Berger really was involved with so much of the weird creative stuff of the time. It’s kind of amazing one person would be involved in assisting so much talent all at once.
Peter Milligan's Human Target is a very underrated Vertigo series. It will be interesting to compare/contrast Milligan's version of Christopher Chance versus Tom King's version of Christopher Chance. Also the series start at first as a 4-issue limited series illustrated by deceased Croatian artist Edvin Bukovic, followed by Human Target: Final Cut, and then the ongoing series illustrated by Javier Pulido and Cliff Chiang.
Vertigo was a point of inflection in comic book history, a mine full of spoils and riches for stories and fictions and a monument for all future creators who want to make something as special as the series that were created on that imprint. I agree wholeheartedly with your recommendations. Along with them I'd also put other series like DMZ by Brian Wood and The Filth by Grant Morrison (one of their least known and popular titles) in there. I also think, like you put it in another of your videos, that Image Comics has, in a way, inherited the mantle of Vertigo as the place where the most creative and inspired stories in comic book form are birthed nowadays. Great video, overlord. 🤘🏻 Until next time.
The Unknown Solider series by Ennis is excellent read and worth a read. Much more grounded than his works on Hitman, The Boys and The Punisher. Closer to his time on Hellblazer.
I will always argue that Vertigo was American comics r&d department up to 2010. Image comics took that role when they first published Chew and became what they were meant to be.
When I found out that dc had shut down vertigo I couldn't believe it. And knew dc was taking the wrong direction. Jeers to DC! One of the biggest mistakes in publishing 😅😮
DC has been led by WB down a path of poor decision making for a good long while at this point so that might be sad but I really don’t think it’s disappointing. They’ve made it clear that they just want tax deductions so cleaning up the house like this is really not surprising.
Vertigo being replaced by black label is an example of everything wrong with the industry and media as a whole. Vertigo was trailblazing and risk taking in the stories and artwork they used and decades later being an outsider is about as mainstream as can be while entertainment is more sanitaized then ever. Vertigo died for me when Neil Gaiman apologized recently for writing a transgender character in "a game of you" and said he should have let a trans person write the story... I lost all respect for him as an artist after that.
I've not seen Gaiman say he would have let a transwoman write that story. Which seems peculiar. Do you have a source for that? I have read that he would approach the material differently nowadays, if he was writing that story. But I've not seen him backtrack on what he wrote in the early 90's. This is a genuine question, not a snarky retort, by the way.
@@StrangeBrainPartsthe article was from comic book resources on May 3rd 2020 while promoting the upcoming sandman series on Netflix, when asked what he'd do differently when the comic was originally published he said "I would have trans people write it. I wouldn't be writing that"
@@StrangeBrainParts Oh wow, nice to know I could contribute info to channel I've loved for years. It took me awhile to look it up because I read it so long ago 💖
People will, understandably, praise Sandman till the cows come home but for me the true Vertigo behemoth is Hellblazer. So many memorable storylines and incredible artwork. Let's hope one day, you'll do a multi-part series on it.
As a reader from his first appearance in Swamp Thing, I really enjoyed his series. I finally had to break away after 120+ issues and 20-plus years of Constantine.. He was one of the few voices that warned us about Margaret Thatcher in the 80s. He really hated that bitch. And for good reason!
nah man, I think I'd prefer pointlessly edgy stories that use pre-established characters and ask questions such as "What would really happen if someone was Batman" or "What if Spureman was evil".
Anyone remember The Minx ? It was a fairly intriguing series with a lot of potential created by Peter Milligan, which they even promoted with a massive promo in "Preacher", but they almost immediately had to scupper the whole thing. It was kind of said and reminded me of "Vext" in a way.
Vertigo was a punk label and like a lot of punks it joined the 27 club (lasted 27 years in total). My favorite Vertigo titles were probably Shade the changing man, Hellblazer and Doom Patrol. I wish it had outlasted the Dc woes but it wss good while it lasted.
