Vertigo Only

[Mr. Palmer]

Slowly, I've noticed that my pull-list has been sliced 'n' diced down to where I have mostly all Vertigo titles. Aside from Jonah Hex and The Boys, which are both leaning on the fence, the rest are all Vertigo.

Vertigo just seems to have the characters and stories I most care about...

Does anyone else read exclusively Vertigo?

[Lance]

Slowly, I've noticed that my pull-list has been sliced 'n' diced down to where I have mostly all Vertigo titles. Aside from Jonah Hex and The Boys, which are both leaning on the fence, the rest are all Vertigo.

Vertigo just seems to have the characters and stories I most care about...

Does anyone else read exclusively Vertigo?

Can't say I read only Vertigo. but I'm moving in that direction. I read some Wildstorm(The Boys, Planetary, Desolation Jones), Darkhorse(B.R.P.D., The Goon), and IDW(Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse).

Next to nothing from mainstream Marvel or DC. Their mainstays just don't get my cash anymore. Especially since they've both gone company wide crossover crazy.

I recently bought House on the Borderland. Great art by Richard Corben.

[stealthwise]

I read Y and am picking up a couple of the new titles in trade. I also have been accumulating some older Vertigo stuff, like Hellblazer and Lucifer, in trade as well, but I wouldn't say I'm Vertigo exclusive.

I do dig Ex Machina, Fell, Nextwave, The Goon, and a few other titles that tend to fall outside of the mainstream superhero comic sphere.

I am writing my master's thesis on the early works of Vertigo though. :)

[pigkiller]

I'm pretty much the same way. There are a few non-vertigo titles I read. Jonah Hex, Planet Hulk (I know, I know I hate the hulk too), and a handful of independents, but the comics that I really love are all vertigo's. Fables, Y, Exterminators and DMZ to a lesser extent.

[will_butler]

Not really. God knows I loves me some Vertigo, but right now the only book they're putting out that has that great epic feel (a la Sandman, Preacher, Transmetropolitan, etc) is Y: The Last Man. Hellblazer's always a quality read, but it hasn't hit the same highs of Delano, Ennis, and Ellis in a long time, and American Virgin is good, if a little uneven. I've never enjoyed 100 Bullets, though, and DMZ and Testament left me fairly cold after their first storyarcs. I gave Fables two trades to win me over, but I really couldn't dig it. Vertigo has a great, storied history, and they've produced some of the finest comics the medium has ever seen. But I'm not really responding to most of the material they're putting out right now. It's likely just a matter of personal taste. What I am reading, though, can be seen below.

Will

[Nitz the Bloody]

While I can't say I'd limit myself to one company/imprint, it is true that Vertigo has the two best books on the market ( Y and Fables ), as well as a huge catalogue of phenomenal works. Only now am I getting into Sandman, and I'm hitting myself for waiting for so long.

But taking note of this...


I am writing my master's thesis on the early works of Vertigo though.

Well, that certainly beats my Race, Theory, and Media final paper on the recent Black Panther comics...:)

[The Adventurer]

I only read 3 Vertigo titles currently, DMZ, Fables, and Jack of Fables. None of the rest currently interest me (Exterminators, American Virgin), held my attention for more then the first few issues (Loveless), or I watched burn brightly then sputter and run around in circles for a few dozen issues before I kicked it to the curb (Y - The Last Man).

At any rate I would never, EVER, limit myself to only one narrow line of books from a single company. Not when I'm picking up top notch books from companies like Image and various Indy publishers that are as good if not more so then what Vertigo dishes out. Heck, there are some solid books coming out of DC themselves these days too. Though not particularly from Marvel.


Planet Hulk (I know, I know I hate the hulk too),
Why do you hate the Hulk? Planet Hulk is one of the most impressive "titles" on the stands right now. Or do you hate the Hulk because he's not "cynical" and "tragic" enough to hang with the emo indie crowd at Vertigo*?

*I'm being fairly sarcastic here. Unfortunately I know people who are total snobs to anything "mainstream". Which has a tendency to get my bile burning. If you're going to snub something, snub it on it's own merits, not based on inferred inferiority based on nothing but dated cliches.

[Ayo]

I would be very happy if I could magically get all the comics that I want to read from one mainstream publishing imprint.

That said, one of my top five cartoonists has a book out on Vertigo and I can't buy it. Why? It's out of print. Thanks a lot, guys. (btw, its Heavy Liquid)



But yeah, I can't even imagine how easy life would be if all I did was roll to the stop, check out the Vertigo column/shelf and just get my book and leave.


Moral: Step your game up, vertigo!

[Bazooka Tooth]

exterminators. hellblazer. fables.

=/ ouh yeah now that i've state them all..i am going all Vertigo. What else can i do?! THEY'RE PUTTING OUT GOOD BOOKS!

[Nitz the Bloody]

Why do you hate the Hulk? Planet Hulk is one of the most impressive "titles" on the stands right now. Or do you hate the Hulk because he's not "cynical" and "tragic" enough to hang with the emo indie crowd at Vertigo*?

