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Tangent Comics #1
Tangent Comics, Vol. 1
Welcome to a very different world, where a nuclear-powered hero's debut ushered in an age of hi-tech invention, an atomic conflagration destroyed both Cuba and Florida, and the covert organization Nightwing has eyes and ears in every home.
Collects:
Tangent Comics: The Atom
Tangent Comics: Metal Men
Tangent Comics: Green Lantern
Tangent Comics: The Flash
Tangent Comics: Sea Devils
Collects:
Tangent Comics: The Atom
Tangent Comics: Metal Men
Tangent Comics: Green Lantern
Tangent Comics: The Flash
Tangent Comics: Sea Devils
208 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2007
1 person is currently reading
53 people want to read
About the author
Dan Jurgens
2,245 books285 followersDan Jurgens is an American comic book writer and artist. He is known for his work on the DC comic book storyline "The Death of Superman" and for creating characters such as Doomsday, Hank Henshaw, and Booster Gold. Jurgens had a lengthy run on the Superman comic books including The Adventures of Superman, Superman vol. 2 and Action Comics. At Marvel, Jurgens worked on series such as Captain America, The Sensational Spider-Man and was the writer on Thor for six years. He also had a brief run as writer and artist on Solar for Valiant Comics in 1995.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 5, 2016
execrable. so one of the definitions of "tangent" is "a completely different line of thought or action" and I suppose that's what this is. characters named "Flash" and "Green Lantern" and "Hawkman" and organizations named "Nightwing" and "Metal Men" - just a few of at least a couple dozen examples - that have literally nothing to do with their historical antecedents. literally nothing. not powers nor appearance nor history nor anything whatsoever. so what was the frickin' point of this? the brief bit of frisson felt at seeing an instantly recognizable name attached to a completely different person was fun while it lasted... until it happened so many times, and to such little purpose, that it began to slowly kill me. until I died. from a combination of boredom and aggravation. the worst way to go!
the stupidity of these one-shots infected two of my favorite writers, James Robinson and Kurt Busiek, who turn in some of the shoddiest work I've ever seen by them. in general the writing is horribly laughable. as far as the multiple artists are concerned, for the most part their efforts are unremarkable. although I will give the usually inspiring J.H. Williams some credit: he does his best to turn the piece of trash he was handed into gold. he didn't succeed, but at least his particular piece of trash is a bit prettier than the rest of the slag heap.
the stupidity of these one-shots infected two of my favorite writers, James Robinson and Kurt Busiek, who turn in some of the shoddiest work I've ever seen by them. in general the writing is horribly laughable. as far as the multiple artists are concerned, for the most part their efforts are unremarkable. although I will give the usually inspiring J.H. Williams some credit: he does his best to turn the piece of trash he was handed into gold. he didn't succeed, but at least his particular piece of trash is a bit prettier than the rest of the slag heap.
April 13, 2022
The inspiration behind these comics was DC's Silver Age where they made all new characters using the names of the Golden Age heroes. So Dan Jurgens created a whole hew universe where completely unrelated heroes have the same names but different powers from the characters of the DC universe.
The Atom by Dan Jurgens - ★★
The Atom is a 3rd generation atomic hero bogged down by way too much exposition. This isn't so much about The Atom himself but his grandfather and setting up this world. It's boring.
Metal Men by Ron Marz & Mike McKone - ★★★
The Metal Men were the Sgt. Rock and Easy Company of the Tangent universe. Now one of them is President and retells their last mission in Czechoslovakia in 1968. Solid. Lays a lot of the background for this universe's history.
Green Lantern by James Robinson & JH Williams III - ★★★★★
Back in the 90's James Robinson could do no wrong in my eyes. The dude created Starman and Leave It to Chance, two of my favorite comics from the era. The Green Lantern is a woman who can resurrect the dead to fulfill unfinished business from their life. It's an anthology title along the lines of House of Mystery the the Green Lantern as a framing device. Couple with JH Williams terrific art, this was great.
Flash by Todd DeZago & Gary Frank - ★★★
This book was goofy. It's about a teenage celebrity with light-based powers. Her dad keeps trying to unsuccessfully capture her in the background. Gary Frank's art is always top shelf.
Sea Devils by Kurt Busiek & Vince Giarrano - ★★
Due to a nuclear bomb going off in Florida during the Bay of Pigs Invasion, everything south of Atlanta is now underwater and mutants live underwater. This was on the terrible side.
The Atom by Dan Jurgens - ★★
The Atom is a 3rd generation atomic hero bogged down by way too much exposition. This isn't so much about The Atom himself but his grandfather and setting up this world. It's boring.
Metal Men by Ron Marz & Mike McKone - ★★★
The Metal Men were the Sgt. Rock and Easy Company of the Tangent universe. Now one of them is President and retells their last mission in Czechoslovakia in 1968. Solid. Lays a lot of the background for this universe's history.
Green Lantern by James Robinson & JH Williams III - ★★★★★
Back in the 90's James Robinson could do no wrong in my eyes. The dude created Starman and Leave It to Chance, two of my favorite comics from the era. The Green Lantern is a woman who can resurrect the dead to fulfill unfinished business from their life. It's an anthology title along the lines of House of Mystery the the Green Lantern as a framing device. Couple with JH Williams terrific art, this was great.
Flash by Todd DeZago & Gary Frank - ★★★
This book was goofy. It's about a teenage celebrity with light-based powers. Her dad keeps trying to unsuccessfully capture her in the background. Gary Frank's art is always top shelf.
Sea Devils by Kurt Busiek & Vince Giarrano - ★★
Due to a nuclear bomb going off in Florida during the Bay of Pigs Invasion, everything south of Atlanta is now underwater and mutants live underwater. This was on the terrible side.
January 15, 2022
I wish I had reviewed this when I first read it a decade ago so I could remember why I’d rated it so highly back then. Rereading it now, I’m a bit less fond of the execution, even if the basic idea is still sound. As the introduction explains, back at the dawn of the Silver Age of comics the big three of DC’s heroes were alive and kicking, but others like Flash and Green Lantern had faded from popularity. This gave the creatives the opportunity to reuse the names for new heroes, some rather similar (Flash) and some fairly different (Green Lantern).
The idea of Tangent Comics is to repeat that process for the Dark Age 90s. Well, sort of. The Silver Age heroes had proven popular enough that when they did go somewhere, it was to be killed off and replaced by sidekicks or other new generation versions of the same idea. So instead we get a limited series of one-shots that imagine a whole new universe where the names are familiar but the characters are radically different.
