| 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.
“Ten years. I guess the joke was on me.”
The crossover 10 years — or at least 19 bi-weekly episodes — in the making is here! A return to the Tangent Universe finds a much darker world, and if that wasn’t enough, two of the DC Universe’s finest get stranded smack in the middle of it all. Plus, in a backup, the history of the Tangent Universe gets put under the microscope!
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NEXT TIME: Questions are answered and more mysteries arise!
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I just want to say this right here, right now: the only good issues (in my humble opinion, *coughs*) from this crossover are issues 1-3, possibly 4. And this is taking into account the setups that will go nowhere, once you read through the series until the end. Don’t get me wrong, I love this crossover mainly because there is some good stuff from it, but you might be able to tell at some point what parts were Jurgens doing his thing and what parts were editorial interference. There’s also the fact that the art takes a turn for the worse…
On a positive note, the covers by Carlos Pacheco are lovely and gorgeous, especially issue 2’s. It’s a shame he didn’t stick around (or was booted out) for the rest of the covers. I think he got the characters right.
Also, those history back-ups in the last pages? Those are full of inconsistencies in most issues, as the main story will be soon. Karl Ferris had already been established as being a talk show host, the Tangent equivalent of David Letterman. The Ferris Aircraft thing is probably laziness on Marz’s part and wanting to bring it back to the DC Ferris Aircraft. There was nothing Ferris related to air travel in the original run. Booster Gold is another inconsistency as you saw, although your idea about maybe the story of original Tangent Booster being not what it seems to be is actually a good point!
I ramble too much, haha. Still, I’m eager to see how the rest of the issues pan out for you! I definitely loved this issue as a stand-alone. Like you said, it’s fairly easy to understand for new readers and also gives us enough mystery to want to know more about what happened in the Tangent universe. The second issue definitely keeps up the pace.