― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 15:29 (nineteen years ago) link
― Huk-L, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 15:29 (nineteen years ago) link
Keep in mind it's not like I've actually read it or anything. :>
― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 15:33 (nineteen years ago) link
Vermont Girl OTM about Sandman's place. It's been directly responsible for a boggling number of titles as well: Lucifer, The Dreaming, two Thessaliad series, the Mervin one-shot, the Corinthian miniseries, The Witching, the Prez one-shot and two (three?) gallerys. Add in two series of The Books of Magic, The Trenchcoat Brigade and Black Orchid to assess the lengths Karen Berger will go to in order to keep making money out of suckers the breadth and depth of his contribution to adult edgy comics.
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 15:39 (nineteen years ago) link
― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 15:48 (nineteen years ago) link
― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:48 (nineteen years ago) link
― Vic Fluro, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:59 (nineteen years ago) link
― Wooden (Wooden), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:03 (nineteen years ago) link
Yes, okay, The Craft is one of those movies I can watch over and over again, but there are some pretty cool parts in the most recent Witching (#3?). The story still feels a little unfocused but once the three get together, I think some cool shit might go down.
I don't know, the three and the maiden, mother and crone thing will never go out of style for me. I loved it in Sandman and, [I'm revealing an embarrassing secret here, which leaves me open to ridicule and therefore vulnerable, so don't be too mean] a total cheese romance trilogy. Agghh! I'm so embarrassed!
― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:09 (nineteen years ago) link
― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:35 (nineteen years ago) link
― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:49 (nineteen years ago) link
― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:52 (nineteen years ago) link
― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 16:07 (nineteen years ago) link
― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 16:11 (nineteen years ago) link
― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 16:16 (nineteen years ago) link
[And thanks for the fake-out Jocelyn. I read your first comment and literally went, "Whew! Tee hee. I guess I'm not the only-" and then your next comment, "- WHAT?! Arrrggggh..." It's all good, though. It's all good... I mean, hah, I was just kidding about all witch stuff, hah ha... ha.]
― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 17:10 (nineteen years ago) link
― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 17:16 (nineteen years ago) link
― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 17:37 (nineteen years ago) link
― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 17:49 (nineteen years ago) link
― David R., Wednesday, 2 May 2007 15:14 (seventeen years ago) link
― The Real Dirty Vicar, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 17:18 (seventeen years ago) link
― David R., Wednesday, 2 May 2007 17:25 (seventeen years ago) link
― Garrett Martin, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 19:11 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jordan, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 19:30 (seventeen years ago) link
― Chuck_Tatum, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 19:33 (seventeen years ago) link
― David R., Wednesday, 2 May 2007 20:06 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jordan, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 21:21 (seventeen years ago) link
― Chuck_Tatum, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 21:25 (seventeen years ago) link
― David R., Thursday, 3 May 2007 03:34 (seventeen years ago) link
― Douglas, Thursday, 3 May 2007 07:26 (seventeen years ago) link
― energy flash gordon, Thursday, 3 May 2007 11:53 (seventeen years ago) link
― energy flash gordon, Thursday, 3 May 2007 11:58 (seventeen years ago) link
― melton mowbray, Thursday, 3 May 2007 13:32 (seventeen years ago) link
― Garrett Martin, Thursday, 3 May 2007 13:43 (seventeen years ago) link
― Chuck_Tatum, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:58 (seventeen years ago) link
― Andrew Farrell, Thursday, 3 May 2007 16:12 (seventeen years ago) link
― Andrew Farrell, Thursday, 3 May 2007 16:20 (seventeen years ago) link
― Oilyrags, Thursday, 3 May 2007 16:59 (seventeen years ago) link
― David R., Thursday, 3 May 2007 18:47 (seventeen years ago) link
― R Baez, Thursday, 3 May 2007 19:29 (seventeen years ago) link
― Chuck_Tatum, Thursday, 3 May 2007 19:37 (seventeen years ago) link
Moving it over from the "what are you reading" thread:
I really liked Kiernan's Dreaming for the most part (I don't think she did much else for Vertigo outside of the rare Sandman-related miniseries). I mean, she's pretty goth-y, but you have to have a tolerance for that sort of thing if you're delving very deeply into that era of Vertigo.
