Vertigo Comics

Vertigo Comics, also known as DC Vertigo or simply Vertigo, was an imprint of American comic book publisher DC Comics started by editor Karen Berger in 1993. Vertigo's purpose was to publish comics with adult content, such as nudity, drug use, profanity, and graphic violence, that did not fit the restrictions of DC's main line, thus allowing more creative freedom. Its titles consisted of company-owned comics set in the DC Universe, such as '' The Sandman'' and ''Hellblazer'', and creator-owned works, such as ''Preacher'', '' Y: The Last Man'' and ''Fables''. The Vertigo branding was retired in 2020, and most of its library transitioned to DC Black Label.

Vertigo grew out of DC's mature readers' line of the 1980s, which began after DC stopped submitting '' The Saga of the Swamp Thing'' for approval by the Comics Code Authority. Following the success of two adult-oriented 1986 limited series, '' Batman: The Dark Knight Returns'' and ''Watchmen'', DC's output of mature readers titles, edited by Karen Berger, grew. By 1992, DC's mature readers' line was editorially separate from its main line and Berger was given permission to start her own imprint. Vertigo was launched in January 1993, with a mix of existing DC ongoing series and new series. The first original Vertigo series was '' Death: The High Cost of Living'', a ''Sandman'' spin-off featuring the character Death.

Although its initial publications were primarily in the horror and fantasy genres, over time Vertigo published works dealing with crime, social commentary, speculative fiction, biography, and other genres. Vertigo also adopted works previously published by DC under other imprints, such as ''V for Vendetta'' and ''Transmetropolitan''. The imprint pioneered in North America the publishing model in which monthly series sold through comic book shops are periodically collected into editions which are kept in print for bookstore sale. As DC's most popular and enduring imprint, several Vertigo series won the comics industry's Eisner Award, including for "best continuing series", and were adapted to film and television.

The imprint began to decline in the 2010s, as certain properties like ''Hellblazer'' and ''Swamp Thing'' were re-integrated into DC's main comic books, while Berger departed in 2013. Berger's departure was followed by a series of editorial restructures, culminating in the imprint's relaunch as DC Vertigo in 2018. However, the relaunch suffered a multitude of setbacks, including numerous cancellations. After months of speculation, in June 2019 DC announced that Vertigo would be discontinued as part of a plan to publish all the company's comics under a single banner, with DC Black Label taking its place as DC's mature readers' imprint.

History

Development

Vertigo originated in 1993 under the stewardship of Karen Berger, a former literature and art-history student, who had joined DC Comics in 1979 as an assistant editor. In the mid-1980s, Berger was editor of such DC titles as ''Wonder Woman'' and '' Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld'', and began recruiting writers from the UK, including Neil Gaiman, Jamie Delano, Peter Milligan, and Grant Morrison."MEDIA; At House of Comics, a Writer's Champion"
(p. 2), by Dana Jennings, ''The New York Times'', September 15, 2003 She "found their sensibility and point of view to be refreshingly different, edgier and smarter" than those of most American comics writers.

Berger edited several new or revived series with these writers and Alan Moore (a British writer hired by editor Len Wein), including superhero/science fiction series such as ''Animal Man'', ''Doom Patrol'' vol. 2, and ''Shade, the Changing Man'' vol. 2, fantasy series '' The Sandman'' vol. 2, and horror titles ''Hellblazer'' and '' The Saga of the Swamp Thing.'' She also edited limited series such as ''Kid Eternity'', '' Black Orchid'' (Gaiman's first work for DC) and ''The Books of Magic'' limited series.

These six ongoing titles, all of which carried a "Suggested for Mature Readers" label on their covers, shared a sophistication-driven sensibility the comics fan media dubbed "the Bergerverse". In a 1992 editorial meeting with Levitz, publisher Jenette Kahn, and managing editor Dick Giordano, Berger was given the mandate to place these titles under an imprint that, as Berger described, would "do something different in comics and help the medium 'grow up'". Several DC titles bearing the age advisory, such as ''Green Arrow'', ''Blackhawk'', and '' The Question'' (the last two cancelled before the launch of Vertigo), did not make the transition to the new imprint.

