Blood Syndicate - Season One #1 (Milestone Returns)

[@kevinjones4001]

Fade and Flashback were Dominican and Boogieman was white. DMZ was an alien. I had all these comics.

[@ddsmitty1]

i was just about to say the same thing. I seem to remember Icon recognizing him as an alien cop or something like that.

[@cosmicghost811]

DMZ was actually human-cyborg infused with alien technology.

[@JM-gc7hz]

@@ddsmitty1 I remember reading something about DMZ had an encounter with an alien, but he’s an earth human

[@kevinjones4001]

There was an amazing Blood Syndicate comic that was just DMZ with no words called Silent Vigil.

[@HudsonLux365]

I was about to say the same

[@ainsgrant]

Ethnicity doesn’t always dictate skin color. Especially when you had a lot of Africans slaves in Spanish countries. So just because they’re Puerto Rican doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not black. Those characters could be black and Puerto Rican, black Puerto Rican, Afro Latinos

[@joeparrigen4982]

👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿

[@damonpatterson8293]

That's the same thing I was thinking Puerto Rican is not a race, same with Dominican, Cuban or whatever. There are afro-latinos, european-latinos, asian, native, mixed and so on. So it doesn't mean they are not black or have black in them especially those in the New York area or parts of Florida. It's just you have some self hating people in any group that will deny who they are, not all but some.

[@o-wolf]

This thing where (African Americans &Afro Latinas especially) don't consider Puerto Ricans black.. even though they're CLEARLY black ppl.. who just happened to be born into a culturally latin ethnic group will always be mindbogglingly dumb to me.. I used to think Afro Latinas just did that to distance themselves from black ppl.. but some AAs don't consider or refer to them as black either &it's so aggressively ignorant idek what to make of it tbh

[@BLACKSTA361]

​@@o-wolfAA's just be hating sometimes. They be doing the same to Brazilians, Caribbeans and Africans at times

[@natew1494]

The BS was doing the Afro Latino gig waaay before Miles Morales. That comic was the very representation of "Inclusion" kinda reminded me of Spanish Harlem in Comic form

[@o-wolf]

Fun Fact Bendis was a very big "fan" of milestone/McDuffie's work &would spend yrs steali-repurposing tons of his characters/ideas in comics of his own from his ultimate comic runs to miles morales (himself Bendis riff on the fact static was considered MileStones Spiderman) to iron man's tech to the Illuminati etc etc

[@timbirdie8180]

Yeah i wish miles got show more of his latino thing since latino representation is often limited to mestizo latinos if not white ones. Still glad for miles tho because while my family prefers light skinned latinos( i know they are racist but hey are progessive good people their racist mind and preferences just are harder to change but they support blm and stuffl like that and are getting better but still you know think like theyre oppresors) miles will let my lil cosuisn see a darkskined black latino being all cool and normal and stuff. My cousins watch spidey and his amazing freinds so theyve already know about these characters and it makes me happy. Especially since i grew up with the white vengers. Ps i love the mcu but dang it was so white i felt like if if it weren't for the hul literally being green all the color would be coming from their suits not their skin.

[@cosmicghost811]

Tech-9's powers also include bullet manipulation, meaning he not only can't run out of bullets, but also, he's able to hit his target regardless of where he's aiming. He also can't be killed by bullets/guns.

[@steelman4ever]

Wasn’t he also resurrected? I remember him coming back.

[@cosmicghost811]

@@steelman4ever not that I remember, no. Though, I wish he was, because he was my favorite, also he died in the most b.s. manner.

[@alexsolomon7991]

