The Vertigo Stories: Introduction

Every once in a while, a brand comes along in an art form and turns it on its head. Pixar did it to movies. HBO did it to TV. And Vertigo did it to comic-books.

Before Vertigo, comic-books almost exclusively dealt in superheroes. By the nineties, the two major players in the market – DC and Marvel – had been doing it for ages. Meaning that when you picked up a comic-book in the 90s, you were likely to read about the adventures of someone with superpowers. Adventures riddled with clichés (enjoyable clichés, but clichés nonetheless)... adventures bogged down with decades of continuity… adventures with no end in sight.

That all changed when DC's imprint Vertigo came to the scene. It seemed like the greatest minds in comic-books had finally let loose their creativity in ways that the superhero genre simply didn't permit. This material wasn't bound to any one genre. Sci-fi, horror, western… everything was fair game. I love the superhero genre, but it's monopoly on the medium was certainly not a good thing. Vertigo allowed writers to structure stories sensibly. No more continuity problems. No more gimmicky crossovers. No more predictable storylines. These stories weren't designed to continue indefinitely. Which meant as far as the fate of the characters went, all bets were off. This was probably the best part about these stories – that they were unpredictable, and that they ended.

Oh, and one more thing. Vertigo dealt a severe blow to the notion that comic books are for kids. Stories from Vertigo had an unusual level of graphic violence, hilariously profane language... and even the occasional nudity. Most importantly, the themes were mature. Nothing like the simple escapist joy of seeing heroes fly and fight villains... this was serious, deep stuff. Vertigo turned the comic-book into the graphic novel. Literally. It was Vertigo who first started publishing collected editions of story arcs as 'trade paperbacks' and selling them at all bookstores (as opposed to simply comic-book stores) — a trend that mainstream comic publishers would soon follow.

Vertigo produced a lot of extremely successful titles. Occasionally with established comic-book heavyweights; but mostly with new, young talent who went on to become established comic-book heavyweights. We're talking the likes of Grant Morrison, Warren Ellis and Brian Azzarello, before they were famous.

I plan to cross off major Vertigo titles one by one from my to-do list. I'll review them, one title at a time, right after I'm done with it.

LLAP.