VERTIGO LIVES: SANDMAN RETURNS!

Karen Berger former Executive Editor at Vertigo Comics

When Executive Editor Karen Berger left Vertigo the entire comics press freaked the fuck out. The woman who seemingly discovered Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman, and Alan Moore was leaving  the comics medium! Vertigo was an imprint at DC full of dark evil things that are best kept under the bed at night. In the 80’s everything from Swamp Thing to Sandman established a place among other titles there. Comics were discovering how to grow up in an industry created around youth and conventional superheroes. In December of this year when she announced her departure it came as a shock to fans, the imprint began to publish less and less material and many thought that it was close to death. To add insult to injury across the pond Image began to snatch up some of the stronger talent in comics. People that should be receiving a creative renaissance in order to start a career in this business are using that publisher to gain recognition. This is a shame because these people are so immensely talented and are capable of doing great work with these bizarre characters and concepts, they even have the other option to create something entirely new there.

The New York Times announced last night that the once great imprint has many titles that they were simply hiding until now. With the success of Scott Snyder’s The Wake and American Vampire the publisher is not going anywhere. The Wake in particular has been a incredible win debuting as the fourth best selling comic the week in which it debuted. Many touted this new outing by Snyder as the Bond Age Of Vertigo, the reason being is that Shelly Bond took over when Berger left.

Shelly Bond the new Executive Editor for Vertigo Comics

Bond has been a in a horrible position, due to the fact that someone made the decision to hide some of these new announcements for the publisher until now. Onto the BOND AGE OF VERTIGO and the new titles! The Sandman prequel is entitled Sandman Overture, it was announced previously with the creative team of Neil Gaiman and J.H. Williams III. Which is one of the strongest creative teams that a comic book can possibly have, which also means that you should buy the damn book! Writer Gaiman provided The New York Times with the following quotes,

“The most peculiar thing for me about returning to ‘Sandman’ is how familiar it all feels,What is new, however, is the level of attention. When I was writing ‘Sandman’ from 1987 to 1996, I never had the feeling at any point that approximately 50 million people were looking over my shoulder scrutinizing ever word.”

Gaiman also had the following to say about his new artist on Sandman Overture,

“They are the most beautiful pages I have ever seen in periodical comics, I ask him to do the impossible, and he gives me back more than I asked for.”

The periodical was announced for release in November bi-monthly, also the months where new issues are not scheduled for release a special editions of the comic book will be available. The internet and comic book nuts are junkies for the series and the special editions will sell incredibly well, this another genius move by the imprint.

Also announced today was The Dead Boy Detectives, which was a throw away concept in Sandman 25 being an expanded on in a new series. No creative team was announced on the series yet, so fans can hold on with bated breath. Obviously Neil Gaiman would be ideal, but he is tackling a lot of work at the moment. Lastly two more series were announced, the first being Hinterkind  by Ian Edginton and the second is The Discipline by Peter Milligan. At this moment both works have no accredited artist, both writers are a great fit for the publisher due to their writing styles.

VERTIGO is back!

Source: NYT + CA