@@steelman4ever NO, in the original series, Masquerade POSED as Tech 9 come back to life, assisted by a demon that was an enemy of the group.(using tech 9's bones as a spell component to allow masquerade to mimic his abilitites as well as his body) also, i don't believe he could manipulate bullets per se....he just manifested guns and ammo. He died too quickly in the original series to really define his abilities more than that.(overusing his abilities to take out Holocaust in a duel for leadership of the gang. by shooting him repeatedly in the crotch with continuous assault weapons fire.) it was IMPLIED that the Bang Baby powers were unstable and that they ALL had the potential to go out like that, but tech 9 was the only one it ever happened to. these were ghetto gang members, NOT scientists. they didn't know much about thier powers beyond how to use them. Also, DMZ was an alien, from the same civilization as Icon. It was implied in fact that he was an (ex) cop. Anyhoo..back to tech. I hope they keep him around a bit longer in the reboot. And yeah, exploring the relationship between him and fade would be interesting.I believe in the original continuity, they "fooled around" a bit, but tech was never serious. masquerade tried to play on the relationship when posing as Tech, but ultimately failed How much of that was truth and how much was fade "in the closet" is impossible to say. Oh! i should mention: in the original continuity, Masquerade was indeed a woman posing as a man...who left group and proceeded to turn heel when accidentally outed. (she/he was literally insanely defensive on the topic) but was depicted as female/presenting female in the rare pre-Big bang flashbacks. Again..not enough mention in the original material do define things completely. It'll be interesting to see how the reboot handles tings like Brickhouse's epilepsy (not a proper diagnosis, but in the original continuity she had issues/siezures sometimes.) or Boogeyman being a white boy who happens to be a were-rat that everyone ASSUMED was black because "acted black" and never let them see him in human form, and the others never thought to ask. (he was never EXACTLY depicted in human form as a poser, growing up in the same neighborhood as the others...i imagine modern day CRT would have a field day with him)

[@cosmicghost811]

@@alexsolomon7991 DMZ was actually not an alien. The guy that it showed in the flashback was a different member of that intergalactic space force (D'masi). Dmz was a human that encountered and fell in love with a female member, but during an attack, he got injured and, in order to save his life, she augmented him with some of her alien technology (essentially him into a cyborg). And He's called DMZ, because when he first met the blood syndicate, all he kept saying was D'masi (because he was searching and waiting for the female officer that saved his life), which they misheard as DMZ.

[@alexsolomon7991]

@@cosmicghost811 I stand corrected. What was the thing with the lantern? trying to signal his girl, then?

[@Jkirk321]

This could be a great TV show done right

[@o-wolf]

This could be a good movie if done right too.. Or a hbo level superheroes meets the wire thing but the way WB & especially DC are moving I dont hold out much hope Hudlin (&that weak ass UT Cowan) need to negotiate a a milestone buyout or indie JV deal with AppleTV (the only well positioned major streamer without their own comics imprint rn) so they can get the attention they deserve at this rate ppl like MBJ have no exec support (due to the Disco buyout &key supporters leaving for netflix) so it would be better to see him take his Outlier Society Imprint to somewhere with deep pockets &room to breathe

[@mentvltrillness]

In the style of Invincible, hell ye Hopefully with James Gunns new animation direction

[@jameskelton6579]

Boogieman was white. And can we at least agree that a large chunk of Puerto Ricans are black. Or have a mixture of black, Hispanic and native Indigenous Indian mixed up in their DNA? In fact a lot of PR folks refer to themselves as Black. That's the cool thing about the African diaspora. There are black folk all around the world and not just the US. For example, I myself am a black Canadian. Black people are everywhere are we shouldn't have these type of divisions. Just my two cents

[@derekcash3608]

If youve ever been to PR, I dont think you would assume that a many Puertorriquenos are Black. I can see that being said about areas like NYC and Miami though. I think most agree that many are mixed with African though, along with Taino and other Europeans that made their way to the island besides Spaniards. The diaspora is definitely real.

[@KarilSampson]

Excellent run down. I am hyped to have milestone back.

[@alexsolomon7991]

I'd rather have Mcduffie. RIP, man.

[@KarilSampson]

@@alexsolomon7991 No push back from me. Peace.

[@alexsolomon7991]

@@KarilSampson No worries man..I just miss the guy. (big fan, even managed to chat with him once or twice) He's one of the great martyrs of the industry, really. Could have/should have been the next Stan Lee, but got more or less driven to an early grave by the BS politics of the Big Two companies. And that all happened BEFORE the SJWs took over completely. part of me really wishes I could get his opinion on all the Woke crap.

[@Synch340]

Boogieman was a white teen

[@Synch340]

Tech-9 was Puerto Rican, Masquerade was Haitian American, Fade and Flashback were Dominican in the original series

[@cosmicghost811]

@@Synch340 Brickhouse was also Puerto Rican and Third Rail was Korean.

[@micahdunbar6247]

I don't know if Kwai was mentioned . She's Chinese. I really hope she'll be in the series too.

[@Synch340]

@@micahdunbar6247 yea me too

[@stevenlane5018]

Glad to see this. I just finished Icon & Rocket. I loved Blood Syndicate. Wise was real cool. I think he was a 5 Percenter.