You don't have to infer that he hates the Hulk because he's a pretentious jackass, because nothing in his post indicated that. There are several mainstream characters that I disdain as well, such as the majority of DCU characters, Jean Grey of the X-Men, and the Oldvengers ( pre-Bendis second-string Avengers like Hawkeye and the Scarlet Witch ).


*I'm being fairly sarcastic here. Unfortunately I know people who are total snobs to anything "mainstream". Which has a tendency to get my bile burning. If you're going to snub something, snub it on it's own merits, not based on inferred inferiority based on nothing but dated cliches.

You realize that such a position is mostly justified when the mainstream is stuff like MTV, romance novels, and sequels to summer blockbusters? Or in the case of comics, sappy superhero melodrama and big crossover events? While I'm not for a blind prejudice against everything " mainstream ", it is true that the best works generally do not gain the largest fanbases. :(

[Agent Helix]

Wait, people think Vertigo isn't mainstream comics?

[Nitz the Bloody]

Wait, people think Vertigo isn't mainstream comics?

In terms of genre and publication history, mainstream comics = capes. Particularly, corporate owned capes that have been around for decades, and are published for kids and ( more likely ) " immature " adults. The sad truth is that even a DC Comics sponsored mature readers/creator owned imprint is considered outside the norm.

[stealthwise]

Wait, people think Vertigo isn't mainstream comics?

No comics are, since probably... 1996? At this point, with the fanbase and readership being at such low numbers, there are no "mainstream" comics anymore.

[Ayo]

Manga=mainstream

truth.


Also, literary comics are on the come up for some serious mainstream success:

Maus
Jimmy Corrigan the Smartest Kid on Earth
Persepolis
Ghost World, other Daniel Clowes work
La Perdida
Black Hole
American Born Chinese
Fun Home

All of these books have been welcomed with mainstream praise and more importantly, mainstream MONEY.

Just saying.

As far as the periodicals go, Vertigo is no less "mainstream" for that context than Batman and the X-Men.

[Agent Helix]

Please. Vertigo is a major imprint by one of the two biggest companies. It's mainstream comics. Comics themselves aren't mainstream anymore, but in terms of the internal mechanics of the thing, Vertigo is about as mainstream as Spider-Man now.

[Ayo]

Please. Vertigo is a major imprint by one of the two biggest companies. It's mainstream comics. Comics themselves aren't mainstream anymore, but in terms of the internal mechanics of the thing, Vertigo is about as mainstream as Spider-Man now.

comics as a medium are pretty mainstream.

Jimmy Corrigan, Persepolis and a few others are pushing six figures. True story.

I don't know what Naruto, Fruits Basket and One Piece are doing, but I know that they've been doing some serious numbers.

[Ayo]

The only reason that Marvel and DC comics are considered mainstream is because the only sales figures that are considered are those of the Direct Market. It's not a real accurate picture.


Comics are tough going, but its not as bad as some would have you believe. The industry as a whole has been in an upward swing over the last six years.

[diablo7]

i get a few vertigo titles..i'm currently working on getting backissues of shade, doompatrol, enigma and some of the other older vertigo titles that came out when the imprint first started

[Generic Eric]

I couldn't limit myself to just reading Vertigo comics all of the time. I follow a couple other monthlies like The Boys, Godland, BPRD, Midnighter, Stormwatch PHD, Fell, Etc. There are just too many great comics outside of the Superheroic genre. My greatest love is not monthlies but new GN's and TPB's from Oni Press, Image Comics, Slave Labor, Drawn & Quarterly, FantaGraphics, Etc.

There are alot of great Manga series out there like Samuraii Executioner, Ranma1/2, Excel Saga, Lady Snow Blood, One Piece, Sgt Frog, Yotsuba Etc. The only problem I have with them is they go on froever. That's one thing most vertigo series have over manga they have an ending that doesn't take 20 to 50 volumes to get to.

[Nitz the Bloody]

Please. Vertigo is a major imprint by one of the two biggest companies. It's mainstream comics. Comics themselves aren't mainstream anymore, but in terms of the internal mechanics of the thing, Vertigo is about as mainstream as Spider-Man now.

In terms of internal mechanics, no Vertigo title cracks the top 5, 10, 20, or even 50 of Diamond's sales charts. Last I checked, even the two titans of the imprint ( Fables and Y ) were hovering above the 100s. ( Anyone got more recent sales figures? )

Bookstore sales are a whole other matter, but in terms of the direct market, I wouldn't consider Vertigo mainstream the way Spider-Man is mainstream. In terms of sales and popularity, mainstream is still capes.

[stealthwise]

In terms of internal mechanics, no Vertigo title cracks the top 5, 10, 20, or even 50 of Diamond's sales charts. Last I checked, even the two titans of the imprint ( Fables and Y ) were hovering above the 100s. ( Anyone got more recent sales figures? )

Bookstore sales are a whole other matter, but in terms of the direct market, I wouldn't consider Vertigo mainstream the way Spider-Man is mainstream. In terms of sales and popularity, mainstream is still capes.

Devil's advocate here: the top-selling graphic novel through Diamond was BKV's Pride of Baghdad, which is a Vertigo book. So far it's sold over 7,000 copies, and counting.