#Blood Syndicate

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Blood Syndicate house ad (circa May 1993)

[superman86to99]

Super Titles Round-Up (August 1994)

This month: Superboy gets wet! Steel gets a new armor! The Eradicator gets sad!

Superboy #7

"Worlds Collide" continues, but pretty soon it's gonna be more like "Waves Collide" because of the two tsunamis about to hit the inter-dimensionally connected cities of Metropolis and Dakota. While Superman and the Blood Syndicate team up to stop the wave on the Metropolis side, Superboy, Static, and Rocket try to do the same in the Dakota one, but none of their powers are really suited for stopping massive amounts of city-destroying water.

(At least we get some excellent sound effects out of their failed attempts.)

In Metropolis, the Blood Syndicate's Aquamaria (whose powers, as the name implies, are "being made out of water" and "Spanish") turns into a smaller tsunami herself to try to counteract the wave. Meanwhile, Superboy and his Amazing Friends decide to change strategy and try to fool the god-like being causing all of this, Rift ("the world's most powerful disgruntled postal worker," as Superboy calls him), into stopping the wave. Instead, they anger him so much that he turns both tsunamis into a wave of fire -- just as Aquamaria was about to crash into it. RIP, Aquamaria (or "Steamaria" now, I guess).

In Dakota, Rift does end up turning the wave back into water and freezing it in time, just to show off. Superboy, Static, and Rocket manage to work together to knock Rift down, but he easily gets up again and freezes them too by trapping them inside a giant headstone. They'll stay stuck there until breaking out in Man of Steel #36, which leads to...

Steel #7

Sorry, this isn't the issue where we find out why Steel was wearing nothing but boxers in MoS #36 (you'll have to wait for the "Milestone Side" post for that). What's important is that Steel is working with his former rival Hardware and current enemy Hazard on a plan to stop their even bigger common enemy Rift. Part of that plan involves getting himself a new armor with Hardware's tech, hence him not being in his undies anymore. Other than that, the plan doesn't seem to be going too well, considering Rift carelessly squashes Metropolis and Dakota together into one city on the second page.

Rift announces that now that he's merged the cities, he's gonna sort out the "continuity problems" by getting rid of all the redundant elements, like the two evil labs/sleep clinics where he was experimented on when he was a regular mailman. The heroes don't want Rift to destroy the lab because it contains the weapon Steel and Hardware created to depower him, so they join forces to distract him while Superman, Icon, and Hazard go retrieve the anti-Rift device.

By the way, while all the heroes fight Rift, there's a coloring error that suddenly turns Rocket into Superboy -- further evidence that Superboy's Milestone Universe counterpart is a pregnant girl.

Superman and Icon get the weapon out right before Rift remembers what he was doing and destroys the labs and everyone in them --including Hazard, apparently, which leaves Steel with some conflicted emotions. The guy seemingly died saving two worlds, sure, but he did also try to kill most of Steel's family. Rift teleports away at the end of the issue (he's gonna go mess with the Blood Syndicate in their own series) and the heroes fly off to see what they can do with that weapon. TO BE CONCLUDED IN ANOTHER POST! Here's some cool Humberto Ramos art to tide you over until then:

Outsiders #10

After helping the Outsiders break out of jail, the Eradicator joins them on a trip to "the underworld nation of Abyssia" to look for their teammate Looker, who has been turned into a vampire by the Dracula wannabe ruling that place. While down there, everyone suddenly starts experiencing visions related to tragic moments in their lives. In the Eradicator's case, he remembers he had two kids as Dr. David Connors and sees them calling him a freak.

Did that really happen? Because that's grounds for getting disowned, young men (though I guess they're getting their inheritance anyway since everyone thinks Dr. Dave is already dead). Anyway, you might think the vampire lord is causing these visions, but nope, he's getting them too and no one has any idea what's going on. The Outsiders find Looker, who betrays them, but then it turns out she was only pretending to betray them... and then it turns out she was only pretending to be pretending to betray them. So, yeah, she's evil. CONTINUED!

The Spectre #21

Superman is part of a truly random assortment of DC characters appearing in this issue, including most of the Justice Society, Lucien from Sandman, Nightshade from Suicide Squad, and Naiad from Firestorm (who, coincidentally, is also a lady made of water, like Aquamaria). Oh, and Adolf Hitler and Bill Clinton appear too. Jesus, who isn't in this issue? Not Jesus, he's also in here. Seriously!

