DC Vertigo relaunch

[09philj]

I think my feeling about most comics these days can be summed up as: if it's worth reading, it will be out later in a trade paperback collection, with luck well after they get their s#%& worked out.

I would not put hard money on the majority of these being around in two years. A lot depends on the strength of the writing, and Quinn, in particular, whatever else might be said about her, has no background in comics. Otherwise, the list collectively kind of reads as "Persecution Complex: The Comics". We're Putting Big Issue Front and Center, Applaud Us. Hopefully, some of them can dig their way out of that hole. You can certainly broach "big issues" with strong characters, solid writing, and a little tact and subtlety; I think Saga is brilliant, by way of example. Doing it this way is putting the cart so far in front of the horse that it's going to have to gallop to catch up. It's like expecting people to shell out for Chick Tracts.

American Carnage looks like it might be alright, but it also gives the impression that what they really wanted was to get Jason Aaron back, but he's busy writing Southern Bastards and The Avengers.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

DC is revamping it's Vertigo imprint, and has announced seven new titles to mark the occasion. These are:

American Carnage written by Bryan Hill with art by Leandro Fernandez - A mixed race FBI agent infiltrates a white supremacist group.

Border Town written by Eric M. Esquivel with art by Ramon Villalobos - A portal to another dimension releases an army of monsters from Mexican folklore into a town in Arizona. As racial tensions run high, a group of high school misfits investigate the mystery.

Goddess Mode written by Zoe Quinn with art by Robbi Rodriguez - A woman responsible for maintaining the AI that administrates humanity becomes embroiled in a war between monsters and cybernetic magical girls.

Hex Wives written by Ben Blacker with art by Mirka Andolfo - A coven of witches are brainwashed into becoming subservient housewives, but their new husbands can't control them forever...

High Level written by Rob Sheridan with art by Barnaby Bagenda - Several centuries after the end of the world as we know it, a fugitive smuggler has to transport a child to a city from which no-one has returned.

Safe Sex written by Tina Horn with art by Mike Dowling - Sex workers rebel against a totalitarian regime that regulates sexual pleasure.

Second Coming written by Mark Russell with art by Richard Pace - God returns Jesus to Earth to team up with the mighty superhero Sun Man to save humanity. Christ is appalled with his legacy.

And thus, Vertigo enters a new era of hanging round the back of Image Comics and rooting through their bins to find something that might be able to dent their independent rival's dominance of the creator controlled comic market.

All of this sounds like a comic book collection of click-bait.

A couple of interesting concepts to be sure, but I kind of doubt any of them will be written with much tact. Of course pretty much any idea can end up being brilliantly executed, no matter how out there the original concept is. They could be a pleasant surprise, but just reading the descriptions made me cringe for a lot of them.

 

[Cicada 5]

The witch story sounds like that episode of Buffy where Tara's family was introduced.

The one about cyberspace sounds the most interesting to me.

 

[Schadrach]

The witch story sounds like that episode of Buffy where Tara's family was introduced.

The one about cyberspace sounds the most introducing to me.

...and then you see that it's being written by Zoe Quinn. Judging by Crash Override, writing isn't something she's terribly good at.

 

[StatusNil]

The Decline of Western Civilization, Part Nearly Last.

A generation ago, Vertigo was publishing Sandman, Hellblazer and the like. Comics that made you go "Hmmmm, what's this about, then?", and the answer wouldn't be face-smackingly, groin-grabbingly obvious and drained of further avenues of exploration within 2 seconds. Unlike the diversity checklist that they are about to unload now, no doubt to massive blog acclaim.

I used to be hooked on Peter Milligan's stuff on Vertigo back in the day. Shade The Changing Man... he turned into Shade The Changing Woman for a while there, you know. And it was just another thing, instead of le epic revoluzion against teh toxic manz. But that was sometime in the first half of the 90s as memory serves, before the rise of the Pop Misandry Blog and The Fandom Menace.

Anyone caving to the upcoming emotional bullying into buying any of these deserves to... hmm... read them. Sorry if that seems harsh.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

The Decline of Western Civilization, Part Nearly Last.

A generation ago, Vertigo was publishing Sandman, Hellblazer and the like. Comics that made you go "Hmmmm, what's this about, then?", and the answer wouldn't be face-smackingly, groin-grabbingly obvious and drained of further avenues of exploration within 2 seconds. Unlike the diversity checklist that they are about to unload now, no doubt to massive blog acclaim.

Sounds like whining to me. I mean, wasn't Vertigo created in the first place to explore themes that were curtailed by the CCA's attempts to dismantle various themes (like, say, LGBTQ characters or in this case neo-Nazis in the U.S.) off comic book shelves?

If Western civilization can't survive comics books reflecting different aspects of the cultural gaze, it says more about 'Western civilization'.

 

[Tanis]

Those are some...interesting descriptions.

 

[Here Comes Tomorrow]

It's all so tiresome.

 

[Silvanus]

The last two look like they could be good. The rest don't interest me.

