The DC Bloodlines Podcast: Ballistic Sword of Azrael

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Bloodlines: Outbreak is nearly over! Before the first quarter of the event closes, we meet ex-S.W.A.T. officer Kelvin Mao in his insectoid exoskeleton, and a new blond Batman who is never positively identified throughout the story (with the reasons for his replacement only alluded to.) Guess that means we should also look at the Batman: Sword of Azrael mini-series and do an overview of Knightfall/Knightquest/KnightsEnd to better understand what Jean-Paul Valley is doing here. I once did a wine tasting tour in the Jean-Paul Valley. That's a joke I now regret because it conjures imagery I hadn't considered before making it. Where was I again? These were not engaging stories, so I keep getting distracted, but you can follow along with 1993's Batman Annual #17 at Scans Daily and get a deeper dive on the Azrael mini-series at NOT BLOG X.

This episode's non-paying advertisers:

• Batman Knightcast
• The Overlooked Dark Knight

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The DC Bloodlines Podcast: Nightblade

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This episode looks at Nik Mayak, a New Blood with extraordinary body regeneration powers, supplemented by great agility and uncanny accuracy with blowing blades. Debuting in 1993's Green Lantern Annual #2, we give an overview of the rest of his career in Eclipso Annual #1 & Bloodbath #1-2, the Blood Pack mini-series, Guy Gardner: Warrior #29 & 39, Deathstroke the Terminator #49, Infinite Crisis #7, Final Crisis: Superman Beyond 3D #1-2, and finally 2010's Adventure Comics #4-5. You can follow along with our reading of the annual at Scans Daily.

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The DC Bloodlines Podcast: Myriad!

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This episode looks at the New Blood Myriad and the Cyborg Superman, neither of whom debuted in 1993's Superman Annual #5 (the only instance of that occurring in the Bloodlines annual event that was specifically created to introduce new characters.) Getting to know Hank Henshaw means going back to 1990 to cover Superman #42, Adventures of Superman #465 and especially Adventures of Superman #466, followed by Sasha Green's first (and technically last) appearance in Superman #77. Next we get to the actual story "Myriad!" followed by her cameo in Bloodbath Special #2 and her quasi-posthumous mentions in 1994's Action Comics #696 & 700 plus 1997's Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #7. Finally, an overview of Frank's reading of Superman comics overall, as well as the career of Hank Henshaw specifically. This one gets political, so if you're still hypersensitive about the concept of President Trump, take heed. Bonus: Our podcast's debut appearance of the most successful New Blood, Hitman! You can follow along with our reading of the annual at Scans Daily.

This episode's non-paying advertisers:

• Less Than Live with Kate or Die
• The Fantasticast
• Cristi Hates Horror

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The DC Bloodlines Podcast: Anima attacks the New Titans

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Sigh. It's time to deal with Courtney Mason, the heroine of The New Titans Annual #9 and her own sixteen issue series, Anima (we cover the first two issues.) Created by novelists Elizabeth Hand & Paul Witcover, Anima was one of the highest profile and powerful New Bloods, but also one of the most painful to actually read. Hope the riot grrrl soundtrack helps us get through this one. You can follow along with our reading of the annual at Scans Daily.

This episode's non-paying advertisers:

• Midnight: The Podcasting Hour

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The DC Bloodlines Podcast: Argus and Flash

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The (finally bi-weekly as originally intended) podcast (not really) dedicated to DC's New Bloods returns (for a second "season" of indefinite length after a one-off in Spring 2015 & four episodes in April)! We're (actually only one person involved) back with a show that was 100% completed on May ‎15th but left on the shelf for nearly five months because Frank got distracted by the next shiny object (specifically, four Martian Manhunter podcasts for a JLA: Year One crossover rather belatedly advertised within.) But hey, it's funner and longer than usual with lots of goofy voices and bad acting processed through lame filters!

Our subject is Nick Kovak, one of the most "successful" (highly relative usage here) of the New Bloods as the stealth vigilante with vision powers, Argus! As an advantageous byproduct of his mostly appearing in Flash comics written by his co-creator Mark Waid during the arguable heyday of Wally West's run, we'll get to touch on some actual well liked comics for a change! This episode covers The Flash Annual #6, spotlight segments from Bloodbath Special #2, & Flash #86 (with notes related to #92-100, the introduction of Impulse and the "Terminal Velocity" arc.) Oh, and a brief nod to the world's most famous French-Canadian, in honor of Bass & Siskoid. You can follow along with our reading of the annual at Scans Daily.

