Vertigo-esque DC material that was never re/published under the Vertigo label

[dreamglide]

Recently, I've been thinking about how Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, while it can be seen as one of the proto-Vertigo books given its tone, content, and creative team, was never republished under the Vertigo line. Perhaps its because they didn't want to publish a Batman title under their mature readers imprint, or maybe it's because they felt Vertigo should be reserved for lesser known characters.

Whatever the reason is, it got me thinking: Is there any other material published by DC that was Vertigo in everything but name? Again, I'm looking for stuff that was never republished as Vertigo, so early Sandman, Black Orchid, Morrison's Animal Man run, etc doesn't count here.

I appreciate anyone who comments and am looking forward to the discussion!

[jb681131]

Recently, I've been thinking about how Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, while it can be seen as one of the proto-Vertigo books given its tone, content, and creative team, was never republished under the Vertigo line. Perhaps its because they didn't want to publish a Batman title under their mature readers imprint, or maybe it's because they felt Vertigo should be reserved for lesser known characters.

Whatever the reason is, it got me thinking: Is there any other material published by DC that was Vertigo in everything but name? Again, I'm looking for stuff that was never republished as Vertigo, so early Sandman, Black Orchid, Morrison's Animal Man run, etc doesn't count here.

I appreciate anyone who comments and am looking forward to the discussion!

Well vertigo was for non-super stories and creator-owned stories, so all that fits here got printed in the Vertrigo imprint.
No they have replaced the Vertigo imprint, with the Black Label imprint, and all their "mature" content books (Vertigo and Super) gets reprinted with the Black Label Logo.

[iron chimp]

Nu52 Dial H for Hero.


Got a bit rushed as it was heading towards cancellation but had all the vibes of vertigo book.

[CaptCleghorn]

I don't know if it counts as DC, but Xombi was a mix of Vertigo and Milestone.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

The Spectre by John Ostrander was virtually a Vertigo book. Grell's Green Arrow comes close. Starman and the Shade miniseries are actually not massively far from early vertigo either.

[Hilden B. Lade]

World Without End, a mature readers mini-series that was published by DC before the formation of Vertigo.

Written by Jamie Delano with art by John Higgins.

DC/Vertigo never collected it but Dover Books have since acquired the rights and rereleased it as a hardcover.

[Crazy Diamond]

Nu52 Dial H for Hero.


Got a bit rushed as it was heading towards cancellation but had all the vibes of vertigo book.

Dial H for Hero was supposed to be a Vertigo book but it got moved to DC with the New 52 because it used a DC character.

Do books that were printed under Paradox Press or Piranha Press or Helix count for this topic?

[iron chimp]

Dial H for Hero was supposed to be a Vertigo book but it got moved to DC with the New 52 because it used a DC character.

Do books that were printed under Paradox Press or Piranha Press or Helix count for this topic?

Well that would explain why then!

Obvs not my thread but id be interested in paradox, piranha and helix books that were good but didnt get and rebranded.

[dreamglide]

Do books that were printed under Paradox Press or Piranha Press or Helix count for this topic?

Sure! So long as it never found its way to the actual Vertigo imprint, bring it up, though I am admittedly more interested in material that was published under the main DC line as it pertains to this question.

[Zero Hunter]

I have said for years that the "Five Years Latter..." Legion of Super-Heroes run by Giffen/Bierbaums from the early 90's was Vertigo before Vertigo was a thing.

[Jim Kelly]

WASTELAND (1987 - 1989) was the kind of comic that would have been under the Vertigo imprint, had Vertigo existed at the time.

[Twice-named]

At the time, I thought Grell’s Green Arrow should’ve been Vertigo.

[Jim Kelly]

The question is how far on the fringe would a series have to be to get the Vertigo treatment? I think Green Arrow and the Question were too close to mainstream D.C.U. characters like Batman to go under the Vertigo umbrella. There was supposed to be a communication barrier between the two imprints. Animal Man and the Doom Patrol were distanced enough from the Justice League that they could be Vertigonized. Once you get into the other genres--not just horror but war and western--it becomes easier for characters like the Unknown Soldier and Jonah Hex to shelter under the Vertigo umbrella.

[dreamglide]

The question is how far on the fringe would a series have to be to get the Vertigo treatment?

I think there's an interesting discussion to be had about what was and was not separated enough from the mainline titles to go to Vertigo, especially when you consider the stuff that retroactively became Vertigo.

Case in point: Morrison's Animal Man, which was simply a "mature readers" DC title as originally published in singles. It's a totally adventurous book edited by Karen Berger, so of course it officially gets moved to Vertigo for collected editions. On the flip side, Animal Man, over the course of that book, joins Justice League Europe, where readers could see him interact with Flash, Power Girl, et al. So, when looked at that way, was he really that separate? Even as later runs on that book, ones that started and/or finished under Vertigo as they were being published, became more and more divorced from the mainline DC books, they couldn't erase recent history, and readers could still easily find contemporary Animal Man stories that featured major DC characters.

Food for thought.

[EmeraldGladiator]

issues with the author aside Green Lantern Mosaic is the best version of Green Lantern if it were a Vertigo title even better than Morrison's current seasons.