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After the Death of Superman in 1992, comics changed, and DC got a lot of stories out of it. Subsequent to Superman's demise, 4 new "Supermen" appeared to take his place; one was John Henry Irons (basically a hybrid of Tony Stark and Michael Jordan) who donned an advanced armor and red cape to protect people as Superman had saved him, being known as the Man of *Steel.* He was the main hero of that Superman title until Clark's return a year and half later.

In one MOS book, I remember that Irons had to fight a female alien that could change from a giant reptilian/xenomorph form to a red-clad human female. I bought the books as a kid, and there were a few details that seemed to point to it being an "arc" of sorts. What I remember:

  • She survived by attacking humans and pulling out their spinal fluid with a type of proboscis.
  • We saw her arrive with 4 or 5 other aliens similar to her of different colors, all of whom could shift to a human form.
  • The human she attacked in the book was a friend of Irons, a young trainer who mutated to be able to generate spiked organic metal protrusions from his body.
  • The alien survived and fled after being defeated by Steel and the trainer, protecting the young man's kid brother.

Does anyone know who or what this alien race is and whether there is a story arc about them?

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    The part about draining human spinal fluid sounds oddly familiar. I'll see what I can find, but I expect someone else will have answered this by them. – F1Krazy Jan 20 at 16:37
  • @F1Krazy I know, but its over 25 years old and kinda obscure. Anything you can find would be appreciated, friend. – Russhiro Jan 20 at 20:14
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I think you're referring to the Bloodlines crossover event.

"Bloodlines" was a 1993 comic book story arc published by DC Comics. It was an intracompany crossover that ran through DC's superhero annuals and concluded with a two-issue Bloodbath miniseries written by Dan Raspler. The antagonists were a race of monstrous xenomorph-like aliens who killed humans for their spinal fluid. A small fraction of the parasite's victims survived and become super-heroes via their ordeal. This plot device introduced a wave of "New Blood" superheroes into the DC Universe. Seven DC Comics series were spun out of the event: Blood Pack, Razorsharp and the Psyba-Rats, Hitman, Anima, Loose Cannon, Argus and Gunfire.

Truthfully, it largely fizzled, although Hitman had his own independent series, and Blood Pack had a team series.

I was familiar with it due to having looking up the background to Hitman when I read that series.

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  • Ah, that's why it sounded familiar; I've looked up Hitman in the past as well. I went looking for an association with Steel and couldn't find one. – F1Krazy Jan 20 at 20:15
  • sounds like it; I remember the youth's brother calling him "edge". I figured it had to be the beginning of a Cross over of some kind. Thanks. – Russhiro Jan 20 at 20:22

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