I'm generally fond of the Vertigo/pre-Vertigo titles that got all of the accolades (Sandman, Swamp Thing, Morrison's Animal Man and Doom Patrol, etc.), but I have a special place in my heart for a lot of stuff that went under the radar.
I've said as much on the board at least a half dozen times by now, but the simultaneous runs of Veitch's Swamp Thing and Delano's Hellblazer comprise some of my favorite comics of all time. Mine is not the most widely-held opinion, I know, but I think that's the apex of those characters and their respective titles.
Rachel Pollack's Doom Patrol is a hot, hot mess, but it is decidedly its own thing. Weird and inscrutable in a different way than Morrison's run. I don't think it's very popular, but I dug it.
Mark Millar's Swamp Thing run (which is rumored to have been ghost co-written by Grant Morrison for more than just the initial four issues for which he was credited) is quite good. It feels icky like a horror book should (Phil Hester's art helps greatly). Some clever conceits and episodic world building that make it feel a bit like modern day genre television. Avoid the pre-Millar Nancy Collins run like the plague (probably the worst thing to come out of Vertigo, which is saying something).
I'll have to have a think about this.
― Rib-Tickling Chortles and Gut-Busting Guffaws (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 15 July 2014 17:35 (nine years ago) link
{This thread, for the sake of future reference.)
― Rib-Tickling Chortles and Gut-Busting Guffaws (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 15 July 2014 17:38 (nine years ago) link
I never read much of these but the last Vertigo thing I read was Cuba:My Revolution, a welcome slap against all those "Che Guevara was great" comics by Spain Rodriguez and too many others. It's kind of an autobio by Lockpez, as someone who really wanted to believe in the revolution but kept seeing the horrible reality. I don't think Haspiel's art did anything special but works well enough to get the account across.
I read most of Hard Time by Gerber but it really didn't do anything that wasn't done better by the OZ tv prison drama. Hard Time had a supernatural element but I never read the last few issues to get the relevance of it.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 18:14 (nine years ago) link
I read 7 or 8 issues of Codename: Knockout but the covers by Chiodo were the only thing that made an impression. It was a sexy crime comic.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 18:17 (nine years ago) link
hard time was gonna be part of this whole line of 'semi-realistic' people-with-powers titles that wasn't even part of vertigo. the rest of the line got killed in the crib (yes i had a pitch that was green-then-red-lit) and hard time was the only one to see the light.
― before you die you see the rink (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 15 July 2014 18:52 (nine years ago) link
that willow wilson book looked cool did any of you guys read that?
― before you die you see the rink (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 15 July 2014 18:54 (nine years ago) link
Cairo or Air?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 18:59 (nine years ago) link
Cairo
― before you die you see the rink (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 15 July 2014 19:29 (nine years ago) link
Here's a good rundown on the Touchmark backstory, with scans of promo material: https://www.cbr.com/comic-book-legends-revealed-321/
I think I mistakenly included Tattered Banners because it was announced very early, alongside many of the initial Vertigo titles, but as you mention wasn't released until many years later.
― I really like the acting, dialogue and especially the scenes (Old Lunch), Sunday, 27 May 2018 22:31 (five years ago) link
Tell Me Dark was published by DC pre-Vertigo
also not Vertigo:
https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_small/14/148518/2883281-better_mr_e_1_cover.jpg
― we used to get our kicks reading surfing MAGAzines (sic), Sunday, 27 May 2018 23:01 (five years ago) link
K.w. jeter?!
― Οὖτις, Sunday, 27 May 2018 23:07 (five years ago) link
Speaking of proto-Vertigo mature readers titles, I just remembered that a collection of Del Close and John Ostrander's Wasteland was hinted at a while back but has apparently disappeared into the ether. That's a bummer.
