Tangent Comics, Vol. 2

Tangent Comics #2

by Dan Jurgens, John Ostrander, Chuck Dixon

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 Joker
Tangent Comics: Nightwing
Tangent Comics: Secret Six
Tangent Comics: Doom Patrol
Tangent Comics: Batman

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Dan 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.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 Joker by Karl Kesel & Matt Haley - ★★★
The Joker is a Harley Quin, anti-authoritarian type that bounces around New Atlantis messing with the police and standing up for the little guys. I really like Matt Haley's art. The story is told from the view of one of the police officers the Joker is messing with.

Nightwing by John Ostrander & Jan Duursema - ★★
The covert Nightwing government organization has become corrupt and a small team of supernatural operatives within are trying to expose them. This is way too complicated for a one shot.

Secret Six by Chuck Dixon & Tom Grummett - ★★★
The old standard have a bunch of heroes arrive at the same place to stop a threat and decide to keep the team together when it's all done trope.

Doom Patrol by Dan Jurgens & Sean Chen - ★★★★
The Doom Patrol travels back in time from 2030 to stop an accident in 1997 that will destroy the future. The problem is they are actually the ones who cause the accident. There's some good stuff here and Sean Chen's art is banging.

Batman by Dan Jurgens & Klaus Janson - ★★
A complete turkey. One of the Knights of the Round Table is cursed to haunt the Castle of the Bat and can only venture out by controlling an empty set of armor.

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

#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 - NIGHTWING #1 (DC Comics/Tangent Comics)
TANGENT COMICS - DOOM PATROL #1 (DC Comics/Tangent Comics)
TANGENT COMICS - THE JOKER #1 (DC Comics/Tangent Comics)
TANGENT COMICS - SECRET SIX #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 - NIGHTWING #1 (DC Comics/Tangent) details the dark side of the Tangent Universe and spotlights the shadowy intelligence organization which has cameos in almost every other Tangent title. NIGHTWING focuses on a group of Nightwing rogues who are determined to expose Nightwing's dark agenda to the light of day.

Nightwing and its foes are hip-deep in the occult. Nightwing is under the control of the Dark Circle, a cabal of death-worshipping necromancers. The Creeper is assigned by the Dark Circle to supervise and control Nightwing Director Marcus Moore, but the Creeper spends most of his time stealing people's souls so he can snort them through his hellish crack pipe. The Nightwing rogues consist of Hex, a techno-magician; Black Orchid, a Tantric sorceress; Wildcat, a werewolf who triggers her change with a "Shazam!" invocation; and Gravedigger, formerly of the Metal Men and now a Nightwing/rogue quadruple agent with unknown loyalties.

The Nightwing rogues' first goal is to reveal the existence of Nightwing to the President of the United States. With ex-Metal Man Sam Schwartz on their side, the rogues hope to topple his old team leader, Marcus Moore, and the Dark Circle. Getting into the ultra-secure White House, however, may not be as hard as getting out alive when Nightwing intercepts the rogues' plan.

Writer John Ostrander (HEROES FOR HIRE, PUNISHER, SPECTRE, SUICIDE SQUAD, GRIMJACK) spins an intriguing tale of espionage and double-crosses and triple-crosses and so forth. Ostrander orchestrates plenty of twists and turns to keep the mind engaged, but as in THE ATOM, the characters need to be given some breathing room in order to grow on me. And for the obnoxiously cocky Hex and the self-centered Black Orchid to grow on me, that breathing room might have to be the size of Colorado. Actually, the rousing Image Comics-style art by Jan Duursema probably brings my requirements down to a mere Massachusetts scale.

Nightwing may represent the Tangent Universe's dark side, but NIGHTWING has the potential to be one Tangent Comics' bright spots.

TANGENT COMICS - NIGHTWING #1 Grade: B-


TANGENT COMICS - DOOM PATROL #1 (DC Comics/Tangent) revolves around time travel and a world-shattering apocalypse in the year 2030. Four adventurers travel back from the future to the 1990s in order to thwart the events which ended in the destruction of the Earth. The only problem? They might be the catalysts which set the events in motion in the first place.

