Line #13 Creator/TangentComics


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tangent_comics_2089.jpg]]
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3	->''"Tangent (tan' jent): to break off suddenly from a line or train of thought and pursue another course."''
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5	The year was 1997. [[Franchise/TheDCU DC Comics]] was looking to fill out their schedule for the last week of December. It was tradition to print a [[FifthWeekEvent series of connected one-shot issues on the fifth Wednesday of the month]], so to fill that gap, DC turned to the man who [[ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman killed the Man of Steel]], Dan Jurgens.
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7	Jurgens came up with the idea of exploring a brand-new AlternateUniverse with some familiar names where the presence of superheroes had had a much bigger impact on history than the standard DCU. This wouldn't be an {{Elseworld}}, though: The names would be the same, but the faces, powers, and backstories radically different. Franchise/TheFlash was now a teenage superstar with light powers, for instance, while Franchise/GreenLantern was a mysterious woman who dealt with ghosts. To hammer home just how different this world was, DC dropped their logo from the covers and created a whole new imprint just for the occasion: Tangent Comics.
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9	The Tangent Universe is a world not too different from our own, at least up until [[TheSixties the 1960s]]. The BackStory goes that in 1962, the world's first super-hero, the nuclear-powered Atom, burst onto the scene, sending America into a super-frenzy and heralding the arrival of other costumed crimefighters. The Atom used his powers to help push the world's science ahead a few years, and by the present, technology is about ten years ahead of ours.
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11	The Tangent Universe is no utopia, though. Around the same time the Atom first appeared, the Cuban Missile Crisis went down... and someone pushed the red button. In a split second, the UsefulNotes/ColdWar turned hot as nuclear warheads streaked back and forth across the Gulf of Mexico, wiping Cuba and Florida off the map. WorldWarIII raged for seven years. But America scored an early victory in UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, and finally brought the war to an end in Czechoslovakia in 1969, but not until the Russians' deadly Red Tornado bio-weapon killed millions, including the American hero Captain Comet. In the end, both super-powers settle back into another uneasy Cold War, but the possibility that war could erupt again remains very real.
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13	Flash forward to the present day. Print has been almost completely discarded in favor of e-books. Super-celebrities like the Flash and the new Atom keep us safe. The shining city of New Atlantis has risen from the ashes of old UsefulNotes/{{Atlanta}}, while the mutant Sea Devils lurk in the trenches of sunken Florida. And the shadowy quasi-governmental agency Nightwing, its fingers in everything, keeps one finger poised permanently over the red button...
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15	As mentioned above, the Tangent Universe took familiar names and completely reinvented the characters behind them. The characters introduced in the original round of Tangent books included:
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17	* ''ComicBook/TheAtom:'' Grandson of the retired original Atom and son of the murdered second, Adam Thompson struggles with his newfound fame, but quickly learns a dark secret hidden in his family tree.
18	* ''ComicBook/MetalMen:'' A squadron of unpowered army men prove to be the real heroes of World War III. Flash-forward 30 years, when one of them is the President of the United States and another plots against him as the director of Nightwing.
19	* ''Franchise/TheFlash:'' A teenage super-celebrity with sparkling powers and personality unwittingly foils the plots of her father, a [[HarmlessVillain nefarious but comically inept]] Nightwing agent.
20	* ''Franchise/GreenLantern:'' A beautiful masked woman wanders the world's graveyards at night, conjuring up the souls of the deceased with her magic lantern to give them one last shot at finishing their unfinished business.
21	* ''Sea Devils:'' Deep beneath the radioactive waters of the Devil's Archipelago (once the state of Florida), a race of mutant FishPeople struggle against the callous surface-dwellers. Only a group of young rebels can bring together the two peoples.
22	* ''ComicBook/TheJoker:'' An acrobatic anarchist with a wacky sense of humor humiliates cops and robbers alike, but there's more to [[DistaffCounterpart her]] than meets the eye.
23	* ''ComicBook/SecretSix:'' Flash, Atom, and Joker covertly team up with newcomers Manhunter, Plastic Man, and Spectre to take on Nightwing and the evil Aquaman.
24	* ''Comicbook/DoomPatrol:'' A group of time-travelers come arrive from 2030 warning of the impending apocalypse... but could ''they'' be the disaster they're trying to stop?
25	* ''ComicBook/{{Nightwing}}'': The shadowy agency gets a wake-up call when several of their own go rogue, but who's really pulling the strings?
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27	Tangent Comics proved popular enough to warrant a second wave of one-shots the next year, though as a result of going from 38-page issues down to 22, some of the new issues' quality suffered. The Flash, Green Lantern, the Joker, and Nightwing each received a new story, while a few more familiar names popped up:
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29	* ''ComicBook/{{Powergirl}}:'' A living weapon created by the Chinese government whom the surviving Metal Men will do anything to obtain for the U.S... if Nightwing doesn't beat them to it.
