The story
Founded by Karen Berger in 1993.1
Development
Vertigo originated in 1993 under the stewardship of Karen Berger, a former literature and art history student, who had joined DC Comics in 1979 as an assistant editor. Berger edited proto-Vertigo titles from the start of her time with DC, beginning in 1981 with House of Mystery. She took over editorship of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run from Swamp Thing co-creator Len Wein in 1984, and in 1986 "became DC's British liaison", bringing to DC's pre-Vertigo titles the individuals who would be instrumental in the creation and evolution of Vertigo seven years later, including Neil Gaiman, Jamie Delano, Peter Milligan, and Grant Morrison. She "found their sensibility and point of view to be refreshingly different, edgier and smarter" than those of most American comics writers.
Berger edited several new or revived series with these writers, including superhero/science fiction series such as Animal Man, Doom Patrol vol. 2, and Shade, the Changing Man vol. 2, fantasy series The Sandman vol. 2, and horror titles Hellblazer and The Saga of the Swamp Thing. She also edited limited series such as Kid Eternity, Black Orchid (Gaiman's first work for DC) and The Books of Magic limited series.
These six ongoing titles, all of which carried a "Suggested for Mature Readers" label on their covers, shared a sophistication-driven sensibility the comics fan media dubbed "the Bergerverse". In a 1992 editorial meeting with Paul Levitz, publisher Jenette Kahn, and managing editor Dick Giordano, Berger was given the mandate to place these titles under an imprint that, as Berger described, would "do something different in comics and help the medium 'grow up'". Several DC titles bearing the age advisory, such as Green Arrow, Blackhawk, and The Question (the last two cancelled before the launch of Vertigo), did not make the transition to the new imprint.
Meanwhile, Disney Comics and former DC editor Art Young had been developing an imprint to be called Touchmark Comics, analogous to Disney's mature-audiences Touchstone Pictures studio. This project was abandoned following the so-called "Disney Implosion" of 1991. Young and those works were brought into the Vertigo fold, allowing Berger to expand the imprint's publishing plans with the limited series Enigma, Sebastian O, Mercy, and Shadows Fall.
Initial year
Vertigo was launched in January 1993 with a mixture of existing ongoing series continued under the new imprint, new ongoing and limited series, and single-volume collections or graphic novels. Their publishing plan for the first year involved two new titles – whether ongoing/limited series or one-shots – each month. The existing series (cover date March 1993) were Shade, the Changing Man (starting with #33), The Sandman (#47), Hellblazer (#63), Animal Man (#57), Swamp Thing (#129), and Doom Patrol (#64, with new writer Rachel Pollack).
The first comic book published under the "Vertigo" imprint was the first issue of Death: The High Cost of Living, a three-issue series by Neil Gaiman and Chris Bachalo. The second new title was the first issue of Enigma, an 8-issue limited series initially planned to launch Touchmark, written by Peter Milligan (also author of Shade, the Changing Man) and drawn by Duncan Fegredo, the artist from Grant Morrison's earlier Kid Eternity limited series. The following month saw the debut of Sandman: Mystery Theatre by Matt Wagner and Steven T. Seagle, and illustrated primarily by Guy Davis, described as "playing the '30s with a '90s feel... haunting, film noir-ish...", and starring original Sandman Wesley Dodds in a title whose "sensibilities echo crime genre fiction". Joining it was J. M. DeMatteis and Paul Johnson's 64-page one-shot Mercy.
New series that began in the months that followed include Kid Eternity (ongoing) by Ann Nocenti and Sean Phillips (continuing from the earlier Morrison-penned limited series), Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell's three-issue steampunk limited series Sebastian O (another ex-Touchmark project), Skin Graft by Jerry Prosser and Warren Pleece, The Last One by DeMatteis and Dan Sweetman, Jonah Hex: Two-Gun Mojo by Tim Truman and Sam Glanzman, Black Orchid (ongoing) by Dick Foreman and Jill Thompson (continuing from the earlier Gaiman/McKean limited series), The Extremist by Peter Milligan and Ted McKeever, Scarab by John Smith with Scot Eaton and Mike Barreiro, and The Children's Crusade, a crossover involving several of the imprint's ongoing series. The Books of Magic limited series was relaunched as an ongoing series written by John Ney Rieber, and illustrated by Peter Gross (later also writer), Gary Amaro, and Peter Snejbjerg.
