 | |
| Parent company | DC Comics |
|---|---|
| Status | Dormant (since 2009) |
| Founded | 1997 |
| Founder | Dan Jurgens (writer) Eddie Berganza (editor) |
| Publication types | Comics |
| Fiction genres | Superhero |
Tangent Comics is aDC Comicsimprint created in 1997, developed from ideas byDan Jurgens.[1] The line, formed from 18one-shots, focused on creating all-new characters using established DC names, such as theJoker,Superman, andthe Flash. Contrasting the Tangent Universe with the DC Universe, Jurgens commented:[2]
The Tangent Universe tells the story of an Earth greatly influenced by the presence of super-powered beings. While the DCU Earth is essentially the same as our own, no more advanced in terms of technology or communications despite the existence of those qualities within the super-powered community, Earth Tangent is greatly influenced by all of that. Earth Tangent's economic, geographic and political landscapes are defined by the superhero community, whereas in the DCU those aspects exist unaffected by the superhero community.
According toDan Jurgens, the reconceptualization ofSuperman "went through many permutations". An early idea eschewed powers altogether and revolved around highlighting the "man" in "Superman", and making him "a cop, or a doctor or something different. A guy with no powers but tremendous character who fights on behalf of his fellow man". WriterMark Millar noted that "the classic Superman role is already filled by theAtom", and wanted to echo "Kafka'smetamorphosis where we actually see this likable, regular guy transform into a superhuman". Thus Millar took Jurgens' early idea "of the average Joe as the superMAN" and used artistJackson Guice's "unique approach to the flashback scenes" (as seen in hisResurrection Man work) to create a different style than that used by Guice on hisAction Comics work. The character and his storyline also draw influence from the storyThe Reign of the Superman written byJerry Siegel andJoe Shuster prior to the creation of their iconic character. The Tangent Universe's Superman utilizes the name of DC villainTwo-Face (Harvey Dent) rather than the name 'Clark Kent'. Superman's powers, according to his writer, are that "his brain is evolving at an accelerated rate" thanks to a 'god-force'.[3]
WriterPeter David worked from Jurgens' concept that Tangent'sWonder Woman is "a female warrior" exiled to Earth for sins committed on another world. Seeking a twist to make her different from the originalDCU character, David thought up Wanda's origin as "a symbol of what [her] world could be if [her people] were united". Combining two diverse aspects, she "seems distracted in any combat situation" and "would rather not fight", preferring "pondering some deep philosophical point". After the character conception, artistGene Ha produced design artwork, initially of abearded lady, but eventually merely "a very alien woman".[4]
WriterJohn Ostrander previously wroteNightwing for the first wave of Tangent issues and for his second wave issue christened the team (Hex, Black Orchid and Wildcat) "Nightforce". Citing the benefit of the Tangent line as giving "a far greater freedom to sculpt the world in any fashion we want", Jurgens said that for the second wave he hoped to "see Earth totally and completely subjugated". As the Tangent Universe's premiere covert team, much of the "mammoth task" of staging a pivotal Tangent event fell to Ostrander, who installed an undead,vampireStalin as head of a Soviet Empire. Ostrander also revealed the "Dark Circle", whose members could be killed and "resurrected as a warrior,Night of the Living Dead style, for theUltra-Humanite".[5]
The history of the Tangent Universe radically diverges from the real world due to the presence of superheroes. The interference of the originalAtom causes theCuban Missile Crisis to escalate into a limited nuclear exchange that results in the nuclear obliteration ofFlorida andCuba. The aftermath of the destruction of Florida shapes the lives of several characters.
The city of New Atlantis is created out of the remains of the city of Atlanta and is later the birthplace of theJoker. A group of sea creatures are mutated by the radioactive fallout into humanoid form and become known as theSea Devils. The other major event to have repercussions is the Soviet Union's invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, which leads to the creation of theManhunter and the deployment of alternateMetal Men as a U.S. black ops squad. As a result of the Cuban War in this timeline, the Soviet Union still existed in the late 1990s and was still a world superpower. China was not involved in this nuclear exchange and has its ownmetahuman genetic experimentation program, resulting in the creation ofSupergirl andPowergirl.
Based on concepts created byDan Jurgens, Tangent Comics as a whole is dedicated toJulius Schwartz.[6]
Because the Tangent Comics titles were not linked toDC Comics' shared universe, they were free to make sweeping changes. In the Tangent one-shot issues published in 1998, anelectromagnetic pulse disables technology worldwide and a powerful being called the Ultra-Humanite begins taking over the world.