30	* ''Franchise/WonderWoman:'' An alien warrior-philosopher arrives on Earth fleeing her creators, wondering about the meaning of her existence.
31	* ''The Franchise/{{Superman}}:'' An average cop has a near-death experience that triggers something inside of him, giving him vast [[PsychicPowers telepathic powers]] at the expense of his humanity.
32	* ''The Franchise/{{Batman}}:'' A genuine Dark Knight and traitor to the Round Table of Camelot, cursed by Merlin himself to fight evil as an empty suit of armor until he atones for his sins.
33	* ''[[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]]:'' A covert ops group with technology-based powers working for the U.S. government tries to eliminate the world's superhumans.
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35	Running through several of this second wave of stories was a plot that shook the Tangent Universe's foundation: When the rogue Nightwing agents try to rescue the Doom Patrol from the U.S.S.R.'s true leader, [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot the vampiric sorcerer]] UsefulNotes/JosefStalin, the Patrol's members are fused together with a monster beneath the Kremlin called the K.G.Beast (no, really) to create the Ultra-Humanite, a monstrous giant bent on world domination who proceeds to short-out every electronic device in the world. Joker, Superman, and Batman each respond to the aftereffects until the end of ''JLA'', when the Humanite arrives in America and defeats the Secret Six. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and the original Atom form their own Justice League to combat the menace...
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37	...and that's where the story ends.
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39	It's probable that Dan Jurgens had plans to conclude the storyline with the defeat of the Ultra-Humanite, but it never happened. Tangent Comics was never revisited and the whole world was left hanging.
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41	Flash forward. In 2005, the Tangent Universe was established as part of DC's wider [[TheMultiverse multiverse]] in a cameo in the CrisisCrossover ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', but lay fallow afterwards. But finally, in December 2007, the tenth anniversary of our first foray into the Tangent Universe, ''our'' Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica stumbles across a paper lantern with strange mystic properties that opens a portal to a whole new world -- nay, ''universe'' -- of adventure.
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43	In May 2008, ''Tangent: Superman's Reign'' #1 hit shelves as Tangent and Franchise/TheDCU intersected for the first time. We learn that the Tangent Superman single-handedly defeated the Ultra-Humanite, but as he grew more and more disconnected from humanity he realized his new purpose: not to watch over us as a hero, but to rule as a dictator. Using his vast powers to conquer all the world's governments, his rule goes unchallenged... save by a small group of his former friends and Nightwing itself. The heroes of two worlds come together to stop Superman's reign before he can set his sights on another Earth...
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45	----
46	!!Tropes common to the Tangent Universe include:
47	%%* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture.
48	* AlternateUniverse: Identified as Earth-97 of the DC multiverse in ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', referencing its first appearance. When it was integrated into the post-''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'' and ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}'' multiverses, it became Earth-9.
49	* AlternateUniverseReedRichardsIsAwesome: Franchise/{{Superman}}.
50	* AnthologyComic: Both Green Lantern one-shots told three short stories with the Lantern herself as the narrator.
51	* TheAtoner: Batman. Also Manhunter, according to one of the possible back stories of the Green Lantern.
52	* BadassNormal: The Joker has no powers and relies on gadgets and tricks. The JLA are an evil version of the trope, as they're non-powered humans who try to wipe out this continuity's Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman.
53	* BatSignal: More like "Joker Signal." Heh.
54	* BewareTheSuperman: Literally. Most of the other superheroes are struggling against him, though.
55	* ByThePowerOfGreyskull: Wildcat, one of the Nightwing rogues, can turn into a monstrous werecat by saying ([[BrownNote or hearing]]) the word "Shazam".
56	* TheCape: The new Atom. Superman started out this way before he lost touch with his humanity.
57	* ChestInsignia: Flash and Atom.
58	* ChromeDomePsi: The Superman
59	* CityOfAdventure: New Atlantis.
60	* CollectiveIdentity: [[spoiler:The Joker identity was originally shared between Mary Marvel, Christy Xanadu and Lori Lemaris. Mary was the one who joined the Secret Six and was captured by Superman when he rose to power; he forced the identity of the other two out of her mind and then killed her. Lori was subsequently sent to jail and served a 10-year sentence, and as for Christy... [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse No one knows.]]]]
61	* ComicBookTime: Averted. 10 years passed both real-time and in-universe before ''Superman's Reign''.
62	* ContinuityCameo: The Titans from Adam Warren's {{Elseworlds}} one-shot ''Scissors, Paper, Stone'' appear in costume as members of a protest group in ''The Joker''.
63	* ContinuityOverlap: This pretty much defined the original two waves of one-shots, where each of them mentioned characters and events from one another.
