Remember good old Vertigo, the imprint where all the top writers for the New 52 got discovered and DC graphic novel book store sales were practically invented? Well, they are still at it! Plucky old Vertigo. And just to prove they still have what it takes, they have announced their book collections for the second half of 2012, including some truly awesome stuff, like a HUGE one-volume edition of THE INVISIBLES by Grant Morrison and his all-stars (Quitely, Jimenez, Thompson, Weston, Buckingham etc., etc., etc.) that will weigh in at a mere 1536 pages and $150. Frankly, we didn’t know they could print books that big and wide. Given that THE INVISIBLES is one of our favorite mainstream comics of the ’90s, we are there. Make room, make room!
They also announced two NEW GNs, including GET JIRO! by Anthony Bourdain, Joel Rose and Langdon Foss, planned for June and RIGHT STATE, just announced by Mat Johnson and Andrea Mutti, which is described as:
RIGHT STATE is a race-against-time political thriller that explodes beyond the boundaries of genre to explore the meanings of race, class and identity in America, written by Mat Johnson with art by Andrea Mutti (THE EXECUTOR). Johnson is the recipient of the United States Artist James Baldwin Fellowship, The Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship and author of the acclaimed graphic novels INCOGNEGRO and DARK RAIN as well as the recently published novel Pym among others.
In the week leading up to a major campaign speech, the Secret Service discovers that an extremist militia group is plotting to assassinate America’s second African American President. The best chance to avert this crisis is to infiltrate the group. RIGHT STATE follows an ex Special Forces commando turned conservative media pundit, who takes the assignment and goes undercover. What follows is an adrenaline fueled race against time to stop a President from dying and a country from being ripped apart.
It seems that the Vertigo Crime Line is dead — or at least not in this list of solicitations. However, there are lots of hits from the Golden Age past and recent past here. Good reading.
Coming in May 2012:
AMERICAN VAMPIRE VOL. 2 TP Writer: Scott Snyder Artists: Rafael Albuquerque and Mateo Santoluco Collects: AMERICAN VAMPIRE #6-11 $17.99 US, 160 pg
DEADENDERS TP Writer: Ed Brubaker Artists: Warren Pleece, Richard Case, Jay Stephens and Cameron Stewart Collects: DEADENDERS #1-16 and a story from VERTIGO: WINTER’S EDGE #3 $29.99 US, 392 pg
THE SANDMAN VOL. 9: THE KINDLY ONES TP NEW EDITION Writer: Neil Gaiman Artists: Marc Hempel, Richard Case, D’Israeli, Teddy Kristiansen, Glyn Dillon, Charles Vess, Dean Ormston and Kevin Nowlan Collects: THE SANDMAN #57-69 and a story from VERTIGO JAM #1 $19.99 US, 320 pg
Coming in June 2012:
FABLES DELUXE EDITION BOOK FIVE HC Writer: Bill Willingham Artists: Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, David Hahn, Lan Medina and Dan Green Collects: FABLES #34-45 $29.99 US, 304 pg
GET JIRO! HC Writers: Anthony Bourdain and Joel Rose Artist: Langdon Foss Original graphic novel $24.99 US, 160 pg
Coming in July 2012:
FABLES VOL. 17: INHERIT THE WIND TP Writer: Bill Willingham Artists: Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, Adam Hughes, Gene Ha and Karl Kerschl Collects: FABLES #108-113 $14.99 US, 144 pg
DMZ VOL. 12: THE FIVE NATIONS OF NEW YORK TP Writer: Brian Wood Artist: Riccardo Burchielli Collects: DMZ #67-72 $14.99 US, 144 pg
HELLBLAZER VOL. 3: THE FEAR MACHINE TP NEW EDITION Writer: Jamie Delano Artists: Mark Buckingham, Richard Piers Rayner, Mike Hoffman and Alfredo Alcala Collects: HELLBLAZER #14-22 $24.99 US, 240 pg
