DC Comics has announced the closure of
its Vertigo imprint after 26 fantastic years.
Launched by editor Karen Berger, Vertigo
was intended to be the home of DC’s more
adult, creator-led books that, with just a few
exceptions, had no ties whatsoever to the main
DC Universe.
DC has also announced that it has dropped
its Zoom and Ink imprints, and will instead be
dividing its books into three imprints that will be
defined by age, named DC Kids, DC, and DC
Black Label. Ongoing Vertigo books will
be moved to the Black Label imprint as of
January 2020.
So, as we say goodbye to an imprint that
literally changed the face of comics, let’s take a
look back at some of Vertigo’s best books.1
THE SANDMAN
Neil Gaiman’s universe-trotting fantasy epic
is rightly hailed as one of the greatest comic
book series ever made, and his world of the
Endless – including Dream, Death and their
siblings – is one of literature’s best mythologies.
DC is currently revisiting Gaiman’s world in its
new Sandman Universe, which will continue
under its Black Label.2
HELLBLAZER
This John Constantine-starring book may
have started life in the main DC Universe, but its
success was one of the things that encouraged
DC to launch an imprint specifically for titles
like Hellblazer. It went on to run for 300
issues before the character was folded back
into the DCU, but he’s soon set to return inJohn Constantine, Hellblazer as part of DC’s
Sandman Universe.3
FABLES
Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham
were bringing fairy tale characters into the real
world long before Once Upon A Time did it,
and their take on the subject is infinitely smarter,
darker and funnier. The series ran for 13 years,
and had numerous spin-offs, creating a whole
Fables universe within Vertigo.4
PREACHER
After absolutely smashing it on Hellblazer,
the brilliant Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon
launched their very own blasphemous road-
tripping epic, Preacher, which solidified Ennis’
gleefully violent and subversive style, and did
things that we still can’t quite believe they got
away with.5
Y: THE LAST MAN
Brian K Vaughan and Pia Guerra’s
fantastic story about the last man alive after a
horrific plague wipes out all other males is still
being discovered by new readers today, and
is most definitely as relevant now as it was in- The success of this comic is what kicked
Vaughan’s career into high gear, meaning we
can thank Vertigo for the likes of Saga and
Paper Girls.
SPECIAL MENTIONS
The sheer scope of Vertigo is simply too
wide for a top-five really, so let’s not forget
that the imprint also launched, or at least
boosted, the careers of the likes of Grant
Morrison, Brian Azzarello, Warren Ellis,
Scott Snyder, Mike Carey, G Willow Wilson,
and Jeff Lemire.“THE WORLD OF THE
ENDLESS IS ONE OF
LITERATURE’S BEST
MYTHOLOGIES”