We’re in the midst of Comic-Con 2013, so hey, just for the heck of it, let’s talk about some comics! Specifically Vertigo comics. Earlier this year, fans of DC’s long-running creator-owned, mature-readers line had reason for concern — long time Vertigo editor Karen Berger had moved onto greener pastures, iconic Vertigo characters like Swamp Thing and John Constantine were being absorbed into the regular DC Universe and releases had slowed to a crawl.
Thankfully it looks like rumors of Vertigo’s demise were largely exaggerated — as revealed in a panel yesterday, Vertigo has a ton of cool looking projects coming in the back half of 2013. We’ve already heard a little bit about some of these titles, but the panel filled in some of the details and provided some release dates. Here’s what you can look forward to from Vertigo in 2013…
via HitFix, DC Comics, Bleeding Cool & Comics Alliance
– Sandman Overture, the new Sandman prequel being written by Neil Gaiman himself and drawn by J.H. Williams III. Not too much was said about this one, since it’s getting an entire panel to itself on Saturday.
– A new 80-page American Vampire anthology coming out next month, featuring work by the likes of Becky Cloonan, Gabriel Ba, Fabio Moon, Jason Aaron and of course series creator Scott Snyder. The regular American Vampire series will also likely be returning this year with a story-arc set in the 60s, which will draw inspiration from the movie Straw Dogs, so yeah, it’s going to be rad.
– Trillium, the new series by Sweet Tooth creator Jeff Lemire is also coming out next month. It involves a romance between a World War I era explorer and a scientist from the distant future. The first issue looks to be pretty ambitious artistically, with hand-painted color and a unique flipbook layout.
– The Dead Boy Detectives, from the world of Sandman, will be getting their own series in November. The series will be written by novelist (and comics newcomer) Toby Litt and illustrated by Fables artist Mark Buckingham.
– Collider, a new sci-fi series about a guy who works for the Federal Bureau of Physics. Yup, in the future physics is out of control and somebody’s got to keep it in line. An interesting concept if nothing else. This one’s coming in less than a month.
– Hinterkind, about a post-apocalyptic world in which fantasy and fairy tale creatures have taken over the earth. It’ll also have horror elements. So yeah, this sounds like the most Vertigo-ish series ever. It’s written by Ian Edginton, drawn by Francesco Trifogli and will be arriving in October.
– Coffin Hill, a story about a girl who summons an evil spirit via witchcraft as a teenager then has to deal with consequences later in life. Sooo, basically The Craft in comic book form? Well, okay, it’ll probably be a little better than that (not that The Craft isn’t great, but you know what I mean). By popular horror/fantasy author Caitlin Kittredge and artist Inaki Miranda. This one’s also coming in October.
Safe for work? I uh, think?
– The Discipline, a new series from Vertigo mainstay Peter Milligan that will “push the sexual boundaries of storytelling at Vertigo.” Hmmm! Vertigo comics have actually been kind of wimpy about sex stuff lately — lots of violence, but rarely a boob or butt in sight, so I’m down for a series that uses that “Suggested for Mature Readers” warning for more sensual purposes. Coming this December.
– And finally, there’s Suiciders, a new series written by drawn by Lee Bermejo. Set in, yes, a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, where Hollywood producers try to avoid ruin by creating a vicious gladiatorial-style reality show called The Suiciders.
So yeah, looks like we’re going to have more Vertigo stuff than we know what to do with in the later half of 2013. To a certain extent it does seem like the new Vertigo editorial team is kind of casting around for a new hit — the next thing that can be adapted into a movie or TV series. Lots of post-apocalyptic stuff, lots of “reimagining of myths and monsters” stuff. Still, there’s plenty of genuinely interesting new premises from promising new creators mixed in as well. Personally I’m on board for Trillium, Collider, The Discipline and possible Coffin Hill and Suiciders as well.
Oh, hey, and in other Vertigo news, DC is pretty into making a Sandman movie happen. So yeah, long live comics for adults.