New Titans Annual #9 (1993) Bloodlines Outbreak Part 5

[pyrotwilight]

We've now seen how the Parasites deal with heroes one at a time, this time around we'll see how the New Titans fare when they enter Bloodlines and meet Courtney Mason.

18 pages of a 57 page story.



This issue takes place in New Orleans. 

There Steve Dayton, the rich adopted dad of Beast Boy has had a Research Platform set up there investigating oil in the area.

Something goes wrong and there's a breach.

One of the scientists there is a man named Dwight Mason, father of Jeremy and Courtney Mason, seems Dwight and his wife Willow are divorced and that she's some sort of Hippy, presumably that, his business life and the frustration between their differences is what led to them being divorced.



And off go Jeremy and Courtney to splurge on their dad's card.

Meanwhile local voodoo practitioners pray to dark gods.



And yes the Parasites Pritor and Lissik act as these dark gods because Pritor being the Prideful one loves being worshiped and he's mostly the Parasites leader so Lissik listens.

Meanwhile at the Research Platform the Titans were called in by Dayton to help however they could before the press could find out about the damage and leak into the ocean that began.



Aqualad shows up complaining about the spill so he, Starfire and Red Star use their abilities to remove the oil already spilled.

 

The last two panels never really get explained but I think they're related to the story behind the upcoming New Blood.





During this time the New Titans and the workers at the platform chat. Arsenal being the hothead argues they didn't do a good enough job to the safety Engineer Jill. After some arguing and apologies from Arsenal he provides a peace offering to take her out.

At the same time they're alerted that Dwight can't find his kids and he's panicking about what might happen to them.



Lissik tries to net herself some Aqulad but he and Arsenal go off before she can.



While the group manages tosave Jeremy Courtney's already been taken.



Courtney of course survives, waking up amnesiac just as a crocodile's about to chomp her.



Courtney, now Anima, beats Pantha and before she can kill her Pantha runs off realizing she can't fight Courtney alone. 

Somewhat instinctively Anima goes toward her home nt realizing why she's drawn there.



Anima reembers what happened at the Bayou and goes back to stop the Parasites. The New Titans spot her on her way there and follow her.



 

 



During the battle Anima strikes a mighty blow to Pritor nearly killing him.



 

 

And thus Anima is born. She's very key to the later defeat of the Parasite threat and one of the more powerful of the New Bloods.                                                                                 

Comments

[arbre_rieur]

From the looks of it, those two unexplained panels are just a Swamp Thing cameo.

[icon_uk]

Yup, definitely Swamp Thing.

[pyrotwilight]

Ahhhh, here I though DC and Vertigo were separate by then. Retcon thinking I guess.

[aaron_bourque]

Actually, that's probably why it's just a cameo. The "separate" thing wasn't ever a firm thing.

[icon_uk]

Certainly not the Titans greatest art period, the fight scenes are pretty much incoherent and the inker should hand in their pens.

[auggie18]

Gah, Ninetieswing!

[perletwo]

Good Lord, that is some fugly art. It doesn't even rise to the absurdist, MST3K-able level of a Liefield or a Land - it's just a hot mess.

[thelazyreader]

It occurs to me that if the Titans went all out and just blew up the creatures they'd be stopped then and there instead of running into another annual to continue the carnage. But that would mean killing them, and they're superheroes...

I love the monster-cult. That's a plot device with some potential.

[pyrotwilight]

Yeah, them stopping them in any of the individual issues would've made them seem like less of a threat, and I would've liked it a bit more if one or two more of the Parasites actually got killed in the annuals rather than the stories end but I guess it's also nice to see enemies who aren't brainless and know when to retreat.

MY EYES

[jlroberson]

There will never, ever be any 90s revivals.

It's horrible to realize just how long DC went down the wrong paths. Vertigo aside. Which I'm glad I stuck to during that era. Hooboy.

Re: MY EYES

[thelazyreader]

I don't see what the complaint is. The 90s gave us tons of great stories. Superman, Batman, the Flash all had great runs and storylines in this period. Not to mention the Morrison JLA relaunch, Starman, Hourman, the JSA relaunch and so on.

Re: MY EYES

[jlroberson]

I guess they all make me wonder who was still wearing a mullet by then anyway, there being so many of them in DC from 1993 on. I mean, where I was, they'd died at least 3 years before that.

And by the time I'm done pondering that, the story's over. ;)

Re: MY EYES

[icon_uk]

Yes Dick getting that hairstyle several years after they had ever been, for whatever bizarre reason, fashionable, was something of a sore point.

Re: MY EYES

[strannik01]

There will never, ever be any 90s revivals.

Don't be so sure. The fans who grew up reading 90s comics are adults now. I would not be surprised if we see the wave of 90s nostalgia in the near future (sort of like the wave of 80s nostalgia in mid-00s)

Re: MY EYES

[pyrotwilight]

Heck, I know if I was in charge at DC the New Bloods would be popping up EVERYWHERE. Beware. :D

[darkblade]

I wasn't reading comics yet during this era (possibly due to being an infant) but did Roy really wear something that made him look that much like Hawkeye?

[icon_uk]

Pretty much though the intention was that he use the arrows less, and other weapons more.

[capnduckman]

I miss Anima. Her comic was just so out there... and now isn't she dead, like, twice?

[lostphrack.livejournal.com]

I looooooved her comic to bits. In recent years it's led me to read the novels and short stories of Elizabeth Hand, one half of the writing team behind this annual and her ongoing series. Love those to bits too.

They did kill her off twice in recent years but it's probably worth noting that the Anima who's died twice looked nothing like Courtney and, I think, never summoned Animus. I'm kind of hoping someone out there brings her back with a small "yeah, some superhero girl asked me if she could use my name and I said good luck with it" or something like that.

And wow.. this was posted ages ago! Necr-response ftw!

[pyrotwilight]

Twould be a bit awkward for it to not be her. Personally I'm hoping for a red ring to revive her, saying that her powers kept her alive somehow.

And she wasn't killed twice but damn well near it.

Attacked by the Trigonz Boyz and put into a coma only to return in the Faces of Evil Prometheus One Shot to be bisected.

[psychopathicus_rex]

This... is NOT good writing. It's clumsy as hell, and nobody says anything remotely like a human being would say it. Shame, because Anima seems like an interesting character.
Also - 'Baron Cemeterre'? I believe you mean 'Baron Samedi'.

[icon_uk]

Nope, Baron Cimetière is another spirit of the same general kind as Baron Samedi

[psychopathicus_rex]

Oh. OK. Well, at least the writer did his research.

[icon_uk]

Indeed, I was actually a bit surprised by that too.

[blunderbuss]

Good lord I couldn't even read this, the art is so awful. *scrubs eyes*

[jlroberson]

It's funny--it's so much easier to look at old newsprint scans than ones from this in-between era of bright paper and flat, loud colors, unmodulated for the new printing, and made to look even stupider by what coloring has become since. Newsprint-4-color though doesn't look nearly as negatively dated as stuff from around this point does.

And so much pointy spiky gritty everywhere.

[icon_uk]

Agreed, it's an uncomfortable no-mans-land era. I'll take the old four colour process since it is at least, bold and striking, this is just... messy.