201212140336.jpg
When it was announced that executive editor Karen Berger was stepping down last week, articles on the Vertigo imprint immediately took on an elegiac tone—even though official DC press outlets insisted that the line was not going any where. Everyone seemed to be projecting their own anxieties onto the line’s fate. Now, an ICv2 interview with John Cunningham and Bob Wayne has offered the most direct appraisal of where Vertigo is Vertigoing:

Cunningham:  When we look at Vertigo as part of DC, the buzzword would be that it’s one of our cornerstones.  I think everyone knows that Vertigo has been DC’s home for cutting edge and critically acclaimed stories and I don’t see that changing at any time in 2013 or beyond.  If fact, if you go back to San Diego and New York and look at announcements for projects that are coming out for 2013 we announced things as wide across the spectrum as the new Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy’s The Wake, a new Jeff Lamire series, Trillium, of course Neil Gaiman returning to Sandman, aside from the continuing volumes of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the multitude of Fables products.  We’ve also seen in the past couple of weeks, as we’ve done slate planning for 2013, a lot of other new series coming from Vertigo that we’ll be announcing shortly. 
 
The industry as a whole and DC as a whole will miss Karen [Berger].  She’s been a tremendous and almost unprecedented contributor over the years, but I think we have enough good, high-quality Vertigo product in the pipeline to keep Vertigo readers happy for the near-term future. 
 
Is there a change in the mix of Vertigo ongoing series, miniseries, and OGNs?
Wayne:  We’re always adjusting and looking at that type of mix in both the DC Comics imprint and the Vertigo imprint.  A lot of it just comes down to the lead times on various projects and what kind of stories the creative contributors are wanting to tell, if they think their story needs to be a limited series or if they want to go with a larger unlimited palette.  There are a lot of things coming up.  Karen is assisting in the transition to new leadership within the imprint as part of her departure and part of securing her legacy with us.  We’ll be talking about Vertigo and Karen a lot more in the next few months.  I think you’ll be seeing additional Vertigo projects coming up.  There’s no reason for the readers to be too anxious.


Well, speaking of that, DC also released Vertigo’s book schedule for May-August, and you can see it below. A highlight is yet another format for the Sandman series—this time the big, fat omnibus. Evidently it will be released in two volumes. Grant Morrison’s ANIMAL MAN is also getting the omnibus treatment.

Most of the titles in the below list are reprints and paperback editions of previous hardcovers. No new original graphic novels, and the only collected editions of new series coming out are SWEET TOOTH, HELLBLAZER, SAUCER COUNTRY, and FAIREST. There’s also the collected DJANGO UNCHAINED, and the second volume of the GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO adaptation, and if you squint a little, this switch to licensed properties would seem to indicate at least one direction for Vertigo.

But we’re also hearing that a call for pitches has gone out and new projects are very much on the way from Vertigo. So…evolving.

Here’s the upcoming books lineup:

Vertigo titles for May 2013:
 
GET JIRO! TP
Writers: Anthony Bourdain and Joel Rose
Artist: Langdon Foss
Original graphic novel
$14.99 US, 160 pg
 
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO BOOK 2 HC
Writer: Denise Mina
Artists: Leonardo Manco and Andrea Mutti
Original graphic novel
$19.99 US, 144 pg
 
SHOOTERS TP
Writers: Eric Trautmann and Brandon Jerwa
Artists: Steve Lieber
Original graphic novel
$16.99 US, 144 pg
 
Vertigo titles for June 2013:
 
THE ANNOTATED SANDMAN VOL. 3 HC
Writer: Neil Gaiman
Commentary: Leslie Klinger
Artists: Jill Thompson, Vince Locke, P. Craig Russell, Bryan Talbot, Mark Buckingham, Alec Stevens, John Watkiss, Michael Zulli, Dick Giordano, Michael Allred, Shea Anton Pensa, Gary Amaro, Steve Leialoha, Tony Harris and Kent Williams
Collects: THE SANDMAN #40-56, THE SANDMAN SPECIAL #1 and stories from VERTIGO PREVIEW #1 and VERTIGO: WINTER’S EDGE #3
$49.99 US, 520 pg
 