Dubbed the Doom Patrol by the reporters of the '90s because of their dire predictions, these travellers are as messed up and ostracized as DC's original Doom Patrol. Dr. Diedre Dey, codenamed Doomsday, is an obsessed scientific genius who believes herself to be infallible and has the uncanny ability to rationalize away any evidence to the contrary. Her daughter, Lourdes "Firehawk" Dey, possesses extraordinary physical agility and a bad attitude. Firehawk's relationship with her mother is rocky because of the sacrifices her mother forces her to make, the secrets her mother keeps from her, and nagging doubts about her mother's plans. Star Sapphire is really Marlys Cornier, a former starlet and paramour of the original Atom, who has been transformed into a jewel-skinned, force-field-wielding, self-hating freak by a faulty cryogenics process. Rampage is the world's first fully sentient android.

Gorgeous art by Sean Chen (IRON MAN), Kevin Conrad and Ray Kryssing cannot overcome my problems with the characters as written by Dan Jurgens. Almost every character in the Doom Patrol is unlikeable. Rampage has all the personality of a PC hammered onto the neck of a mannequin. Star Sapphire whines constantly about her present state, yearning for the days when she was a pretty, stuck-up celebrity. Firehawk is tempestuous but ineffectual, raging against but totally cowed by her mother. Furthermore, she constantly uses annoying, made up, futuristic slang. Finally, Dr. Dey is a blockheaded jerk who we're led to believe can invent a time machine but can't see obvious cause-and-effect relationships. The gimmicky, but well-handled, time travel paradoxes and a cameo by an older Atom III in the future sequence are the only saving graces of this book's story.

TANGENT COMICS - DOOM PATROL #1 Grade: C-


TANGENT COMICS - THE JOKER #1 (DC Comics/Tangent) is a mystery about an enigma. The Joker is an anarchist who runs wild through the streets of New Atlantis (the old Atlanta, Georgia, got itself nuked during the Cuban Missile Crisis, doncha know?), flouting authority and advocating that the common people question everything. But most of the questions raised center on the Joker herself. Who is she? Why does she act so strangely? And how does she get away with it?

Beat cop John Keel takes it upon himself to seek out the answers to the riddle that is the Joker. He's drawn into the Joker's web after she takes an interest in him, demonstrated by stealing his hat and gun on separate occasions. Keel is determined to figure out why the Joker is so protective of New Atlantis, the ultra-modern city built on the island remnants of the irradiated southeastern coast. Keel even has some candidates who might possibly be the Joker: reporter Lori Lemaris, student Mary Marvel, and club owner Christy Xanadu. In glorious literary tradition, however, Keel must confront some dark aspects of his own past before he can understand the secrets of the Joker.

The Joker is a tricky type of character to write, and scribe Karl Kesel (SUPERBOY) falls a little short of the task. The Joker is a clown on the surface, but we know she's crying inside -- not unlike the wise-cracking, gloom-dwelling dichotomy of the manic-depressive Spider-Man. By writing the narrative from a different character's perspective we're thankfully spared miles and miles of angst-laden Joker thought balloons, but, alas, we are then unfortunately subjected to the belabored musings of Keel, the least interesting character in the whole book. Oh, well.

I'm sure the feel and pacing of the Joker's appearances are supposed to be madcap, but they lack real zest. The artwork by Matt Haley and Tom Simmons is fine but nondistinctive. It's the same for the script; most of the jokes are funny, but many are more forced than clever. Finally, it's my assessment for the whole book: THE JOKER is a fine effort, but where's the tang in this particular Tangent?

TANGENT COMICS - THE JOKER #1 Grade: C-


TANGENT COMICS - SECRET SIX #1 (DC Comics/Tangent) is innocuous. A primary rule of superhero universes: every superhero universe needs a superhero team. Well, here is Tangent's.

Chuck Dixon (BATMAN, GREEN ARROW, ROBIN, BIRDS OF PREY, NIGHTWING and pretty much every other comic on the racks today) wrote it. Tom Grummett (SUPERMAN, SUPERBOY) drew it. James Sinclair inked it. The Flash, the Atom, the Joker, the Spectre, the Manhunter, and Plastic Man starred in it. I read it. Below, I grade it.