This episode's non-paying advertisers:

• JLMay-- The JLA: Year One Podcast Crossover Event
• First Strike: The Invasion! Podcast

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• Tweet host Diabolu Frank directly, or probe @rolledspine as a group.
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• Rolled Spine Podcasts Facebook, which Frank hates and has nothing to do with.
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The DC Bloodlines Podcast: Pagan and Joe Public

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Two flavors of vigilante are covered on this episode: the brutal anti-heroine Pagan (Marian Mercer, of Batman #479) and the incompetent New Blood civic pridester Joe Pubic Public (Nobody Cares, Batman: Shadow of the Bat Annual #1,) neither of whom had much of a career to speak of. Also, this is the only Bloodlines story featuring Bruce Wayne before he had to file a lawsuit against an unlicensed chiropractor from Santa Prisca. You can follow along with our reading of the annual at Scans Daily.



This episodes non-paying advertisers:

• Trentus Magnus Punches Reality presents Batman v Superman
• Bailey's Batman Podcast
• Comic Reflections
• Batgirl to Oracle: The Barbara Gordon Podcast

Spill Some Blood!!!* *across social media only.

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The DC Bloodlines Podcast: Edge of Steel

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STEEL YOURSELF! Here is the first in what will become a recurring instance of bifurcated broadcasting, as we not only look at the prickly New Blood known as Edge, but also the rookie super-hero who hosted Tom O'Brien's debut in Superman: The Man of Steel Annual #2, Iron John! Well, you might not remember that short lived moniker, but surely you know Dr. John Henry Irons, the armored engineer who stood as part of the titular quartet from the epic storyline "Reign of the Supermen" who briefly replaced the Last Son of Krypton following his presumed death at the bony hands of Doomsday. We'll cover Steel's earliest career from his cameo in Adventures of Superman #500 through his star turn in Superman: The Man of Steel #22-24, as well as an overview of his role in the DC Universe. You can follow along with our reading of the annual at Scans Daily.



This episodes non-paying advertisers:

• The Man of Screen Podcast
• Listen To The Prophets - A Star Trek Deep Space Nine Podcast
• From Crisis To Crisis Podcast

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• If the main DC Bloodlines blog isn't your thing, try the umbrella Rolled Spine Podcasts.

The DC Bloodlines Podcast: Layla

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Still not guaranteeing this show as a weekly, but since I have a bunch of Bloodlines already about wrapped and no time to work on any other Rolled Spine Podcasts, you get this episode less than a week after the last (a huge improvement on the previous "annual" schedule.) The coverage of the 1993 event begins in earnest with Lobo Annual #1, featuring the debut of Layla, the tougher than nails L.E.G.I.O.N. agent with 'tude to spare! Not only can you follow along with most of her origin story via Scans Daily, but also her key appearance in Lobo's Big Babe Spring Break Special. Frank didn't find the latter until locking down this episode, and it both completely contradicted a chunk of your host's assessment of Layla's career and reaffirmed that the character's brief history is probably too toxic for to be of much concern anyway.



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• If the main DC Bloodlines blog isn't your thing, try the umbrella Rolled Spine Podcasts.

The DC Bloodlines Podcast: Outbreak

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Almost a year after our secret trial episode during Super Blog Team-Up #6, The DC Bloodlines Podcast begins in earnest during another blog/podcast crossover, #BestEventEver, devoted to the 1993 DC Comics annuals. In that vein, Diabolu Frank spends this episode discussing the history of comic book annuals and the direct sales market leading to The Chromium Age, including "Doomsday" "Knightfall" & "The Clone Saga," before circling in on the 1993 character generating spectacles at DC and Marvel Comics. Going forward, we'll look at each of the New Blood characters approximately but not always exactly according to their order of appearance, as well as the (sometimes barely) more established super-people they're paired with on either a weekly or biweekly basis (I'm keeping my options open.) Plus, we'll keep an eye on DC's 2016 revival mini-series as that comes out...

