Line #33 ComicBook/BloodlinesDCComics


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bloodbath_1.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Tagline}} New heroes. New villains. New blood.]]]]
3
4	''Bloodlines'' is a 1993 crossover event by Creator/DCComics, running through the Annuals of various titles within the year.
5
6	The crossover involved alien parasites invading Earth to kill people and drain their spinal fluids. Some of the victims not only survived, but gained superpowers as a result.
7
8	The series introduced various new characters, including Ballistic, Cardinal Sin, Geist, Joe Public, and Razorsharp. Of all of them though, the only character with any staying power was Tommy Monaghan, aka ComicBook/{{Hitman\|1993}}.
9
10	!!Titles involved:
11	* Phase 1: ''Outbreak'' (May-June)
12	** '''May 4:''' ''ComicBook/{{Lobo}}'' Annual #1, featuring '''Layla'''
13	** '''May 11:''' ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}: The Man of Steel'' Annual #2, featuring '''Edge'''
14	** '''May 18:''' ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}: Shadow of the Bat'' Annual #1, featuring '''Joe Public'''
15	** '''May 25:''' ''ComicBook/TheFlash'' Annual #6, featuring '''Argus'''
16	** '''June 1:''' ''ComicBook/NewTitans'' Annual #9, featuring '''Anima'''
17	** '''June 8:''' ''Superman'' Annual #5, featuring '''Myriad'''
18	** '''June 15:''' ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'' Annual #2, featuring '''Nightblade'''
19	** '''June 22:''' ''Batman'' Annual #17, featuring '''Ballistic'''
20	** '''June 29:''' ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational'' Annual #4, featuring '''Lionheart'''
21	* Phase 2: ''Earthplague'' (July-August)
22	** '''July 6:''' ''Robin'' Annual #2, featuring '''Razorsharp'''
23	** '''July 13:''' ''ComicBook/ActionComics'' Annual #5, featuring '''Loose Cannon'''
24	** '''July 20:''' ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' Annual #4, featuring '''Jamm'''
25	** '''July 27:''' ''ComicBook/GreenArrow'' Annual #6, featuring '''Hook'''
26	** '''August 3:''' ''ComicBook/DetectiveComics'' Annual #6, featuring '''Geist'''
27	** '''August 10:''' ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' Annual #7, featuring '''Terrorsmith'''
28	** '''August 17:''' ''Adventures of Superman'' Annual #5, featuring '''Sparx'''
29	** '''August 24:''' ''ComicBook/{{Hawkman}}'' Annual #1, featuring '''Mongrel'''
30	* Phase 3: ''Deathstorm'' (September-October)
31	** '''August 31:''' ''[[ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}} Deathstroke, the Terminator]]'' Annual #2, featuring '''Gunfire'''
32	** '''September 7:''' ''ComicBook/{{Eclipso}}'' Annual #1, featuring '''Prism'''
33	** '''September 14:''' ''[[ComicBook/{{Etrigan}} The Demon]]'' Annual #2, featuring '''ComicBook/{{Hitman\|1993}}'''
34	** '''September 21:''' ''Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight'' Annual #4, featuring '''Cardinal Sin''' (and, to [[OneShotCharacter a much lesser extent]], Samaritan)
35	** '''September 28:''' ''ComicBook/TeamTitans'' Annual #1, featuring '''Chimera'''
36	** '''October 5:''' ''[[ComicBook/LEGIONDCComics L.E.G.I.O.N. '93]]'' Annual #4, featuring '''Pax'''
37	* Finale: ''Bloodbath''
38	** '''October 12:''' ''Bloodbath'' #1 of 2
39	** '''October 19:''' ''Bloodbath'' #2 of 2
40
41	----
42	!!''Bloodlines'' provides examples of...
43	* AndThisIsFor: Featured in the portion of the storyline told in the 17th annual issue of ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}''. After Ballistic has succeeded in killing the alien who murdered his fellow Gotham City cops, he states that what he did was for eight good men...[[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and McCain]].