Although the books did not have a consistent "house style" of art, the cover designs of early Vertigo series featured a uniform trade dress with a vertical bar along the left side, which included the imprint logo, pricing, date, and issue numbers. The design layout continued with very little variation until issues cover-dated July 2002 (including Fables #1) which introduced an across-the-top layout ahead of 2003's "Vertigo X" 10th anniversary celebration. The "distinctive design" was intended to be used on "all Vertigo books except the hardcovers, trade paperbacks, and graphic novels". Berger noted that DC was "very" committed to the line, having put a "lot of muscle behind" promoting it, including a promotional launch kit made available to "[r]etailers who order[ed] at least 25 copies of the February issue of Sandman [#47]", a "platinum edition" variant cover for Death: The High Cost of Living #1 and a 75-cent Vertigo Preview comic featuring a specially written seven-page Sandman story by Gaiman and Kent Williams. In addition, a 16-page Vertigo Sampler was also produced and bundled with copies of Capital City Distribution's Advance Comics solicitation index.
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Vertigo publications generally did not take place in a shared universe, but several of the early series which had begun as part of the main DC Universe had a "crossover" in 1993-94: The Children's Crusade. The event "did not yield smashing results" or garner many positive reviews, in large part due to its "gimmicky" nature, which ran counter to Vertigo's quirky, non-mainstream appeal and customer-base. The event was defended as "no marketing ploy" by one of the event's editors, Lou Stathis, who wrote of his dislike of the often "crass manipulation" of crossover events, defending The Children's Crusade as having come not from marketing, but the writers' minds, and therefore being "story-driven" rather than manipulative. The crossover did not become an annual event, however — indeed, "annuals" linked to Vertigo series rarely reappeared after this event.
Works previously published by DC under other imprints, but which fit the general character of Vertigo, have been reprinted under this imprint. This has included V for Vendetta, earlier issues of Vertigo's ongoing launch series, and books from discontinued imprints such as Transmetropolitan (initially under DC's short-lived sci-fi Helix imprint) and A History of Violence (originally part of the Paradox Press line).
Two of the new ongoing series did not last long: Kid Eternity was cancelled after 16 issues, and Black Orchid continued for only 22. Sandman Mystery Theatre and most of the pre-existing series continued for several years, including Sandman which reached its planned conclusion with #75. Hellblazer was the last of the original ongoing series to be canceled, ceasing publication in February 2013 with #300.
Berger won Eisner Awards for her editing in 1992, 1994 and 1995 for her work on the proto- and early Vertigo titles Sandman, Shade, Kid Eternity, Books of Magic, Death: The High Cost of Living and Sandman Mystery Theatre.
Middle period
As the imprint's initial ongoing series came to their ends, new series were launched to replace them, with varying degrees of success. The Sandman was replaced following its completion by The Dreaming (1996–2001) and The Sandman Presents, which featured stories about the characters from Neil Gaiman's series, written by other creators. Other long-running series have been The Invisibles by Grant Morrison and various artists (1994–2000); Preacher by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon (1995–2000); Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson (1997–2002); 100 Bullets by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso (1999–2009); Lucifer by Mike Carey, Peter Gross, and Ryan Kelly (2000–2006); Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra (2002–2008); Daytripper by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá (2010); DMZ by Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli (2005–2012); and Fables by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, and various other artists (2002–2015), which launched spin-offs including Jack of Fables by Willingham, Lilah Sturges (credited as "Matthew Sturges"), and various artists (2006–2011), and Fairest by Willingham and various artists (2012–2015).
In 2003, the Vertigo imprint celebrated its 10th anniversary by branding its books cover-dated April 2003 to February 2004 (i.e. released between February and December 2003) with the label Vertigo X. This special subtitle was debuted on the Vertigo X Anniversary Preview (April 2003), a 48-page special previewing Vertigo's upcoming projects and featuring a short Shade, the Changing Man story by Peter Milligan and Mike Allred. Other projects highlighted included Death: At Death's Door, Jill Thompson's first manga-ized version of the "Season of Mists" storyline, and Gaiman's own return to the mythos with the hardcover Sandman: Endless Nights collection of short stories spotlighting the seven members of the Endless (an eight-page Endless Nights Preview issue was also released before the hardcover).