DJANGO UNCHAINED HC
Writer: Django Tarantino
Artists: R.M. Guera and Jason Latour
Collects: DJANGO UNCHAINED #1-6
$24.99 US, 244 pg
 
GONE TO AMERIKAY TP
Writer: Derek McCullough
Artist: Colleen Doran
Original graphic novel
$16.99 US, 144 pg
 
LUCIFER BOOK 1 TP
Writer: Mike Carey
Artists: Scott Hampton, Chris Weston, James Hodgkins, Warren Pleece, Dean Ormston, Peter Gross and Ryan Kelly
Collects: THE SANDMAN PRESENTS: LUCIFER #1-3 and LUCIFER #1-13 
$29.99 US, 392 pg
 
PREACHER BOOK ONE TP
Writer: Garth Ennis
Artist: Steve Dillon
Collects: PREACHER #1-12
$19.99 US, 352 pg
 
SWEET TOOTH VOL. 6: WILD GAME TP
Writer/artist: Jeff Lemire
Collects: SWEET TOOTH #33-40
$16.99 US, 200 pg
 
Vertigo titles for July 2013:
 
HELLBLAZER: DEATH AND CIGARETTES TP
Writer: Peter Milligan
Artists: Giuseppe Camuncoli, Stefano Landini and Simon Bisley
Collects: HELLBLAZER #292-300 and HELLBLAZER ANNUAL #1
$16.99 US, 176 pg
 
BLACK ORCHID TP NEW EDITION
Writer: Neil Gaiman
Artist: Dave McKean
Collects: BLACK ORCHID #1-3
$16.99 US, 176 pg
 
FAIREST VOL. 2: HIDDEN KINGDOM TP
Writer: Lauren Beukes
Artist: Inaki Miranda
Collects: FAIREST #8-14
$14.99 US, 128 pg
 
SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING BOOK FOUR TP
Writer: Alan Moore
Artists: Stephen Bissette, John Totleben, Rick Veitch, Ron Randall, Alfredo Alcala and others 
Collects: SWAMP THING #43-50
$19.99 US, 224 pg
 
SAUCER COUNTRY VOL. 2: THE RETICULAN CANDIDATE TP
Writer: Paul Cornell
Artists: Ryan Kelly and Mirko Colak
Collects: SAUCER COUNTRY #7-12
$14.99 US, 176 pg
 
Vertigo titles for August 2013:
 
THE ANIMAL MAN OMNIBUS
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artists: Chaz Truog, Doug Hazlewood, Tom Grummett, Mark McKenna, Steve Montano, Paris Cullins, Mark Farmer,
Collects: ANIMAL MAN #1-26 and SECRET ORIGINS #39
$75.00 US, 704 pg
 
BEWARE THE CREEPER TP
Writer: Jason Hall
Artist: Cliff Chiang
Collects: BEWARE THE CREEPER #1-5
$14.99 US, 128 pg
 
RIGHT STATE TP
Writer: Mat Johnson
Artist: Andrea Mutti
Original graphic novel
$16.99 US, 144 pg
 
THE SANDMAN OMNIBUS VOL. 1
Writer: Neil Gaiman
Artist: Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III, Chris Bachalo, Michael Zulli, Steve Parkhouse, Kelley Jones, Charles Vess, Colleen Doran, Matt Wagner, Hugo Pratt, Dick Giordano, Stan Woch, Bryan Talbot, Shawn McManus and Mark Buckingham
Collects: THE SANDMAN #1-37 and THE SANDMAN SPECIAL #1
$125.00 US, 1,040 pg

9 COMMENTS

  1. Man, those omnibus seem like the worst possible way to present great works. I’m sure the spines looks great on a bookshelf but they’re pretty uncomfortable to actually read. It’s form over function.

    I really wish they would do more “Deluxe Editions” instead.

  2. I’d prefer to see SANDMAN collected in a format similar to the STARMAN OMNIBUS and PREACHER hardcover volumes. You could collect two trade volumes in one Omnibus hardcover each and it would be far more comfortable to handle for reading than a ginormous 1,000-page brick.

  3. Remember, just because they’re scheduled doesn’t mean they’ll actually appear.

    The A.D.D.: Adolescent Demo Division TP got cancelled I would imagine due to low pre-orders and I was looking forward to that one.

Comments are closed.