64	* DisabilitySuperpower: Plastic Man was put in a coma by an explosion but gained the ability to project his mind into a malleable plastic body.
65	* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: It is blatantly implied that, because Black Orchid utilizes tantric magic, to recharge her energy she raped an unsuspecting mook off-panel.
66	* ElementalEmbodiment[=/=]MakingASplash: Aquaman is a living ''ocean''!
67	* EvolutionaryLevels
68	* FantasticRacism: There's two levels of this regarding the Sea Devils, amphibious fish people. For one, Sea Devils are scorned by humans as freaks, while most Sea Devils consider humans disgusting and barbaric. However, there are dozens of different tribes of Sea Devils (shark people, shrimp people, eel people, etc), and there's quite a bit of racial tension between them as well.
69	* FiveManBand: The Sea Devils, though there are a few spares to be had. And the Secret Six, where, again, you have a little overlap.
70	* FreakLabAccident: Plastic Man and Aquaman were both scientists who gained their powers in laboratory accidents.
71	* FullyAbsorbedFinale: While the original run of the Tangent Comics one-shots never saw a proper conclusion to the battle with the Ultra-Humanite, efforts were made to provide the Tangent continuity a proper conclusion years later by having the Tangent universe versions of the Flash, Green Lantern and the Atom make a few appearances near the end of ''Ion'' and in ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' (specifically during a filler issue of Creator/DwayneMcDuffie's run) before tying up all the loose ends in a 12-issue series titled ''Tangent: Superman's Reign''. It is established here that the Tangent universe Superman successfully defeated the Ultra-Humanite and subsequently conquered the world under the reasoning that he knew how to best solve the world's problems and imprisoned or terminated every hero who was against him. Tangent Superman then sought to take over the main DC Universe, requiring a team-up between the Justice League and the few surviving Tangent universe heroes to stop him.
72	* FunPersonified: The Flash. Also the Joker, if you like anarchy and practical jokes.
73	* GoneHorriblyWrong: The Doom Patrol go back in time to try and warn humanity of what will happen to Earth in the future, while at the same time trying to prevent certain events that led to Earth's destruction. They wind up instigating said events instead.
74	* GovernmentConspiracy: Nightwing is an American shadow government that was originally founded by John F. Kennedy to police emerging superhumans but strayed from their original goals. They have a secret police in the form of the Firestorm Troopers, attempting to capture superheroes (such as the Flash), dabble in research in magic and the occult, and trying to create their own superhuman, which resulted in [[GoneHorriblyRight Harvey Dent becoming Superman who took over the world]] [[HoistByHisOwnPetard and ironically destroying Nightwing]].
75	* HeroicBSOD: Hex has one at the end of ''Nightwing: Night Force'', after Nightshade is destroyed.
76	* HorrorHost: This continuity's version of Green Lantern is a mysterious woman who uses her enchanted lantern to raise the dead, both of her one-shots having her tell three stories (the tales in ''Tangent Comics: Green Lantern'' being about people she brought back to life so they could complete their UnfinishedBusiness and the stories in ''Tangent Comics: Tales of the Green Lantern'' being [[MultipleChoicePast contradictory origin stories for the Green Lantern]]).
77	* InNameOnly: This trope is a deliberate unifying premise in the series. Unlike {{Elseworld}}s, which is a re-imagining of a DC character that usually retains most of the core elements, this series attaches the existing names to completely different characters with different powers, costumes, origins, appearances, and personalities -- usually, the only common element is that they're metahumans in a modern setting. The ''Superman's Reign'' miniseries has quite a bit of fun with this, particularly with the Justice League addressing the differences between the Tangent universe Joker and the Joker they know.
78	* IntelligibleUnintelligible: Nightshade, Hex's little flying robot familiar.
79	* JumpedAtTheCall: The Flash, like, totally ''loves'' being a superhero, for sure!
80	* JumpingTheShark: Discussed in-universe. Harvey Dent makes mention that the "Dick Van Super" show went downhill after they introduced a talking dog.
81	* KnightTemplar: Superman. Sure, he's enslaved billions, [[IDidWhatIHadToDo but it's for]] [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans the greater good]], don't you understand?
82	* LampshadeHanging: The crossover had lots of fun with the various name-similarities, including DC-Batman being taken aback to learn that Tangent-Superman's real name was ''Harvey Dent'', and taking a moment to glare at Lori when she says she used to be the Joker.
83	* LegacyCharacter:
84	** The current Atom is established to be the third hero to go by that codename, with his two predecessors being his father and grandfather.
85	** ''Tangent: Superman's Reign'' has [[spoiler:Manhunter]] die with [[spoiler:Lori Lemaris]] taking her place.
86	* LightEmUp: The Flash in this universe is a young woman with all manner of light powers the least of which is being made of solid light.
