The Vertigo Thread

You're thinking of Gerard Jones.

I should've specified that I'm not familiar with the writers inasmuch as I haven't read their stuff. I am familiar with the existence of Gerard Way and Umbrella Academy. I guess I should check it out to see how I feel about him taking over these characters.

Just re-reading DeMatteis's Doctor Fate run, which is very Vertigo-y: muddy colours, vampires, claptrappy captions, Shawn McManus art. It's very good tho'

Just read a fun Vertigo miniseries that rarely gets mentioned, Steve Gerber's Nevada. Completely bonkers and a lot of fun with it. Great character, too. My only problem was that it seemed to have been set up for a sequel, or further stories which never materialised.

There were short Nevada stories in two of the Vertigo Winter's Edge specials. But yeah, that was pretty much it.

I'll have to track those down!

I had a similar problem with the ending of his (otherwise excellent) Foolkiller mini, but that story took place within the Marvel universe, so other writers could potentially use him. It was still one of the best takes on the "what if a vigilante superhero were REAL?" idea I've ever read.

So it's well-established at this point that I'm a total sucker wrt comics (at the very least), but oh my am I ever salivating over what appears to be the re-partitioning of the old school Vertigo universe (or the Sandman Universe, as it's now being called), despite Si Spurrier being the only writer on the line whose work I'm familiar with.

Look, I know it probably won't be good, but I have a deep attachment to that shared universe prior to its being ported over to the DCU proper. If nothing else, this'll prompt me to reread all of the classic stuff.

that shared universe prior to its being ported over to the DCU proper

???

I'm talking about the New 52 nonsense of putting Tim Hunter on a Justice League team and having John Constantine battle Dark Orko.

this'll prompt me to reread all of the classic stuff.

i dunno if i could stomach that much muddy, indistinct colour work these days tbh

Swamp Thing was fighting (with? against?) Batman in the 70s...

(first ST i bought was #46, the crisis crossover issue)

Yes, the DC-owned properties that eventually became part of the Vertigo imprint did in fact originate in and among the DC Universe proper. And then Vertigo happened and those characters were more or less sealed off in their own little corner of the world for a couple of decades. I promise I'm not making this up. You can check the history books and everything.

bg, the material largely and surprisingly holds up (I reread everything from Moore's ST through Lucifer about ten years back) even if some of it has the color range of a rusted rain barrel full of mud.

As big a Marvel Zombie as I am, I might be an even bigger zombie for the best of this stuff. If such a thing is even possible. The parallel runs of Rick Veitch on ST and Jamie Delano on Hellblazer remain some of my favorite comics of all time.

bg, the material largely and surprisingly holds up (I reread everything from Moore's ST through Lucifer about ten years back) even if some of it has the color range of a rusted rain barrel full of mud

oh yeah, i have a lot of fondness for a lot of vertigo stuff (and precursors like morrison's animal man, which is still maybe my favourite-ever run out of everything he's ever done) but damn i also have a lot of teenage memories of squinting at brown-and-purple-smeared pages trying to work out wtf is going on

The recolourings are worse though, esp Sandman

90s computerised mud >> 00s computerised recolouring

has anything from Vertigo ever been recoloured? even Sandman wasn't afaik

(went to Vertigo circa #37 iirc)

checked: #47.

I know at the very least that Flex Mentallo was controversially and fairly radically recolored for the collected edition.

oh ya

not muddy brown-&-purple to begin with though

Sandman was recolored for the massive omnibus versions.

I've been tempted to re-read Shade the Changing Man but idk

I really soured on Sandman on my last re-reading (some thoughts here: Neil Gaiman - S/D)

Swamp Thing is still all-time great of course. That Bissette/Totleben artwork is some of the greatest comics art ever imo, I never get tired of looking at it.

I don't know that Shade held up as well on a reread but there are bits that are still fantastic. It was probably my favorite of the bunch by the time Vertigo proper was underway.

Books of Magic is a sleeper. I love the majority of that first series. The initial Gaiman miniseries is also good.

yeah the initial Books of Magic miniseries is p good

Sandman was recolored for the massive omnibus versions.

the question was about Vertigo comics

Gaiman's Sandman wasn't Vertigo?

sic, you're slipping, man.

this is a v upsetting development

sic are u okay

Gaiman's Sandman wasn't Vertigo?

bg, the material largely and surprisingly holds up (I reread everything from Moore's ST through Lucifer about ten years back) even if some of it has the color range of a rusted rain barrel full of mud.