1992 Alien Parasite Designs by Arthur Adams

• Angon (Anger) Human Form
• Angon Alien Parasite Form (featuring Superman)
• Gemir (Greed) Human Form
• Gemir Alien Parasite Form (featuring Green Lantern)
• Glonth (Gluttony) Human Form
• Glonth Alien Parasite Form (featuring The Flash)
• Lissik (Lust) Human Form
• Lissik Alien Parasite Form (featuring Captain Marvel)
• Pritor (Pride)
• Pritor Alien Parasite Form (featuring Batman)
• Slodd (Sloth) Human Form
• Slodd Alien Parasite Form (featuring Wonder Woman)
• Venev (Envy) Human Form
• Venev Alien Parasite Form (featuring Martian Manhunter)
• Alien Parasite Tongue Detail (Featuring Glonth)
• CSBG's Knowledge Waits: All of DC's Original Bloodlines Characters
• CSBG's Knowledge Waits: All of Marvel’s Characters From Their 1993 Annuals

#BestEventEver

• Resurrections- An Adam Warlock and Thanos Podcast: BLOODLINES- BEST EVENT EVER NETWORK PROMO
• I’m The Gun: Lobo Annual #1 (1993)
• I’m The Gun: Justice League International Annual #4
• Coffee & Comics Blog: Eclipso Annual #1
• Between The Pages: DC Comics' Bloodlines: The Summer Aliens Ate My Cake
• The Relatively Geeky Podcast Network: Flash & Green Arrow-- FROM OUTBREAK TO BLOODBATH #41
• Kole Comic Box Commentary

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DC Bloodlines Podcast #1: The Top 10 Bloodlines Characters

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Super Blog Team-Up #6 seemed like a perfectly fine event to premiere the upconverted DC Bloodlines in its second life as a podcast! Once again, we take the blog's title entirely too seriously and actually discuss (shudder) New Bloods and Bloodlines Parasites from the 1993 DC Comics Annuals theme event! Oh, and before you all comment, I screwed up with the Levelator and didn't save the audio tracks like a good little podcaster, so the background songs are way more foregrounded than they ought to be. I'll watch that next time...

• 10) Anima
• 09) Glonth
• 08) Myriad
• 07) Lissik
• 06) Argus
• 05) Ballistic
• 04) Geist
• 03) Sparx
• 02) Nightblade
• 01) Hitman

• Mystery V-Log: Top 10 Avengers Covers
• The SuperHero Satellite: Top 10 DC Comics Titles That Ended Before Their Time
• Between The Pages: Top 10 Wackiest DC Comics Covers
• I’m The Gun: The 10 Best All-Star Squadron Covers!
• Flodo’s Page: Top 10 Green Lantern Ring-Slings ...That Don’t Appear In Modern Continuity
• Legion Of Super-Bloggers: Legion Who's Who Top Ten!
• Longbox Graveyard: Top 10 Super-Dogs
• Too Dangerous For A Girl!: Ten Best Super-Heroic Hairstyles
• The Idol Head Of Diablou: Top 10 Most Important Martian Manhunter Villains
• Vic Sage Via The Retroist: Top Ten Comic Character Deaths
• The Marvel Superheroes Podcast: Top 10 Avengers (An Age of Ultron Tie-In)
• The Unspoken Decade: Top 10 Avengers Moments
• In My Not So Humble Opinion: Top 10 Avengers Sketches
• Chasing Amazing: Top 10 Favorite Moments Of The "Chase"
• Bronze Age Babies: The Top 10 Bronze Age Characters
• #SuperBlogTeamUp

Spill Some Blood!!!* *across social media only.

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• If the main DC Bloodlines blog isn't your thing, try the umbrella Rolled Spine Podcasts.

2011 Anima C2E2 commission by Bobby Timony

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“Anima (in her pre-costume days) by Bobby Timony from the C2E2 convention in Chicago, March 2011

"Animus" is the living embodiment of mankind's rage, which Anima channeled.”