Taken as a whole, the project suffers from a bit too much 90s darkness, using the contained universe idea as an excuse to do things like nuke Florida and Cuba off the map or reveal that the shadowy cabal secretly controlling the US accidentally caused AIDS. I’m not averse to a certain attitude of “this is an alternate universe/non canon weird thing so we can kill whoever we want” but it works better when you’re shocked by revealing which of Batman’s allies is actually Jack the Ripper and somewhat less well when dropping big revelations on characters we’ve never met before.
The actual lineup of heroes and my thoughts on them are:
Atom: The story isn’t bad, doing a whole sins of the past plot with the latest, third Atom finding out the real history of his grandfather and the truth behind the Cuban Missile Crisis that diverged so horribly in this timeline. But he suffers a bit to me for being too close to Watchman’s Doctor Manhattan and in general feeling like he’s probably treading on the good doctor’s toes a little.
Metal Men: A clear homage to the war comics of DC’s past, with a squad of six men getting involved in a war between the US and the Soviet Union in Czechoslovakia. The war comics were always willing to be a bit more gritty and true to war, and this one is no exception. But it diverges from the ones DC published back in the day by being a one-off flashback story rather than establishing a squad of recurring characters - especially because it depicts their last mission together. Having the narrator be the President is a fun touch, and overall it works relatively well even if it serves mostly to elaborate on the backstory and worldbuilding to help other comics work.
Green Lantern: Where Metal Men is riffing on DC’s military comics, this clearly draws on horror comics, with a mysterious figure narrating a trio of tales united by the theme of people coming back from the dead to complete unfinished business. This is one of the two best issues in this volume, as the three tales nicely run the range from revenge to mystery to heartwarming. With the number of superheroes who’ve died and returned to life over the decades, it’s fun to have a character who makes that her entire schtick.
Flash: Is probably the best of the comics in this first volume. Imagine a 90s valley girl with light-themed super powers, an overbearing celebrity obsessed mother, and a surprising amount of intelligence and you’ll get Tangent’s Flash. She’s a nice bright contrast to the grimmer parts of the Tangent verse. The whole thing ends up feeling like a Saturday morning cartoon in comic book form, as Flash’s mad scientist father tries various schemes to capture her that would make Wiley E. Coyote proud - at least until he sees the various ways they fall apart, always with Flash being completely unaware. Perhaps the highlight is when she manages to smash not only her dad’s latest plot, but another happening at the same time cooked up by Nightwing, involving a man who was twisted into a sort of living black hole. Flash’s first person narration helps make her feel like a real character, and all in all she’s the highlight of this first volume.
The Sea Devils: My feelings about them can easily be shown by the fact that I keep forgetting they exist. It definitely doesn’t help that I’ve pretty much never heard of their mainline DC version, but it’s the fact that this incarnation’s high concept is “what if the X-Men were wet?” That marks them as the weakest in this volume by far, and it’s no surprise they didn’t get a starring role for the second round of Tangent one-shots. I do like the fact that the monster they have to fight is caused by them creating the exact same sort of environmental damage that the humans did to make the sea devils in the first place.
Outside of this and the subsequent two volumes that collect all 18 issues of the two runs of Tangent Comics, this line and the characters it spawned didn’t make a huge impact, leaving them largely as an experimental footnotes. Nonetheless, I’m a sucker for weird alternate universe stuff, and Tangent stands out from Elseworlds and What-if by getting weirder than usual, which is making it a fun time to revisit whatever Earth we’re designating this as these days.
The idea of Tangent Comics is to repeat that process for the Dark Age 90s. Well, sort of. The Silver Age heroes had proven popular enough that when they did go somewhere, it was to be killed off and replaced by sidekicks or other new generation versions of the same idea. So instead we get a limited series of one-shots that imagine a whole new universe where the names are familiar but the characters are radically different.
Taken as a whole, the project suffers from a bit too much 90s darkness, using the contained universe idea as an excuse to do things like nuke Florida and Cuba off the map or reveal that the shadowy cabal secretly controlling the US accidentally caused AIDS. I’m not averse to a certain attitude of “this is an alternate universe/non canon weird thing so we can kill whoever we want” but it works better when you’re shocked by revealing which of Batman’s allies is actually Jack the Ripper and somewhat less well when dropping big revelations on characters we’ve never met before.
The actual lineup of heroes and my thoughts on them are:
Atom: The story isn’t bad, doing a whole sins of the past plot with the latest, third Atom finding out the real history of his grandfather and the truth behind the Cuban Missile Crisis that diverged so horribly in this timeline. But he suffers a bit to me for being too close to Watchman’s Doctor Manhattan and in general feeling like he’s probably treading on the good doctor’s toes a little.
Metal Men: A clear homage to the war comics of DC’s past, with a squad of six men getting involved in a war between the US and the Soviet Union in Czechoslovakia. The war comics were always willing to be a bit more gritty and true to war, and this one is no exception. But it diverges from the ones DC published back in the day by being a one-off flashback story rather than establishing a squad of recurring characters - especially because it depicts their last mission together. Having the narrator be the President is a fun touch, and overall it works relatively well even if it serves mostly to elaborate on the backstory and worldbuilding to help other comics work.
Green Lantern: Where Metal Men is riffing on DC’s military comics, this clearly draws on horror comics, with a mysterious figure narrating a trio of tales united by the theme of people coming back from the dead to complete unfinished business. This is one of the two best issues in this volume, as the three tales nicely run the range from revenge to mystery to heartwarming. With the number of superheroes who’ve died and returned to life over the decades, it’s fun to have a character who makes that her entire schtick.
Flash: Is probably the best of the comics in this first volume. Imagine a 90s valley girl with light-themed super powers, an overbearing celebrity obsessed mother, and a surprising amount of intelligence and you’ll get Tangent’s Flash. She’s a nice bright contrast to the grimmer parts of the Tangent verse. The whole thing ends up feeling like a Saturday morning cartoon in comic book form, as Flash’s mad scientist father tries various schemes to capture her that would make Wiley E. Coyote proud - at least until he sees the various ways they fall apart, always with Flash being completely unaware. Perhaps the highlight is when she manages to smash not only her dad’s latest plot, but another happening at the same time cooked up by Nightwing, involving a man who was twisted into a sort of living black hole. Flash’s first person narration helps make her feel like a real character, and all in all she’s the highlight of this first volume.
The Sea Devils: My feelings about them can easily be shown by the fact that I keep forgetting they exist. It definitely doesn’t help that I’ve pretty much never heard of their mainline DC version, but it’s the fact that this incarnation’s high concept is “what if the X-Men were wet?” That marks them as the weakest in this volume by far, and it’s no surprise they didn’t get a starring role for the second round of Tangent one-shots. I do like the fact that the monster they have to fight is caused by them creating the exact same sort of environmental damage that the humans did to make the sea devils in the first place.
