The return of Milestone Media to the world of comic book publishing is certainly momentous, especially for fans of their fictional universe's original incarnation. Monthly comic books starring the likes of Static and Icon will be available for the first time since the late '90s. While these are definitely the most popular Milestone heroes, there were several other characters who rose to prominence when the company first published comic books.
These included the hi-tech Hardware, the immortal Xombi and the pulse-pounding Blood Syndicate. Created by Dwayne McDuffie, Ivan Velez Jr. and Denys Cowan, the latter was unlike any superpowered team in comics, and truly embodied the more grounded tone of the Milestone books. Showcasing how gritty, topical and diverse Milestone was, the Blood Syndicate was a force to be reckoned with for criminals and heroes alike. With their return potentially imminent, given the events of Milestone Returns, it's a good time to revisit the bloodiest characters in Milestone.
They're Not a Team - They're a Gang
Though their bloody name may have sounded reminiscent of several violent '90s Image comic books, the Blood Syndicate has a reason for their intimidating title. Unlike other groups of superheroes such as the Justice League or the Avengers, the Blood Syndicate wasn't a team, but a gang. In fact, they were a conglomeration of two surviving Dakota gangs who were victims of the Big Bang event. This gave them all an assortment of powers and abilities. They used these powers to not only attack their foes, but even heroes such as Icon and Rocket whenever they felt that their turf was disrespected.
The Blood Syndicate operated as a gang with only a vague semblance of a code of honor. Spurred to action mostly by second-in-command and later leader Wise Son, the Blood Syndicate would raid crackhouses and other such drug manufacturers to rid their streets of "poison," all the while taking the money and sometimes drugs for themselves. The title of leadership was briefly fought over between Tech-9, who had the power to shoot unlimited ammo from firearms, and Holocaust, a pyrokinetic who later became a central foe of Static's. Other members included Brick House, who had a stony, concrete body, Fade, who could make himself intangible and the aforementioned Wise Son, who was impervious to physical harm.
The team was also incredibly diverse. Wise Son, Holocaust and Masquerade were Black and Wise Son being a somewhat lax Farrakhan Muslim. Fade and his sister Flashback were Dominican, Brick House, Aquamaria and Tech-9 were various Latin nationalities while Kwai and Third Rail were Asian. Two members' closeted LGBT status was also an undercurrent in the series' storyline.
America Eats Its Young
The team dedicated themselves to cleaning the streets, even if they weren't exactly friendly guardians. With the number of crackhouses to raid dwindling and no real central goal, the group began to quickly disintegrate. Things only got more fractured when Tech-9 died from an adverse reaction to the Quantum Juice used at the Big Bang. The team would soon be joined by Boogieman, a humanoid rat Bang Baby who was actually the team's sole Caucasian member. The team soon faced the mystical Demon Fox after getting involved with local Asian hitmen, with their greatest fears being revealed by the Demon Fox's manipulation.
Like several other books in the line, Blood Syndicate was part of the "Worlds Collide" crossover with DC's Superman characters. Despite his less than noble demeanor, Wise Son was instrumental in quelling the violence in Dakota during the "Long Hot Summer" intercompany crossover. Sadly, this didn't stave off the Blood Syndicate's fracturing ranks. The team would briefly be led by Masquerade, who took over after members such as Brickhouse and Third Rail left for civilian life. Once it was revealed that she was actually a woman, her teammates abandoned her and the Syndicate. This was the end of the book's original publication and the team as readers had come to know them, but they would briefly return in the miniseries Milestone Forever.
This was the Milestone equivalent to stories such as Superman's Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, this series told the final stories of several of the publisher's characters. These included Holocaust, who had decided to return the Blood Syndicate to its street gang roots and carve up Dakota like a fiefdom. This led to his final confrontation with Wise Son, who beat him once and for all and swore to make good on the Blood Syndicate's more upright potential. Afterward, the Milestone characters would be absorbed into the DC Universe proper following Final Crisis. That was the last time that the team had been seen, but with Milestone returning, the Blood Syndicate will likely return to the streets of Dakota once more.