I’ll nominate Goddess Mode as a Vertigo essential if just because it was the final nail in the coffin and is part of the moment were the “cultural war” would arrive to never leave. Back in the day Sandman was the big thing mostly for literature nuts but also graphic designers who praised Dave Mckean’s covers - we bare witness to Gaiman’s becoming from comic book writer to Stephen King kinda of author. Now, even with a Nextflix Sandman adaptation, I can’t find a 20 year old film or literature student interested in Vertigo kinda of stuff either in comics or film or novels- what they have in the head is Tik Tok and MCU movies.
Seems like I’m the only 20 something who read vertigo comic. Really enjoy the sandman and swamp thing and enigma too. Btw Lucifer and The unwritten by Mike Carey is amazing, also his run on Hellblazer is the most underrated. Grant Morrison’s 90 stuff such as Kid eternity reminds me of Clive Barker’s film and novels too.
My Vertigo must-reads: -The Sandman and the Death minis -Mike Carey's Lucifer -Alan Moore's, Nancy A. Collins' and Mark Millar's Swamp Thing runs -Grant Morrison's and Jamie Delano's Animal Man runs -Grant Morrison's and Rachel Pollack's Doom Patrol run -100 Bullets -Preacher -Y: The Last Man -Transmetropolitan -The Last One -The Vamps minis -The first half (the stellar Eisner-winning one) of Fables -the Vertigo Visions one shots -Industrial Gothic -Faultlines -Sandman Mystery Theatre -Neil Gaiman' Black Orchid and The Books of Magic -The Books of Magic (the 1994 series) -Faultlines -Mercy -Blood:A Tale -Moonshadow (I know it was published originally at Epic) -Enigma -The Extremist -Girl -Shade The Changing Man -The Heart of the Beast -Shadows Fall -Hellblazer -Ghostdancing -Kid Eternity (The Morrison one, although I'd enjoyed the Nocenti run) -Jonny Double -Sweet Tooth -Incognegro -Flex Mentallo -Sebastian O -The Mystery Play Sorry for the large list. I could name many more, but holy crap, I cannot remember how many I read. And no, I'm not the Flaming Carrot. Anyway, thank you so much for the updated version of the Vertigo imprint. PD: What is your take on Berger Books, the new Karen Berger-led imprint at Dark Horse?
Sebastian O infuriated me with how much setup and backstory Morrison pit into it only to only ever devote three issues to the whole idea and then never doing anything with it ever again. Considering he got his big break resurrecting dead or D list titles no one cared about, I'd love to maybe see someone else have a crack at this one day.
I’d recommend American Vampire. I’ve read the complete run and thoroughly enjoyed it; start to finish. Another series that is a must read if you’re a fan of western comics is Loveless by Brian Azzarello. Wish they collected the entire run in a hardcover edition. I’ve yet to find the last 2 issues to complete my run. I also found izombie a fun read.
I think Brian Wood is one of the best writters that never had much time in the limelight. Both Northlanders and DMZ are amazing, altough I prefer the first. Mike Carey is severely underated to the point Lucifer and the Unwritten deserve a lot more love.
I was never a Vertigo guy when they were at their height. Back then my preference was early 90s Image. I was in my twenties and had no taste. As I got older, I began to appreciate some of what Vertigo had to offer. I haven’t read a lot of it, but I really liked Transmetropolitan, Sandman, Human Target, Nevada, and the two Death miniseries. I loved Fables, but I agree with Alan. It should have ended after #75. The series that I’ve been meaning to check out are Shade, Doom Patrol, Invisibles, and Lucifer
Great video as always! Shade is hands down my favorite and I wish it had a lot more appreciation. I've pestered you about doing a full video about it once or twice ( sorry about that lol.) I hope some day, Dc will get their heads out of their asses, realize the bizarre beauty of Shade and finally give us those omnibuses. *Sigh* A man can dream.
