Are you worred for Vetigo part 2

[Darrell D.]

He mentioned in a CBR interview posted yesterday that he has a new creator-owned series with Vertigo that will start around the end of the year.

I wonder if he is the first 'exclusive' to do that.
Or, forced to do it, in any case.

[FanboyStranger]

I wonder if he is the first 'exclusive' to do that.
Or, forced to do it, in any case.

I don't think so. He seems pretty happy with how Vertigo has been treating him. Obviously, he could have put this out through Top Shelf as a series of OGNs, but he wants to do it monthly.

[briancwood]

DC exclusive contracts don't, as a default, allow for creator-owned work elsewhere. They are super clear on that, super strict, super hardcore. It's Marvel that's a little more relaxed. Anytime you see a DC exclusive creator doing it, typically its a deal that pre-dates the exclusive. In my case, I was DC exclusive but was allowed to finish up Local at Oni Press. I would imagine Jeff's Underwater Welder is like that.

b

[Darrell D.]

DC exclusive contracts don't, as a default, allow for creator-owned work elsewhere. They are super clear on that, super strict, super hardcore. It's Marvel that's a little more relaxed. Anytime you see a DC exclusive creator doing it, typically its a deal that pre-dates the exclusive. In my case, I was DC exclusive but was allowed to finish up Local at Oni Press. I would imagine Jeff's Underwater Welder is like that.

b

Ahh, thanks for that bit of clarification, Mr. Wood.
I'm guessing that Grant Morrison must have worked something out to do the creator-owned book at Image, then.

[Just Endless]

Is Morrison even on contract? I feel like he's kind of at the point where he can do whatever the hell he wants.

I think it's really going to be interesting to watch Snyder and Lemire in the next few years, as far as I'm concerned they're the upcoming greats. Very impressed.
But yeah. Because what does vertigo have right now?

Fables
Hellblazer
(Both pretty much perpetual, my dismay at the former disregarded)
American Vampire
Sweet Tooth
Unwritten
iZombie
(All 4 of which I love the existence of, and will read to completion someday)

And some up-and-comers, no?


[Cool of Brian Wood to clarify, btw, that's some neat author-customer interaction.]

[Mr. Holmes]

Yeah I'm pretty sure Morrison's exclusive ended a while back. He did the 18 Days GN for Liquid Comics/Dynamite, and he's doing Dinosaurs vs Aliens. He's just sticking with DC for the superhero stuff.

[Johnny P. Sartre]

Yeah I'm pretty sure Morrison's exclusive ended a while back. He did the 18 Days GN for Liquid Comics/Dynamite, and he's doing Dinosaurs vs Aliens. He's just sticking with DC for the superhero stuff.

I always forget about 18 Days... I need to get it

[Just Endless]

I love morrison, but um... I'm not really sure you do. It's interesting to listen to Morrison talk about the end of the fourth cycle and whatnot (kind of fun when you notice his actual beliefs kind of tongue-in-cheek parallel, like, final crisis and the whole end of the fourth world stuff), but the actual story told there is not super brilliant, and definitely unfinished. And half the book is character bios.

And yeah, Dinosaurs VS Aliens is out, no? God. Morrison. Not what I want you to be doing.

[gloryhound]

I know the big rumor is the contracts have changed -- and Karen Berger has less power than she used to -- and therefore are not as attractive to creators as they used to be. It's kind of obvious when you see so many people heading towards Image and, to a lesser degree, Dark Horse. I have a feeling most of these creators (BKV comes to mind) went to Image for exactly that reason. Grant Morrison did state in an interview that one story element in Happy! -- children in harm's way in a sexual manner -- would not be approved by Karen Berger and this is why he's publishing it at Image. I wish I had the link to that interview but, unfortunately, I don't.

That being said, I'll continue to pick up whatever new series Vertigo releases but if it turns out the imprint will shrink to almost nothingness, I'm just going to get my titles elsewhere. I stopped being publisher-centric since last year -- it's too constricting and quite nonsensical.

[Desaad]

BKV went to Image because he wanted full control of movie and TV rights, which is something Vertigo has NEVER given. So that isn't so much the result of contract changes for the worse.

[Johnny P. Sartre]

Interesting article on Vertigo

http://www.weeklycrisis.com/2012/07/...ekly+Crisis%29

[Mr. Holmes]

I think as much as I love DC and Vertigo and find this to be kind of sad, I really think Image deserves all the applause it can get for taking such a step on creator rights. I'm not a :boycott DC/Marvel, read indie only" guy, but what Image is doing is the kind of thing the industry really needs more of to be sustainable.