[@blaqjoker9105]

STATIC was good 2

[@johnathanjackson5732]

CBR did an interview with Geoffrey Thorne, a couple months back I believe, and in he said talked about "Blood Syndicate Season 1". I don't remember everything but some of things he did talk about was that for "BSS1" that they would mainly focus on Fade, Wise Son, and Tech9, especially the rift between Fade and Wise, (which is about Fade being openly homosexual and Wise being homophobic). One other thing I remember being discussed is how he (Geoff) wanted to give Aquamaria a bigger part to play in this version than she did in original run, but I'm not sure if that is season or just in general; either way I love this new version of not just "Blood Syndicate",but he entire Milestone relaunch.

[@o-wolf]

Did he speak specifically about making Wise homophobic? Cause if so that's pretty disappointing.. the stereotypical black guy & especially Muslim guy being homophobe trope is already played out in white spaces.. We didn't need to replicate that BS here I always assumed (from S1 panels) Wise just didnt mess with ppl from his particular block (commentary on how hard it is to shake old gang affiliations/rivalries even after u left the hood &comeback) But anyhoo

[@ljbrown7644]

I can't lie before you I didn't know much about them because for years the milestone comics were hard to get in the uk. but you got me excited for this series

[@tommygeorgejr2931]

Salaam. Good breakdown

[@ravenantoinette1325]

I definitely need to add this to my collection. I've never heard of the group and am excited to see where things go with them.

[@leroyjason3217]

This comic is the best

[@lilscantron]

I just thought they were Afro-Puerto Rican? Being Puerto Rican doesn’t mean they weren’t Black…. But idk, maybe I was reading it wrong 🤷🏾‍♂️

[@joeparrigen4982]

You're not

[@JM-gc7hz]

Huge difference with Fade being openly gay and Tech is apparently accepting…compared to the original where he stayed in the closet and Tech never knew before he died.

[@ginofrancejr555]

Excellent video I hope you cover more blood sindicate and milestone books

[@shawnrevfit]

Hey man really appreciate your videos and the content you share. Just wanted to point out that many Puerto Ricans are black and identify as such. And I know you are mentioning the distinction of black vs Puerto Rican with more of a lean on African American vs. Latinx but just to note there is an issue within Puerto Rican communities (and Afro Latinos generally) that 1) their black experience is ignored 2) in media they’re depicted as being just Latinx. I know you probably didn’t mean it this way but Blood Syndicate is definitely a title honoring that black Puerto Rican experience and Hip Hop culture which both black and Puerto Rican youth help found in the Bronx. Again I appreciate though 🙏🏽

[@timbirdie8180]

Yeah i domt think he meant it that way either its just like you said the latinx experince is portayed as a mestizo experince or even worse thru the eyes of white ons only. As a mestizo latino i wish we could see more of the other especially in shows like the rosa de Guadeloupe which are so white like legit lol its sad.

[@mentvltrillness]

It was okay; the 90s run really has a more fire narrative, because it was Dwayne McDuffie and Ivan Velez

[@MrMack49]

DMZ was alien it was stated in one of the issues where he takes a lantern to keep trying to call for help cause he was stranded on earth

[@kennethaddison8584]

fade, flashback and brick house are all Dominican

[@_Dee2nd]

Fade and Flashback are, Brickhouse is Puerto Rican.

[@noah1bishop]

DMZ is an alien. From same place as Icon.

[@triberedeyetv5971]

great release and awesome show,bloodren

[@showkingsent]

DMZ was from a black alien race called the D'amsi.

[@CamboxSpidey]

You should read the interviews on this book as they go into what this series is all about.

[@carlosT3000]

Where can we see that?

[@johnathanjackson5732]

@@carlosT3000 I know CBR did an interview

[@hitmandollahbill]

My Favorite comic is back

[@JM-gc7hz]

Amistad doesn’t exist anymore… I wonder if there’s also no Edmund and Cornelia…? Maybe Wise is referring to his family in this issue? We’ll see. I’d like a review of “Wise Son: The White Wolf”. I had to get used to the art but it’s one of my favorite Milestone books.

[@NigelByrd]

I hope they don't kill of tech he's my favorite character (along with Wise Son being 2nd favorite)

[@JM-gc7hz]

That would be one way to nicely separate this from the original series even further. We didn’t get much time with him in the old comics. I’d like to see him continue on.

[@CamboxSpidey]

There not going to kill him off in this version.