I am truly surprised it hasn't been given an omnibus yet. And no worries...you aren't the only one requesting a Shade overview. I'm trying to get to it! It's not a brief, 70 issue read. And it is Milligan, so you can't breeze through it. :)
First comment on youtube and for my favorite channel, i really love your videos they inspire me to become a true comic book historian ! I'm not the greatest DC fan but your video make me really interested on this publisher ! Can you do the same for the epic comics line of MARVEL ? It would be great, these books are rarely discussed on the internet !
The downfall of Vertigo is pretty much entirely rooted in identity politics, and should serve as an ominous portent of what happens when activists assume the role of Editor or Publisher. Karen Berger carefully weighed any topical or sociopolitical story elements before they went to press. If the element was entirely to virtue signal a certain cause, or to offend half the country, it got nixed before it went to press. There's the famous story of the _Swamp Thing_ arc by Rick Veitch in which he meets Jesus, and it was cancelled midstream. The story itself wasn't even critical of Jesus or blasphemous toward Christianity, but Berger understood that Vertigo was ultimately owned by Warner Bros, and didn't want to ruffle feathers. Berger somehow managed to keep Vertigo afloat, even under tremendous industry shift and internal politicking that saw core Vertigo characters become mainstream DC titles; gutting the roster and slashing sales across the board. Her replacement, Shelly Roeberg (later Shelly Bond) was not so careful in her editorship. Bond is a feminist provocateur and she relaxed political/identity restrictions at Vertigo, which only served to further alienate a dwindling readership. Jamie S. Rich, who took Bond's position, and Mark Doyle, who replaced Rich, were out and out antagonistic toward their readership. Both made comments along the lines of "I don't want straight, white male, conservative Christians buying Vertigo books," which doomed any success the relaunch could've had. To think that _Second Coming_ and _Safe Sex_ were nearly published by DC is truly headscratching. The icing on the cake, the true death of Vertigo, was in DC pulling a Catholic Church move in sheltering two Latino creators who had serious allegations being levied against them. Eric M. Esquivel and Eddie Berganza were both allowed to keep their jobs even after the allegations were made public. Public outcry was so great that they were both eventually fired, and went on to form Alternate Empire together. Especially for Berganza, whose allegations went back a full decade while DC merely shuffled him to other departments to avoid scrutiny, it was an egregious violation of employee and audience trust on DC's part. These were the people that chose the comics medium to lecture everyone about what was right and wrong and to denounce 3/4 of the US as "evil" for voting for the Bad Man, yet they were the objectively evil people you see portrayed in workplace harassment training videos. That was one step too far for what little remained of Vertigo readership.
By the time Vertigo premiered I knew a good deal about it from the owner of the store that was my regular comix cow. He said, "You like that weird stuff? You'll like this" I got all of the books the first year, and was picky and choosy for the next several.
I did essentially the same thing for the first two or three years. I got everything, then scaled back when it was obvious not everything appealed to me.
Excellent overview; the vast majority of the comics I read during this time were Vertigo titles, having grown bored and dissatisfied with most superhero books (pretty sure the only "capes book" I was reading honestly during this time was Starman). And early Image was just a distillation of that dissatisfaction. Personally, the only title I think you've missed for a shout out is the Flex Mentallo 4 issue mini-series. I hope you do something similar to this vid for Epic Comics, which is an interesting precursor to Vertigo just from the other half of the "Big Two". And there's lots of great, mostly forgotten work under that imprint.
Damn, the formation of Vertigo was formative to me. 92-94 I was a paid actor, finishing my GCSEs and then A levels and also working in a comic shop. The first comic that changed my mind about what comics could be was Sandman : Three Septembers and a January. It blew my tiny little mind. Before that I was a dedicated 2000ad boy, which has lots of upsides because of their quality output from the late 80's to early 90's. But that story hit something in me. I was already studying English and history and it seemed so fucking dry. It made me want to look at stories with new eyes. I've never stopped since.
One of the lesser known titles I’d recommend was Crossing Midnight. I thought Air was pretty interesting, too. I only ever read the first tpb of Scalped and couldn’t get into it. To me, the protagonist seemed so try-hard, such a Gary Stu. It was too cringey, so I never read any more. Maybe it got better…?