Outside of this and the subsequent two volumes that collect all 18 issues of the two runs of Tangent Comics, this line and the characters it spawned didn’t make a huge impact, leaving them largely as an experimental footnotes. Nonetheless, I’m a sucker for weird alternate universe stuff, and Tangent stands out from Elseworlds and What-if by getting weirder than usual, which is making it a fun time to revisit whatever Earth we’re designating this as these days.
September 10, 2021
#ThrowbackThursday - Back in the '90s, I used to write comic book reviews for the website of a now-defunct comic book retailer called Rockem Sockem Comics. (Collect them all!)
From the May 1998 edition with a theme of "Tangent Comics":
INTRODUCTION
If you've been annoyed that I haven't reviewed an entire line of comics in a while, today's your lucky day. Using only your peripheral vision, join me in a look at DC Comics' Tangent Universe.
DC Comics used to have "skip weeks" four times a year in which it did not release any comics. Deciding this was wasteful, DC expanded its Batman and Superman lines by one title apiece -- SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF TOMORROW and THE BATMAN CHRONICLES -- in order to have two quarterly series which shipped during the skip weeks. That made sense, and was relatively easy on the collector's budget.
Then came the huge success of the Amalgam Comics, wherein Marvel and DC shipped none of their regular titles for a week, and instead released a dozen crossover books which melded characters from the two publishers into a brand-spanking-new comics universe. Now DC has gotten into the habit of releasing a new group of 6-9 interrelated comics every quarter: a second wave of Amalgam Comics, "New Year's Evil," the upcoming "Girl Frenzy," and "Tangent Comics." The events are budget-busters for most collectors, but so far the quarterly splurges have been worthwhile due to the creative energy and obvious excitement being poured into old characters, new characters and entirely new universes.
Having dispensed with the background, let's take that peek at my favorite event thus far . . .
TANGENTIAL, BUT SUBSTANTIAL
TANGENT COMICS - THE ATOM #1 (DC Comics/Tangent Comics)
TANGENT COMICS - THE FLASH #1 (DC Comics/Tangent Comics)
TANGENT COMICS - GREEN LANTERN #1 (DC Comics/Tangent Comics)
TANGENT COMICS - METAL MEN #1 (DC Comics/Tangent Comics)
TANGENT COMICS - SEA DEVILS #1 (DC Comics/Tangent Comics)
The premise of Tangent Comics is simple. Take all of DC's famous, trademarked character codenames, ditch the characters that currently use those names, ditch the universe in which they operate, and create entirely new characters in an entirely new universe with the entirely familiar old codenames.
TANGENT COMICS - THE ATOM #1 is the flagship title of the Tangent Universe. Written and pencilled by Tangent Universe creator Dan Jurgens (SUN DEVILS, BOOSTER GOLD, SUPERMAN, the upcoming THOR), THE ATOM establishes the point in time where the Tangent Universe went off on its -- um -- tangent: the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The history of the Tangent Universe started to go askew when exposure to nuclear bomb testing created the original Atom. The major turning point in the course of world events came when full-scale nuclear war was launched during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Cuba's first strike obliterated Florida and devastated the southeastern coast of the United States. The original Atom averted worldwide catastrophe by destroying the remainder of the world's nuclear missiles while they were in flight.
The presence of the original Atom created two massive benefits for the Tangent Earth. First, the Atom inspired a technological renaissance that has swept the technology of Earth Tangent's present era well past the current level of our own Earth (which we'll call, say, Earth Prime). Paper has been supplanted by computer screens and computerized streetcorner information kiosks are as common as lampposts. Second, the Atom sparked a worldwide obsession with superheroes, which brought the heroes out of the woodwork in droves and turned them into mega-celebrities. On the downside, the surges in technology and superheroics were accompanied by a larger surge in supervillains -- a necessary evil, I suppose, in the realm of comic book universes.
When not burdened with laying out all the above exposition about the Tangent Universe, THE ATOM #1 manages to introduce its hero, the third Atom: Adam Thompson. Thompson is the son and grandson of the second and first Atoms and their respective wives, television star Barbara Eden (!) and movie star Judy Garland (!). (Really!) Thompson was raised in isolation on the moon by his grandfather, who chose to retreat from public life after making a fortune in endorsements and bagging a trophy wife. Thompson's father, meanwhile, was killed tragically early in his career as the second Atom, giving Thompson a vengeful motive for adopting the Atom mantle. But in tracking down his father's killers, the third Atom discovers that his grandfather has been keeping secrets which will have personal and worldwide ramifications.
THE ATOM #1 suffers the drawbacks of being an origin story -- squared. Jurgens manages to incorporate the mountain of backstory into a fairly interesting narrative, and, with inker Paul Ryan (FANTASTIC FOUR) Jurgens illustrates the tale in a beautifully clean and open style. However, in detailing the inner workings of the entire Tangent Universe, Jurgens never really gets a chance to show anything about the inner workings of Adam Thompson. The young Atom only has a chance to react to events around him. While his are the reactions of a reasonable man, they could be the reactions of any man. Maybe future episodes will give us more insight into what makes him tick.
TANGENT COMICS - THE ATOM #1
Grade: C
TANGENT COMICS - METAL MEN #1 (DC Comics/Tangent) records the final mission of the Special Forces Unit that links the two most powerful men in the Tangent Universe: The President of the United States, Sam Schwartz, and the Director of the espionage agency Nightwing, Marcus Moore.
After a quick victory in Vietnam, the United States faces its most trying showdown with the Soviet Union in Czechoslovakia in 1968. With their nuclear arsenals spent after the Cuban Disaster and the intervention of the original Atom, the U.S. and U.S.S.R. are mired in a conventional ground war until the Communists release a potent chemical weapon called Red Tornado. America's only hope for victory or truce rests upon the success of the Metal Men in retrieving a sample of the deadly poison.
METAL MEN is a rollicking story of action, war, and betrayal. Moore leads his crack unit behind enemy lines where the Metal Men will face their most dire threat: internal strife. The team -- consisting of ordinary grunts with the codenames Gravedigger, Lobo, Black Lightning, and Hawkman, as well as Moore and Schwartz -- may be torn apart by the pressures of battle and the obsession of their team leader to end the war quickly.
A tense and moving thriller about hard men making hard choices, METAL MEN is one of the bigger surprises in the Tangent Comics line for me. The writer, Ron Marz, has previously driven me away from titles like SILVER SURFER and GREEN LANTERN with stories that just didn't interest me. Imagine my chagrin when he turns out a rock-solid tale in a book I had merely bought to complete my Tangent Comics set! Penciller Mike McKone and inker Mark McKenna supply some slick artwork, making Metal Men one of the three best comics in the first Tangent wave.
TANGENT COMICS - METAL MEN #1
Grade: B
TANGENT COMICS - THE FLASH #1 (DC Comics/Tangent) is the feel-good, happy-go-lucky corner of the Tangent Universe. Bottom line, it's a cross between the movie "Clueless," the usual superheroics, and a Road Runner cartoon.