Bobby Timony

• Wonder Woman @ Diana Prince
• Miss Martian, Ravager & Bombshell @ The Idol-Head of Diabolu
• Zatanna @ Justice League Detroit
• Sins of Youth Titans @ Power of the Atom

1992 Glonth Alien Parasite Form Character Design by Arthur Adams

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Let's Glonth again, like we did that summer! Yeah, let's Glonth again, like we did in that year (1992!) Since Glonth was one of the best and most prolifically employed Bloodlines parasites, I'm surprised it took so long to finally locate a model sheet for his alien form. Now I've almost got a complete set to show off for this blog, but Pritor remains ever elusive!

The trouble is doubly odd because art from this design turned up not only in the Bloodlines trading card set, but in almost every DC Comic cover dated June 1993. Glonth was shown tearing through the editorial page "DC Universe 8," which while a cute breaking of the fourth wall, is kind of self-defeating from a marketing perspective. You see, Glonth obscured copy related to the Bloodlines event, when he maybe should have veered toward the "Metropolis Kid" or the announcement about DC's rotissery baseball league. Also worth noting was that Glonth was colored differently both times (the ad coming closer than the card.)



There's a batch of Bloodlines Parasite scans taken from reference material sent out to creators on the annual event, and they're courtesy of "The Online Home of Chuck Dixon," THE DIXONVERSE!. Check out all of his offerings in this gallery!

1992 Venev Human Form Character Design by Arthur Adams

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Wow, I sat on this for a really long time. Unsurprisingly, I always intended for a blog called "DC Bloodlines" to feature a lot of New Bloods and parasites. Getting sidetracked by stuff like becoming a full time student, myopic tangents, and realizing I had managed some gaps in my once complete set of annuals didn't help. Another problem was likely that Venev was a really boring parasite who I don't remember appearing in any of the Bloodlines stories I liked, so as far as I know, this is the last of the Art Adams design sketches I have access to post...

1992 Gemir Alien Parasite Form Character Design by Arthur Adams

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Set to scale against a Green Lantern Hal Jordan oddly reminiscent of Mike Mignola (who used to ink Art Adams in their early days,) here's the vainglorious scarlet Gemir in all his vampire pterodactyl bat-thing glory! You can check out the fuzzy scan of the original art through the hotlink above (complete with the taped over "Greed" logo,) or check out the larger, clearer, edited photocopy sent out to DC creators of the time at Chuck Dixon's blog.

1992 DC Comics Bloodlines Full Page Teaser Ad

"In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream." No wait, make that "Insatiable, otherworldly hunger..." Any way you play it, we all know we're looking at an Alien riff. The art was taken from a Christian Alamy splash page in Lobo Annual #1. I'm not sure how long or in how many books this ran, but I pulled my scan from June 1993's Wonder Woman #75.

1992 Gemir Human Form Character Design by Arthur Adams

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Courtesy of @fter-studio. Gemir didn't quite get the whole "inconspicuous human guise" angle with his flaming hair and the general Mok Swagger vibe. Gemir was the most classically villainous of the parasites, the Dracula to Lissik's Carmilla. I guess he's my third favorite of the lot.

1992 Venev Alien Parasite Form Character Design by Arthur Adams

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Thanks to the six arms, Venev was one of the easiest Bloodlines parasites to identify while in alien form. I confess, I can't really tell most of the winged ones apart, especially Lissik and Pritor (at least without color.) I'd probably have trouble with Slodd too, if he had survived past one appearance. At least Gemir had batwings to clue me in. I can kind of tell Angon because of her larger size, but if the others' wings were down, I wouldn't bet on it. Venev was a bit more wiry and monochromatic green, so she really stood out from Glonth, who was the other quick tell. Fat and hairy was also distinctive, but being orange and purple of all combinations never hurt. One more confession: I thought those were lights firing out of the parasites' space vessel, until I realized it was actually a back view of Venev without her arms in the way.

Venev uses Martian Manhunter to establish scale, which pleases me immensely. I love Art Adams' take on the character, and J'Onn was sidelined from the event until the closing bookend Bloodbath because of the Bloodwynd fiasco. However, if I recall correctly, that book was also the only instance where the Manhunter and his own identity parasite teamed-up after the divorce.