I appreciated comics as literature at the time and didn't care for Gaiman's stuff. The word "literature" to me doesn't immediately suggest pop fiction adaptations of Warner Bros. IP.
Lucifer surpasses Sandman, in my estimation. Carey really hits the mark, and Gross, Ormston, Cannon, and the rest made the most compelling comic, month after month.
I admit I started comics way back in 2012 reading Batman comics but slowly fell into vertigo titles especially fables, sandman, black orchid and doom patrol. They felt like find weird punk records from 90s that people mentioned fondly when I went on twitter. I have to admit that Twilight children and art ops were very good last great non sandman titles. I'm just trying to collect all the vertigo tiles in ominbus and compendium forms now. I wish they released Shade the changing man that's one I desperately want to read!!
I wish people would read "The Dreaming" (I have read a fair bit) and for DC to actually release the whole series and not just two trades that probabyl went out of print 15 + years ago.
I do have a retrospective of ALL Sandman spin-offs planned. It's just taking a while. But I do have Books Of Magic and Lucifer under my belt, so that's something.
I think vertigo books are good. I’m currently reading I hate Fairyland published by image but after that I’m going to read vertigo’s DMZ series and after that I’m going to read preacher.
Aw, dangit! John Constantine has a "long 'i'" not a "long 'e'"in its pronunciation despite almost every single adaptation getting this wrong (Netflix's Sandman got it right even if it didnt use John) Could not begin my list of Vertigo titles, but I love so many of these creators so much. _Lucifer_ is my number one comic ever. I always find it more "stable" than _Sandman_, with fewer wandering diversions in its run
Really want to read Fables, mainly because of The Wolf Among Us game. Although apparently they are quite different. as TWAU is a detective story and Fables not so much?
Fables in not a detective story. There is an overall mystery that isn't resolved until issue 75 (or slightly before). However, the series is about exiled characters trying to reclaim their land/dimension from a tyrannical overlord.
I love Richard Corbin's art, but i just wasn't that wild about him making Constantine looking like a grinning dwarf in 'Hard Time.' One that I always remembered is the Warren Ellis Hellblazer story 'Shoot.' Which was his reaction to the Columbines shootings and a story that DC chose not to run, but it's original art got circulated online and DC decided to reprint it ay some point after Ellis had left the title.
I agree with your review of the ongoing series but VERTIGO real gems are in their OGN’s and a large quality part of the imprint that is often overlooked. Great job on the video
Great video, would add Exterminators to the read list I know that you have to try and keep the length reasonable but the story around the change in the part ownership of the work is interesting. As I understand DC stopped offering creator part ownership when one of the new management (Warner bros has had so many) noticed that the creators were getting their page rate and ownership but the sales did not cover the costs, so the ownership was removed as a part of the deal. ( outlaw country and saucer country have been reprinted by other companies which suggests the creators held at least some ownership originally) Honestly understandable. Readers may not realise that the current Image setup , since 2000 at least is effectively self publishing by the creators with Image taking a % to do the admin and printing work. What this means is that the creators do not get paid until the actual sales of the work come in. This is usually 90 days after publication date. I have talked to a few creators about this and attended a panel where this was explained. It was noted that the publication of the first trade was the first real money creators got under the image deal. Image creators also have full ownership under this deal , which given that image is at no financial risk is only right.
Exterminators is a good choice! The issue of ownership is pretty complex, especially when it comes to Image vs Vertigo. Also, details seem to be flexible depending on the creator involved. To a degree. So, without getting to the fine details, many of which are not publicly available, it difficult to discuss it at length with any accuracy. But it is a topic that's worth further elaboration. You understanding of the Image side of things aligns with what I know about Image. I do believe the percentage Image takes is about 10% to cover their administration cost.