"Oh . . . and definitely, since I had these like, marvy powers, it was only right to use them to like, help people and stuff . . . I guess I'm, like, a superhero or something . . . which is okay, but it doesn't get me any closer to finding a fab dress for tonight!" (THE FLASH #1, p. 6-7.)
Lia Nelson has all the typical problems of a teenager: What to wear? Who to be seen with? She also has a few problems which are uniquely her own: How to use my light-based powers for good? How to act cool at my movie premiere this evening? How to keep Dad from capturing me in some nefarious device?
Expertly mixing slapstick comedy and teen angst, writer Todd Dezago (BUG, SPIDER-MAN) presents us with a fresh, humorous, exciting, and generally goofy good time in THE FLASH. Lia Nelson is a fun-loving character with a heart of gold who does good because, gosh darn it, it's RIGHT! She's extremely sensitive -- being careful not to upset her domineering stage mother, Celeste Nelson, for instance -- but she's nobody's doormat and always gets her own way. She can be blindly trusting -- Lia's father, Terrance Nelson, works for Nightwing and is assigned to capture her for study -- but she's no fool. Lia knows what her father is up to but shrugs it off because, like the ultimately harmless Wile E. Coyote, Terrance Nelson's traps always backfire on himself and, after all, he's her father. Above all, Lia is capable, and she rises to the challenge whenever people are in danger or when Nightwing unleashes some heavy-duty bad guys to capture her.
Making THE FLASH even better is the major league art team of Gary Frank and Cam Smith, formerly of THE INCREDIBLE HULK and SUPERGIRL. They draw some of the sexiest, most beautiful women in comics; and they put that talent to good use on Lia, her best friend Bently, and the buxom Celeste Nelson. Every character -- male or female -- is distinctive and the artwork reinforces each character's individual personality. In a word: Wow! Yes, these boys are stupendous!
Man, with a creative team like this, I'd buy this book as a regular series in a . . . . well, um, you can probably guess . . .
TANGENT COMICS - THE FLASH #1
Grade: B+
TANGENT COMICS - SEA DEVILS #1 (DC Comics/Tangent) is the biggest disappointment in the Tangent line. It deals most directly with the aftermath of Earth Tangent's third nuclear holocaust. (You earn bonus points if Hiroshima and Nagasaki just popped into your head.) Macon, Georgia, was submerged by Cuba's nuclear bombs and is now known as Shaligo. It is the home of fish which have mutated into humanoids thanks to the radioactive fallout thirty years previous. Shaligo is the home of . . . the Sea Devils.
Ruled by the Ocean Master, the Sea Devils seek to find a way to cohabitate with the humans who fear and despise them. While many Sea Devils would rather live in seclusion, the younger generation -- including Redfin, the Ocean Master's son -- seek out the thrills of the land world on the island metropolis of New Atlantis. Kids, huh? Whatcha gonna do?
SEA DEVILS is written as a pastiche of Stan Lee's trashy old 1960s X-Men, Sub-Mariner, and Fantastic Four stories, right down to a huge, hideous sea monster threatening to destroy the cities of Shaligo and New Atlantis. Gee, if the Sea Devils can stop the monster, won't the humans finally be forced to respect them? Ugh. The script is dreadfully overwritten: characters tend to declaim rather than talk and every little situation causes characters to make overwrought speeches about prejudice. In other words, more of the same social relevance overkill and misunderstood hidden societies that drove me away from THE X-MEN and Clive Barker novels years ago. Double ugh. Even the art is overdone, with Vince Giarrano and Tom Palmer invoking Jack Kirby and Walt Simonson to give us page after page of overmuscled Sea Monkeys. (Remember those ads from the backs of old comics?) Triple ugh. Overwritten. Overwrought. Overkill. Overdone. Overmuscled. Over-the-top. I give up already.
The truly awful aspect of SEA DEVILS is that it is written by one of my current favorite comic book writers, Kurt Busiek. I eagerly await new issues of ASTRO CITY, AVENGERS, IRON MAN, and THUNDERBOLTS every month because of Busiek's wonderful scripts. His MARVELS and UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDER-MAN are minor classics. And yet SEA DEVILS is a major clunker. Okay, everyone has an off day, I guess, and Busiek was due. He hasn't had a misstep, after all, since Acclaim's NINJAK of last year. (See the February 1997 LWYBM for details.)
Enjoy the rest of the Tangent line, folks, but this smelly pile of fish is best wrapped in newspaper, thrown out, and forgotten.
TANGENT COMICS - SEA DEVILS #1
Grade: D
TANGENT COMICS - GREEN LANTERN #1 (DC Comics/Tangent) is the best comic in the Tangent line, and therefore, I saved it until last. In the Tangent Universe, Green Lantern is a beautiful, mysterious, masked Asian woman who hangs out in cemeteries. As with most truly great comics, it describes its concept better than I ever could:
"With my green lantern, I have been put upon this Earth to give the dead one last wish. I can resurrect the dead from their graves so they can perform one final mission . . . one last pressing task they might have . . . so they can lie peacefully in this, their final resting place. That is my task . . . my goal . . . and to be honest there are times I'd rather spend my evenings at a nightclub or the movies, but hey, you are what you are." (GREEN LANTERN #1, p. 2.)
Bare bones, GREEN LANTERN is a revival of the old horror anthology with its requisite host. However, the Green Lantern's wit, sarcasm, beauty and charm elevate her far above the likes of Elvira, the Crypt-Keeper, or the Three Witches. And writer James Robinson (STARMAN, LEAVE IT TO CHANCE, WITCHCRAFT, CAPTAIN AMERICA, BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT) spins haunting tales far more touching than most horror anthologies were ever capable of achieving.
GREEN LANTERN #1 features three terrific tales of vengeance, fulfillment and desire. The heroic Captain Comet has returned from his grave to find the traitor who caused his death during the 1968 Czechoslovakian War. The deposed royal cum amateur sleuth King Faraday rises to tell the solution of his last mystery. Personal secrets are revealed as a young pilot talks with a reporter about the career of Captain Boomerang, the Australian air ace whose adventures span the globe.
The sultry Green Lantern expertly sets up each story and helps the reader find the inherent morals and lessons. The engaging art team of J. H. Williams III and Mick Gray (currently working together on DC Comics' CHASE) expertly illustrate each tale, changing styles to match and enhance the tone of each fable. The ingenious Robinson expertly kicks the rest of the Tangent line in the butt and gives it the paradigm to which it should aspire. Me, I'm just lovin' it.