[@o-wolf]

@@CamboxSpidey they should tbh

[@treylakingz9029]

Loved everything about this 1st issue down to the artwork. Not to mention I'm a huge Holocaust fan

[@filmslensprodutions6794]

Don't take that last sentence out of context

[@o-wolf]

@@filmslensprodutions6794 they need to change his name to Brimstone or something.. that cheesy edgelord shit worked in the nineties.. but it definitely doesn't hold up now.. especially since his name makes no sense to him as a character whatsoever

[@willdgol7501]

Major changes is tech didn't die it first page

[@MrTwindog4]

I am gonna to honest, I would really like to see Blood Syndicate and Hardware storylines made into mini series on HBO Max. I like how Blood Syndicate was portrayed as more complicated group than just your standard Superhero Team.

[@alexsolomon7991]

yeah...there was an amusing bit where they got thier money by taking out the crack houses/drug operations of all the organized crime groups in Dakota...but when they ran out of crack houses they weren't sure what to DO with themselves. Also, thier tactics sucked and got them killed repeatedly..it was Flashback who kept saving the group..one time using her powers repeatedly..in the middle of the building she was in Exploding as part of a trap..WHILE SHE WAS ON FIRE.........to rewind time and warn/save the others. Small wonder she turned to drugs..girl had MAJOR PTSD.

[@abps9947]

Actually it requires high budget And new CEO zazlav is interested mainly in Snyder JL characters not others Also it's impossible for that shows above 35 million dollars Just make a movie

[@o-wolf]

Making something like hardwire into a series signals a distinct lack of ambition.. he's basically Milestones iron man &u want him to get the B treatment? C'mon man.. Syndicate I understand because the character count calls for a HBO Wire meets Superheroes style run through.. but in an ideal even they should get their own "X men" treatment

[@o-wolf]

@@abps9947 I was just talking to a friend about this.. Milestone needs to pack it's bags &bounce &Zas seems like the type of guy to let them go whole (no entangling the merch/publishing rights like Johns &co have been doing for yrs) The way he's ruthlessly cut loose CW projects gives me the feeling he wants to put heavy focus on the league IPs &wouldn't stand in the way of MBJ &Hudlin taking them elsewhere (AppleTV ideally)

[@BacarD718]

All I really care about is if Fade & Flashback are still dominican and Tech is still Puerto Rican

[@filmslensprodutions6794]

I better see my man Boogieman make an appearance. He has alot of potential to be a Lizard type of character. Another character I wanna see is Nina Lam, but I don't want Kwai because that's just kinda unnecessary to make her a magic themed character in a gang type of story.

[@JM-gc7hz]

She threw me off in the original but I came to like the idea, this mythical character mixed in with a street gang. I like that the comic played a bit on the fact she was out of place and eventually almost morphed into a standard superhero comic because of her.

[@o-wolf]

Yeh Kwai (or atleast the premise behind her) sucks tbh.. ppl forget it was the early nineties &one of the first "black owned" comics who were under ALOT of pressure to deliver.. so sometimes they made some really cheesy (publisher inspired) choices that either didn't gel or make any sense within the internal consistency of the books.

[@JM-gc7hz]

There’s an interview with the writer online, he said one of his favorite characters is Kwai. Lol. But he also said she isn’t in this Season. She might be in the next one though. So y’all at least get spared for now ha ha.

[@filmslensprodutions6794]

@@JM-gc7hz Thank God. If she does make a comeback,, please just have her just be another gang member, maybe have her something to do with Third Rail.

[@carlosT3000]

I bought this and I love it already

[@jamimuhammad3699]

So most of them are Puerto Rican and a few are black but it’s nice to see a representative comic in terms of black and Hispanic that’s cool but it definitely deals with some crazy stuff.

[@timbirdie8180]

Puerto rican and black and yeah its cool to see most latinos on tv are mestzio or white

[@ginofrancejr555]

I hope we see boogie man DMZ and BRICK HOUSE shows up in the reboot

[@leocherry2350]

DMZ was actually a member of Icon's race; in the original series, the reason he kept spinning the lantern was because he was trying to send a signal for rescue to his people.

[@scxander]

DMZ was human. Dwayne M revealed this in a letter panel once. he said one word the entire run: "Damn" during Worlds Colide when Metropolis appeared across the water. I really wish Dwayne revealed DMZs origin before his passing., even if it was at a comic panel. :(

[@jackieanderson9408]

Sweet 👍

[@cls357]

I cannot wait! I still have the original series. Eager to see the development of the rest of the squad. On another similar note, does thus mean there's a chance they'll be bringing back Hardware?

