Polite Dissent

7 Responses to “ Bloodlines (revisited 12 years later) ”

1. David Oakes
   March 24th, 2005 at 5:31 pm
   

   Much to my regret, I can “vaguely” remember all of them. I enjoyed the Armageddon Annuals so much (I am an alternative universe whore) that the glow didn’t wear off untl halfway through Bloodlines, when I realized that nearly every one of the characters were ones I had created for an RPG - when I was 10.

   Anima - mystic chick.
   Argus - infra-red mob buster.
   Gunfire - “can turn and edge into a weapon”.
   Hitman - x-ray vision and British morals.
   Joe Public - I want to say “powers of anyone around him”, but that was the Joe Public I played…
   Lionheart - British Iron Man
   Loose Cannon - Blue Hulk
   Edge, Geist, Hook, Jamm, Razorsharp - Weren’t these the Psyba-rats? (Always a sign of quality craftsmanship, a phonetic spelling of “whatever it is those kids are doing these days”. Night Thrasher, anyone?)
   Terrorsmith - I want to say this was a cool character, but my mind says that would be impossible, and I am actually thinking of Terror, Inc.

   So really, about six I really know. And I would bet there are basically the same as Scott’s six. Because they are the only ones who ever showed up outside of their annuals.

2. Scott
   March 24th, 2005 at 6:06 pm
   Official Comment

   You’re not the only one, I collected all the Armageddon 2001 Annuals, even the books I didn’t read, just because I’m a big alternative reality fan too.

   I’ve never done that with any annuals before, or since.

3. Johnny Bacardi
   March 24th, 2005 at 6:31 pm
   

   I remember many of these characters because I was interested in getting all the Anima appearances. I was also collecting Eclipso, so I remember Prysm very well. That was a weird character, who looked like something Dave Wood would have created for House of Secrets to fight Ultra the Multi-Alien sometime around 1966.

   I actually bought the Argus miniseries; or 5 out of the 6 anyway- I never found #4, I think it was. Didn’t really care to. The others ring distant bells, but probably only appeared briefly in one of the books I did pick up.

   Oh yeah, there was that Tommy Monaghan character, too. Wonder whatever happened to him? Bet it wasn’t pleasant.

4. H
   March 24th, 2005 at 7:27 pm
   

   Scott:

   Since I feel guilty in sending you off in this direction, I’ll fess up that Hitman is the
   only one I remember (not counting the characters I’ve read in the Encyclopedia the last
   few weeks). Anima, Argus and the rest, whether they had potential or not, quickly vanished
   from the scene and DC doesn’t appear to have any inclination of dusting any of them off any more so than bringing back the New Guardians. Which is why it seemed odd that DC devoted full entries to these
   characters. But just so this whole Anima thing doesn’t start any trouble, does it help if I
   say I also see some potential in the latest version of Hawk and Dove?

5. Chris Galdieri
   March 26th, 2005 at 7:44 am
   

   I remember:

   # Anima, mainly because she had her own book;
   # Argus, because he was used pretty frequently in Waid’s FLASH for a few years after Bloodlines;
   # Edge, because at the time I thought, boy, it’s weird to have a character gain the powers of barbed wire;
   # Gunfire, thanks to the promo ad for his short-lived series that showed him using a circular saw or something to shoot rays at an unseen foe;
   # Hitman, who doesn’t count;
   # Jamm, who made me realize just how dire the Legion book had become; and
   # Loose Cannon, because I vaguely remember an ad for his mini-series being placed at an intensely inappropriate spot in a Vertigo book.

6. Loren
   March 26th, 2005 at 2:09 pm
   

   Lessee. Anima, Argus, and Gunfire I know from their series. I didn’t read them, but I saw plenty of them in the old “Direct Currents” flyer that DC used to do.

   Edge, Loose Cannon, Myriad, and Sparx were in the Reign of the Superman annuals, which I did buy (albeit out of cheap bins some years later). I thought Sparx was decent enough fun in the one issue I had of “Superboy and the Ravers.” She was about the only Bloodlines character I know of who wasn’t somehow depressing.

   Edge, on the other hand, seemed like one of the worst hero concepts ever. He was visually unappealing, and his power (shooting jagged metal shards) is much more suited to a villain than a hero. Unless the hero plans on inflicting great bodily damage on his opponents.

   And Myriad virtually undid one of the creepier moments in “Reign.” Lex killed his karate instructor, and then an alien monster brings her back to life. Didn’t see that one coming…

   I think Razorsharp showed up in an early issue of “Young Justice.” A fill-in by Chuck Dixon, IINM.

   And I recognize a couple of other names, like Geist and Joe Public. Couldn’t tell you anything about them, though.

7. Loren
   March 26th, 2005 at 2:12 pm
   

   Oh, and here is another good summary of who the Bloodlines characters are, and what became of them. Plus, it also covers the lousy Marvel Annual heroes from the same year.

   The author is a little too hard on Hitman, IMO. Ennis told the story he wanted to tell, and wrapped everything up. DC still stinks for refusing to collect the rest of the series in TPBs, though.

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