Will Vertigo Ever Return To It's Glory Days?

[Timothy Hunter]

Will DC ever be able to properly relaunch Vertigo or is it something best left in the past?

Is Vertigo Worth Saving?

Due to various factors such as crucial faces behind Vertigo such as Karen Berger and Shelly Bond stepping down, and changes to the Vertigo contract, giving more power over licensing to Warner Brothers, thus making it less attractive to A list creators, it is far to say that Vertigo is a shell of it's former self.

[kingaliencracker]

DC is too far entrenched into the entertainment and movie-making business that Vertigo as it once was will never happen again, in my opinion. Proof is what happened with "Second Coming" and its cancellation.

I think this is especially true without Karen Berger's involvement/oversight. There was a time where she had more clout and influence than Dan Didio, by his own admission. Once she was effectively pushed out, it was definitely the end of an era.

[C_Miller]

Doubtful. Vertigo has always had a less than favorable contract in terms of creator rights than a lot of other publishers. The only difference is that it used to be the only game in town. There are benefits, like getting paid a bit more upfront, but you're not going to have free reign when discussing other media.

I don't think it's necessarily worth saving. Unless DC wants to revive the use of Vertigo for more mature and complex versions of their characters, I don't think Vertigo brings anything to the table that other publishers don't. When it comes to indie comics, there's no brand loyalty for me, it's just following creators and interesting stories. Couldn't care less who publishes them.

[married guy]

Short answer?

No.

There's nobody within DC really pushing the brand and getting out there chasing new talent and popular creators who might want to have a crack at a long loved property they've always wanted to take a swing at. Or maybe create something new that will push VERTIGO forward and create a bit of buzz.

Once upon a time, if you saw a book with the Vertigo logo you knew you had a fair chance of reading an intelligent, interesting read.
Now? It's just a label and really doesn't mean a damn thing.

[kingaliencracker]

Short answer?

No.

There's nobody within DC really pushing the brand and getting out there chasing new talent and popular creators who might want to have a crack at a long loved property they've always wanted to take a swing at. Or maybe create something new that will push VERTIGO forward and create a bit of buzz.

Once upon a time, if you saw a book with the Vertigo logo you knew you had a fair chance of reading an intelligent, interesting read.
Now? It's just a label and really doesn't mean a damn thing.

Kind of like Elseworlds fell apart around the turn of the century.

And DC has no incentive to push the brand because they'd rather just absorb the brand into the DC fold, which is what Didio wanted to do but was prevented from doing so by Karen Berger.

[dancj]

On the bright side, I'm not sure it needs to.

Back in the day, other companies weren't doing the Vertigo thing.

These days companies like Image and IDW are bringing out books like Criminal, Locke and Key, Saga etc.

It's a shame about the DC properties like Hellblazer, but for the creator owned stuff, I don't think we'll be missing out.

[iron chimp]

You had a ton of experimental publishers in the 80s in north america - vortex, aardvark, drawn and quarterly, eclipse, dark horse, comico, apple, warp, fantagraphics, kitchen sink, slave labor, and a load more including marvel's epic line.

The independent scene in floppies today is a shadow of that era.

[Factor]

I doubt it. For a while it looked like Young Animal would become a worthy spiritual successor, but updated to today's sensibilities. Now even YA is gone too

[Comic-Reader Lad]

As stated above, Vertigo really has no competitive advantage for creators to bring creator-owned stuff to DC. You get more control, ownership, and potential moolah by going with Image. I'm not sure what the contracts are like with Dark Horse's Berger Books, but that might be another alternative.

However, I do think that Vertigo can "return to glory." The answer is to go back to the original mission statement of Vertigo: publish Mature Readers comics using properties that DC owns.

Vertigo was NOT founded on creator-owned titles. Vertigo was founded on Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, Sandman, Doom Patrol, Animal Man, etc. All of these were DC properties that allowed for a more mature storytelling sensibility.

Basically, DC should forget creator-owned altogether except for sweetheart deals like with Brian Michael Bendis and other "power talent." It's just a way to steal people away from Marvel. The Vertigo name is not used for the Bendis stuff, and should no longer be used for any creator-owned comics.

Vertigo already has a fanbase and a reputation in the marketplace. Therefore, drop the whole "Black Label" thing, and use the Vertigo brand to publish all the stuff they were planning for BL. Then, move forward from there with more DC projects that are aimed at mature readers.

However, if DiDio is in love with Black Label because it's his initiative, then yeah, I don't see why we need Vertigo. Either publish Batman: Damned as Vertigo or Sandman Universe as Black Label. We don't really need both.

I'd go with Vertigo as it's more established and would allow Vertigo to expand to publishing Mature Readers stories featuring DCU characters--something DC always avoided doing, but would surely wake people up and have them take another look at Vertigo.

[caj]

Kind of like Elseworlds fell apart around the turn of the century.

To be honest, I miss Elseworlds much more than Vertigo. Elseworlds was a way to tell a unique story that once it was over, it did no damage to current continuity.

[Spiderboy12]

There's always the potential.

Bringing back American Vampire would be a step in the right direction...

[iron chimp]

Vertigo was NOT founded on creator-owned titles. Vertigo was founded on Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, Sandman, Doom Patrol, Animal Man, etc. All of these were DC properties that allowed for a more mature storytelling sensibility.
.

Most of these had more issues under dc than vertigo. Vertigo got a few years out of swampthing, doom patrol got a couple of years before cancellation, shade's best years were under dc although vertigo years were still solid, animal man was drifting towards cancellation by the time it was branded vertigo, sandman was halfway through its run. Vertigo's own dc character series like black orchid and kid eternity were a bust. It was only really hellblazer that had any long run under the vertigo banner.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

Most of these had more issues under dc than vertigo. Vertigo got a few years out of swampthing, doom patrol got a couple of years before cancellation, shade's best years were under dc although vertigo years were still solid, animal man was drifting towards cancellation by the time it was branded vertigo, sandman was halfway through its run. Vertigo's own dc character series like black orchid and kid eternity were a bust. It was only really hellblazer that had any long run under the vertigo banner.

I understand, but the fact is that Vertigo was started because of these comics, not because DC had a pressing need to get into creator-owned stuff.

These series are the building blocks of Vertigo, and that's what DC should get back to if they want to continue the Vertigo brand.

There really isn't a ton of incentive for a creator-owned series to sign with DC/Vertigo over Image. DC can't really offer the same deal.

[SJNeal]

I don't think it's necessarily worth saving. Unless DC wants to revive the use of Vertigo for more mature and complex versions of their characters, I don't think Vertigo brings anything to the table that other publishers don't. When it comes to indie comics, there's no brand loyalty for me, it's just following creators and interesting stories. Couldn't care less who publishes them.

That's an interesting thought.

Since Young Animal flopped, and Black Label was castrated (literally!) right out of the gate, maybe Vertigo could become the imprint where we see more "mature", Black Label-intended stories.

[Sandy Hausler]

Will DC ever be able to properly relaunch Vertigo or is it something best left in the past?

Is Vertigo Worth Saving?

Due to various factors such as crucial faces behind Vertigo such as Karen Berger and Shelly Bond stepping down, and changes to the Vertigo contract, giving more power over licensing to Warner Brothers, thus making it less attractive to A list creators, it is far to say that Vertigo is a shell of it's former self.

It would need a book like Sandman to revamp it. But there are only so many Neil Gaimans.