President Clinton has tasked a guy named Professor Hazzard (another coincidence! Worlds ARE Colliding!) with finding a way to kill the Spectre if that ever becomes necessary. Hazzard travels into the Dreaming (read: takes a nap) and, with Lucien's help, learns about the Spear of Destiny: a spear that once struck Jesus, which eventually ended up in Hitler's hands and was used to keep all of the Justice Society, including the Spectre, out of Germany during World War II.

The Spear is now in a Raiders of the Lost Ark-esque warehouse, but Clinton orders they take it out once he learns that the Spectre has apparently flooded part of Tokyo and killed hundreds of people. Of course, that wasn't the Spectre, it was Naiad the Water Elemental, who went crazy and decided to kill everyone working in the Japanese oil company that caused the incident that gave her her powers. But Clinton doesn't know that, so he needs someone to wield the Spear and use it against the Spectre. Guess who he drafts for the job?

But that's not gonna happen until next issue. CONTINUED, TOO!

Legionnaires #17 and Valor #22

I wanna mention these issues since they make reference to the Pocket Earth Superboy, even though his role in the Legion of Super-Heroes' origin had been erased some years earlier (at this point, Valor was the young hero who inspired the Legion, not Superboy). The Legion's continuity is a complete mess, which is nothing new, but suddenly they're aware of it and that's causing troubles. For once, the Legionnaires are as baffled as the readers.

In fact, it's such a mess that their entire world is falling apart and they start looking for a new one to settle on. That's when one of them remembers there's an empty planet just sitting there: Superboy and Supergirl's Pocket Earth, which has been deserted since Superman killed its last three non-synthetic inhabitants in Superman #22. The plan is to literally haul the planet out of the Pocket Universe and put it where the old Earth used to be. Easy! The only problem is that once they bring the Pocket Earth over to the non-Pocket DC Universe, its core inverts or whatever and it turns into a time bomb. Whoops! ALSO TO BE CONTINUED, BELIEVE IT OR NOT!

Showcase '94 #9

The Dan Jurgens-written Waverider/Monarch story that started last issue concludes here (finally, something without a "CONTINUED" at the end). Monarch, who was always a bit of a knucklehead when he was a superhero called Hawk, has somehow invented a device that captured Waverider and his fellow Linear Man, Hunter, and forced them to ping-pong through time. Waverider finally breaks free and attacks Monarch -- but that was all part of his plan.

Monarch uses Waverider's chronal energy to look into his own past and find out why he's so smart now: it's because when he killed his former partner Dove at the end of Armageddon 2001, her "powers, reason and intelligence" merged into Hawk's dumb meathead body and turned him into a superior being. This warrants a name (and costume) change, so from now on, he's calling himself "Extant."

Extant dies fighting Waverider and Hunter... or that's what should have happened according to Hunter's temporal research. Instead, Extant completely owns both of them and steals Waverider's time-traveling wrist-cuff, which means he now has the powers and smarts to change history as he pleases. This also means I LIED! TO BE CONTINUED IN ZERO HOUR! 0:

Missed an issue? Looking for an old storyline? Check out our new chronological issue index!

[thebucketpail]

DP X DC prompt

Where, after running away from home (for whatever reason you choose) Danny ends up in Dakota City during the Big Bang. His undead status protects him during the fight and he comes out of it practically unscathed. Now, with a huge boom in the Meta population, Danny's free to use his powers around his new friends without worry of getting found out.

Sure the Blood Syndicate is kinda intense, but at least they're fun to hang out with.

[bucketwritingpail]

Wip Wednesday anyone?

Danny joins the Blood Syndicate au pt.1

Cw: lying about ages, recruiting minors (gangs)

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"I don't think we should be recruiting kids, Wise."

"I'm not a kid," Danny stated defiantly, tilting his chin up and puffing out his chest in what he hoped looked like an intimidating stance.

The ghost guy didn't look impressed, crossing his arms as he asked, "And how old are you then?"

"I'm-" shit. Fuck. He couldn't say fifteen, they'd definitely kick him out for that. What could he pass for then? "Eighteen?" He hated how much it sounded like a question but it was worth a shot. " I'm eighteen," he said, projecting as much confidence as he could muster into his voice this time.

The ghost raised an eyebrow. "You wanna try again with a more accurate number?" There were a few snickers from the group and Danny felt himself deflate a little.

"I'm seventeen in june," he muttered bitterly. Still a lie but probably more passable. It was only a year.

"You know what? You're in," Wise said with a wide sweeping gesture, he held out his hand for Danny to shake.

