Quote Originally Posted by superduperman View Post
Okay, first of all, let me start by saying I have my issues with the post-Crisis DCU. Superman's post-Crisis origin for instance. That having been said, it's not just Vertigo. The entire DCU has been in decline for 20 years. The collapse of Vertigo is just the latest in a long line of bad management decisions that has existed for two decades now. It started with that whole stupid Brainiac 13 in the Super-books or whatever the hell it was called in January, 2000 and has just gotten worse ever since. I don't know if management just magically changed hands on January 1, 2000 or what but it seems like almost every decision, at least in mainstream continuity, has been a bad one. Superman alone has had something like 5 separate origins. I was actually excited when New 52 happened because it honestly looked like we were getting a clean slate DC desperately needed. And they still managed to fuck that up too. So where am I going with this?

Well, a while back on the main DC board, someone suggested that DC go back to 1999 and just pretend the last 20 years never happened. And the more I thought about it, the more I think they might have a point. Maybe that's what DC needs to do. They didn't have all these continuity problems back then. Vertigo's mismanagement is just the latest example of mismanagement at DC as a whole. The handling of the Batdick at Black Label being another good example. As it stands right now, the only DC books I'm reading are out of continuity. And I don't see that changing anytime soon. And, don't get me wrong. I think a lot of their out of continuity ideas have been good ones. BUT can anyone say they're really happy with the direction the main books have been going in lately? Heroes in Crisis, anyone?

Now we're getting rumors of some new reboot around 2020. Unless the management there also changes, I don't see this making any real difference. Like I said, I have my issues with the mainstream DCU and the way some things were back then, but let's be honest: I'm not getting what I want now. One could easily argue that all these continuity changes in the last two decades are responsible for the decline in DC sales overall. That isn't to say that things were perfect 20 years ago. But you also didn't see this kind of infighting either. Both Kahn and Berger seemed to run a pretty tight ship. Greed killed Vertigo. And if things stay on the path that they're on, it wouldn't surprise me if the suits at Warners or AT&T don't step in and take over. If for no other reason than to make sure the comics and the movies have "synergy". You think they're going to care about creator's rights?

Someone from the old guard needs to step up and be willing to fall on their sword to tell management there the truth. They don't know what they're doing and Kahn and Berger just plain ran things better. Until something like that happens, I don't see things improving. At this point, it might actually be better for the company as a whole if the suits DID take over. At least you'd get some sense of stability. I hate to give Rob Liefeld credit for anything but he might be the canary in the coal mine here. The best thing I can think of for DC to do for Vertigo would be to give those characters their own universe apart from the main DCU. Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, Shade, even Animal Man. Might benefit from having their own Earth. Superman and Batman wouldn't exist there. Any references to them would be references to comic book characters. Maybe have one of Animal Man's kids reading a Superman comic or something to confirm this. This might be the best thing they can do for the Vertigo characters at this point. And even that wouldn't save the imprint itself.
I have to admit, that is an intriguing point you made here.