Art Adams Model Sheets for DC’s 1993 ‘Bloodlines’ Crossover [Art]

DC Comics veteran Chuck Dixon has unearthed some rarely if ever seen vintage Art Adams material in the form of model sheets created for Bloodlines, the much maligned 1993 DC Comics crossover event. The villains of the story, which was told in numerous DC annuals of the time, were a group of parasitic aliens who fed on human spinal fluid. Something of a cross between H.R. Giger's xenomorphs and old Japanese movie monsters, the Bloodlines alien designs reflect the detailed linework and imagination of Art Adams. Although it's rarely invoked with the kindest of words, if at all, Bloodlines was a cleverly designed crossover event. Rather than intruding upon the existing DC line (they were very busy at the time, with four Supermen a homicidal armored Batman running around) or generating a starlingly high number of tie-in miniseries, the story, such as it was, took place in the form of self-contained Annuals (one-shots, basically) and concluded with a two-issue Bloodbath miniseries. Each annual would depict a the sting of a Bloodlines alien activating a random human's "metagene," which created a new superpowered character with which to populate the DC Universe. Known collectively as the Blood Pack, somewhere between 20-30 new characters came out of

Bloodlines, but only Hitman, created by Garth Ennis and John McCrea in The Demon Annual #2 (easily the best of the lot) -- enjoyed any success, going on to star in a 60-issue series. Other Bloodlines heroes have since gone on to die amusingly violent deaths in subsequent DC event comics.

While some of the stories may have left much to be desired, the Bloodlines aliens themselves were decently evil and well-designed beasts. For fans of Art Adams and creatre creation in general, we're fortunate Mr. Dixon published these model sheets on his blog.

[Via Newsarama]