Berger oversaw the entire Vertigo line, and she was promoted to the position of "Senior Vice President—Executive Editor, Vertigo" in July 2006. Her promotion came as Vertigo was said to be equivalent to "the fourth largest American comic book publisher" in 2005, with Paul Levitz praising her personally as having "built Vertigo into an imprint which is simultaneously one of comics' leading creative and commercial successes".
The financial success of many Vertigo titles relied not on monthly issue sales but on the subsequent "trade paperback" editions that reprinted the monthly comics in volumes, which were also sold in general-interest bookshops. Vertigo's success in popularizing this approach, beginning with Sandman, led to a wider take-up in the American comics industry of routinely reprinting monthly series in this format.
Vertigo Visions
Vertigo Visions was an irregular series of self-contained short stories featuring characters from the DC Universe, reinterpreted or recontextualized.
Vertigo Visions: The Geek (June 1993) by Rachel Pollack and Mike Allred
Vertigo Visions: Phantom Stranger (October 1993) by Alisa Kwitney and Guy Davis
Vertigo Visions: Doctor Occult (July 1994) by Dave Louapre and Dan Sweetman
Vertigo Visions: Prez (September 1995) by Ed Brubaker and Eric Shanower
Vertigo Visions: Tomahawk (July 1998) by Rachel Pollack and Tom Yeates
Vertigo Visions: Doctor Thirteen (September 1998) by Matt Howarth and Michael Avon Oeming
Vertigo Visions: Artwork from the Cutting Edge of Comics was a 2000 collection of artwork from various Vertigo titles, with commentary by Alisa Kwitney.
Vertigo Voices
The Vertigo Voices featured creator-owned "distinctive one-shot stories".
Face (Jan. 1995) by Peter Milligan and Duncan Fegredo, a horror story involving plastic surgery.
Tainted (Feb. 1995) by Jamie Delano and Al Davison, a Kafkaesque tale involving repressed memories, blackmail, and murder.
Kill Your Boyfriend (June 1995) by Grant Morrison and Philip Bond (with D'Israeli), the protagonist takes on the persona projected by her new, murderous, bad-boy boyfriend.
The Eaters (Nov. 1995) by Milligan and Dean Ormston, a black comedy dealing with a family of cannibals.
Vertigo Vérité
The short-lived "Vérité" line, evoking the realism of Cinéma vérité, "was a 1996–98 attempt to promote new Vertigo projects devoid of the supernatural qualities that had gotten to define the publisher".
Seven Miles a Second (May 1996) by David Wojnarowicz and James Romberger, published after Wojnarowicz' death from AIDS, about his experiences of living with the disease.
The System #1–3 (May–July 1996) by Peter Kuper, dealt wordlessly with "class warfare in the big city".
Girl #1–3 (July–September 1996) by Peter Milligan and Duncan Fegredo, a hyper-realistic tale of a disaffected teenage girl prone to "all-consuming daydreams...needed to cope with life itself" caught up in a tale of murder and mundanity.
The Unseen Hand #1–4 (September–December 1996) by Terry LaBan and Ilya, a college student caught up in an Illuminati-like conspiracy.
Hell Eternal (April 1998) by Jamie Delano and Sean Phillips
V2K
The "fifth-week event" brand V2K (Vertigo 2000), was a "much hyped concept" whose titles were designed to "usher...in the new millennium" and, as such, several of them were limited series rather than one-shots.
Brave Old World #1–4 (February–May 2000) by William Messner-Loebs, Guy Davis and Phil Hester
The Four Horsemen #1–4 (February–May 2000) by Robert Rodi and Esad Ribić
I Die at Midnight by Kyle Baker
Pulp Fantastic #1–3 (February–April 2000) by Howard Chaykin with David Tischman and Rick Burchett
Totems by Tom Peyer with Richard Case, Duncan Fegredo, and Dean Ormston
Vertigo Pop!
The Vertigo Pop limited series were designed "to be about pop culture around the globe in some vaguely defined way".
