Tangent Universe in Convergence

[EnterDuration]

I'm buying the Convergence minis whose title characters I like, whose villains I enjoy reading, and whose creative team seems less likely to mess up spectacularly.

Two of the Convergence minis coming out in the third week of April--the Barry Allen Flash and the New Teen Titans titles--will feature their title characters fighting against Tangent Universe characters (respectively, Tangent Superman, it seems, and Tangent Doom Patrol, to be specific).

I'm still on the fence about these minis though, since I've never read any of the Tangent Universe books that came out several years ago. So I'd like to know more about them, enough to decide whether or not I should buy the Convergence issues where they appear. Are they, at least, "interesting" characters that make these issues promising to read?

[PyroSikTh]

Firstly I'd like to know what the hell Tangent is!

[EnterDuration]

Firstly I'd like to know what the hell Tangent is!

Oh, sorry. I meant this. I wish I could rename the thread, in case people get confused and think I'm referring to the Tangent Universe from Donnie Darko!

[GlennSimpson]

Firstly I'd like to know what the hell Tangent is!

The "Tangent" series of books were about a universe where the names are the same but the identities and powers are different. "Flash" is a female character with light powers. "Atom" is a nuclear-powered Superman-type. "Superman" is a black man with mental powers. "Nightwing" is actually the name of a group. "Plastic Man" is a boy trapped in a robotic plastic body. And so on...

[Doctor Clu]

I want to thank EnterDuration for starting this thread, even if it is "What the heck is/was Tangent."

Atom3.jpg

To me the Tangent Universe is a big deal. A huge deal. The Atom (III) shown above is basically my Superman as that was the role he played in that universe. The Atom was of a affluent family and the third generation in a family that had called themselves "The Atom". He had powers of matter manipulation and yet had the noble spirit and influence in his universe like Superman does in the regular DC universe. The whole story basically starts with him finding out his grandfather was not as noble as history lead everyone to believe. History said that the Atom (the first generation who was at that point one soldier in nuclear tests that survived and received powers) tried to save Atlanta and Cuba in the Cuban missile crisis and failed. Truth was, well spoilers...

But the Atom (III) shown in the picture above would tell the whole world the truth and then live his life in penance for the sins of his family so to speak. And the world respected him for it.

In one of my favorite comics from the line "The Secret Six", who are also featured as the opposing team against the Justice League Detroit in Convergence this week, you have this accidental coming together of super powered people investigating the death of Sea Devils off the Florida (?) coast. They work so well together than again one of the moments of influence of the Atom (III) was to form a team up group by this accidental pairing. Since that time the Secret Six was featured in other Tangent stories in the '97 and '98 runs as well as the Reign of the Superman run in 2008. (And currently in Convergence in 2015).

Tangent_Flash.jpg

So why do I like the Tangent Universe? I would find the issues in bargain bins years after they came out. I think I was drawn to "The Flash" who was a drastically different version of the Flash I knew. What I would find is that that this miniseries event was well written. The super heroes were in the end very interesting and yet the least important part of the universe. The universe actually centered around the Metal Men and their adventures back in the 70's. They were basically a military group, and the members of the Metal Men would become both the movers in government, and in the shadow government. And they would play the world in their game of chess against each other.

I used to make a timeline of the interweavings of the Tangent universe and how this faint reference in a story lead into another story. The Tangent Green Lantern would shed more light on the Tangent universe by resurrecting people from the past to complete one last task. I loved how they depicted her carefree and beautiful character amongst a macabre profession. In her stories of people resurrected you get a glimpse of what went wrong in the past (including her own death), and get an idea of why the Tangent world is in the current state, for better or worse, in the current day of the story.

The Tangent universe was meant to be familiar names with unfamiliar characters. Brilliant. You knew who Atom, Flash, Spectre, Plastic Man, and Manhunter was in the regular DC universe, but the roles they played were very different.

In 2008 they would pair up the Tangent universe characters with the same named characters in the regular DC universe. This side stepped the uniqueness of the Tangent universe.

For example, the Superman in Tangent was a very powerful being that grew in psychic strength through a mind that was potentially unlimited. The reason for this power... spoilers. But in the end in 2008 the Superman was paired against the regular Superman which even in that story they show how regular Superman was no direct match for the Tangent Superman. When you think Tangent Superman think more along the lines of Paralax or Monarch. The Superman was not a villian per se, and not a hero. Just a man whose expanding mind saw problems that he liked to fix. If ruling the world helped solve the problems, so be it.