― I really like the acting, dialogue and especially the scenes (Old Lunch), Friday, May 25, 2018 10:15 PM (yesterday)

oh yeah, i have a lot of fondness for a lot of vertigo stuff (and precursors like morrison's animal man, which is still maybe my favourite-ever run out of everything he's ever done) but damn i also have a lot of teenage memories of squinting at brown-and-purple-smeared pages trying to work out wtf is going on

― i am fast and full of teeth. i willl die in a barn fire (bizarro gazzara), Friday, May 25, 2018 10:26 PM (yesterday)

The recolourings are worse though, esp Sandman

90s computerised mud >> 00s computerised recolouring

― Chuck_Tatum, Saturday, May 26, 2018 2:43 AM (three hours ago)

has anything from Vertigo ever been recoloured? even Sandman wasn't afaik

...

(went to Vertigo circa #37 iirc)

...

checked: #47.

― we used to get our kicks reading surfing MAGAzines (sic), Saturday, May 26, 2018 3:31 AM (two hours ago)

I know at the very least that Flex Mentallo was controversially and fairly radically recolored for the collected edition.

― I really like the acting, dialogue and especially the scenes (Old Lunch), Saturday, May 26, 2018 3:32 AM (two hours ago)

oh ya

not muddy brown-&-purple to begin with though

― we used to get our kicks reading surfing MAGAzines (sic), Saturday, May 26, 2018 4:05 AM (two hours ago)

It was the Sandman Absoloute Editions that were recolored.

please to tell me which issues of Sandman #1 through #18 were published by Vertigo in the 1990s with a muddy brown-and-purple colour palette, and were also somehow numbered somewhere between #47 and #75

Dunno about any of that I'm just saying which Sandman books were recolored.

I'll give you eighteen guesses at which issues of Sandman were recoloured for the "absolute" editions

Whew, okay, didn't realize you were just kicking it up into uber-pedant mode, don't scare us like that bruh.

Mods, plz change thread title to 'The Vertigo (and properties which one might consider grandfathered into the Vertigo imprint, were one a dullard) Thread'

The colour pallette under discussion is specifically a Vertigo thing - though derived from pre-Vertigo Hellblazer, neither Sandman nor Doom Patrol nor Swamp Thing nor Shade The Changing Man nor Animal Man (under Morrison or Milligan or Truog) nor Black Orchid nor Watchmen nor Prez The Teenage President used it.

Plenty of '90s Vertigo that did use it could toootally benefit from a recolouring though, which is why I was asking!

or 12-issue collections of Sandman Mystery Theatre printed in b&w, with light half-toning if needed for clarity

Would buy except that I wouldn't allow myself to get burned by a third SMT reprint project that distractedly wanders off before it's finished what it set out to do (the most recent having ended with a paltry two volumes).

I had also totally forgotten that Sandman wasn't always a Vertigo comic, so good to be reminded/corrected.

My fave Vertigo comics remain two mini-series written by Pete Milligan at the top of his game - The Extremist, with Ted McKeever, and Enigma, with Duncan Fegredo.

Enigma was one of the best things to come out of Vertigo.

(In before the boffins: Enigma was actually intended to be part of Disney's Touchmark mature readers imprint along with several other titles that ultimately formed the foundation of Vertigo proper after Disney got cold feet.)

I always liked Sebastian O, from Grant Morrison’s “cheeky young man” phase, although it might have benefited from being half or twice the length.

I’ve started Enigma multiple times in my life and never finished it. Will try again this weekend.

Has the gap between Seaguy 1&2 been longer than the gap between 2 & now? Not that I need to see them - the sequel was only ok.

Vertigo was practically the Sandman imprint rather than vice versa and I’m not gonna budge on it

There’s definitely an argument that one of the reasons the imprint existed was because of the widespread recognition and respect that the Sandman was receiving - but even so that’s some impressively crazy talk there.

What it definitely was, was the Karen Berger imprint - I was wondering if the thread revive was related to her new imprint, which I haven’t read anything in yet.

Extremist and Sebastian O were also both Touchmark books iirc

Also Tattered Banners, Mercy. Maybe also Tell Me, Dark?

I think the Shadow's Fall miniseries by John Nay Rieber was Touchmark as well.

Tell Me Dark was published by DC pre-Vertigo, Shadows Fall was Touchmark, as was Mercy. Tattered Banners seems unlikely as it was so much later, not even faintly gothy, and neither Giffen nor McMahon were in Touchmark's promo, but iirc it did lay fallow for years before being finished without Giffen.

Still, if there's one thing we can say, it's that what Vertigo definitely was, was the Art Young imprint.

Five years between Seaguy 1 and Seaguy 2, nine years and counting since Seaguy 2.

Never mind though: yeah, Seaguy 2 was weak, Seaguy 1 was the worst of that cluster of Morrison minis, and Morrison is sadly bad not good now.

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.

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

K.w. jeter?!