TANGENT COMICS - GREEN LANTERN #1
Grade: A-
A TANGENT SUMMATION AND DC MULTIVERSE DIATRIBE
For me, Tangent Comics is a success for three reasons. First, as stand-alone comics, I enjoyed the majority of the Tangent Comics line. Second, as a comic book universe, I find the Tangent Universe intriguing and look forward to more adventures set within its confines. Finally, I'm excited by the ramifications Tangent could have on the rest of DC's comics.
For old time fuddy-duddies like me, the Tangent Universe brings to mind a very familiar, allegedly-discarded premise called the DC Multiverse. The CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS limited series ended the DC Comics tradition of having its Golden Age and Silver Age heroes existing in separate dimensions labelled Earth One and Earth Two. For instance, Jay Garrick battled crime as the Flash on Earth Two while Barry Allen battled crime as the Flash on Earth One. Each Flash was ignorant of the other's existence until the day they discovered a way to travel between dimensions.
After CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, the two Flashes' worlds were melded, and the DC Universe became a huge generational saga with a constant changing of the guard. Garrick wore the Flash mantle during World War II, and Allen assumed the role after Garrick went into semi-retirement. When Allen died during CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, the Flash mantle was assumed by Wally West. With the help of Max Mercury, West is grooming Impulse, Bart Allen, to next assume the Flash identity. The ZERO HOUR: CRISIS IN TIME limited series further trimmed/mangled the DC Universe, allowing revamps of LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES and other titles which were left with confused continuities following CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS.
And now Tangent Comics and the recent DC/Marvel crossovers start the whole thing over again. The character Access exists for the sole purpose of moving folks between the Marvel and DC Universes. If Tangent proves popular enough (and the solicitation of a second wave of Tangent Comics seems to confirm an initial success), how long before fans will be demanding a crossover and Access finds himself hauling Wally "Flash" West over to meet Tangent's Lia "Flash" Nelson? I know I'm looking forward to it.
If crossovers with Tangent are possible, DC is tacitly acknowledging that the DC Multiverse still exists. Indeed, in COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE #1274 (April 17, 1998, p.14-16), I recently read comics fan and CBG columnist Craig Shutt's conjecture ("wish" or "desire," may be more appropriate) that Earth One and Earth Two still exist in their own dimensions. CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS simply created an Earth Crisis, which DC's comics chronicled for a decade, and ZERO HOUR created Earth 0, where the current events in the DC Universe are occurring. Shutt even posited an Earth Vertigo wherein that imprint's titles exist.
A return of the Multiverse concept would make the DC Universe more understandable and make future continuity revisions easier. The next time DC wants to revamp its line, all it has to do is announce that it's moving to Earth version 6.0 or somesuch, much like computer software does. Creators would no longer be forced to explain away or ignore bits of continuity that don't serve their current story. They just start over, keeping and disposing of whichever elements they want. A simple logo on the cover would keep fans straight as to which universe they're currently exploring. Nostalgic fans can then hope and lobby for books which go back and revisit their favorite continuities without driving the creators of the current books insane with insulting or impossible demands to reverse current continuity. Say, for instance, I'm yearning for an Earth Two where Hal Jordan still slings an emerald ring as a force for good while wearing the mask of the Green Lantern . . .
Ah, well. I can dream.
And in the meantime, I can read Tangent Comics and enjoy them for their own merits.
Tangent Universe Grade: B-
From the May 1998 edition with a theme of "Tangent Comics":
INTRODUCTION
If you've been annoyed that I haven't reviewed an entire line of comics in a while, today's your lucky day. Using only your peripheral vision, join me in a look at DC Comics' Tangent Universe.
DC Comics used to have "skip weeks" four times a year in which it did not release any comics. Deciding this was wasteful, DC expanded its Batman and Superman lines by one title apiece -- SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF TOMORROW and THE BATMAN CHRONICLES -- in order to have two quarterly series which shipped during the skip weeks. That made sense, and was relatively easy on the collector's budget.
Then came the huge success of the Amalgam Comics, wherein Marvel and DC shipped none of their regular titles for a week, and instead released a dozen crossover books which melded characters from the two publishers into a brand-spanking-new comics universe. Now DC has gotten into the habit of releasing a new group of 6-9 interrelated comics every quarter: a second wave of Amalgam Comics, "New Year's Evil," the upcoming "Girl Frenzy," and "Tangent Comics." The events are budget-busters for most collectors, but so far the quarterly splurges have been worthwhile due to the creative energy and obvious excitement being poured into old characters, new characters and entirely new universes.
Having dispensed with the background, let's take that peek at my favorite event thus far . . .
TANGENTIAL, BUT SUBSTANTIAL
TANGENT COMICS - THE ATOM #1 (DC Comics/Tangent Comics)
TANGENT COMICS - THE FLASH #1 (DC Comics/Tangent Comics)
TANGENT COMICS - GREEN LANTERN #1 (DC Comics/Tangent Comics)
TANGENT COMICS - METAL MEN #1 (DC Comics/Tangent Comics)
TANGENT COMICS - SEA DEVILS #1 (DC Comics/Tangent Comics)
The premise of Tangent Comics is simple. Take all of DC's famous, trademarked character codenames, ditch the characters that currently use those names, ditch the universe in which they operate, and create entirely new characters in an entirely new universe with the entirely familiar old codenames.
TANGENT COMICS - THE ATOM #1 is the flagship title of the Tangent Universe. Written and pencilled by Tangent Universe creator Dan Jurgens (SUN DEVILS, BOOSTER GOLD, SUPERMAN, the upcoming THOR), THE ATOM establishes the point in time where the Tangent Universe went off on its -- um -- tangent: the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The history of the Tangent Universe started to go askew when exposure to nuclear bomb testing created the original Atom. The major turning point in the course of world events came when full-scale nuclear war was launched during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Cuba's first strike obliterated Florida and devastated the southeastern coast of the United States. The original Atom averted worldwide catastrophe by destroying the remainder of the world's nuclear missiles while they were in flight.
The presence of the original Atom created two massive benefits for the Tangent Earth. First, the Atom inspired a technological renaissance that has swept the technology of Earth Tangent's present era well past the current level of our own Earth (which we'll call, say, Earth Prime). Paper has been supplanted by computer screens and computerized streetcorner information kiosks are as common as lampposts. Second, the Atom sparked a worldwide obsession with superheroes, which brought the heroes out of the woodwork in droves and turned them into mega-celebrities. On the downside, the surges in technology and superheroics were accompanied by a larger surge in supervillains -- a necessary evil, I suppose, in the realm of comic book universes.