Vertigo Pop: Tokyo #1–4 (September–December 2002) by Jonathan Vankin and Seth Fisher
Vertigo Pop: London #1–4 (January–April 2003) by Peter Milligan and Philip Bond
Vertigo Pop: Bangkok #1–4 (July–October 2003) by Vankin and Giuseppe Camuncoli
Vertigo Crime
Vertigo Crime, a line of graphic novels published in black and white, and hardcover, was launched in 2009 with two titles: Brian Azzarello's Filthy Rich and Ian Rankin's Dark Entries, the latter featuring John Constantine. Each volume features a cover illustration by Lee Bermejo. Vertigo Crime ended as a sub-imprint in 2011.
The following original graphic novels have been published under the Vertigo Crime imprint (in order of publication):
Filthy Rich by Brian Azzarello and Victor Santos, 2009
Dark Entries by Ian Rankin and Werther Dell'Edera, 2009
The Chill by Jason Starr and Mick Bertilorenzi, 2010
The Bronx Kill by Peter Milligan and James Romberger, 2010
Area 10 by Christos N. Gage and Chris Samnee, 2010
The Executor by Jon Evans and Andrea Mutti, 2010
Fogtown by Andersen Gabrych and Brad Rader, 2010
A Sickness in the Family by Denise Mina and Antonio Fuso, 2010
Rat Catcher by Andy Diggle and Victor Ibanez, 2011
Noche Roja by Simon Oliver and Jason Latour, 2011
99 Days by Matteo Casali and Kristian Donaldson, 2011
Cowboys by Gary Phillips and Brian Hurtt, 2011
Return to Perdition by Max Allan Collins, 2011
Editorial changes, attempted relaunch, and discontinuation
Karen Berger left the company in March 2013. Berger's position at the head of Vertigo was filled by Shelly Bond, who had begun editing for the imprint in 1993. In 2016, however, DC "restructured" Vertigo, eliminating Bond's position, and oversight of Vertigo was placed under Jamie S. Rich, until May 2017 when Mark Doyle became the new editor.
In 2018, DC Comics began a "line-wide relaunch and rebranding" as "DC Vertigo", including 11 new ongoing titles planned for the coming year, under Doyle's editorship. These included a new sub-imprint based on Neil Gaiman's Sandman with four new ongoing series, announced in March, and seven new series announced in June.
The relaunch experienced a number of complications. Border Town by Eric M. Esquivel and Ramon Villalobos dealt with immigration and Latino identity, for which Esquivel received death threats in advance of its publication. The series was well received by critics, but after four issues were published, Esquivel was accused of sexually and emotionally abusing a former partner. Villalobos and colorist Tamra Bonvillain withdrew from the project, and DC cancelled the series, including issues that were ready for publication. Meanwhile, Second Coming by Mark Russell and Richard Pace came under criticism from Christians and conservatives who considered its announced premise – in which Jesus Christ returns and lives as a roommate with a modern-day superhero – blasphemous and offensive. The series was cancelled before the first issue was published; Russell and Pace later published the series through Ahoy Comics. Safe Sex by Tina Horn and Mike Dowling was also cancelled before its debut, and later published as SFSX by Image Comics.
DC Comics discontinued the Vertigo imprint in January 2020. The DC Zoom and DC Ink imprints for children and young adolescents were also eliminated. Under the new plan, all of the company's comics were published under the "DC" brand, and categorized by intended reader age: DC Kids (8–12 years), DC (13+), and DC Black Label (17+). The Sandman-related titles retained their new branding as "The Sandman Universe".
2024 relaunch
In 2024, DC relaunched the Vertigo imprint, with Chris Conroy, editor of DC Black Label, as main editor. In addition, James Tynion IV and Álvaro Martínez Bueno's series The Nice House by the Sea was transferred from DC Black Label to Vertigo. The Sandman Universe line of books was folded back into the imprint as well.
In 2025, at New York Comic Con, DC officially unveiled their first line of titles for the Vertigo revival: Bleeding Hearts by Deniz Camp and Stipan Morian, End of Life by Kyle Starks and Steve Pugh, The Peril of the Brutal Dark: An Ezra Cain Mystery by Chris Condon and Jacob Philips, 100 Bullets: The US of Anger by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso, Black Tower: The Raven Conspiracy by Ram V and Mike Perkins, Necretaceous by Tom Taylor and Darick Robertson, Fanatic by Grace Ellis and Hannah Templer, The Crying Doll by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O'Connell, and A Walking Shadow by Simon Spurrier and Aaron Campbell.
From Wikipedia’s article on Vertigo Comics, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4