Broken Frontier

Even though he stopped writing Swamp Thing a full five and a half years before the title’s first Vertigo issue came out, there might not have ever been a Vertigo imprint if it wasn’t for Alan Moore.

His revolutionary work on Swamp Thing changed the face of comics as we knew them. He was given a B-list character and free rein to do whatever he wanted with it. He used this freedom to create stories that broke with the conventions of the comics of the day. He crafted intricate, intelligent and thought-provoking stories, and raised the medium to a true form of literature. His writing was challenging and complex and could not be compared to anything else it shared the newsstands with.

DC was encouraged by the critical and financial success of Moore’s Swamp Thing, and attempted to capture that same lightning in a bottle once again. They spun off John Constantine, a Moore creation from the pages of Swamp Thing, into his own book called Hellblazer. They employed more writers from the UK on their C, D, and even Z-list characters, such as Scottish writer Grant Morrison on Animal Man in September 1988 and a relatively unknown British writer by the name of Neil Gaiman on a 3-issue Black Orchid series two months later.

Morrison would go on to more fame by taking over the Doom Patrol title and making it his own and Gaiman reimagined DC’s Sandman for a new generation. The trend of mature stories started by Alan Moore was now in full bloom. But while the stories were more adult and, in many cases, weirder than what you might find in the mainstream DC books, they were still considered part of the DC universe. Swamp Thing, now written by Rich Veitch, crossed over with the company-wide Invasion crossover and Sandman had a meeting with the Giffen/Dematteis era Justice League.

The result of these crossovers was the realization that the new line of mature books meshed with the rest of DC’s output like oil does with water. No matter how you might try to force these two divergent types of stories to exist under the same corporate umbrella, they simply would not be compatible.

The word Vertigo first appeared in the indicia early in 1993 and finally these stories that were just a little left than center had a home to call their own. The new imprint developed an identity separate from DC proper. No longer would Vertigo characters cross over with DC characters. It was treated like the Vertigo characters were now in a universe all their own, never again to enter DC Universe continuity.

There have been many imprints and comic companies that have come and gone since Vertigo was established. Why is Vertigo so successful and has it lasted so long? The main reason might be that they provide an alternative to the mainstream comic books. But another, perhaps more important reason would be the imprint’s ability to grow and evolve.

All of the original Vertigo books except Hellblazer are now but memories. But just as Hellblazer spun off from Swamp Thing, so did Lucifer and The Dreaming from Sandman. Books of Magic spun out of a Neil Gaiman miniseries of the same name. Garth Ennis, who wrote some pivotal issues of Hellblazer, created Preacher. Morrison came back and created Invisibles for the imprint.

100 Bullets first arrived on the scene in 1999 and took the imprint in a new direction. Until that point, Vertigo was mostly home to titles that were esoteric in nature and featured skewed views of superhero and supernatural. 100 Bullets was a crime drama which featured conspiracies and loads of violence. It wouldn’t fit in with the mainstream, but was quite different from the usual Vertigo fare.

Scalped appears to owe more to Vertigo titles like 100 Bullets and The Losers than it does to Sandman and Hellblazer. Its solicitation describes it as a “Sopranos-style organized crime drama mixed with current Native American culture”. Certainly it is an unusual concept and one that would not find a home in the regular DC line. But thanks to Vertigo, the book has the ability to find an audience.

Vertigo has matured from a blanket for like minded titles to a high-profile showcase for stories that are outside the ordinary. It has gone from being DC’s quirky sibling to an institution in and of itself. And I, for one, am thankful for it.  

Click here for a sneak peek at Scalped #1.

Also out this week:

• American Virgin #10: Speaking of Vertigo, this issue acts as an excellent jumping on point to the imprint’s controversial series. Adam Chamberlain is a youth minister and a practicing virgin (hence the title) who struggles with this part of his identity while under the intense focus of the media spotlight.

This issue answers questions about Adam’s past and should serve to give readers both old and new an insight into the character. As the solicitation says, it’s “everything you wanted to know about Adam’s life to date, but were afraid to ask.” It appears to be a must have for fans of the series or those who looking to find out more about it.

Steven T. Seagle (W), Becky Cloonan & Christine Norrie (A), DC Comics/Vertigo, $2.99. Ongoing series.

• ‘68:  Take one part Apocalypse Now and one part Night of the Living Dead, and you have ’68. A U.S. fire team is sent into enemy territory to investigate why a long-range listening post has gone silent. They expect to find it overrun by enemy forces. What they discover is far worse.

Zombies are all the rage these days. One of the reasons for their popularity is how they can be adapted for any setting or story type. There have been countless stories set in Vietnam, but none to my knowledge featuring the undead. The combination of genres provides a fresh look at both. If the mood is set correctly, this story could strike fear in the hearts of the most jaded horror fan.  

Mark Kidwell (W), Nat Jones & Jay Fotos (A), Image Comics, $3.99. One-shot.

• G. I. Joe vs. Transformers IV: Black Horizon #1: The 20th Anniversary of both the G.I. Joe and Transformers animated movies brings us another conflict between the two Hasbro properties. It seems this series will focus on characters and concepts introduced in those two movies.

If you’re a fan, you might want to pick this one up. The first issue comes with two variant covers, so be on the look out.

Tim Seeley (W), Andrew Wildman (A), Devil’s Due Publishing, $2.99. Four-Issue Miniseries.

• Iron Man: Hypervelocity #1: Iron Man has had a pretty good couple of years at Marvel. His main title got a highly publicized reboot; he is featured prominently in the Civil War crossover, and has had not one but two mini-series in addition to his regular book. This one would be the second, and follows Iron Man: Inevitable by several months.

Adam Warren and Brian Denham are crafting a miniseries that is heavy into the technological side of the character, with a dose of cyberpunk culture thrown in for good measure. The series provides a good outlet for readers who like the character but do not want to get bogged down in the whole Civil War crossover.       

Adam Warren (W), Brian Denham (A), Marvel Comics, $2.99. Six-issue miniseries.

• Darkness Level 1: This series serves two purposes. It celebrates the 10th Anniversary of The Darkness and heightens anticipation for The Darkness video game coming to Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms in 2007. Each of the first five issues of the series corresponds with the five levels of the game. They are self-contained stories that spring from the game, not adapt it, so you need not get the game to understand the comic.

The book is written by Paul Jenkins (who wrote the video game) and David Wohl (who co-created the character) and the first “level” features four variant covers, including one by Marc Silvestri and one by Michael Turner.

Paul Jenkins & David Wohl (W), Stephan Sejic (A), Top Cow Productions, $2.99. Five-issue miniseries.   

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William Gatevackes is a professional writer living in Mamaroneck, NY with his wife Jennifer. Bill also writes periodic comic reviews for PopMatters and writes title descriptions for Human Computing’s Comicbase collection management software.