When not burdened with laying out all the above exposition about the Tangent Universe, THE ATOM #1 manages to introduce its hero, the third Atom: Adam Thompson. Thompson is the son and grandson of the second and first Atoms and their respective wives, television star Barbara Eden (!) and movie star Judy Garland (!). (Really!) Thompson was raised in isolation on the moon by his grandfather, who chose to retreat from public life after making a fortune in endorsements and bagging a trophy wife. Thompson's father, meanwhile, was killed tragically early in his career as the second Atom, giving Thompson a vengeful motive for adopting the Atom mantle. But in tracking down his father's killers, the third Atom discovers that his grandfather has been keeping secrets which will have personal and worldwide ramifications.
THE ATOM #1 suffers the drawbacks of being an origin story -- squared. Jurgens manages to incorporate the mountain of backstory into a fairly interesting narrative, and, with inker Paul Ryan (FANTASTIC FOUR) Jurgens illustrates the tale in a beautifully clean and open style. However, in detailing the inner workings of the entire Tangent Universe, Jurgens never really gets a chance to show anything about the inner workings of Adam Thompson. The young Atom only has a chance to react to events around him. While his are the reactions of a reasonable man, they could be the reactions of any man. Maybe future episodes will give us more insight into what makes him tick.
TANGENT COMICS - THE ATOM #1
Grade: C
TANGENT COMICS - METAL MEN #1 (DC Comics/Tangent) records the final mission of the Special Forces Unit that links the two most powerful men in the Tangent Universe: The President of the United States, Sam Schwartz, and the Director of the espionage agency Nightwing, Marcus Moore.
After a quick victory in Vietnam, the United States faces its most trying showdown with the Soviet Union in Czechoslovakia in 1968. With their nuclear arsenals spent after the Cuban Disaster and the intervention of the original Atom, the U.S. and U.S.S.R. are mired in a conventional ground war until the Communists release a potent chemical weapon called Red Tornado. America's only hope for victory or truce rests upon the success of the Metal Men in retrieving a sample of the deadly poison.
METAL MEN is a rollicking story of action, war, and betrayal. Moore leads his crack unit behind enemy lines where the Metal Men will face their most dire threat: internal strife. The team -- consisting of ordinary grunts with the codenames Gravedigger, Lobo, Black Lightning, and Hawkman, as well as Moore and Schwartz -- may be torn apart by the pressures of battle and the obsession of their team leader to end the war quickly.
A tense and moving thriller about hard men making hard choices, METAL MEN is one of the bigger surprises in the Tangent Comics line for me. The writer, Ron Marz, has previously driven me away from titles like SILVER SURFER and GREEN LANTERN with stories that just didn't interest me. Imagine my chagrin when he turns out a rock-solid tale in a book I had merely bought to complete my Tangent Comics set! Penciller Mike McKone and inker Mark McKenna supply some slick artwork, making Metal Men one of the three best comics in the first Tangent wave.
TANGENT COMICS - METAL MEN #1
Grade: B
TANGENT COMICS - THE FLASH #1 (DC Comics/Tangent) is the feel-good, happy-go-lucky corner of the Tangent Universe. Bottom line, it's a cross between the movie "Clueless," the usual superheroics, and a Road Runner cartoon.
"Oh . . . and definitely, since I had these like, marvy powers, it was only right to use them to like, help people and stuff . . . I guess I'm, like, a superhero or something . . . which is okay, but it doesn't get me any closer to finding a fab dress for tonight!" (THE FLASH #1, p. 6-7.)
Lia Nelson has all the typical problems of a teenager: What to wear? Who to be seen with? She also has a few problems which are uniquely her own: How to use my light-based powers for good? How to act cool at my movie premiere this evening? How to keep Dad from capturing me in some nefarious device?
Expertly mixing slapstick comedy and teen angst, writer Todd Dezago (BUG, SPIDER-MAN) presents us with a fresh, humorous, exciting, and generally goofy good time in THE FLASH. Lia Nelson is a fun-loving character with a heart of gold who does good because, gosh darn it, it's RIGHT! She's extremely sensitive -- being careful not to upset her domineering stage mother, Celeste Nelson, for instance -- but she's nobody's doormat and always gets her own way. She can be blindly trusting -- Lia's father, Terrance Nelson, works for Nightwing and is assigned to capture her for study -- but she's no fool. Lia knows what her father is up to but shrugs it off because, like the ultimately harmless Wile E. Coyote, Terrance Nelson's traps always backfire on himself and, after all, he's her father. Above all, Lia is capable, and she rises to the challenge whenever people are in danger or when Nightwing unleashes some heavy-duty bad guys to capture her.
Making THE FLASH even better is the major league art team of Gary Frank and Cam Smith, formerly of THE INCREDIBLE HULK and SUPERGIRL. They draw some of the sexiest, most beautiful women in comics; and they put that talent to good use on Lia, her best friend Bently, and the buxom Celeste Nelson. Every character -- male or female -- is distinctive and the artwork reinforces each character's individual personality. In a word: Wow! Yes, these boys are stupendous!
Man, with a creative team like this, I'd buy this book as a regular series in a . . . . well, um, you can probably guess . . .
TANGENT COMICS - THE FLASH #1
Grade: B+
TANGENT COMICS - SEA DEVILS #1 (DC Comics/Tangent) is the biggest disappointment in the Tangent line. It deals most directly with the aftermath of Earth Tangent's third nuclear holocaust. (You earn bonus points if Hiroshima and Nagasaki just popped into your head.) Macon, Georgia, was submerged by Cuba's nuclear bombs and is now known as Shaligo. It is the home of fish which have mutated into humanoids thanks to the radioactive fallout thirty years previous. Shaligo is the home of . . . the Sea Devils.
Ruled by the Ocean Master, the Sea Devils seek to find a way to cohabitate with the humans who fear and despise them. While many Sea Devils would rather live in seclusion, the younger generation -- including Redfin, the Ocean Master's son -- seek out the thrills of the land world on the island metropolis of New Atlantis. Kids, huh? Whatcha gonna do?
SEA DEVILS is written as a pastiche of Stan Lee's trashy old 1960s X-Men, Sub-Mariner, and Fantastic Four stories, right down to a huge, hideous sea monster threatening to destroy the cities of Shaligo and New Atlantis. Gee, if the Sea Devils can stop the monster, won't the humans finally be forced to respect them? Ugh. The script is dreadfully overwritten: characters tend to declaim rather than talk and every little situation causes characters to make overwrought speeches about prejudice. In other words, more of the same social relevance overkill and misunderstood hidden societies that drove me away from THE X-MEN and Clive Barker novels years ago. Double ugh. Even the art is overdone, with Vince Giarrano and Tom Palmer invoking Jack Kirby and Walt Simonson to give us page after page of overmuscled Sea Monkeys. (Remember those ads from the backs of old comics?) Triple ugh. Overwritten. Overwrought. Overkill. Overdone. Overmuscled. Over-the-top. I give up already.