"That's still a kid, Wise."

"And I'm your fucking leader, Fade. What I say goes. Besides, I was a year younger when I first joined, and I know the lot of you were too. We take in Bang babies who need a place to go. That's the policy."

Fade looked like he wanted to protest further, but swallowed it instead and sighed. "Fine," he ground out.

"Good," Wise Son said, jutting out his chin with an air of finality before turning back to Danny. "Now, kid-" Fade coughed. "That we've settled the possibility of you sticking around," he continued, ignoring the rather unsubtle remains of objection, "You've got to understand what you're getting into. Capiche?"

Danny nodded.

"Y'see, we've got a rule here. You can only join up with us if you can beat us all in a fight. You still wanna try out?"

Danny took a quick look around at everyone and nodded again.

Masquerade stepped forward with an amused expression. "You sure about that, runt?"

Danny stared him straight in the eyes and nodded again. Then, with his own amused lilt to his voice, "I am one hundred percent confident I could beat you all without breaking a sweat."

The gang members all shared a look.

"Alright then," Wise said.

[inhousearchive]

House-ad for Blood Syndicate (1993), created by Milestone Comics and published by DC Comics.

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Blood Syndicate (1993)

The Flash (2016)

He produced so many cool characters that have made a permanent part of the Flash mythos. Also he gave an end to Eobard Thawne. Barry forgave him. That hit me so hard because Geoff Johns got me into Flash but his writing is so gorey and extreme. And seeing Williamson have a different take is so refreshing.

[paullovescomics]

Finished reading the first series of Blood Syndicate. On a cover like this, the team looks like so many others from the 1990s: lots of attitude, a guy with guns, a really big person hulking in the back, and one with a full face mask. But the team does operate quite differently. The premise is the most striking out of all the Milestone comics. A group of gang members gain superpowers during the Big Bang*, and they band together to form a new gang and maybe bring some order to their home on Paris Island.

While many in the Blood Syndicate do want to make things better, overall, the group's tactics and motivations often live in a moral grey area. Yes, they bust up crack houses to rid their town of that drug, but they also keep the money for themselves. Maybe they spend some of it early on to help the community (I don't clearly remember, I took a while to read all 35 issues), but at least in the second half of the series, they don't. This is a big part of what makes the series interesting. We see them do things that make sense to them, even while we the audience know it's going to turn out badly. These are people who didn't expect to ever have anything really good in their lives, so how will they imagine their superpowers will help them now? How we grow up shapes which possibilities we can see.

As with all of the great superhero teams of the 80s and 90s, interpersonal drama drives a lot of their actions. The soap opera approach to superheroes was still very much in effect here. I personally like that, and I'd like to think that's not only due to nostalgia. I think it does give the audience more to emotionally engage with. It also encourages writers to find subplots for each character, and involve them in more than just fights.

The cast of Blood Syndicate is pretty big. There are like 14 members of the group across the series, and it's not unusual for 12 or 13 to be active at any given time. This means that not everyone gets the same amount of development. By the end, I felt like I had a much better grip on the characters of Fade, Brickhouse, Masquerade and Kwai than any of the others.

The relationship between Brickhouse and Third Rail would be a huge hit among a lot of fans today.

The next old-school Milestone series I plan to read is Icon. Reading the series individually does make the crossover stories a little confusing, but thankfully there aren't many of those.

*The Big Bang is the event which gave many of Milestone's heroes and villains their powers.

[dailydccomics]

Superman and the Blood Syndicate in Superman: The Man of Steel #36

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[evilhorse]

Milestone Comics house ad (circa March 1993)

[superman86to99]

Worlds Collide: The Milestone Side, Month 1 (July 1994)

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: We now have a newsletter! It's the exact same thing as this blog, but in email form. You can subscribe for free at: https://buttondown.email/superman86to99 (make sure to check your spam folder for the confirmation email) More details in an upcoming post!

"Worlds Collide" was pretty unusual for a Superman-related crossover event: it only included one of the four main Superman titles (plus two spin-offs), it happened right in the middle of another Super-storyline ("The Fall of Metropolis"), and it came out right before another crossover event involving alternate worl-- sorry, "timelines" (Zero Hour) but had absolutely no connection to it.