Meanwhile, Disney Comics and former DC editor Art Young had been developing an imprint to be called Touchmark Comics, analogous to Disney's mature-audiences Touchstone Pictures studio. This project was abandoned following the so-called "Disney Implosion" of 1991. Young and those works were brought into the Vertigo fold, allowing Berger to expand the imprint's publishing plans with the limited series ''Enigma'', ''Sebastian O'', ''Mercy'', and ''Shadows Fall''."Interview with Karen Berger" in ''Advance Comics'' #49 ( Capital City Distribution, January 1993)

Initial year

Vertigo was launched in January 1993 with a mixture of existing ongoing series continued under the new imprint, new ongoing series, new limited series, and single-volume collections or graphic novels. Their publishing plan for the first year involved two new titles – whether ongoing/limited series or one-shots – each month. The existing series (cover date March 1993) were ''Shade, the Changing Man'' (starting with #33), '' The Sandman'' (#47), ''Hellblazer'' (#63), ''Animal Man'' (#57), ''Swamp Thing'' (#129), and ''Doom Patrol'' (#64, with new writer Rachel Pollack).

The first comic book published under the "Vertigo" imprint was the first issue of '' Death: The High Cost of Living'', a three-issue series by Neil Gaiman and Chris Bachalo. The second new title was the first issue of ''Enigma'', an 8-issue limited series initially planned to launch Touchmark, written by Peter Milligan (also author of ''Shade, the Changing Man'') and drawn by Duncan Fegredo, the artist from Grant Morrison's earlier ''Kid Eternity'' limited series. The following month saw the debut of '' Sandman: Mystery Theatre'' by Matt Wagner and Steven T. Seagle, and illustrated primarily by Guy Davis, described as "playing the '30s with a '90s feel... haunting, film noir-ish...," and starring original Sandman Wesley Dodds in a title whose "sensibilities echo crime genre fiction." Joining it was J. M. DeMatteis and Paul Johnson's 64-page one-shot ''Mercy.''

New series that began in the months that followed include ''Kid Eternity'' (ongoing) by Ann Nocenti and Sean Phillips (continuing from the earlier Morrison-penned limited series), Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell's three-issue steampunk limited series ''Sebastian O'' (another ex-Touchmark project), ''Skin Graft'' by Jerry Prosser and Warren Pleece, ''The Last One'' by DeMatteis and Dan Sweetman, ''Jonah Hex: Two-Gun Mojo'' by Tim Truman and Sam Glanzman, '' Black Orchid'' (ongoing) by Dick Foreman and Jill Thompson (continuing from the earlier Gaiman/McKean limited series), ''The Extremist'' by Peter Milligan and Ted McKeever, ''Scarab'' by John Smith with Scot Eaton and Mike Barreiro, and ''The Children's Crusade'', a crossover involving several of the imprint's ongoing series. ''The Books of Magic'' limited series was relaunched as an ongoing series written by John Ney Rieber, and illustrated by Peter Gross (later also writer), Gary Amaro, and Peter Snejbjerg.

Although the books did not have a consistent " house style" of art, the cover designs of early Vertigo series featured a uniform trade dress with a vertical bar along the left side, which included the imprint logo, pricing, date, and issue numbers. The design layout continued with very little variation until issues cover-dated July 2002 (including ''Fables'' #1) which introduced an across-the-top layout ahead of 2003's "Vertigo X" 10th anniversary celebration. The "distinctive design" was intended to be used on "all Vertigo books except the hardcovers, trade paperbacks, and graphic novels." Berger noted that DC was "very" committed to the line, having put a "lot of muscle behind" promoting it, including a promotional launch kit made available to " tailers who order dat least 25 copies of the February issue of ''Sandman'' 47" a "platinum edition" variant cover for ''Death: The High Cost of Living'' #1 and a 75-cent ''Vertigo Preview'' comic featuring a specially written seven-page ''Sandman'' story by Gaiman and Kent Williams. In addition, a 16-page ''Vertigo Sampler'' was also produced and bundled with copies of Capital City Distribution's ''Advance Comics'' solicitation index.