The truly awful aspect of SEA DEVILS is that it is written by one of my current favorite comic book writers, Kurt Busiek. I eagerly await new issues of ASTRO CITY, AVENGERS, IRON MAN, and THUNDERBOLTS every month because of Busiek's wonderful scripts. His MARVELS and UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDER-MAN are minor classics. And yet SEA DEVILS is a major clunker. Okay, everyone has an off day, I guess, and Busiek was due. He hasn't had a misstep, after all, since Acclaim's NINJAK of last year. (See the February 1997 LWYBM for details.)
Enjoy the rest of the Tangent line, folks, but this smelly pile of fish is best wrapped in newspaper, thrown out, and forgotten.
TANGENT COMICS - SEA DEVILS #1
Grade: D
TANGENT COMICS - GREEN LANTERN #1 (DC Comics/Tangent) is the best comic in the Tangent line, and therefore, I saved it until last. In the Tangent Universe, Green Lantern is a beautiful, mysterious, masked Asian woman who hangs out in cemeteries. As with most truly great comics, it describes its concept better than I ever could:
"With my green lantern, I have been put upon this Earth to give the dead one last wish. I can resurrect the dead from their graves so they can perform one final mission . . . one last pressing task they might have . . . so they can lie peacefully in this, their final resting place. That is my task . . . my goal . . . and to be honest there are times I'd rather spend my evenings at a nightclub or the movies, but hey, you are what you are." (GREEN LANTERN #1, p. 2.)
Bare bones, GREEN LANTERN is a revival of the old horror anthology with its requisite host. However, the Green Lantern's wit, sarcasm, beauty and charm elevate her far above the likes of Elvira, the Crypt-Keeper, or the Three Witches. And writer James Robinson (STARMAN, LEAVE IT TO CHANCE, WITCHCRAFT, CAPTAIN AMERICA, BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT) spins haunting tales far more touching than most horror anthologies were ever capable of achieving.
GREEN LANTERN #1 features three terrific tales of vengeance, fulfillment and desire. The heroic Captain Comet has returned from his grave to find the traitor who caused his death during the 1968 Czechoslovakian War. The deposed royal cum amateur sleuth King Faraday rises to tell the solution of his last mystery. Personal secrets are revealed as a young pilot talks with a reporter about the career of Captain Boomerang, the Australian air ace whose adventures span the globe.
The sultry Green Lantern expertly sets up each story and helps the reader find the inherent morals and lessons. The engaging art team of J. H. Williams III and Mick Gray (currently working together on DC Comics' CHASE) expertly illustrate each tale, changing styles to match and enhance the tone of each fable. The ingenious Robinson expertly kicks the rest of the Tangent line in the butt and gives it the paradigm to which it should aspire. Me, I'm just lovin' it.
TANGENT COMICS - GREEN LANTERN #1
Grade: A-
A TANGENT SUMMATION AND DC MULTIVERSE DIATRIBE
For me, Tangent Comics is a success for three reasons. First, as stand-alone comics, I enjoyed the majority of the Tangent Comics line. Second, as a comic book universe, I find the Tangent Universe intriguing and look forward to more adventures set within its confines. Finally, I'm excited by the ramifications Tangent could have on the rest of DC's comics.
For old time fuddy-duddies like me, the Tangent Universe brings to mind a very familiar, allegedly-discarded premise called the DC Multiverse. The CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS limited series ended the DC Comics tradition of having its Golden Age and Silver Age heroes existing in separate dimensions labelled Earth One and Earth Two. For instance, Jay Garrick battled crime as the Flash on Earth Two while Barry Allen battled crime as the Flash on Earth One. Each Flash was ignorant of the other's existence until the day they discovered a way to travel between dimensions.
After CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, the two Flashes' worlds were melded, and the DC Universe became a huge generational saga with a constant changing of the guard. Garrick wore the Flash mantle during World War II, and Allen assumed the role after Garrick went into semi-retirement. When Allen died during CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, the Flash mantle was assumed by Wally West. With the help of Max Mercury, West is grooming Impulse, Bart Allen, to next assume the Flash identity. The ZERO HOUR: CRISIS IN TIME limited series further trimmed/mangled the DC Universe, allowing revamps of LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES and other titles which were left with confused continuities following CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS.
And now Tangent Comics and the recent DC/Marvel crossovers start the whole thing over again. The character Access exists for the sole purpose of moving folks between the Marvel and DC Universes. If Tangent proves popular enough (and the solicitation of a second wave of Tangent Comics seems to confirm an initial success), how long before fans will be demanding a crossover and Access finds himself hauling Wally "Flash" West over to meet Tangent's Lia "Flash" Nelson? I know I'm looking forward to it.
If crossovers with Tangent are possible, DC is tacitly acknowledging that the DC Multiverse still exists. Indeed, in COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE #1274 (April 17, 1998, p.14-16), I recently read comics fan and CBG columnist Craig Shutt's conjecture ("wish" or "desire," may be more appropriate) that Earth One and Earth Two still exist in their own dimensions. CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS simply created an Earth Crisis, which DC's comics chronicled for a decade, and ZERO HOUR created Earth 0, where the current events in the DC Universe are occurring. Shutt even posited an Earth Vertigo wherein that imprint's titles exist.
A return of the Multiverse concept would make the DC Universe more understandable and make future continuity revisions easier. The next time DC wants to revamp its line, all it has to do is announce that it's moving to Earth version 6.0 or somesuch, much like computer software does. Creators would no longer be forced to explain away or ignore bits of continuity that don't serve their current story. They just start over, keeping and disposing of whichever elements they want. A simple logo on the cover would keep fans straight as to which universe they're currently exploring. Nostalgic fans can then hope and lobby for books which go back and revisit their favorite continuities without driving the creators of the current books insane with insulting or impossible demands to reverse current continuity. Say, for instance, I'm yearning for an Earth Two where Hal Jordan still slings an emerald ring as a force for good while wearing the mask of the Green Lantern . . .
Ah, well. I can dream.
And in the meantime, I can read Tangent Comics and enjoy them for their own merits.
Tangent Universe Grade: B-
November 5, 2024
The Atom- 3⭐️
-mostly expo duuump
Metal Men- DNF, maybe war comics just aren’t for me
Green Lantern- 5🌟
-three great stories make up this anthology and I think I’ll always have room in my heart for Tangent Arthur Curry
The Flash- 3.5⭐️
-this felt so much like Totally Spies in a good way
Sea Devils- 2.5?⭐️
The Tangent universe is fun with lots of mentions of each other woven throughout the stories, but most of these feel like you’ll never need to revisit them in your life, the big obvious shining star here being Green Lantern
-mostly expo duuump
Metal Men- DNF, maybe war comics just aren’t for me
Green Lantern- 5🌟
-three great stories make up this anthology and I think I’ll always have room in my heart for Tangent Arthur Curry
The Flash- 3.5⭐️
-this felt so much like Totally Spies in a good way
Sea Devils- 2.5?⭐️
The Tangent universe is fun with lots of mentions of each other woven throughout the stories, but most of these feel like you’ll never need to revisit them in your life, the big obvious shining star here being Green Lantern
July 1, 2017
For the most part, I liked this more than I thought I would! Reminded me a lot of Stan Lee's "Just Imagine" line of reimagined DC heroes.
