Did you notice that Chuck Dixon included one of the ‘Bloodlines’ parasites in his last issue of ‘Batman & the Outsiders’?  Seriously, dude.  I wouldn’t lie to you.  Check out ‘Batman & the Outsiders’ #10.

So do you think that was Dixon’s way of flipping DC the bird, or do you think he was building a story utilizing a completely unexpected antagonist, or perhaps did DC make him include the ‘Bloodlines’ parasite and that is what finally made Dixon quit?  I personally opt for the second.  That’s a pretty bold move drudging up a villain that comes with so much crappy baggage.

If you are not familiar with the ‘Bloodlines’ story that ran through the DC Annuals back in 1993, then you can read about it on Wikipedia by clicking here or at the DC Database by clicking here.  After you finish reading up on ‘Bloodlines’ (or finish digging around in your brain to remember this story), prepare yourself to feel a little queasy. ‘Bloodlines’ really wasn’t a very good story.  There were certainly some clever things that came out of it, but overall the storyline was pretty awful.

Needless to say, I was shocked when one of those parasites showed up in ‘Batman & the Outsiders’.  I imagine Dixon was building to something, given the way it was written.  It’s a shame that Dixon isn’t with DC anymore.  He really was taking his DC books in interesting directions.  I’m bummed that we won’t find out where he was going with the ‘Bloodlines’ parasite, the re-tooled OMAC, and Elongated Man & Sue as the ‘Ghost Detectives’.  It took a writer as good as him to make these types of plotlines interesting.