@@StrangeBrainParts thanks for your reply, my comments were more for other readers (hopefully!) l have heard 10% too from 2 different creators first hand and second hand from a lot more . One creator did say that one or two of the biggest teams with image are getting money up front and have been for a number of years, you can guess who . Strangely on a fairly recent ifanboy podcast the demise of vertigo came up in relation to trade paperback sales , one of the hosts mentioned that there was a rumour at the time that vertigo had oversupplied trades to B&N and the returns all came in at once causing a big loss that went down a lead ballon. Ifanboy is the opposite of a gossip/ culture war site so I cannot imply bias but the rumour could be wrong. Speaking of that one very good thing vertigo did was the trade program, there was not much happening in that space (watchmen and dark knight , Kraven’s last hunt, born again and dark phoenix excepted) until The Sandman got going. Amusingly the first trade of The Sandman and the first printing of V for Vendetta as a trade came out on the same day, per Neil Gaiman
I think believe people were paid upfront if they worked for a specific studio. Like, for example, McFarlane or Silvestri. I hadn't heard that some independent people got an advance. That would make sense if they already had a name and some guaranteed sales. Brubaker and Philips would be people I'd bet on...as an example. I haven't heard that podcast, and those returns (if they occurred) would have been a minor factor, when you think about it. There's no reason DC wouldn't just take those returns and put them out to the Direct Market. Or, for that matter, put them on remainder. But...those are business details I can only speculate about. I would say that by 2010 or thereabouts the writing was on the wall for Vertigo. Especially in relation to the health of the industry and the decline of Vertigo's sales. But, that's just a best guess. For all I know those B&N returns did the trick. :)
I got into comics around 2010 and loved having the complete series of Preacher, Y and 100 bullets to read. People said the 'Golden era' of vertigo was apparently long past, but the titles I read as they were coming out were really fantastic. SCALPED I think I wone of the best written books of that time (the sean in the snow in #42 is amazing.) NORTHLANDERS was really interesting and provocative with amazing art. Peter Milligan's run on HELLBLAZER is up there with the best. And minis like ROYALS and NEW DEADWARDIANS had that classic '2000ad but in american comics' feel. Loved VERTIGO
Was working at Diamond (comic distributors) when this kicked off. I'd kill to still have all the posters and promo material. Real excitement for this at the time.
A title I really liked was Bite Club. Fables I consider one of the best series of the new Millennium even though you're right about it being the best in the first 75 issues. Planning a reread soon...
Brilliant analysis. I had heard bits and snippets of Vertigo’s history previously but this is the first concise and very understandable overview I’ve seen of the imprint’s lifespan. Thanks for posting, I always enjoy your superb videos!
I was always intimidated by Vertigo. Like I wasn't cool enough to read those books. The only vertigo book I read, and it was recently, was Millennium Fever, which I found in the dollar bins. I enjoyed that quite a bit. I never go back and tackle huge ongoing series unless I know I can put a complete run together by searching back issues & dollar bins. Vertigo remains daunting. (I do have the complete Doom Patrol Vol 2 I'm slowly reading now.) That said, if I can find more mini's I would scoop them up quick! Great video. Too bad Black Label is just Batman books. Ah well.
Black Label isn't all Batman books. Joe Hill published some horror comics with black label. James tynion also released some horror books with them. Then there are books like THE ROUGES, human target, wonder woman dead earth, and the fables revival.
@@mttylerdurden9 sure, and some of those are great! but there are 3 more Batbooks coming from Black Label over the next few months. There are no ongoing or more original titles like vertigo had (not that BL is a replacement.) It's just disappointing in that way.
Would you be willing to talk about Starman by James Robinson again. It a series that not a lot of people talk about, but should get more love. It also end in a very satisfying way with the retirement of Starman to make way for Stargirl.
@@StrangeBrainParts A remake would be great. Starman is my all time favorite comic and not a lot of people talk about the series. Which is sad because it doesn’t get the love it deserves. But if you can think of another video idea that talk about Starman that would be great too.
Gotcha! A remake is a possibility, I will admit. But it would mostly be a quality update, rather than a content one. I think I covered it pretty well in the original.
6:10 enigma was one of my first forays into edgy 90s comics...i'm still not sure whether i recommend it 😵 i'd be interested to hear your take on some of these weirder stories!