THE ATOM is maybe the best of the bunch. A classical Dan Jurgens yarn about a third-generation legacy hero coming to terms with the truth about his grandfather.
METAL MEN is a war comic for people who don't like war comics. President Schwartz details his background in the military.
GREEN LANTERN is almost a "Tales from the Crypt" episode. This earth's GL reanimates the dead so they can finish their business. Would have liked to see her in a role other than storyteller, but the JH Williams art is irresistible.
THE FLASH is a spunky lady of light, with a delightful sense of humor and some nostalgic Gary Frank art.
Lastly, it's SEA DEVILS, which I didn't dig as much. Seemed a little overlong but it pulls together a pretty compelling conclusion.
THE ATOM is maybe the best of the bunch. A classical Dan Jurgens yarn about a third-generation legacy hero coming to terms with the truth about his grandfather.
METAL MEN is a war comic for people who don't like war comics. President Schwartz details his background in the military.
GREEN LANTERN is almost a "Tales from the Crypt" episode. This earth's GL reanimates the dead so they can finish their business. Would have liked to see her in a role other than storyteller, but the JH Williams art is irresistible.
THE FLASH is a spunky lady of light, with a delightful sense of humor and some nostalgic Gary Frank art.
Lastly, it's SEA DEVILS, which I didn't dig as much. Seemed a little overlong but it pulls together a pretty compelling conclusion.
November 6, 2024
5 stories are collected in this 1st book of the Tangent universe (a Fifth Week Event comic series), with a silver age tint to them.
The Atom is the best in the lot, focusing on most powerful hero and his family history within the US.
Metal Men. A flashback of the president's time at war and the people he fought with.
Green Lantern, who can bring people back from the dead who have a need to complete one last thing, be it revenge or solving a mystery.
Flash, who is a celebrity with light powers, who is trying to be captured by a villianious group and is a callback to the comedy villians of the silver age.
Sea Devils, about Atlantis and was the weakest story of the lot.
The Atom is the best in the lot, focusing on most powerful hero and his family history within the US.
Metal Men. A flashback of the president's time at war and the people he fought with.
Green Lantern, who can bring people back from the dead who have a need to complete one last thing, be it revenge or solving a mystery.
Flash, who is a celebrity with light powers, who is trying to be captured by a villianious group and is a callback to the comedy villians of the silver age.
Sea Devils, about Atlantis and was the weakest story of the lot.
February 13, 2020
good stuff
wish more was coming
wish more was coming
February 19, 2012
Tangent comics is probably one of my favorite things to come out of DC Comics in the time that I have been reading them. It is a series that has a very unique way to reinterpret characters that were made famous throughout its long history. To see characters be so drastically different, like the version of Green Lantern that has more characteristics from Asian culture than many comic books allow. It created a new world in an interesting manner that resonated with many fans of DC Comics, which is why they were able to produce the later mini-series. This world was created masterfully and had such a rich history woven in that you could feel the universe in ways that DC is unable to do in their main universe. This has been a long time favorite of mine and will remain so because it is one of the stories that showcased that if you go outside of the box you can create something truly wonderful.
May 20, 2011
I realize this was an experiment. Maybe it was just too caught up in setting things up. Maybe it was just the style of the time. Either way, this was miserable.
August 18, 2011
A fun, revisionist take on DC heroes, taking them in a decidedly Marvel direction. Fun stuff.
September 19, 2018
So much potential totally squandered.
The premise here is somewhat of an homage to the transition between golden ange and silver age. Several Dc heroes are reimagined; becoming completely new characters. Theoretically, if you enjoyed Elseworlds, you would enjoy this work. However, I just don't think that's the case. In my mind, it fails in two distinct ways:
I. The writers are given near-complete freedom, not just writing the stories but also designing the characters. To that end, they make amateur errors. Most beginner writers are told to take an additional 20% off their stories to find the true beginning, as people tend to believe a larger amount of set-up is relevant than truly is. (That is the case in this book.) Moreover, the writing is incredibly passive and plots tend to involve a large amount of character / premise establishment, only to peter out with a muted whimper. (Green Lantern is likely the most interesting character, bringing people back to life to carry out a final task and rest their souls but the tasks themselves are of minuscule importance, totally random and uninteresting.)
II. The one-note sycophantic patriotism is not only trite, it's a bit disturbing. (The Atom is created after a succession of soldiers are bombarded and murdered via radiation by the army as part of their duty. this is of course Just and Good and all-American in a quiet-background-dignity sort of way.) The entire anthology takes place against the backdrop (is foredrop a word? it should be) of wwii through the cold war and continuing through imaginary conflicts with the soviets, nazis and the charmingly referenced "japs". The 'my country, right or wrong, narrative is never questioned or made muti-dimensional despite the actions and implications involved in it.
Ultimately, I wanted to love this but I ended up not even being able to like it.
The premise here is somewhat of an homage to the transition between golden ange and silver age. Several Dc heroes are reimagined; becoming completely new characters. Theoretically, if you enjoyed Elseworlds, you would enjoy this work. However, I just don't think that's the case. In my mind, it fails in two distinct ways:
I. The writers are given near-complete freedom, not just writing the stories but also designing the characters. To that end, they make amateur errors. Most beginner writers are told to take an additional 20% off their stories to find the true beginning, as people tend to believe a larger amount of set-up is relevant than truly is. (That is the case in this book.) Moreover, the writing is incredibly passive and plots tend to involve a large amount of character / premise establishment, only to peter out with a muted whimper. (Green Lantern is likely the most interesting character, bringing people back to life to carry out a final task and rest their souls but the tasks themselves are of minuscule importance, totally random and uninteresting.)
II. The one-note sycophantic patriotism is not only trite, it's a bit disturbing. (The Atom is created after a succession of soldiers are bombarded and murdered via radiation by the army as part of their duty. this is of course Just and Good and all-American in a quiet-background-dignity sort of way.) The entire anthology takes place against the backdrop (is foredrop a word? it should be) of wwii through the cold war and continuing through imaginary conflicts with the soviets, nazis and the charmingly referenced "japs". The 'my country, right or wrong, narrative is never questioned or made muti-dimensional despite the actions and implications involved in it.
Ultimately, I wanted to love this but I ended up not even being able to like it.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews