Karen Berger Steps Down as Vertigo Excutive Editor, SVP

[Mr. Holmes]

...That...goes without saying. Do you think I would be praising Unwritten if the dialogue, characters, writing, etc. isn't good? Or are you just trying to hypothesize the books faults before reading it?

[Libaax]

...That...goes without saying. Do you think I would be praising Unwritten if the dialogue, characters, writing, etc. isn't good?

No i dont think that but i would have been intrested to know what you thought of those parts of Unwritten. But really im just tired of the overuse of the words original,unique like thats all. Nothing personal about your posts. I think tell me more than the word original when i hear that about a comics series.

[Mr. Holmes]

In a world where comics have gotten increasingly repetitive and generic, I don't think there's anything rote about praising a comic for being original. While you say you're tired of hearing that, I feel the opposite. I'm always desperate for reading something that I don't feel I've already read before.

But as for the craft itself, I think you should know what to expect if you're familiar with Mike Carey's other work, such as Lucifer and X-Men: Legacy. Dialogue is pretty sharp, and the lead character among a few supporting ones are well developed. Lot of world building, which is the highlight of how the book is written, I would say.

[ScotsScribbler]

I'm not sure what kind of imprint they'd give her since they already publish mature reader books.

The Image imprints were originally led by the founding members of Image:
Extreme Studios, owned by Rob Liefeld
Highbrow Entertainment, owned by Erik Larsen
ShadowLine, owned by Jim Valentino
Todd McFarlane Productions, owned by Todd McFarlane
Top Cow Productions, owned by Marc Silvestri
Wildstorm Productions, owned by Jim Lee

Robert Kirkman became an Image partner after The Walking Dead became a huge success and he was given his own imprint: Skybound.

Image would be the perfect place for Karen Berger to go and set up next. I hope they've already sounded her out and I'd love to see her there. She could select and develop titles under her own imprint, which would be a stable for Vertigo type mature reader stories, and work with zero editorial interference while the roster of talent she would bring to Image could put them over the top.

[Libaax]

In a world where comics have gotten increasingly repetitive and generic, I don't think there's anything rote about praising a comic for being original. While you say you're tired of hearing that, I feel the opposite. I'm always desperate for reading something that I don't feel I've already read before.

But as for the craft itself, I think you should know what to expect if you're familiar with Mike Carey's other work, such as Lucifer and X-Men: Legacy. Dialogue is pretty sharp, and the lead character among a few supporting ones are well developed. Lot of world building, which is the highlight of how the book is written, I would say.

Im also desperate for original,different comics, im getting cynical,losing interest in the repetive, generic comics when nothing new happen storywise but in few rare cases.

Heh i almost forgot it was Carey who writes Unwritten. One of the reasons i must read Unwritten soon, he is coming to my town in Sweden for a comic con. I was excited for that even though i know him only as HB writer where he wasnt among my fav runs.

[diablo7]

The Image imprints were originally led by the founding members of Image:
Extreme Studios, owned by Rob Liefeld
Highbrow Entertainment, owned by Erik Larsen
ShadowLine, owned by Jim Valentino
Todd McFarlane Productions, owned by Todd McFarlane
Top Cow Productions, owned by Marc Silvestri
Wildstorm Productions, owned by Jim Lee

Robert Kirkman became an Image partner after The Walking Dead became a huge success and he was given his own imprint: Skybound.

Image would be the perfect place for Karen Berger to go and set up next. I hope they've already sounded her out and I'd love to see her there. She could select and develop titles under her own imprint, which would be a stable for Vertigo type mature reader stories, and work with zero editorial interference while the roster of talent she would bring to Image could put them over the top.

That does sound like it could work well. I could see her getting some of the original vertigo guys to come up with books. It would be an impressive imprint.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

As someone posted way back... really Marvel Comics seems her best destination. Alonso is an editor she worked with at DC. A lot of her former talent that she knows is there as well. So I suspect that if things happen , she could be pitched either making the Max line or EPIC. To likely work on a new Epics imprint at Marvel is my guess.

[diablo7]

As someone posted way back... really Marvel Comics seems her best destination. Alonso is an editor she worked with at DC. A lot of her former talent that she knows is there as well. So I suspect that if things happen , she could be pitched either making the Max line or EPIC. To likely work on a new Epics imprint at Marvel is my guess.

The only creator owned imprint that have is icon and unless they put her in charge and open it up to everyone, I don't see a place for her at marvel. Plus she just left a big publisher so she may not want to go through all of what she dealt with at a different publisher.

[Johnny P. Sartre]

In a world where comics have gotten increasingly repetitive and generic

[Should_have_sent_a_poet]

Certainly seems to be the case with Peter Milligan now. I wish he'd go back to doing something totally subversive and trippy. As of today's issue of Stormwatch, it's clear he's phoning it in.

To be honest that's something Pete's been doing through his entire career. Milligan's the one writer out there who isn't afraid to show he couldn't care less about what he's doing when he's on a project he doesn't care about. It's his greatest weakness.

[AgPhoenix]

The only creator owned imprint that have is icon and unless they put her in charge and open it up to everyone, I don't see a place for her at marvel. Plus she just left a big publisher so she may not want to go through all of what she dealt with at a different publisher.

This. I would be kind of shocked to see Berger go over to Marvel, simply because the issues that more than likely pushed her out at DC are more than likely to be more apparent.

DC is still trying to figure out how best to position its IP Farm. Marvel is much more ahead of the game.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

The only creator owned imprint that have is icon and unless they put her in charge and open it up to everyone, I don't see a place for her at marvel. Plus she just left a big publisher so she may not want to go through all of what she dealt with at a different publisher.

Epic could likely rise from the ashes and given Berger's talent , be asked to launch that as an imprint. There is a lot of former Vertigo talent at Marvel and many will go for the chance to work with her again plus knowing they could create something special in the imprint.

[Mr. Holmes]

To be honest that's something Pete's been doing through his entire career. Milligan's the one writer out there who isn't afraid to show he couldn't care less about what he's doing when he's on a project he doesn't care about. It's his greatest weakness.

Yeah I hear that.

So is he just not interested in writing another Shade or X-Statix or does he just need a book he's interested in? If the latter, there's no reason they can't give him a corner book to do whatever they want? They've given that to China Mieville in Dial H and Keith Giffen in Threshold.

He'll be down a book now with Hellblazer's ending, which I think was by far better than any of the DC stuff he did as of the last two years.

[aaronghunter]

Image would be the perfect place for Karen Berger to go and set up next. I hope they've already sounded her out and I'd love to see her there. She could select and develop titles under her own imprint, which would be a stable for Vertigo type mature reader stories, and work with zero editorial interference while the roster of talent she would bring to Image could put them over the top.

That could work, if it did it would certainly be an excellent outcome. That said, she would have some difficulty distinguishing her titles, given the volume and variety Image is currently pressing out.

Epic could likely rise from the ashes and given Berger's talent , be asked to launch that as an imprint. There is a lot of former Vertigo talent at Marvel and many will go for the chance to work with her again plus knowing they could create something special in the imprint.

That seems unlikely, given the current direction of Marvel, the lackluster and forced nature of their core line, and the fact that many of the former Vertigo talent at Marvel is already working on creator owned projects through Dark Horse, et al.

[Should_have_sent_a_poet]

Yeah I hear that.

So is he just not interested in writing another Shade or X-Statix or does he just need a book he's interested in? If the latter, there's no reason they can't give him a corner book to do whatever they want? They've given that to China Mieville in Dial H and Keith Giffen in Threshold.

He'll be down a book now with Hellblazer's ending, which I think was by far better than any of the DC stuff he did as of the last two years.

Well I have no idea what's going on right now with him, that's why I was trying, in what was a longshot attempt, to get DC to give him and McCarthy a creeper series, I figure those two together might get him out of his funk. Also there is no reason DC can't give him a corner book, but I'm not sure if he has the popularity for them to risk it, and with Berger gone he doesn't have her to set one up like she did with Meiville. Though according to a post he made on his blog today (http://petermilligan.wordpress.com/2...orld/#comments) so let's hope these changes are the things he needs to get a great new book out.