* The Tangent Atom was more in strength and role like the regular Superman with powers like Firestorm.

* Flash was actually faster than the regular Flash because while Flash can run at the speed of light the Tangent Flash WAS light.

* Spectre was good at ghosting through matter. Kinda more like Deadman than the all powerful Spectre in regular DCU. Ish.

* Manhunter is just your Marvel Black Widow type, but wears a mask since she is scarred as a child from the Czechoslovacian War. (In our world Vietnam was the big war, in theirs Vietnam wasn't the biggie with the events of the Cuban Missile crisis going as they did, but Czechoslovacia was a total mess...)

* Plastic Man was this mass of ballistic plastic that could change shape. A awesome powerhouse. Don't think goofy Plastic Man or even Elongated Man, think more the power level of Clayface.

* And the Joker, ironically, is the Batman type of her universe. She is extremely interesting when you get past her whimsical outward appearance. Kinda a political activist, she is the prankster that works to foil corrupt politicians and their actions. A great information source for the Secret Six.

Based on the reaction of a lot of you I can see most don't have a detailed understanding of the Tangent Universe. For me I loved the detailed story presented and love every chance to see the characters. And while the spirit is lost in some of the appearances I always love to see the Secret Six.

TangentComicsVol2TP.jpg

Speaking briefly of the other appearances: The Doom Patrol was a group that came from the Tangent universe's future, around 2030, to go back in time and stop the destruction of their world. Their tale is a sad and ironic one. (Spoilers...)

And the Superman who the Flash is up against.. wow... I am a fan of Barry Allen as the Flash, but he has his work cut out for him. Let's just say in the Reign of Superman it took all the regular universe heroes AND villians to finally defeat The Superman (Tangent). Good luck Flash!

Ok, so I'm a huge Tangent U fan, so fire away with any questions you might have in this thread and I'll happily answer. I think this Convergence event will be a fun read, and so far I think the Tangent characters have been depicted extremely well. And I am particular with my Tangent characters.

I would like to invite people to read the following article. In this one I added the recent Convergence appearances:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangent_Comics

http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Tangent_Comics

Tangent Characters:
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Ta...ics_Characters

I actually wrote these articles:
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Harvey_Dent_%28Earth-9%29
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Adam_Thompson_%28Earth-9%29

Had fun with these articles:
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Karl_Ferris_%28Earth-9%29
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Green_Arrow_%28Earth-9%29
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Impulse_%28Earth-9%29

[Lee Stone]

My favorite Tangent title was Nightwing.
I liked the supernatural spec ops concept.
And them using Emma Peel for the visual inspiration for Black Orchid was pretty cool.

[Doctor Clu]

My favorite Tangent title was Nightwing.
I liked the supernatural spec ops concept.
And them using Emma Peel for the visual inspiration for Black Orchid was pretty cool.

Nightwing was a fun comic. Once again partially Metal Man related which is what I liked about that one. I did not realize Black Orchid was based off Emma Peel, but a nice combination with her Trantic magic. And while I loved how she was drawn in the Nightwing comic book, I thought her appearance in "The Superman" was also nice though different as the Superman was more of a painting than inking in style.

[Lee Stone]

Nightwing was a fun comic. Once again partially Metal Man related which is what I liked about that one. I did not realize Black Orchid was based off Emma Peel, but a nice combination with her Trantic magic. And while I loved how she was drawn in the Nightwing comic book, I thought her appearance in "The Superman" was also nice though different as the Superman was more of a painting than inking in style.

It was more or less just her appearance.
Duursema referred to it as "Emma Peel in hyperdrive".

[colonyofcells]

About the 4 members of the Tangent Doom Patrol :
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Tangent_Com...Patrol_Vol_1_1

[Shinomune]

Two of the Convergence minis coming out in the third week of April--the Barry Allen Flash and the New Teen Titans titles--will feature their title characters fighting against Tangent Universe characters (respectively, Tangent Superman, it seems, and Tangent Doom Patrol, to be specific).

And Justice League America (Detroit League) vs Tangent Secret Six.

[Patrick_C]

Firstly I'd like to know what the hell Tangent is!

One of the most brilliant ideas DC ever had. THAT was creativity. It makes most of what we see today seem cheap in comparison.

[Lee Stone]

One of the most brilliant ideas DC ever had. THAT was creativity. It makes most of what we see today seem cheap in comparison.

True.
THAT's the approach I would've liked to have seen DC do with the New52 reboot back in 2011.

"Here... use these names and make new characters..."

[GrandKaiser]

I just want to see awesome red Batman again.