I honestly didn't realize how old your previous Vertigo overview was but I think it still holds up, this one's better though and shows a lot of improvement since then.
Yeah, the first version is from the very early days of this channel. Back then, I thought by now I would have covered a lot more Vertigo material than I have. Perhaps more than most, but less than I expected.
Here's my VERTIGO story. During the second run of the Invisibles, I wrote Grant Morrison a fan letter (of sorts). In it, I gently chided him for some "borrowed" bits of dialogue (everything from the old Prisoner tv show to cult film The Boys Nextdoor starring Maxwell Caulfield and Charlie Sheen. Sheesh, is nothing safe or sacred?) and moments of too extreeme absurdity that I felt would have played better if explanations were woven into the story somehow. I also made a few suggestions intended to open his eyes to the power of relatability and argue for the necessity of grounding characters by giving the real life, mundane, concerns. Well, the letter wasn't published(although he did refer to it, rather bitchily, at the end of the column), but then he went ahead and made some of the alterations I had suggested. Coincidence? Possibly, but I don't think so.
The only Vertigo comic magazine ( that wasn't a miniseries) I read regularly was Swamp Thing! I mostly took Vertigo TradePBKs out of libraries or purchased them from bookstores. Vertigo and Image (?!) became reliable publishers of entertaining, reasonably high quality trades for which one could casually shop!
i'm gonna be honest vertigo was best comic imprint launch during the time that was the disaster of the 90's and to be honest it peak for me was 1993-2016 everything after that was beginning turn to shit and they're relayed on quote on quote progressive writers and artists which led to this amazing imprint's downfall and not forgetting the popularity of super hero films sailing the comic to Noobs until they got bored and want another film. so here i put my top 5 series Hellblazer, Shade the changing Man, Enigma, Flinch, and last but not least testament.
I know you already looked highly on The Extremist, but I'd like to think El Diablo, Skreemer, Savage Things, Uncle Sam, Outlaw Nation, The Exterminators, Crossing Midnight, Unknown Soldier (both Ennis and Dysart), and American Carnage had something going for them. If only for niche audiences. Does this also mean that Young Animal will be getting a spotlight? It was basically Vertigo's spot warmer.
I hate to be this guy. So let me premise this with all the love I have for your channel. It’s great. The editing is on point. You’re presentation is aesthetically immaculate. Not sure where you get some of these clips from but i love it. Technically, the British Invasion starts with Claremont and John Byrne. Their backgrounds are firmly planted in British education. Claremont threw this out during an interview that of course and can’t point to with any specificity but all the same I like the idea of American comics getting a diluted UK flavor before tidal wave of foreign influence. Please keep up the great work!
Well, maybe Claremont hails from Britain? I always thought he was American. And Byrne is definitely of Canadian origin. That aside, what inspired the so-called British Invasion of the 80's was, really, what Bolland was doing with Dredd in the late 70's. At least from everything I've read that's the beginning link in the chain that leads to Moore, et al.
France and Japan fully proved that comics could be literature before DKR, Sandman, Swamp Thing and so on. Most of Osamu Tezuka´s 14 vol Buddha was published in the 70s for example. A shame that 2 inept anime films are all the manga has so far. People like Frank Miller of course knew all of that and copied notes as much as they could in the pre-internet world. Proto-Vertigo was when unwashed Americans finally saw the light and DC carrying those books was a key reason for that. They had the clout to get people to read this en mass. Berger´s 80s to late 00s books leave behind an immense legacy but they ultimately grew up the big 2, not the medium itself. The Dark Age of comics of course took the wrong lessons. A video for another time.
@@StrangeBrainParts Tezuka died in Februar of 1989. Vol 5 of Pheonix aka. Karma, the bandit turned woodcarver story, should be the most iconic of the Phoenix tales due to the tour de force Rintaro/Madhouse OVA. All of it was published from 1969 to 1970. In a Shounen magazine on top of that. A near children's comic from the 60s runs circles around basically every US comic before the mid to late 80s. Bravo Fredric Wertham!
