| Welcome to the world of Tangent Comics — where you only know the names. Parallel Lines: A DC Comics Tangent Universe Podcast is a bi-weekly, issue-by-issue exploration of DC Comics’ Tangent Universe events, hosted by Shawn Engel and Michael Bradley.
“What a joke, huh?”
Meet the Joker — an acrobatic anarchist with a wacky sense of humor who humiliates cops and robbers alike! But, there’s more to this Mirthful Maiden of Mayhem than meets the eye as revealed in “Laugh ‘Till It Hurts.” It’s a comedic caper and action adventure that will leave you smiling courtesy of fan favorites Karl Kesel, Matt Haley and Tom Simmons!
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Backmatter from the issue (click to enlarge)
NEXT TIME: A trip to the dark side with NIGHTWING #1
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I told you Lori would pop up again 😉
About Tangent’s other appearances in other books/revisited: Tangent has appeared in Infinite Crisis #6 in one panel and in ION #9 and #10. In regards to ION, well…it’s very interesting and there was tons of potential there for some Morrison-esque concepts, but the characters’ dialogue are basically lifted from their original comics and rearranged to give some additional flow to the story. The characters themselves–the Atom, Flash and Green Lantern are the only ones who make a physical appearance–are just wooden puppets with a goal. That makes absolutely no sense to me either but that’s how they were. To me it felt like a cop-out job by Ron Marz, who was (spoilers) a Tangent writer! (Their goal, btw, was to bring their world back into the “living,” since the events of Infinite Crisis merged all the worlds into one…)
I…actually have no words about this episode. (I know, you must be happy, what with my ramblings XD). You guys hit all the points. Although the Cuban missile memorial issue to me was believable because in other countries, there have been incidents of the government wanting to forget certain parts of their pasts. I think even in the States there might have been one incident too, buuuuut that’s another topic and a can of worms best left for another time. (Oh wait, I did have words. Oops.)