SCALPED VOL. 9: KNUCKLE UP TP Writer: Jason Aaron Artists: R.M. Guera, Dean Haspiel, Denys Cowan, Igor Kordey, Jill Thompson, Timothy Truman, Brendan McCarthy and Steve Dillon Collects: SCALPED #50-55 $14.99 US, 144 pg
Coming in August 2012:
HOUSE OF MYSTERY VOL. 8: DESOLATION TP Writer: Matthew Sturges Artists: Luca Rossi, Jose Marzan Jr., Darwyn Cooke, Aaron Campbell, David Lapham and Peter Snejbjerg Collects: HOUSE OF MYSTERY #36-42 $14.99 US, 160 pg
RIGHT STATE HC Writer: Mat Johnson Artist: Andrea Mutti Original graphic novel $24.99 US, 144 pg
THE INVISIBLES OMNIBUS HC Writer: Grant Morrison Artists: Steve Yeowell, Jilll Thompson, Dennis Cramer, Chris Weston, John Ridgway, Steve Parkhouse, Kim DeMulder, Paul Johnson, Phil Jimenez, John Stokes, Tommy Lee Edwards, Dick Giordano, Mark Buckingham, Mark Pennington, Michael Lark, Keith Aiken, Marc Hempel, Ray Kryssing, Philip Bond, Glyn Dillon, Ivan Reis, Warren Pleece, Sean Phillips, Jay Stephens, Frank Quitely, Grant Morrison, and others Collects: THE INVISIBLES #1-25, THE INVISIBLES VOL. 2 #1-22, THE INVISIBLES VOL. 3 #12-1 and a story from VERTIGO: WINTER’S EDGE #1 $150.00 US, 1,536 pg
NEIL GAIMAN’S MIDNIGHT DAYS DELUXE EDITION HC Writers: Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner Artists: Dave McKean, Teddy Kristiansen, Richard Piers Rayner, Mike Hoffman, Mike Mignola, Steven Bissette, John Totleben and Sergio Aragonés Collects: HELLBLAZER #27, SANDMAN MIDNIGHT THEATRE, SWAMP THING ANNUAL #5 and material from WELCOME BACK TO THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY and the NEIL GAIMAN’S MIDNIGHT DAYS TP. $24.99 US, 176 pg
SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING BOOK TWO TP Writer: Alan Moore Artists: Shawn McManus, Stephen Bissette, John Totleben and Ron Randall Collects: SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING #28-34 and SWAMP THING ANNUAL #2 $19.99 US, 224 pg
Mat Johnson’s third OGN for Vertigo. Sounds really awesome. Keep them coming!!!
http://vertigo.blog.dccomics.com/2011/11/21/announcing-right-state-a-new-original-graphic-novel-by-mat-johnson/
Cool.
Be neat if Vertigo published a Harvey Pekar Omnibus, collecting The Quitter, American Splendor: Another Day, and American Splendor: Another Dollar, plus extras!
“The Invisibles” is one of my favorites, too, and I am tempted by an omnibus. But that just sounds too large for one book. My largest omnibus is “Amazing Spider-Man” at 1,090 pages, and it’s pretty unwieldy.
The ideal format for “The Invisibles,” and the one that I’ve long hoped Vertigo would release it in, would be a slipcased set of the three volumes. At 25, 22, and 12 issues, those would be pretty substantial books in their own right. It’s too bad the trend seems to be single volumes, readability optional.
Oh hey, the Deadenders! I recall liking that when it came out.
Haven’t read Invisibles, Although I’ve wanted too, and this huge HC format is not enticing to me. Too big, heavy and bulky. The 12 or so issue deluxe editions (like Fables and Starman) is what I’m waiting for.
The Brubaker Deadenders trade is great. I will most likely pick that up. Brought the first 4 issues for cheap about 6 months back and enjoyed them.
Is the Vertigo Crime GN line dead? They haven’t done anything of those in a while and some of these upcoming HC’s, especially the Right State one seems perfect for that format.
Wow. I thought Warners had stopped investing in good comics!
I was hoping The Invisibles would get the multivolume deluxe reprint treatment. With some color tweaking a la the Jack Kirby’s Forth World books.