Miss Berger almost single handedly changed the American comic book market for the better by bringing a much needed diversity, tapping onto that European talent and their sensibilities, expanding the concept of what "comics" are, redefining boundaries and widening their reach to new readers, the kinda reader that wouldn't bother picking up a comic book otherwise. I have many friends whose first comic was either Sandman, Black Orchid or Hellblazer. What this lady has accomplished throughout her career is nothing short of AMAZING and that's why she deserves all the praise and accolades she gets!
Well said mate, would agree with everything you said except with a small caveat: she expanded the concept of what *mainstream* comics are, not "comics", full stop. Respectfully.
These interviews are fantastic and I'm super thrilled that there is a channel dedicated to getting the scoop on how things lined up for some of the industries most important figures. They truly had fascinating lives.
Excellent interview, SyFy. Much better for being a bit longer than the almost pointless 4 or 5 min bits and much deserved for Karen, a unique talent in the world of Comics. More of these 20 - 30 min ACTUAL interviews PLEASE ! Thanks.
Ivadinuff Shudupyabitch Yeah, I hate that the RU-vid general audience forces these channels to feel like they have to shorten their content. I really enjoy these longer interview sessions.
A Legend in the field of comics, this is what an Editor does and those at Marvel and DC comics now can learn a few things on how to make great comic books.
I devoured the Sandman series as a fifteen year old more than a decade ago, and read every intro, forward, end note, etc (I was obsessed with that world and what went into it) In those places, Neil Gaiman always detailed his interactions with Karen and what she enabled. So nice to see her role highlighted !
I heard from Paul Levitz that she was crucial to the British Invasion of the 80s was because she was young enough to go out and keep up with the Brit's drinking habits.
Saying Vertigo has nothing to do with DC is pretty stupid. It's a mature readers DC imprint. You do realize Karen was an editor at DC right? It's not like Vertigo started as an independent company and then was bought by DC.
It's not stupid at all it is owned by DC but that's where the buck stops , nothing that came out of there creatively comes close to the DC universe,those comics have as much in common with DC as Spider man has with Mickey Mouse, that's why your statement was a bit weird to me i was a huge fan of vertigo during the years never would i say that i lean towards DC just because of that, and also i don't buy anything from them aside from the od Batman comic here and there.
And also Vertigo pretty much became Image because most the artists migrated over there after the Didio Lee team came in and started cancelling books left and right ike the Hellblazer series.
You're a moron. As someone alive during that era DC creating Vertigo was a huge deal which got a lot of publicity. DC created Vertigo after the success of works like Swamp Thing and Watchmen because they could repeat such good results by creating a new mature line that would be free of any stigma and preconceptions. But it was DEFINITELY a DC brand, ran by people who were groomed by DC comics and still working for DC Comics. This was the 80s and early 90s in which virtually every groundbreaking book was being done by DC (Jim Shooter's Marvel during that period lacked any creativity or risk-taking). Ronin. Camelot 3000. The New Teen Titans. The Dark Knight. Batman Year One. Watchmen. Crisis on Infinite Earths which was far superior to Marvel's Secret Wars. DC was winning all the industry awards and breaking new ground and this led them confident enough to create the Vertigo line. The DC imprint was everywhere. Eventually DC fell back into complacency but not before an extended run of comic book excellence.
80's hellblazer titles are awesome even by todays standards. parts of "the Fear Machine" remind me of stranger things etc.... psychics and magical conspiracies etc....vertigos stories aged well.
Can't agree more, it breaks my heart that Jamie Delano never seems to get the love he deserves, being the first Hellblazer writer and the most interesting Animal Man writer between Morrison and Lemire (plus several other gems). Why is no one throwing money at this man? (great interview, by the way)
Lmao UKCAC '91 was my first ever comics convention! scored many cool sketches, among them a Mark Bode Raphael, Mark Buckingham Batman and probably one of my most treasured pieces of art, my Dave Gibbons Martha Washington sketch! Cool of Karen to mention Maus, too :)
Alan Moore knew exactly how to run things. Lol That's true He was so grand. His stories gee And we have Morrison now.... It just didn't feel like a magical story anymore. Moore could've made DC so great if everyone () just stepped out of his way.
Alan Moore was and is a wind-flowind fresh and pointer DireCtly air to the state of art's comicbook. Thanks we've haven him. Dc has so muchos different without him. And his friendship with Neil Graiman. Dont de forget Miracleman.
As much as I loved Vertigo, my annoyance with it was always this ---- pretense, that it was (or tried to be) separate from the DC universe. Completely absurd you could have characters with an already established history just suddenly disappear from mainstream. Just felt some writers wanted to just be purposely pretentious. Trust me, Alan Moore & Grant Morrison just wanted to make good stories. Not an "Alternate universe"
None of the writes, or Karen I'm guessing, wanted to be weighed down by decades of continuity. It should have been separate from the DC Universe. That was kind of the point...
What an important editor. Must admit, I never liked Gaiman's "Sandman." So bloody pretentious with all those metaphorical characters. Death. Give me a break. Always felt like a writer slumming in four colors. Moore is something else. Milligan's "Shade" was excellent too. And of course Constantine.