There's a fresh batch of Bloodlines Parasite scans taken from reference material sent out to creators on the annual event, and they're courtesy of "The Online Home of Chuck Dixon," THE DIXONVERSE!. Check out all of his offerings in this gallery!

2009 Black Lantern Nightblade design by Joe Prado

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Nightblade admittedly had a stupid, nonsensical '90s name, a less than inspired costume, and an m.o. very reminiscent of Longshot. This does not matter, because Nightblade was one of the most fun New Bloods in one of the best Bloodlines annuals, a viable Asian DC hero independent of a white super's legacy, and his powers were radically visual. Chop of his legs, and he'll hop at you until he can grow them back in a swift, ooey-gooey fashion. I refuse to believe Nightblade is dead, so I'm going to assume/delude that this was a soulless "duplicate" Nightblade that formed Maddrox the Multiple Man-like from a Superboy Prime bisection, with the real thing digging through your kitchen draws for some steak knives to throw at Geoff Johns.

• All the designs at Bleeding Cool
• Black Lantern Vibe @ Justice League Detroit
• Black Lantern Maxwell Lord @ The Idol-Head of Diabolu
• Indigo Corps Atom @ Power of the Atom
• White Lantern Donna Troy @ Diana Prince: Wonder Woman

Bloodlines: 18 Page Samplers Online

PyroTwilight at Scans Daily left a comment yesterday mentioning his amusement about New Blood coverage on this blog and how "I'm also posting about the event issue by issue..." Since my own plans to synopsizes the event stalled out months ago, I thought folks might like to take a look at what P.T. has to offer:

Outbreak
Lobo Annual #1: Part 1
"Superman" The Man of STEEL Annual #2: Part 2
Batman Shadow of the Bat Annual #1: Part 3
Flash Annual #6: Part 4
New Titans Annual #9: Part 5
Superman Annual #5: Part 6
Green Lantern Annual #2: Part 7
Batman Annual #17: Part 8
Justice League International Annual #4: Part 9

Earthplague
Robin Annual #2: Part 1

PyroTwilight also served up an intriguing lead:

"One interesting tidbit for those who don't have/use Facebook is that Dan Didio is being somewhat mysterious and has began researching the Bloodlines annuals and the New Bloods spawned from them. Whether that means we may be seeing more of the New Bloods is a good question but it has me excited. Hopefully it won't be to round up the still living New Bloods to gun them down..."

1992 Alien Parasite Tongue Detail (Featuring Glonth) Design by Arthur Adams

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There's a fresh batch of Bloodlines Parasite scans taken from reference material sent out to creators on the annual event, and they're courtesy of "The Online Home of Chuck Dixon," THE DIXONVERSE!. Dixon wrote a few of those annuals, and probably co-created a number of the New Bloods. For years, I labored under under the assumption Dixon was behind Ballistic, but that was actually Doug Moench. I even had a nice second amendment joke lined up, but Dixon was actually responsible for introducing Geist and Razorsharp, which I'll try not to hold against him.

Most of the Art Adams work I've seen has been character model sheets, but this here is an intriguing exception. The basic premise of the Bloodlines parasites was that they were H.R. Giger style predatory aliens who would serve as the villains in a summer annual event. While the design debt is obvious, a twist was added in that the parasites had individual personalities and physical attributes based on the seven Cardinal Sins, and that they could assume a human form a piece.

Both Marvel and DC decided they would also use each of their summer events as a platform to debut a hot new character find of the '90s. Marvel didn't have an overarching motivation for the spontaneous avalanche of dozens of new heroes and villains beyond pulling money out of speculators' pockets by polybagging each annual with a "rookie" trading card. DC made the arbitrary effort a little more palatable by taking a page from Marvel's mutant books by declaring all of their "New Bloods" were the product of one source.

As a callback to Giger's "jackhammer jaws," the Bloodlines parasites had a prehensile oral probe that would attach itself to the back of a victimized human's neck. Like vampires, the parasites lived off a bodily liquid, but they preferred spinal fluid to blood. Also like vampires and Romero zombies, the creatures' bite would sometimes transform the human victim, making them super-powered. It's cool to see Adams set the standard for the disturbing visuals for these parasite attacks, and that he used one of my favorites, Glonth, as his demonstration model. I wonder who the androgynous victim was, though?