The Return of Vertigo

Vertigo is back

Reviving the Dark: A New Era for Vertigo Comics

It was recently announced at NYCC ‘24 that DC is bringing back Vertigo Comics and many fans are excited for its return. For any comic collectors who may not know what Vertigo was or those who are unfamiliar with their story, this article is here to fill you in. Starting in the mid 80’s DC had begun releasing comics that were intended for mature audiences and by the 90’s these comics had grown really popular. Due to their mature content these comics were being marketed separately from many of DC’s core titles. In 1993 after several years of success for these mature titles DC decided to trademark the name Vertigo as a separate entity under the DC name that strictly released adult targeted content.

Long time DC editor Karen Berger who had worked on titles such as “Swamp Thing” with Alan Moore and many others was put in charge of the new imprint publisher. Karen had a long history of editing comics intended for mature readers and personally fought to start Vertigo. Under her leadership Vertigo released many popular titles including “Animal Man”, “Sandman”, “Hellblazer”, and “Transmetropolitan” across the 90’s and 2000’s. The popularity of these titles led to Vertigo becoming the most successful imprint of DC’s publishing history.

Sandman

Vertigo Comics, famous for breaking new ground, featured Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman." This series changed comics into meaningful stories, mixing myths, history, and human experiences. It encourages readers to think about dreams and identity, representing a peak in graphic literature.

After a couple decades of successful sales Vertigo began to hit some snags in publishing as a few of their more popular titles like “Swamp Thing” had begun to be released under the main DC line again in the 2010’s. Then, in 2013 the long time head of the company Karen Berger stepped down and unfortunately Vertigo suffered from her loss. A few years later in 2018 Vertigo’s sales were struggling more than previously and DC attempted to rebrand Vertigo to DC Vertigo, attempting to cash in on DC’s successes by reattaching the brands by name. With little positive impact following the rebranding and a multitude of cancellations hurting the brand image, Vertigo was dropped by DC altogether in 2020. They replaced it with DC Black Label, a new imprint publisher making strictly mature content.

Now just four years after the inception of DC Black Label we are getting the announcement of the rebirth of Vertigo which is going to be operating alongside DC Black Label for now. It will be interesting to see what differences each publisher will present since both are making the same type of content. Is there room under DC for both imprints or are we watching the demise of Black Label? At least for now IGN.com reports that DC Black Label will focus more on existing DC characters with Vertigo focusing on creator owned projects. Either way fans of mature themed comics should be on the lookout for lots of new and exciting titles coming their way in 2025.

Sources:

IGN https://www.ign.com/articles/dc-comics-announces-batman-hush-sequel-and-the-return-of-vertigo-nycc-2024#