The 12-issueminiseries revisits the Tangent Universe 10 years later, both in reality and fiction. The series ran between March 2008 until April 2009 and was written by Dan Jurgens with art by Jamal Igle and Carlos Magno. The series was met with favorable reviews, noting strong character development and plotting.[8][9]
In efforts to aid an alternate-reality-displaced Tangent Flash (Lia Nelson), Green Lantern (John Stewart) and the Flash (Wally West) are inexplicably transported to Earth-9, the Tangent Universe, by the Tangent Green Lantern. The trio joins the Tangent Spectre and the Tangent Manhunter in freeing the Atom, leaving Stewart captured by the Tangent Superman, ruler of Earth-9. While being interrogated by the Tangent Superman, Stewart's ring is contacted byHal Jordan's ring, which the Tangent Green Lantern uses to bring additional members of the Justice League to Earth-9. The rescued Atom is revealed to be the Tangent Powergirl, lover to the Tangent Superman, and a fight ensues. The Tangent Manhunter is brutally murdered. The Tangent Superman takes Stewart'spower ring and uses the ring, augmented by his psychic powers and the magic of the TangentOrion, to travel to New Earth of the mainstream DC Universe. Meanwhile, Batman infiltrates the Core, the hub of information on Earth-9, and is saved by the Tangent Batman while escaping, who is mounting a revolution against the Tangent Superman. The Tangent Superman and the Tangent Powergirl battle their New Earth counterparts, only to escape and destroy theWhite House. The Tangent Superman proceeds to kidnap the world's leaders, take power from them and detonate a nuclear weapon to distract New Earth's heroes. While on Earth-9, the heroes find and recruit the Tangent Superman's last tie to humanity, his wife Lola Dent. The heroes on Earth-9 transport themselves back to New Earth, where the combined forces of New Earth's and Earth-9's heroes fight against the Tangent Superman, the Tangent Powergirl and a cadre of villains that the Earth-9 ruler has gathered from New Earth (Lex Luthor, theJoker,Mr. Freeze,Icicle,Black Manta,Poison Ivy, andFelix Faust), as well as the TangentUltra-Humanite. The raging battle against the Tangent Superman weakens him, allowing him to be defeated by his wife.
Convergence is a two-month weeklyminiseries, published by DC Comics, that ran from April–May 2015.Convergence spins out of the final issues of the weekly seriesEarth 2: World's End andThe New 52: Futures End. The story involvesBrainiac trapping cities from various timelines and planets that have ended, transporting them in domes to a planet outside of time and space and "opening them for a great experiment to see what happens when all these folks meet". Notable during this event is the return of DC characters from before the 2011Flashpoint story arc that led to the creation ofThe New 52 universe.[10]
The Kingdom (1998) revealed that the Tangent Universe was part ofHypertime, a fluid system of alternate realities based on splitting and re-merging timelines. Regular DC characters became aware of the Tangent Universe, but did not interact with it.
Infinite Crisis (2006) identified the Tangent Universe asEarth-97, part of the recreatedDC Multiverse. As Earth-97 was being destroyed in the chaos, the Tangent Universe'sGreen Lantern said that the heroes had to follow her lantern's light in order to survive. At the end of the story on New Earth, two children found the lantern belonging to the Tangent Universe's Green Lantern washed up on a beach.
The Tangent Universe's Green Lantern,Flash andAtom appeared inIon #9-10 (February–March 2007), in which they displaced Ion and the two children who had found the lantern. Ion found himself in the Bleed, where he encounteredCaptain Atom. Upon returning to Earth, Ion defeated the Tangent heroes, apparently by sending them back to their native dimension. During this appearance, everything said by the Tangent heroes was a repeat of lines from the original Tangent Comics run.
The Tangent Universe's Green Lantern later appeared inJustice League of America (vol. 2) #50 (December 2010), where she fled to New Earth in order to warn its heroes of an impending attack by theCrime Syndicate of Amerika. During the issue, it was revealed that the Syndicate members had ravaged the Tangent Universe's Earth and killed many of its heroes in the process. The Tangent Universe's Green Lantern later became instrumental in the ensuing battle by temporarily resurrectingAlexander Luthor Jr. of the original Earth-Three and by the end of the story, the Tangent Universe had been restored to its former state.
The "History of the Multiverse" backup stories in the 2007–2008 seriesCountdown to Final Crisis established that the Tangent Universe now exists as one of the new 52 alternate universes. DC's official list of the current known multiverse lists the Tangent Universe asEarth-9.
DC Comics reprinted the Tangent Comics one-shot issues and the miniseriesTangent: Superman's Reign in a series of fivetrade paperbacks:
A series of nine one-shots springing from the imagination of writer/artist Dan Jurgens, the Tangent Comics imprint introduced an entirely new universe of heroes.
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