Sandman & suchlike: the Vertigo thread

[tony ingram]

It's now been 17 years since DC Comics introduced their 'Vertigo' line of titles for mature readers, and they've put out some amazing stuff in that time. For me, Neil Gaiman's Sandman and the currently ongoing Fables series are probably the Vertigo line's high points, though several others spring to mind too: Grant Morrison's bizarre Doom Patrol series, Sandman Mystery Theatre (an obvious one for a Justice Society fan like me), Swamp Thing, Hellblazer and the hilarious Adventures in the Rifle Brigade among them. I do think Vertigo are currently going through a bit of a dry spell, creatively; House of Mystery (which evidently fits into the Sandman mythos, given that Cain is now a regular) and Fables are still great, but the fact that there are now two Fables spin-off titles and that there are fewer individual titles out there is not, I think, encouraging. However, I'm hopeful the range will be with us for a long time to come. Any other readers out there?

It's also interesting, I think, that since its inception Vertigo has been pretty much dominated by British talent! The aforementioned Adventures in the Rifle Brigade was by Garth Ennis (and drawn by the admittedly not British but conspicuously European Carlos Ezquerra), Gaiman and Morrison are British, and Swamp Thing of course-the book that inspired the whole line-was reimagined by the ever prolific alan Moore (though he left it before the Vertigo imprint took off in protest at the 'mature readers' label, slamming it as 'censorship'). We're good at this kind of stuff, aren't we?

[tony ingram]

Just been reading the latest two or three issues of DC's current Doom Patrol title, and it appears the wall that has for years separated the DC and Vertigo universe is finally breaking down as half the cast of Grant Morrison's surreal 1990s version of the group have now turned up in Keith Giffen's series, which is firmly set in the same continuity as Superman, Batman and the rest. It seems the recent management shake up at DC has had quite an effect on how they view their formerly separate lines...

[Mbast1]

Just been reading the latest two or three issues of DC's current Doom Patrol title, and it appears the wall that has for years separated the DC and Vertigo universe is finally breaking down as half the cast of Grant Morrison's surreal 1990s version of the group have now turned up in Keith Giffen's series, which is firmly set in the same continuity as Superman, Batman and the rest. It seems the recent management shake up at DC has had quite an effect on how they view their formerly separate lines...

Wow, this is a bit prescient, since it is what actually happened. Nice call!

[tony ingram]

Really, I should have seen the writing on the wall as far as DC was concerned back then. The gradual dismantling of a line of books specifically intended to push the boundaries of comics and appeal to older and more mature readers was, with hindsight, just the first step towards the abandonment of what several generations of creators had built up in order to try to win back the juvenile market, I think.

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