― I really like the acting, dialogue and especially the scenes (Old Lunch), Sunday, 27 May 2018 23:34 (five years ago) link
would for sure be a lesser reading experience in collection
― we used to get our kicks reading surfing MAGAzines (sic), Sunday, 27 May 2018 23:52 (five years ago) link
A few of these are now being published by Dover, of all people, who have also rescued some other lovely, earlier comics works from neglect: http://store.doverpublications.com/by-subject-graphic-novels-and-comics-graphic-novels.html
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Thursday, 28 June 2018 00:55 (five years ago) link
Oh sweet, thanks for the tip.
I have that Puma Blues collection. Or a Puma Blues collection. If it's Dover, I never noticed.
― A Frankenstein + A Dracula + A Mummy That's Been Werewolfed (Old Lunch), Thursday, 28 June 2018 01:20 (five years ago) link
If it's the 2015 one with the new ending, that's the Dover one.There's only one Vertigo book in that lineup, really - Mercy was a Touchmark refugee, but probably came along with the Seekers rights when they were dealing with deMatteis.
― kelp, clam and carrion (sic), Thursday, 28 June 2018 02:00 (five years ago) link
Yeah, that's the Puma Blues edition I have. It's a nice big hardcover, which is not what I generally associate with Dover.
Delano's World Without End was a proto-Vertigo DC mature readers title.
― A Frankenstein + A Dracula + A Mummy That's Been Werewolfed (Old Lunch), Thursday, 28 June 2018 10:27 (five years ago) link
The Charyn/Boucq graphic novels are all essential, esp The Magician's Wife - just a shame the page size is smaller than on the original Catalan translations.
― Ward Fowler, Thursday, 28 June 2018 10:31 (five years ago) link
It ain't been what it once was for many a moon, but still...RIP(?) Vertigo.
Fucken DC, man...
― Howlin' Oates - 'Wang Can't Dang for That (No Can Doodle)' (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 23:04 (four years ago) link
If true, it feels inevitable, but still sad.
And that 25th Anniversary celebration book didn't even materialise!
― Duane Barry, Wednesday, 5 June 2019 01:06 (four years ago) link
My first reaction was, BUT... SEAGUY 3!!
― Chuck_Tatum, Wednesday, 5 June 2019 19:45 (four years ago) link
I'm sure Morrison will be given carte blanche to do whatever he wants to do under the regular DC banner, but I'm not sure he'd want to given the changes they made to creator contracts a while back.
I mean, there's not much material change, as whatever little wisp of Vertigo currently remaining doesn't in any way resemble what it was back in the day, and since (as far as I can tell) the Vertigo-esque/Vertigo-lite stuff they've been publishing lately (eg Gerard Way's Young Animal stuff, the Sandman-verse titles) are unaffected. Even though the line has been a bloated drunken shut-in for most of its existence, I still mourn for the impact it had in its sleek and jaunty youth.
― Howlin' Oates - 'Wang Can't Dang for That (No Can Doodle)' (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 5 June 2019 19:54 (four years ago) link
I think the last Vertigo comic I bought before Seaguy was the third issue of The Invisibles. Inbetween was my “comics, they ARE just for kids” snooty teenage phase.
TBH, as a kid, Vertigo’s biggest draw was the extra boobs in SHADE.
― Chuck_Tatum, Wednesday, 5 June 2019 20:01 (four years ago) link
Been reading <i>The Unwritten</i>, got to Volume 3 and gotdamn this series has gotten good. Issue #17, "The Many Lives of Lizzie Hexam - A Pick-a-Story Book!" is a marvel.
― Nhex, Tuesday, 28 January 2020 02:40 (four years ago) link
Vertigo was finally euthanised last week btw
― don't care didn't ask still clappin (sic), Tuesday, 28 January 2020 02:53 (four years ago) link
I know. I just wanted to enthuse to somebody about this series. Also, I figure sooner or later DC will have another brainfart and dig the name back up, probably within five years.