TANGENT COMICS - SECRET SIX #1 Grade: C



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-

[Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve already talked about the background and some of my general thoughts on the series in my review of the first volume, so let’s just talk about the five issues in volume two:

Joker: I feel like these days good guy Joker is a relatively common concept, between the morally ambiguous Harley Quinn, the various alternate universe good guy Jokers, and stuff like White Knight. I’m not sure if this Joker stood out more in the 90s, but she’s still a pretty good version of the concept, even without any reference to Batman. This Joker is a vigilante in New Atlantis, the city built atop the ruins of old Atlanta, destroyed in a nuclear war. Her thing seems to be just about laughing at authority, and she has plenty of gags and gimmicks to match, but it’s clear she’s using humor as a tool in her rebellion. She appears briefly in the Sea Devils story in volume 1 and is one of the better things that happens there.

I think having this story narrated from the point of view of a cop who’s new to the city is a good choice, as I’m not sure how well Joker’s internal monologue would actually work. Plus it allows the story to continue to play with the question of her true identity and origin. I don’t like Tangent’s Joker as much as do it’s Flash, but she’s not a bad character.

Nightwing: Nightwing have had the largest presence in other Tangent comics, as they act as the greater scope villain of the setting. Nightwing is a secret cabal that controls America from behind the scenes, rather like if Marvel’s SHIELD was evil. This story focuses on a group of rogue Nightwing agents who are also magic users and focused on bringing Nightwing down. The characters are fun, and include a shapeshifter who uses the transformation word Shazam, a wizard with a robot familiar who acts rather like a D&D wizard, and a woman who uses tantric magic. (Well, magick. The story is rather insistent about the k.)

I have mixed feelings about the story, as I have mixed feelings about Nightwing in general, but the characters are fun and the premise of the organization evolving out of a split in a secret mage society is interesting even if I’m not sure it gels that well with what we’ve previously seen of them.

Secret Six: The inevitable super hero team, taking the interesting route of showing how a new team comes to form rather than having one already established. There’s a nice mix of characters who’ve already had solo books and completely new guys. The team includes the already established Joker, Flash, and Atom, alongside newcomers Manhunter (she’s got guns, a robot dog, and no real motivation or backstory), Specter (he can turn invisible! He’s new at this!), and Plastic Man (he’s living plastic but in a different way that main universe Plastic Man is).

Much like the first Avengers movie that would follow fifteen years later, our heroes are drawn together to stop a madman bent on changing the world to his benefit. In this case, the Secret Six battle a scientist whose experiments fused him with water. He plots to blow up the moon so he can become Aquaman, master of the oceans. As ways to kick off a superhero team go, it’s pretty good, and it’s fun to have a proper crossover building on the ways characters and plot elements would appear in multiple previous books.

Doom Patrol: This is the last issue of the first of the two runs of Tangent Comics, and sadly while the story starts with a bang, the whole thing turns into a whimper by way of shaggy dog story. In a classic comic book/sci-fi plot, the Doom Patrol is a quarter of heroes rushing to build a ship in time, not to beat the Russians to outer space, but to go back in time and prevent the Earth from blowing up.

Unfortunately, they manage to stagger around screwing everything up, and not in the charming way the Legends of Tomorrow do. At least those guys leave the timeline in better shape than where it started. The characters do have some neat ideas for powers, even if their personalities are lacking, and it’s probably good they’re a one-off because I’m not really sure where they’d try to go from here.

Batman: In the intro to the first volume, Dan Jurgens noted that they stayed away from the big three when outlining Tangent Comics. That lasted until the second and final wave of Tangent comics, at which point Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman all received their Tangent versions. I think this issue may be meant to be read later in the second run, but I suspect it was brought forward to be able to market this volume to Batman fans. (I base this on the big ad for Batman comics on the last page of the trade paperback.)

