcase '94 #12 — Loria: "woman who could transform into living metal, super strong agent of the Quorum" (dead)

References

1. DCU Guide: Bloodlines Aliens
2. JLA/Hitman #1-2. DC Comics. 2007.