The basic idea is that Superman, Superboy, and Steel meet the characters of Milestone Comics' Dakotaverse thanks to a mailman who switches universes whenever he goes to sleep. However, at least in this first month, the Milestone side seems way more into the crossover than the DC one -- their issues are completely devoted to the event, while the Super Titles have a ton of other plotlines going on. (Then again, they always had a ton of other plotlines going on in this era.) In an effort to help our readers understand what the hell's going in the Superman issues when we cover them, here's what happened in the Milestone ones:

Static #13

This issue isn't technically part of the crossover (it's from the month before it started) but it does show the other side of the scene from Man of Steel #35 when Fred Bentson, the aforementioned superpowered mailman, unwittingly switches universes in the nude and runs into the Dakotaverse's most famous inhabitant, Static.

Fred tries to steal Static's flying disk (or "Static Saucer," as they called it in the Static Shock cartoon) to take it back to Metropolis as proof that he isn't just dreaming the Dakotaverse. He doesn't succeed and runs off, leaving Static like "eh, probably just some nut and not something that will end up putting the existence of multiple universes in jeopardy..."

Hardware #17

This issue reveals Fred's other superpower: picking the worst possible sleep clinic in every reality. We already saw him going into a super shady Metropolis-based one in Man of Steel, and this issue shows that he also went into one owned by Edwin Alva, Milestone Comics' foremost unscrupulous businessman (and the boss of this comic's titular character). Alva wants to exploit Fred's reality-hopping powers, so he orders Hardware to go into the DC Universe with him in order to find out how they work.

Hardware obeys and finds himself teleported into the middle of Metropolis, which is in such poor shape after the events of Action #700 that he initially mistakes it for Detroit.

After saving a woman from some bizarre would-be rapists (that you'd never see in a Superman comic), Hardware suddenly sees Superman's Pal, Steel, looking at him from the other side of a mirror. Both are big black dudes who used their super-smarts to build themselves badass robotic armors, so I can't blame the universe(s) for getting them mixed up. Steel breaks the mirror from the other side with his hammer, causing Hardware to fall into a nightmare where people from his life call him a sellout and a terrible person.

Hardware wakes up back in the city of Dakota, and it turns out the only thing he managed to bring from the other universe is an issue of the Daily Planet... which is still enough to convince Alva that he can use Fred to conquer two worlds.

Icon #11

Superboy #6 (which we'll cover in the usual Super Titles Round-Up post) ends with Fred accidentally taking Superboy into Dakota. Icon himself, who is pretty much the Dakotaverse's Superman, barely appears in this issue, but that's fine with Superboy because he gets to meet, and be a perv towards, his sidekick Rocket.

This is the issue where Fred realizes he can create beings with the power of his imagination, which is bad news for everyone around him because he's an anxious little fella. Fred starts bringing his biggest fears to life: first, an army of IRS auditors who look like Superman's enemy the Parasite (who attacked him in Superboy #6)...

...and then, a building-sized version of his Fifth Grade bully. The young heroes put aside their differences to defeat the big bully in the most appropriate way they can think of: Superboy uses his tactile telekinesis to drop his pants, and then Rocket pushes him down while he's distracted.

Superboy, Rocket, and Icon (who finally decides to show up for his own comic) take Fred back to Alva's sleep clinic for further study. At Alva's, Superboy tries to hit on Rocket again, but she freaks him out by simply being a pregnant teenage superheroine, something that can't exist in the DCU.

Oh yeah, and this leads to an important event in Superboy's life that I'm surprised didn't happen in his own comic: the moment he realizes he has no bully button.

Anyway, Alva gets Fred to teleport himself and Superboy back to Metropolis by asking him to imagine himself "as a bridge between worlds." This works a little too well, since not only does Fred jump universes again, but he also creates a literal bridge between them...

Blood Syndicate #16

The bridge scene is repeated from different perspectives in Steel #6 and in this series, which follows a bunch of gang members who get superpowers after the police throw radioactive tear gas at them. As a result of that incident, known as the "Big Bang," half of the bridge connecting Dakota with the gang-ridden Paris Island was blown off -- which is pretty convenient for this crossover, because Metropolis also has a half-blown-off bridge, courtesy of a fight between Superboy and Spider-Man But Evil during "Reign of the Supermen."

Now Fred has merged both half-bridges into one interdimensional bridge connecting both universes, which is very confusing to the Blood Syndicate gang (for once, when I call a group of superheroes a "gang" I mean that literally). It gets even more confusing once they cross the bridge, thinking the bombed-out Metropolis is Dakota, and hear people talking about Superman. You know, from TV! Wait, does this mean the Blood Syndicate watches Lois & Clark?

