Prior to the release of the first wave of Tangent books in 1997, DC Comics sent a series of at least nine promotional posters to retailers (a common practice, even today).

Each poster measured approximately 11″ wide by 34″ long and featured new artwork done by that book’s artistic team. The design on the posters was similar, with a pin-up shot of the book’s title character or characters, the book’s logo, line logo and a version of the tagline (“The only thing you know are the names!”). At the top of each, a multiple-choice question teased the new character.

Here’s a look at all nine posters, and a transcription of the text for each. (Apologies for the varying quality of the images. They were found on eBay and a variety of sites across the net and enhanced as best as possible in Photoshop. If anyone has cleaner scans, please send them in!)

The Atom is: A) The incredible shrinking scientist; B) A microscopic particle; C) Earth’s first and greatest super-hero

The Metal Men are: A) A team of sophisticated robots; B) A heavy metal fan club; C) A commando squad with nerves of steel

Green Lantern is: A) Possessor of the most powerful weapon in the universe; B) A British pub; C) A mysterious woman who helps the dead wreak revenge

The Flash is: A) The fastest man alive; B) A camera accessory; C) Lia Nelson. Yeah … she’s fast … she’s made of light!

The Sea Devils are: A) A team of ocean explorers; B) Brine shrimp; C) Intelligent undersea creatures created by a nuclear accident

The Joker is: A) A green-haired criminal; B) A space cowboy. A gangster of love. C) New Atlantis’s anarchic martial artist

Nightwing is: A) Dick Grayson’s secret identity; B) A poisonous(?) plant C) Black ops who use dark magic

The Secret Six is: A) A mysterious team of spies; B) A masked hockey team; C) A band of heroes gathered to battle Aquaman.

Of note on this one is that the Atom, the Joker and the Flash are not featured on the poster, turning the Secret Six into the Secret … Three?

The Doom Patrol is: A) A group of misfit super-heroes; B) A pro-wrestling tag team; C) A time-traveling team of heroes out to save the world

With the second wave in 1998, DC took a different tack, releasing one poster to promote all nine books. The poster was approximately 34″ wide and 22″ tall, and featured art from the cover of all the second-wave titles.

The poster also provided taglines to each individual book, though these were not carried forward to the books themselves (mercifully, in some cases).

Batman: “A Dark Knight Out of Time”
Superman: “The Man of Tomorrow … Not Today”
Wonder Woman: “A Warrior of the Mind”
Nightwing: Night Force: “A Force for Evil”
The Joker’s Wild: “What Happens When the Laughter Stops?”
Trials of the Flash: “When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Go Shopping”
Tales of the Green Lantern: “In a World of Lies, Who Knows the Truth?”
Powergirl: “Girl Power Isn’t Always Good”
JLA: “Earth’s Greatest Foes”

As far as I know, these were the only materials sent to comic book retailers to promote the Tangent books. But, they remain interesting pieces of comic book ephemera!