87	* MultipleChoicePast: Green Lantern tells three separate, contradictory versions of her origin in the ''Tales of the Green Lantern'' one-shot, implying that one, some, all, or none of them may be true. The first story, "Brightest Light", states that she was an archaeologist and adventurer named Lois Lane who was killed by billionaire playboy Booster Gold when she refused to aid in robbing the Sea Devils of their treasure, only to subsequently return from her watery grave as a ghost to avenge her own death. The second story, "Darkest Light", goes with her being the twin sister of a sorceress with power over the dead named Darkside who was mistakenly killed by Manhunter and obtained the lantern after she helped Manhunter kill Darkside. The origin given in the final tale "Know Evil" establishes that she was a necromancer named Zatanna who wished to join an occult organization called the Dark Circle and was challenged to obtain the lantern from her predecessor Jason Blood, who bequeathed the lantern unto her after she agreed to take his place as bearer of the lantern.
88	* MyGreatestFailure: It eventually surfaces that the original Atom inadvertently caused the nuclear war that destroyed Florida and Cuba and spent the rest of his life running away from the fact.
89	* OurWerebeastsAreDifferent: Wildcat is a teenage girl who transforms into a feral werecat when her handler says the word "Shazam".
90	* OutlivingOnesOffspring: The original Atom outlives his son the second Atom due to the latter being murdered by the Fatal Five.
91	* PersonalityPowers: It's only natural that someone as bubbly as the Flash should have light-based powers, don't you think?
92	* PhonyPsychic: The Doom Patrol try to pass off Star Sapphire as a psychic instead of revealing they're from the future.
93	* PosthumousCharacter: Captain Comet and the second Atom are established to have died before the events of this continuity.
94	* RadiationInducedSuperpowers: The Atoms, Flash, Superman, and the Doom Patrol's Firehawk all gained their powers directly or indirectly from radiation, though the original Atom had been twisted and shriveled by the experience.
95	* SecretIdentity: Few if any characters have one.
96	* SecretPolice: The Firestorm Troopers are an armed security force that is supposedly run by the U.S. government. In reality, they are loyal to Nightwing. After Superman took over the world, the Firestorm Troopers switched their allegiance to him and crushing any opposition to his rule.
97	* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Green Lantern has the power to bring one person back from the dead each night to settle unfinished business. But the dead person won't go back until issues have been properly solved.
98	* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: John Keel says as much about the Joker, repeatedly, in "The Joker's Wild"; evidently not only did word get out about her near-obsession with him, she deliberately acts like they're lovers when Keel's partner is around.
99	* ShoutOut: The whole universe is a ShoutOut, but a few deserve special mention:
100	** President Sam Schwartz is named after legendary DC editor Julius Schwartz.
101	** Superman's identity as a telepath who goes mad with power hearkens back to the original, rejected pitch for Superman in the '30s.
102	* SocialDarwinist: Superman.
103	* StableTimeLoop: The Doom Patrol tries to save their future, but inadvertently ''cause'' the catastrophe that will destroy the world.
104	* StageMom: The Flash's mother, Celeste. She's constantly trying to elevate her daughter's profile (and with it, her own).
105	* StevenUlyssesPerhero: '''A'''rthur '''Thom'''pson becomes the first Atom and was followed by his grandson Adam.
106	* SunglassesAtNight: Hex is never seen without his shades; he clearly thinks of them as part of his larger "image".
107	* SunkenCity: The city of New Atlantis was founded atop the ruins of Atlanta, Georgia, after the Florida peninsula was destroyed in Earth-9's version of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
108	* SuperpowerfulGenetics: The Atom and Firehawk of the Doom Patrol gained their powers from their parents.
109	* VillainTeamUp: The Fatal Five, who killed the second Atom.
110	* WarriorPoet: Wonder Woman.
111	* WellIntentionedExtremist: Superman just wants to make his world a better place, and decided that being a totalitarian dictator was the most effective way to do it.
112	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Some characters in this continuity have their current whereabouts unaddressed in the ''Tangent: Superman's Reign'' series that serves as the Tangent Universe's FullyAbsorbedFinale.
113	** No explanation is given as to what happened to Christie Xanadu ([[spoiler:the third Joker]]), Wonder Woman, or the Sea Devils, though given that the premise behind ''Superman's Reign'' is the Tangent Superman taking over the world to solve the world's problems on his terms while killing or imprisoning everyone who didn't approve of his methods, it's likely they were killed or imprisoned for attempting to defy the Tangent Superman.
114	** They also never explain what happened with [[spoiler: Clayface, who appears in the first eleven issues' "History Lesson" back-up feature, but isn't brought up at all in the concluding twelfth issue, though it's probable he'll be the only villain left for the Tangent heroes to fight.]]

Context Creator / TangentComics