― Nhex, Tuesday, 28 January 2020 02:59 (four years ago) link
just noting for thraed posterity!
― don't care didn't ask still clappin (sic), Tuesday, 28 January 2020 03:09 (four years ago) link
The Unwritten was great for a while, but IMO it went on a bit too long and got a bit too meta (even for a series whose whole premise is about metafiction), Carey should've wrapped it up a bit earlier. Still, it's definitely the best post-90s Vertigo title that I've read.
― Tuomas, Tuesday, 28 January 2020 07:27 (four years ago) link
Oh hey look, a new sub-imprint imaginatively titled DC Horror, which is kicking off with...Conjuring tie-in comics. Cool stuff, proud legacies.
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/dc-launches-new-horror-imprint-called-dc-horror-for-the-conjuring/
― You Can't Have the Woogie Without a Little Boogie (Old Lunch), Friday, 23 April 2021 16:01 (three years ago) link
yeesh, enough with the imprints already
― Draymond is "Mr Dumpy" (forksclovetofu), Friday, 23 April 2021 17:48 (three years ago) link
Question for the more experienced heads: are horror comics going through a resurgence/bubble these days? Or is it just something that I'm noticing more in the past couple years as I've started to get into them? Yes, I'm aware of some of the history of horror comics throughout the decades, but it feels like I'm seeing them more and more at the store especially in the past year. Or maybe my store is just promoting them more on social media or something. Any thoughts?
― peace, man, Friday, 23 April 2021 18:04 (three years ago) link
they are definitely in the midst of a resurgence. Aftershock and Boom have more than 60% of their roster as horror comics and Image and Dark Horse are likely around 40%. Chalk it up to The Walking Dead's long impact maybe?
― Draymond is "Mr Dumpy" (forksclovetofu), Friday, 23 April 2021 18:08 (three years ago) link
Interesting, thanks!
― peace, man, Friday, 23 April 2021 18:17 (three years ago) link
They're still mostly written by Cullen Bunn, right?
― Andrew Farrell, Friday, 23 April 2021 18:23 (three years ago) link
lol, a lot of them are.https://www.horrordna.com/features/7-most-promising-horror-comics-of-2021
― Draymond is "Mr Dumpy" (forksclovetofu), Friday, 23 April 2021 18:58 (three years ago) link
I guess he's supposed to be good at it but, on the basis of his Marvel work, I can't say I'm champing at the bit to find out.
― You Can't Have the Woogie Without a Little Boogie (Old Lunch), Friday, 23 April 2021 19:09 (three years ago) link
i don't care for bunn or kindt, which rules out like 1 of 5 comics these days
― Draymond is "Mr Dumpy" (forksclovetofu), Friday, 23 April 2021 19:14 (three years ago) link
Right now it seems like there are a lot of guys -- Kindt, Bunn, Remender, Charles Soule, Tom Taylor, Dennis Hopeless, James Tynion, Donny Cates, I'm sure there are more -- who came up in the 00s and 10s, get big assignments for Marvel and DC, and clearly write better than a certain level of 90s hack (Scott Lodbell or Chuck Dixon, say) but are just... deeply, deeply ordinary.
I'm missing that layer of mid-tier writers who weren't exactly always *good* but were at least consistently weirdly interesting (e.g. Mike Baron, Messener-Loebs, John Ostrander, Ann Nocenti, etc.).
― Chuck_Tatum, Tuesday, 27 April 2021 13:36 (three years ago) link
No one who's writing dozens of books a year can be consistently weird and interesting, tbf. And I don't blame these guys for taking the paychecks when they can get them
― Nhex, Tuesday, 27 April 2021 13:48 (three years ago) link
Agree, it's more like the ratio of hackwork to "weird and interesting" has gotten worse, from like 4:1 to 4:0.
― Chuck_Tatum, Tuesday, 27 April 2021 14:14 (three years ago) link
last three posts otm
― Draymond is "Mr Dumpy" (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 27 April 2021 16:53 (three years ago) link