I see a number of people are already certain they'll be bollocks, because the single-sentence descriptions contained women and stuff.

 

[Kyrian007]

A lot of people have a very overinflated love of Vertigo, because of the well-deserved success of a few of its titles. So many people forget all of the, well... forgettable couple of dozen titles it had that went absolutely no where. Yes, Sandman was awesome... lest we forget it was Neil Gaiman that was behind Sandman. Vertigo was just a publisher, and like all publishers had far more failures than successes. Its cool I guess that the name is coming back, but it doesn't really mean anything. Some of those titles sound interesting, some don't. I'll play the averages and say one or 2 might be good, just like Vertigo all those years ago.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

A lot of people have a very overinflated love of Vertigo, because of the well-deserved success of a few of its titles. So many people forget all of the, well... forgettable couple of dozen titles it had that went absolutely no where. Yes, Sandman was awesome... lest we forget it was Neil Gaiman that was behind Sandman. Vertigo was just a publisher, and like all publishers had far more failures than successes. Its cool I guess that the name is coming back, but it doesn't really mean anything. Some of those titles sound interesting, some don't. I'll play the averages and say one or 2 might be good, just like Vertigo all those years ago.

Survivorship bias and Sturgeons Law in action. We remember the good ones, the bad ones get left behind.

 

[RaikuFA]

I'll be interested to see what they blame if/when they fail to sell.

I mean, really, all comic books are failing to sell at all times. It's just a matter of how bad.

But we all know uhhh...sjws Are to blame

Jawbreakers and My Hero MAGAdemia have sold like nobodies business, selling so well they should be considered honorary Manga.

is my hero magademia a pun or is it some weird indie comic parody i havent heard about

The latter, and it's amazing, which is why it sold so well they had to make a 2nd and 3rd printing order.

thatsgoinginmycringecompilation.jpg

 

[Kyrian007]

A lot of people have a very overinflated love of Vertigo, because of the well-deserved success of a few of its titles. So many people forget all of the, well... forgettable couple of dozen titles it had that went absolutely no where. Yes, Sandman was awesome... lest we forget it was Neil Gaiman that was behind Sandman. Vertigo was just a publisher, and like all publishers had far more failures than successes. Its cool I guess that the name is coming back, but it doesn't really mean anything. Some of those titles sound interesting, some don't. I'll play the averages and say one or 2 might be good, just like Vertigo all those years ago.

Survivorship bias and Sturgeons Law in action. We remember the good ones, the bad ones get left behind.

I think what bothers me about it so much for Vertigo though, is all the emo/goth wannabes, voices a-cracking, teenagedly screeching about how "dark and edgy" was saving comics and geek culture in general by making it more "mature." Sure, there was really good grimdark and edgy stuff out there that was very entertaining. But there was even more of it that was pandering shlock that violently missed the point or had nothing meaningful to say at all. I was a 90's teen. I as a goth kid I liked a lot of that stuff. But only a very few things hold up looking back. The rest of it was just designed in a lab to appeal to a person I grew out of being decades ago and is utterly meaningless.

 

[Bilious Green_v1legacy]

They should have let the good name of Vertigo rest in peace, not dig it up and despoil it with this tosh.

 

[EvilRoy]

I know its hard to make a good sounding description of an entire story in a couple sentences, but jesus christ. Most of those sound like 80s grunge garbage plus a sprinkle of social commentary to spice them up.

A portal to another dimension releases an army of monsters from Mexican folklore into a town in Arizona. As racial tensions run high, a group of high school misfits investigate the mystery.

If it wasn't for "racial tensions" there is sweet fuck all worth looking at, unless the art of the folklore monsters is super rad.

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

I know its hard to make a good sounding description of an entire story in a couple sentences, but jesus christ. Most of those sound like 80s grunge garbage plus a sprinkle of social commentary to spice them up.

A portal to another dimension releases an army of monsters from Mexican folklore into a town in Arizona. As racial tensions run high, a group of high school misfits investigate the mystery.

If it wasn't for "racial tensions" there is sweet fuck all worth looking at, unless the art of the folklore monsters is super rad.

If they're going with Alebrije [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alebrije] style monsters then yes, they'll probably look rad. Even the more old school Aztecy monsters are badass as hell

 

[Silvanus]

They should have let the good name of Vertigo rest in peace, not dig it up and despoil it with this tosh.

Now, how would you know it was tosh, when none of us have read so much as a panel?

 

[Cicada 5]

A lot of people have a very overinflated love of Vertigo, because of the well-deserved success of a few of its titles. So many people forget all of the, well... forgettable couple of dozen titles it had that went absolutely no where. Yes, Sandman was awesome... lest we forget it was Neil Gaiman that was behind Sandman. Vertigo was just a publisher, and like all publishers had far more failures than successes. Its cool I guess that the name is coming back, but it doesn't really mean anything. Some of those titles sound interesting, some don't. I'll play the averages and say one or 2 might be good, just like Vertigo all those years ago.

So no different than main DC and Marvel then? If people can still get excited over those two I don't think people's liking of Vertigo is overinflated