[@SuiteVII]

FINALLY 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

[@Truestratusx]

Wasn't aware of the Afro Latin heritage of the numerous characters. I thought holocaust was possibly Jamaican. Could of sworn I read his saying bumbah clat in a issue.

[@JM-gc7hz]

He probably did but his mother was the mayor of Dakota in the old comics, she’s in Icon and Hardware, and she’s African American. He’s commonly considered that as well. Maybe you’re thinking of Masquerade? He’s the Jamaican member.

[@_Dee2nd]

@@JM-gc7hz Masquerade isn’t Jamaican. He just wanted to move to Jamaica when or if he left the gang. Masq is of Haitian descent

[@JM-gc7hz]

@@_Dee2nd ah, I misremembered. I could only remember something about Jamaica regarding him, that would be it then.

[@keithbaucum7156]

People are confusing nationality with race. Nationality and race are two different things. Then you have ethnicity. Spain and Portugal colonized a lot of places. There is a country in Africa that was colonized by Spain and their official language is Spanish. White Spaniards don't consider people outside of Spain and Portugal Hispanic or Latino.

[@ddsmitty1]

Blerd: i don't know how old you are, but you don't seem old enough to have been a fan of the original series. maybe i'm just hating because I was a fan of the original series, and my beard is gray as hell...

[@kevinjones4001]

Same bruh. And I remember when Static was rocking an X hat.

[@ddsmitty1]

@@kevinjones4001 hell yeah. Every brother was sportin that hat back in the day!

[@tonybennett3]

On the really real, '93-'99 we had the best soundtrack for reading comics too!: Wu Tang & Blood Syndicate, Ghostface & Hardware, Outkast & Icon, I could go on!

[@tonybennett3]

@@kevinjones4001 Don't start none, won't be none!

[@kurtoogle4576]

I collected the original run until it got too weird and fizzled out. Very curious about this new series which is already wildly different,

[@o-wolf]

Yeh alot of the old titles had SERIOUS potential &were groundbreaking for what they represented &alot of the material they tackled.. &not just social issues either.. (milestone were some of the first mainstream/indie comics to use pseudo science anchored in ACTUAL quantum physics rather than usual cosmic comic mumbo jumbo &magic just cause devices) IE: the bang baby formula where all the world's strange phenomena have one or relatively few common root causes This method has been used to build out numerous comic universe's since (the ultimates universe & subsequently MCU has borrowed heavily from this formula with superscience &the super soldier serum acting as the main catalyst in that world for almost all major events) But the downside is that as much potential as they had ALOT of the characters didn't seem to get beyond the first draft before being debut'd.. certain ppl seemed barely fleshed out both character aesthetics &power set wise.. &the lack of tonal control as the books went on really lost me as they turned into mediocre anything just happening wtf versions of what mainstream comics devolved into

[@leroyjason3217]

Tech N9ne giga chad

[@NigelByrd]

Hol up when did they released this

[@kinghades]

Brickhouse is Dominican

[@kenyangulotta3845]

Ernie….I noticed a lot of hand / gang sign in the issue….wondering what your take is, any meaning or references there? Great work as always Brotha

[@thewoodchipperr]

Blood syndicate was a collection of gang members

[@JM-gc7hz]

@@thewoodchipperr In the old series yes, but Wise, Tech, Fade and Flashback don’t seem to be gang members here though. Maybe former? I guess we’ll see.

[@rahshaad83]

Puerto Rico is a country not a race

[@aprilspencer73]

Yeah and most of the ones I know identify as afro Anyway

[@derekcash3608]

PR is actually an island...a territory that falls under the US.

[@bihansiceclone]

Puerto Rico is an Island in America

[@vernonhampton5863]

Holocaust was Hatian, I'm sure he still is.

[@jonathansoko1085]

Awful, truly. If a white guy wrote this, yall would be up in arms, the writing is THAT bad. Mcduffie would NOT have approved of this, sad day.

[@Mr.Zero8]

I agree they didn’t pick up any of the strong storytelling of the first series. More time was spent on Fade’s sexuality. What made the first series great was how it tackled all groups of people without hitting you over the head with it. It was way ahead of it’s time. This new version is a tragedy

[@Thesmoothhouse]

What are y’all talking about this book was 🗑. I knew it was going to be bad, but not that bad.

[@keithbaucum7156]

I'm buying all Milestone comic books.