Then they run into Superman and assume he must be some insane "Bang Baby" doing cosplay, while he assumes they must be working for Luthor. It doesn't help that they're quite rude towards him and drop swear words no one in the DCU has probably heard before. The issue ends with the whole gang about to attack Superman while one of them, a talking dog called Dogg, says "Yo, Superman, where's Krypto?" (SPOILERS: In Superboy #6, with Bibbo.)

Worlds Collide #1

This one-shot brings all the characters together as we transition from the "meet and fight" to the "team up to face the greater threat" part of the story. Fred finds himself back in Dakota and runs into a bunch of high school kids who are working on their own comic book. When Fred looks at one of the pages of the comic without meaning to, he summons its equally destructive hero and villain into existence.

One of those comic nerds happens to be Static in his secret identity, so he gets to work on stopping the runaway characters and soon bumps heads with Superboy as he's trying to do the same thing.

At this point, Fred starts enjoying his powers a little too much and adds his own childhood comic book creations to the mix, all of whom look like him but with way more muscles. Things get really chaotic, and this is when we learn that Static actually reads Superboy's comic -- though I'm confused by his mention of the "no belly button" thing. Does this mean Static read Icon #11 up there? My head hurts.

Rocket also drops by to help, and there's a bit about Superboy panicking when he realizes that she, a jacket-wearing teenager with "kinetic energy" powers who works with an iconic superhero, is his Dakotaverse counterpart. This reminded me of Magdalene Visaggio and Darick Robertson's Superboy pitch in which Conner Kent transitions into Connie Kent and becomes a superheroine called Skyrocket -- if DC hadn't rejected the idea, they could have used this scene as foreshadowing. (I asked Visaggio on BlueSky if she knew about the Superboy/Rocket thing when she picked the name Skyrocket and she said "Nope!")

At one point, Fred merges with all of his creations and becomes a super-jacked gunslinger with wheels for feet. When Superboy makes the mistake of criticizing his fashion sense, we learn the ultimate source of Fred's trauma: Adam West's Batman.

Meanwhile, Fred's body is also at the sleep clinic in Metropolis and somehow at Alva's lab at the same time, and both places are trying to pull him to their side in order to exploit his powers. The process tears Fred apart, both physically and psychologically -- leaving in his place a giant, all-powerful, scary-looking being calling himself RIFT. He even does the "Fred Bentson is no more!" thing, so you know shit's getting real.

As for Superman, he's losing his patience with the Blood Syndicate, especially after they dare to mess with the hair.

After some more fighting, Superman finally convinces them that this isn't Dakota, it really is Metropolis from the comics. They're like "ah, okay, not our problem then" and head back to Paris Island... just as Rift grows so large that he's able to pick up the entire island and throw it in the ocean, creating a massive tsunami wave that seems to be about to wipe out what's left of Metropolis.

NEXT IN "WORLDS COLLIDE": Shit gets even more real! (But not real enough to impact the other Superman titles.)

[thebucketpail]

Wip from Danny joins the Blood Syndicate AU for you peoples.

Tw. For mentions of injury

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"Phantom? Kid, wake up."

"Wha-?" Danny woke up to Fade's face filling his vision with that stupid worried look he had all the time. The man was patting his face gently.

"You up kid?"

"M'not a fucking kid, geezer," he mumbled, shoving him away as he attempted to sit up. And, ow. Fuck everything hurt. He'd probably had at least three breaks and alot more bruising. Thank the Ancients for super healing.

Fade chuckled. "Yeah sure, whatever, kid. You good to stay here? I still need to find Mask and I don't want you dying if I look away for 10 seconds."

"Ha ha," Danny deadpanned as he wrapped his arms around his torso. "Keep your worries old man, I've already tried the dying thing, and I don't intend to go through that again anytime soon."

Danny pulled himself up by the wall, floating a bit, because he didnt really trust his still sore and shakey legs to hold his weight. Fade reached out a hand to steady him but he shrugged it off.

"I think I saw Mask go this way before the fog spread," he grunted, already moving toward where he had last seen the shapeshifter.

"Lead the way kid."

[bucketwritingpail]

Wip Ask Game

RULES: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it!

Hi, so , I saw this and thought it'd be fun. A bit if motivator to get working yknow?

>When You Accidentally Kill a Clown

>Voice Crack

>Danny Joins the Blood Syndicate au (creative name I know)

>dpxgf one-shot

>Closeted imperfection

>The faces we wear, the forms we take (working title, Fade/Mask)

Please please please don't let this flop