Vertigo publications generally did not take place in a shared universe. However, several of the early series which had begun as part of the main DC Universe had a "crossover" in 1993-1994: '' The Children's Crusade''. The event—"did not yield smashing results" or garner many positive reviews, in large part due to its "gimmicky" nature, which ran counter to Vertigo's quirky, non-mainstream appeal and customer-base.Anatomy of the Crossover #5: "DC/Vertigo's The Children's Crusade: Child Culture and Reflexivity, Suggested For Mature Readers" by Robert A. Emmons, Jr., November 1, 2005
Accessed May 29, 2008 The event was defended as "no marketing ploy" by one of the event's editors, Lou Stathis, who wrote of his dislike of the often "crass manipulation" of crossover events, defending ''The Children's Crusade'' as having come not from marketing, but the writers' minds, and therefore being "story-driven" rather than manipulative. The crossover did not become an annual event, however—indeed, "annuals" linked to Vertigo series rarely reappeared after this event.

Works previously published by DC under other imprints, but which fit the general character of Vertigo, have been reprinted under this imprint. This has included ''V for Vendetta'', earlier issues of Vertigo's ongoing launch series, and books from discontinued imprints such as ''Transmetropolitan'' (initially under DC's short-lived sci-fi Helix imprint) and ''A History of Violence'' (originally part of the Paradox Press line).

Two of the new ongoing series did not last long; ''Kid Eternity'' was cancelled after 16 issues, and ''Black Orchid'' continued for only 22. ''Sandman Mystery Theatre'' and most of the pre-existing series continued for several years, including ''Sandman'' which reached its planned conclusion with #75. ''Hellblazer'' was the last of the original ongoing series to be canceled, ceasing publication in February 2013 with #300.

Middle period

As the imprint's initial ongoing series came to their ends, new series were launched to replace them, with varying degrees of success. ''The Sandman'' was replaced following its completion by ''The Dreaming'' (1996–2001) and ''The Sandman Presents'', which featured stories about the characters from Neil Gaiman's series, written by other creators. Other long-running series have been ''The Invisibles'' by Grant Morrison and various artists (1994–2000); ''Preacher'' by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon (1995–2000); ''Transmetropolitan'' by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson (1997–2002); '' 100 Bullets'' by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso (1999–2009); ''Lucifer'' by Mike Carey, Peter Gross, and Ryan Kelly (2000–2006); '' Y: The Last Man'' by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra (2002–2008); ''DMZ'' by Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli (2005–2012); and ''Fables'' by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, and various other artists (2002–2015), which launched spin-offs including ''Jack of Fables'' by Willingham, Lilah Sturges (credited as "Matthew Sturges"), and various artists (2006–2011), and ''Fairest'' by Willingham and various artists (2012–2015).

The financial success of many Vertigo titles relied not on monthly issue sales, but on the subsequent "trade paperback" editions that reprinted the monthly comics in volumes, which were also sold in general-interest bookshops. Vertigo's success in popularizing this approach led to a wider take-up in the American comics industry of routinely reprinting monthly series in this format. Limited series (ideal for later collection) and original graphic novels made up the majority of the imprint's output, with trade paperback sales accounting for a substantial segment of the imprint's sales.

Vertigo Visions

An irregular series of self-contained short stories featuring characters from the DC Universe, reinterpreted or recontextualized.

*''Vertigo Visions: The Geek'' (June 1993) by Rachel Pollack and Mike Allred
*''Vertigo Visions: Phantom Stranger'' (October 1993) by Alisa Kwitney