This version has much more in common with Jack Kirby’s demon Etrigan than with any previous incarnation of the Dark Knight - and in fact it’s clear that they were riffing on the Dark Knight epithet more than the Batman name. This hero is a knight of Arthurian times cursed to remain trapped in his castle through the centuries until he can atone for his crimes. Fortunately, while his flesh and blood body can’t leave, he can send forth a suit of armor, Fullmetal Alchemist style. And it’s a good thing it’s magic, because the metaplot of the second series of Tangent involves an EMP hitting the entire planet. The actual plot is rather thin, which makes sense as the length of each issue was clearly cut down compared to the first series (otherwise they wouldn’t be able to stuff the other 8 issues into a volume the same size as this one). This Batman isn’t bad per se, but the original caped crusader leaves some massive shoes to fill, and Tangent’s version just isn’t up to it. Stick to Etrigan or Grant Morrison’s version of Shining Knight if you want some Arthuriana in your DC comics.

This second volume doesn’t have quite as much to recommend it as the first did, but I figure if you’ve started on this trip into the obscure side of DC’s 90s output, why not keep going? Which is why I’ll be writing up a dizzying 8 AU heroes soon, once I finish volume three.

[Zachary King · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably four and a half stars but I'm rounding up because the concept is fun. More off-brand reinterpreting of DC characters, memorable one shots that build on the universe created in the first volume.

THE JOKER - Karl Kesey and Matt Haley give an infectiously fun take on Joker as a merry prankster punking the police while dispensing her own brand of justice. There's a fun mystery about her identity which is resolved in a surprising way.

NIGHTWING - hard to turn down Ostrander & Duursema working together. This tale of renegade superheroes banding together is naturally reminiscent of Suicide Squad, but the added government intrigue is a winner.

SUICIDE SQUAD - Dixon and Grummett give us a Tangent Justice League of sorts. Dixon is a master at team books, and his Joker is deliriously entertaining. He also finds a way to get the straitlaced Atom to join the team.

DOOM PATROL - I love this team of oddballs, but the Tangent team is a group of time-travelers out to prevent the end of the world. Not as weird as the name demands, but Jurgens crafts an engaging tale of impending doom.

BATMAN - Jurgens and Janson take on the Dark Knight, an Arthurian ghost in a haunted suit of armor. I'm a sucker for a good alternate Batman, and I hope to see more of him in the third volume!

[Brian Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another 5 stories in the Silver Age themed Tangent Universe
The Joker - Fun story about a rebel hero
Nightwing - Supernatural espionage and some of the best new characters in the universe
Secret Six - The forming of a team, including The Atom, Flash, The Joker, and 3 others, solid team up team origin
Doom Patrol - A family travels to their past, our present, to stop the events that cause the end of the world, weakest story in the bunch, good characters
The Batman - fine story for this take on Batman

[Jacob Shaffer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Joker- 4⭐️
-a fun one with a satisfying ending, tangent joker’s design js soooo good

Nightwing- 2⭐️
-this one’s like I wanna be cool cool cool xmen sooo baaaad 😫

Secret Six- 3⭐️
-this one has the most spins on characters, plastic polymer man being my favorite

Doom patrol- 3⭐️
-boring buildup with no references to the doom patrol you would want to see, neat ending

Batman- 4⭐️
-the shortest of the bunch, good story I love that the bat origin has nothing to do with dead parents, the big bad says “sweet thaaaang” so that’s crazy

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clever idea : writers take the names of various DC superheroes and create entirely new characters, keeping only the name.
This volume contains a couple of my favorites:
The Joker: now a kind of prankster/anarchist/ crime fighter that torments the authorities when she isn't catching bad guys. Fun and cleverly written.

Secret Six: cool hero team, half characters that got their own comic ( Atom, Joker and Flash) and three new guys ( Plastic man, Spectre and Manhunter) they get thrown together to stop the evil Aquaman.

The other stories are a mixed bag, Batman was a clever idea but the others left me a bit 'blah'.

Fun experiment that DC didn't do much with after this bunch of stories.

[Cassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume continues the tradition at new interpretations of classic DC characters. It is wonderfully done and really provides the reader with a unique and fresh perspective on some of their favorites. The world is really well-built by the creator and writers in such a way that you want to know more about the history that makes up this particular version of the DC Universe. If you like DC comics you won't instantly recognize your favorites here because they are changed, but once you delve into the stories you will find a love for these versions that you would never expect because they are so well-written.

[Matt Sabonis · Rating 4 out of 5]

More good fun. I especially loved the new takes on the Doom Patrol and Nightwing.