44	* BigotWithABadge: The ''Batman Annual'' tie-in features a racist Gotham City cop named [=McCain=] who isn't portrayed sympathetically and taunts fellow officer Kelvin Mao by invoking various Asian stereotypes.
45	* BladeBelowTheShoulder: Razorsharp was a PlayfulHacker (with [[TheCracker Cracker]] tendencies) whose superpower was that her arms could morph into swords. In ''Psyba-Rats'' she mainly used them to climb walls and break into buildings (in a good cause, usually); in ''Blood Pack'' she was reluctantly put in a position where she'd have to use them in combat.
46	* BreakoutCharacter: [[ComicBook/{{Hitman\|1993}} Tommy Monaghan]], who went on to star a successful comic series.
47	* CListFodder: Most of the heroes created during the event ended up quickly falling into obscurity, only to be brought out of limbo in order to be used as cannon fodder in events such as ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'' and ''Faces of Evil''. The high mortality rate of the ''Bloodlines'' heroes was referenced in-universe several times, with the Flash chalking this up to a general lack of competence on their part. In addition, certain writers (Jamal Igle being most vocal) have gone on record stating that these characters' deaths were due to the fact that they (the writers) personally didn't like them and found them to be one of the worst parts of '90s DC canon.
48	* CompellingVoice: The ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' tie-in has a teenage boy from the 20th century named Jamm who gains the power to make people do whatever he told them to.
49	* CrisisCrossover: Whether you like this or not all depends on if you're a fan of MediaNotes/{{the Dark Age\|of Comic Books}}. ''Bloodlines'' left no real impact on the DC Universe and the new heroes were eventually reduced to [[CListFodder cannon fodder]] for ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', or else ending up in ComicBookLimbo. The only notable result from this crossover being Creator/GarthEnnis' ''ComicBook/{{Hitman\|1993}}''. Aside from that, it's probably best remembered for crossing over with two far-better known DC stories from the same time period: ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'' and ''ComicBook/{{Knightfall}}'', due to featuring the four replacement Supermen and the Azrael-Batman for most of the crossover.
50	* DarkAgeOfSupernames:
51	** The event produced a whole slew of these: Ballistic, Cardinal Sin, Edge, Gunfire, Hook, Jamm, Krag, Loose Cannon, Mongrel (an African-American/Vietnamese superhero, making his codename rather problematic), Nightblade, Razorsharp, Terrorsmith... it goes on and on. There was also ComicBook/{{Hitman\|1993}}, who was [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin exactly that]], but his comic ran with it, in a BlackComedy sort of way.
52	** In the ''Hitman'' Annual, it was mentioned that ''all'' of the Bloodlines-created supers except Hitman had been killed in less than two years. (As ComicBook/TheFlash put it, "There's more to this business than putting on a costume and going out to 'be super'.")
53	** The whole business was mocked in another ''Hitman'' issue.
54	--->'''[=McAllister=]:''' Well, anyway, the result was a completely new generation of superpowered human beings...\
55	'''Monaghan:''' You mean like whatsizname? An' that other guy?\
56	'''[=McAllister=]:''' That's them.
57	** Even Creator/RobLiefeld felt DC was ripping off his title ''ComicBook/YoungbloodImageComics'' with ''Bloodlines''.
58	* DecompositeCharacter: Eddie Walker/Loose Cannon, who was basically a blue Hulk, was one of the main characters created in the crossover. In the ''ComicBook/New52'' universe, a version of Loose Cannon appeared in ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' as a random [[AdaptationalVillainy villain]], but his real name was unrevealed. A few years later, a version of Eddie Walker was a major character in the New 52 ''Bloodlines'' miniseries, which didn't use codenames. Since Eddie only gained his hulking blue form during the miniseries, they can't be the same guy, and in fact the ''Titans'' Loose Cannon has [[AdaptationalSuperpowerChange slightly different powers]].
59	* FaithHeelTurn: A priest was attacked by one of the alien parasites. He awoke afterwards with a crisis of faith and decay powers, leading to him embracing evil and calling himself Cardinal Sin. Likewise, the man who held a shotgun on the priest was attacked and discovered he now had healing abilities and actually saved the priest before he died, now calling himself Samaritan. Samaritan ended up dying as he managed to cancel out Cardinal Sin's death touch.
60	* HulkMashUp: Loose Cannon is a strong Ersatz for the Hulk, in that his power is connected directly to his anger, he's incredibly bulky and brawny, and lacks a certain intelligence. Loose Cannon's only original hook is that he has different stages of power, and his skin color changes as he climbs his little rage ladder.
61	* MetaOrigin: Multiple Metahumans having a specialized reaction that allowed them to survive when aliens with a taste for spinal fluid fed on them.
62	* PoorlyDisguisedPilot: The event is basically one massive series of stories intended as starting points for potential new series. Although a few of these "New Blood" characters were later featured in mini-series or ongoing series, the only one that managed any kind of success was Creator/GarthEnnis's ''ComicBook/{{Hitman\|1993}}'', which spun out of ''[[ComicBook/{{Etrigan}} The Demon]]''.
63	* PowerPerversionPotential: In the ''Legion of Super-Heroes'' tie-in, Jamm notably uses his CompellingVoice to make Night Girl and Shadow Lass strip naked in front of him.
64	* SinisterMinister: One of the characters created during the CrisisCrossover event in Franchise/TheDCU was Cardinal Sin; a disillusioned priest who gained superpowers and became a villain after being bitten by an alien space parasite. He has not reappeared since the original event. (Presumably he is not to be confused with the real-life Cardinal Jaime Sin of Manila.)
65	* SuperheroPackingHeat: Ballistic, one of the "New Bloods". Another one, Gunfire, had the power to turn any handheld object into a gun.
66	* TakeThat: A common running joke over at DC has been to mock the [[NinetiesAntiHero EEEEEXTREMEEE heroes]] who spun out of the event. This happened as early as the months after the storyline ended. During the ''ComicBook/{{Knightfall}}'' storyline, Jean-Paul Valley encounters two of them in the main titles. He tells one of them to get out of Gotham or he's going to get killed and the other quickly leaves town after his adventure with them is over. In a later instance, the ''[[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]]/ComicBook/{{Hitman\|1993}}'' crossover had ComicBook/TheFlash claim that the ''Bloodlines'' heroes were a bunch of buffoons who nobody else in the superhero community wanted to team-up with. He then chalked up their [[CListFodder infamously high mortality rate]] to a general lack of competence on their part. Many of them end up getting killed by Superboy-Prime later on down the line.
67	* TakeThatScrappy:
68	** Almost all the titles spun off from the event flopped after less than a year, with the lead characters being relegated to ComicBookLimbo. This was brought up in-universe in ''JLA/Hitman'', where ComicBook/GreenLantern and ComicBook/TheFlash mockingly claimed that the ''Bloodline'' heroes were a bunch of incompetent losers that everyone else in the superhero community looked down upon (this had extra self-congratulatory subtext from Creator/GarthEnnis who created Hitman).
69	** Earlier, Ennis had gotten in a similar jab by introducing the ''ComicBook/DCOneMillion'' version of the Bloodlines hero Gunfire, only to have the character accidentally kill himself in an utterly ''humiliating'' manner.
70	--->'''Gunfire One Million:''' [[ItMakesSenseInContext Oh my god, I turned my ass into a hand-grenade--]]
71	** Years later, the mainline Gunfire got dispatched by Prometheus almost comically easily, and had his hands cut off for good measure. The same fight saw his fellow Bloodpack member Anima [[PortalCut accidentally get cut in half while trying to pursue Prometheus through a portal]]. Prometheus then proceeded to chuck her lifeless torso into the VoidBetweenTheWorlds outside his lair, which he explicitly likened to putting the trash out on the curb. Ouch. Ironically, this was in an issue that was dedicated to putting Prometheus through his own RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap arc.
72	** And a number of them (specifically Mongrel, Geist, Ballistic, Nightblade and Razorsharp) were killed off by a casual glance (a ''heat vision'' glance, that is) from Superboy-Prime during ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis''.

Context ComicBook / BloodlinesDCComics