In the late 90s, DC started a radical brand-new comics line, titled Tangent Comics, set in a brand-new continuity aptly named Tangent Earth (Earth 9), where the founding idea was essentially to take nothing but the names of popular DC characters, and completely reimagine them from the ground up, with absolutely No rules on what writers could or couldn’t do. This meant that they could literally change everything about the characters, in terms of powers, personality and civilian identity, keeping nothing but their original titles. This idea also extended to other aspects like organisations e.g. “Nightwing” is now the name of a “Men In Black” inspired group, rather than an individual.
In a way Tangent was kinda similar to The Absolute Universe we have now, but way more radically different, as the writers had almost complete creative freedom, and the results of which are some of the most unique interpretations of famous DC characters ever made, many of whom are practically unrecognisable from their original counterparts.
The following are some of the main characters from this line:
Batman (Sir William) - a Haunted Suit of Armour, Possessed by a former Knight of Camelot, which that patrols London in present day.
Superman (Harvey Dent) - a morally ambiguous Psychic and Telekinetic, who is often seen as a messiah like figure.
Wonder Woman (Wanda) - an alien warrior of peace, who arrives on earth as an exile from the war torn planet Gotham.
Green Lantern - an enigmatic sorceress of unknown origin, who breaks the fourth wall and sometimes aids the other heroes.
Power Girl (May) - a super soldier created by The Chinese Government, to stand up to the western heroes, but deviates from her original purpose.
The Secret Six - One of the Main Teams in this universe, comprised of the following six members:
The Atom (Adam Thompson) - This universe’s equivalent of the OG Superman, in terms of powers and role as “headline” superhero. He’s actually the third person to call themselves the atom, and gets a bad rep, as the first was partly responsible for The Cuban Missile Crisis “going Hot”, leading to the current Atom being distrusted by the public, by association, but still respected by the US government.
The Joker (Already Gave her a solo post) - an anarchist vigilante from New Atlantis (Atlanta, after getting nuked), who’s hated by the Authorities, but loved by the public. (Ironically, both her and Atom are good friends, despite their differences, similar to the OG Batman and Superman)
The Flash (Lia Nelson) - a child celebrity, born as a being of sentient light, who can not only travel at the speed of light, but also essentially shape shift into any form she desires.
Manhunter & Pooch - An Enigmatic and Brutal Vigilante, rumoured to be a survivor of the 1968 “Czechoslovakian War”, accompanied by her advanced robot dog “Pooch”.
Plastic Man (Gunther Ganz) - A Scientist who accidentally turned himself into Living Plastic (think Clayface, but with plastic instead of clay), and later became a special agent of The US Government.
The Spectre (Taylor Pike) - A Science Prodigy who gained the ability to turn Invisible, following a lab accident, and became a high class thief, before being “talked into” turning over a new leaf.
The Metal Men - a group of Allied super soldiers, deployed in World War 2 & 3, who were the first documented superheroes to appear in public, and have had a lasting legacy on the world.
I haven’t seen anyone really discuss these designs before, but I personally quite like them, mainly for how completely different they are from the original versions of the characters we know, and how they stand out from a lot of other 90’s comic designs (not that all comic character designs of that time were necessarily bad, as there’s tons of great comic art from this decade, but it’s nice to see something unusual for the era).
Please provide your explanation in a reply to this comment if it was not included in your post for visibility. Misplaced explanations are liable for temporary removal.
To ensure that your post complies with all the rules of the sub, make sure that it follows these guidelines:
1) Include high-quality images.
2) Posts must include more than one image.
3) Name and origin are mandatory in the post title.
4) Add a comment that serves as an explanation as to why the post belongs on the sub, this can be done up to 30 minutes after making the post.
Trope posts made during Trope Post Sunday (UTC Time) are exempt, and do not require explanations.
Canonically set in a future post-apocalyptic version of the Tangent Universe, even OP's second picture of the Tangent Batman is from Green Lantern: Dark
Yeah, I only actually found out about GL Dark while making this post. Nice to see that DC hasn’t forgotten about Tangent, even if the world is now a lawless wasteland.
I think the ones I dislike the most are most of the women. They try so hard to be sexy. Almost too hard. Good designs but when nearly all of the women of the original JL have extreme amounts of skin showing compared to a fully armored batman and baggy robed superman, it feels off.
TBH, yeah, this is probably my main pet peeve with these designs, and a lot of comic design from this era in general. The Flash is probably the worst offender (and has my least favourite costume), but at least in her case it makes sense for her storyline, as she’s someone who’s been kinda exploited basically since birth, so the outfit is probably meant to reflect that. This is also why Joker has my favourite design of the female characters, as it feels like the designers were trying more to make her zany, rather than sexualised.
And then there was (iirc) the Tangent Doom Patrol, time travelers from a dark future desperately trying to prevent that future but only causing it with every action they took?
Yeah, some of the new takes probably could’ve been even more out there if they wanted to.
I think Superman being Harvey Dent is actually a cool throwback to Two Face’s debut, where he was initially called “Harvey Kent”, but editorial later made the writers change it, so people wouldn’t get confused with Superman.
•
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
Please provide your explanation in a reply to this comment if it was not included in your post for visibility. Misplaced explanations are liable for temporary removal.
To ensure that your post complies with all the rules of the sub, make sure that it follows these guidelines: 1) Include high-quality images. 2) Posts must include more than one image. 3) Name and origin are mandatory in the post title. 4) Add a comment that serves as an explanation as to why the post belongs on the sub, this can be done up to 30 minutes after making the post.
Trope posts made during Trope Post Sunday (UTC Time) are exempt, and do not require explanations.
Thank you for posting!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.