Justice League International Annual #4 (1993) Bloodlines Outbreak Part 9

[pyrotwilight]

For the entirety of the crossover the Parasites attacks were very US based (as the aliens ship crashed near Metropolis), the only attacks that occurred outside of the US was this annual in which some of the Parasites come to England. (Though the latest New Blood related story seems to imply despite what we see of the Parasites attack patterns they likely did go global but that's a post for another day)

18 pages from a 54 page story.

 

I'll admit Lionheart was one of my faves from the Bloodlines event, possibly because the issue managed to somewhat blend the horror of the Parasites and the humor of the titles at the time.

Our story opens up at a pub in England and introduces us to Richard Plante a dock worker, apparently relaxing after a day of work. We see a woman crying in the pub talking about how she saw one of the recent murders. One of the more creepy men say she's probably a liar and a trollop since she was out that late.Richard prepares to beat the guy up for saying such a thing but before he gets the chance a mysterious duo appear before Richard.



And yes, the guy he just clocked was the fellow who made the trollop remark a moment ago.



 

(I find Tasmanian Devil somewhat adorable drawn like that, he looks like a giant cat)

Meanwhile the mysterious government folks have taken Richard to an undisclosed location. No sooner than he arrives the two vanish and he gets attacked by giant robots. During this he sees a sword nearby stuck in a stone "What's this? Another trick? Doesn't matter does it? If a swords all I've got. Then a sword's what I'll use!" He plucks the sword out and start slicing through the robots and finds the control center that the operators of the robots were in.

One of the mysterious fellows from earlier returns and tells Richard his last name is a shortening of Plantagenet.

 



 

The JLI and Lionheart get into the usual tussle of you're the enemy, no, you're the enemy! With Lionheart even stating mid battle after asked if he recognizes the group "And why should I? It's not like you're Lester Piggott." (Apparently a famous Horse Jockey, considered the best of this lifetimes Jockeys if Wikipedia is to be believed)

 

Ahaha!

The Parasites (Gemir, Glonth and Pritor) are amused at Lionheart and the JLI.

 



Immortal British man trying to raise Britian to the top? Hmmm, cool idea to explore.

A police officer spots the Parasites in their human forms and ask to speak with them about the murders.



The JLI are planning their next move to find the Parasites when Lionheart shows up...

 



Maya gets captured by the Parasites, with the idea that the Parasites don't want to kill her until the group heads back to see if she's OK so that they can wound the groups pride before killing them all (Pritor's idea, being Prideful and all)

The group and Lionheart return and quickly get attacked.



Some amusing battle moments occur, including seeing Glonth trying to drink Metamorpho's juices and getting a taste of Metamorpho as arsenic.

Pritor continues to battle Lionheart one on one and Lionheart quickly falls. While the rest of the JLi are getting their butts handed to them as well. Then Pritor bites onto Lionheart's neck but before he can do anything...

 

...Pritor makes the whole attacking enemies with a large phallic object sound sexual or something. 

And yes, this means Lionhjeart is the only "New Blood" who actually isn't powered since his bite was interrupted.            

 

 

 

I have to say I really love this page. Pritor staring down Lionheart like that makes it almost feel like he's fighting a dragon one on one.

 

And yes while I loved Lionheart's attitude it was nice to see him actually get a respect for the group even though he could've painted himself as the victor had he really wanted to.

With this issue the Outbreak has concluded. Now the Earthplague begins!                                                                                                 

Comments

[perletwo]

OK, much cleaner art than the other Bloodlines postings, which I appreciate. But jeez that's an ugly costume choice for Ralph.

[aaron_bourque]

much cleaner art

Mike Parobeck was awesome.

[marsdejahthoris]

God, yes. His art was half the reason I devoured the Batman Adventures comic book. Clean and simple, but very good at telling a story. I didn't even need to see his name to recognize his work.

[okkult3000]

Why is the UK so into cricket when they could be promoting the sport of bobby tossing?

Also, how does Lionheart look down?

[jcbaggee]

The noble Lionheart looks down at no man!

[lonewolf23k]

Please, please, please... let Lionheart NOT be one of the many casualties of the "Post-Bloodlines Clean-Up"... Especially since he had nothing to do with the "Bloodtypes", but just had his origin coincide with the event.

[pyrotwilight]

I try to avoid mentioning each characters fate but as far as I know Lionheart's still alive. He even had an appearance during Trinity (albeit in an alternate universe sorta appearance) as Britain's representative/contact for the Justice Society International.

[espanolbot]

Hmm, well I don't think that he's appeared in Knight and Squire yet...

[icon_uk]

On the plus side for that, he's British, works out of London, and as we all know cosmic events can only ever happen in America.

[silverzeo]

Okay, this one has the best art so far.... it almost like watching Batman and Gargoyles...

[heckfiresinferno.blogspot.com]

Mike Parobeck was one of the BEST comic illustrators before he died. He's best known for the B:TAS tie-in "Batman Adventures," but I first started following him on !mpact Comics' "The Fly."

[icon_uk]

Multiple motto to that!

[superfangirl1]

I like Lionheart. What a great character. :)

[psychopathicus_rex]

This guy looks like an interesting character, all right - if nothing else, he's got an interesting look. Shame he didn't get powers - I'd have liked to have seen what they'd be.
So he's still around - is he still working for creepy immortal England-for-the-English guy?

[capnduckman]

So...did Lionheart gain any powers from his thingy? Was he ever used again?

[wizardru]

AFAIK, no...he was the only bloodlines character who didn't actually get powers. He has appeared several times since in teeny cameos on-camera....usually in group shots or 'this catastrophe is happening ALL OVER THE WORLD' sequences, where they'll show like a single panel of several guys fighting by Parliment or the Eiffel Tower. I think his most recent sightings were in Villains United and Trinity, but nothing since then.

[megaspork]

I don't know, if I remember the scene correctly... he did seem to have a great deal of stamina even after being stabbed in the neck. I've always assumed reading it that since his respect came after the bite, it ignited the 'royal blood' he mentions in one of the page and gave him epic nobility like King Arthur. Not really a power per say and more of just the hard focus that makes knights bad ass and noble in the fiction they appear in. :P

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

No Loose Cannon posts? For shame! ;)

[icon_uk]

Probably just haven't got that far yet... there were a LOT of Bloodlines Annuals.

[aaron_bourque]

Aaaaahh, Mike Parobeck . . .

[icon_uk]

Bittersweet isn't it? Lovely to see it, sad to reflect we won't see any more

Mike Parobeck was seriously one of the creators who kept me going in comics during the 90's.

[cricharddavies]

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<considers the likelihood of a character being a direct descendant of Richard Coeur-de-Lion>

<laughs his freaking head off ...>

[ejne7]

Well, other exploits aside, he copped to at least one illegitimate kid.
(Or do you just mean that, this far down the line, pretty much everyone in England could claim to be "directly descended" from anyone who was alive in the 12th century?)

[cricharddavies]

It was the whole "gay as [insert moderately homophobic metaphor]" thing, but those are good points too.

Grandpa Dick. Sheesh ...

[thelazyreader]

I have to say, I'm not that impressed by his origin. I don't really see any real motivation for him suddenly becoming a hero and declaring himself as England's protector. That and his 'epic' manner of speaking.