Comic book published by Milestone Media and DC Comics beginning in 1993. The Blood Syndicate was an urban street gang with superpowers -- not exactly superheroes, since they did more than their fair share of crimes, but not exactly villains either, since they did more than their fair share of good things.

The members included Tech-9, one of the leaders, whose power was, apparently, infinite bullets; Wise Son, another leader, who was completely indestructible; Fade, who was displaced in time and insubstantial most of the time; Flashback, Fade's sister, who could travel back in time three seconds; DMZ, a super-strong man who never spoke and never showed his face; Brickhouse, a huge woman with brick-like skin; Masquerade, who could transform into any animal; Third Rail, who absorbed energy to grow bigger and stronger; Boogeyman, a large rat-like creature; Kwai, a woman with extensive magical powers, Aquamaria, a water elemental; Oro, who could project light and force blasts; and Dogg, a talking dog.

The writing on the series was top-notch, and the characterizations were even better. Most of the characters had serious problems that were never glossed over and which had serious impacts on their lives. Wise Son was misogynistic, overconfident, and rude to almost everyone. Fade was gay and firmly locked in the closet. Flashback was addicted to crack. DMZ and Brickhouse both had severe mental difficulties. Boogeyman was secretly white and afraid that the Syndicate would kick him out of the gang if they found out. Aquamaria spoke no English. Oro was an ex-cop who hated gangbangers.

As the most multicultural comic book ever, it got suprisingly little coverage, both from the mainstream media and comics magazines. It was cancelled in the late 1990s during the big comics industry crash. Maybe it'll come back someday...

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