The Official Vertigo Thread

[NewOthello]

Just read American Vampire, and I think its excellent so far. I normally don't really read DC books, but this one is the exception.

 

[Mystirious]

It's really very

You should give some other Vertigo comic books a try. The Invisibles Sandman Hellblazer Madame Xanadu and Swamp Thing are pretty fab

 

[chamber-music]

Hellblazer: City of Demons is really good

 

[Tron Bonne]

This isn't a Vertigo thing, but probably fits here well enough. Kurt Busiek will be launching a series called Witchlands. It seems to basically break down into Astro City, only with fantasy and myths, with an urban bend.


http://www.newsarama.com/comics/kurt-busiek-the-witchlands-101123.html

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Kurt Busiek needs to make some more Arrowsmith before he tackles any other fantasy stuff, damn it.

 

[NDX]

Just finished the last 2 issues of Madame Xanadu. I'm going to miss this book. I feel it could be restarted in the DCU in the current era and still keep most of what made it good. But that's wishful thinking.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

If it couldn't sell to the Vertigo crowd, there's no way it'd sell to the mainstream DC crowd.

 

[NDX]

Shaddup and let me dream.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Preview for Fables 100

http://www.newsarama.com/php/multimedia/album.php?aid=40507

Interview with Sean Murphy about lots of ****

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=29749

 

[Mystirious]

Just finished the last 2 issues of Madame Xanadu. I'm going to miss this book. I feel it could be restarted in the DCU in the current era and still keep most of what made it good. But that's wishful thinking.

It was a fab comic book really going to miss it

 

[Watchman]

Preview for Fables 100

http://www.newsarama.com/php/multimedia/album.php?aid=40507

Interview with Sean Murphy about lots of ****

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=29749

Haha, Punk Rock Jesus sounds fun.

 

[Mystirious]

 

[Calavera]

am i the only one who reads scalped? its such an amazing book. every issue stands out as itself

 

[NDX]

Been meaning to read it for a while now, but have a lot of other books come up that kept dropping it back on my list. Had to draw the lead character a few weeks ago, making me more interested in reading it.

 

[Justkidding]

Jason Arrow's new article on comic book resources said Scalped will be losing 2 pages like all other DC titles, and that many of the Vertigo titles will be going to $3.99 next year.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Jason Arrow's new article on comic book resources said Scalped will be losing 2 pages like all other DC titles, and that many of the Vertigo titles will be going to $3.99 next year.

Are you talking about this article?

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=29782

Now, pay-cut or no pay-cut, if losing those two pages is the only way to keep my series "Scalped" from bumping up to $3.99 (which I had already been told was going to happen, across the board at Vertigo), then I'm all for it. I just would've appreciated a bit of notice from The Powers That Be. I also don't think the loss of those pages should be so quickly discounted from a storytelling stand-point.

I assume you mean this, but I'm pretty he's saying that the page cut is what's going to keep that from happening, that was one of the points of the page cuts.

 

[Zur En Arrh]

am i the only one who reads scalped? its such an amazing book. every issue stands out as itself

I picked up Indian Country yesterday and have read the first two chapters. So far I love it. I grew up by an Indian Reservation so it's kind of interesting to see a crime book that takes place in a familiar setting. Do I have some good reading ahead of me?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I stopped reading it a while ago. I can't remember why. Budget, maybe.

 

[Tron Bonne]

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=349791

Lemire on Sweet Tooth.

 

[SpideyInATree]

am i the only one who reads scalped? its such an amazing book. every issue stands out as itself

I love Scalped I'm just really behind on my trade reading with it. I think I only got three trades in and just haven't had the money to get the new trades I will soon, however.

 

[Tron Bonne]

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/12/20/contractual-changes-on-creator-owned-dc-comics/

Looks like some not changes are happening behind the scenes at Vertigo:

I understand from a number of impassioned pleas by Vertigo creators that there has been a major contractual change instigated at Vertigo. And indeed I’m now told it will apply to all new creator owned series at DC, Vertigo or otherwise. The most recent model saw creators working on a relatively lower page rate than work for hire (though the highest page rate in creator owned circles) and it was treated as an advance against monthly royalties – even if those royalties never paid out.
But previously the trade paperback and monthly comics payment dividends were separate – you were paid royalties on the collections from day one, no matter how the monthly series performed.
But now, if your book doesn’t make enough money as a monthly, they’ll won’t pay trade paperback royalties until it’s made enough money for the publisher.
But rather than affecting the lower selling books, it will probably affect all of them. The trade paperback clawback will kick in if monthly sales don’t reach 50,000 – which Vertigo books haven;t really seen since the Sandman days. It’s also possible that sales of trade paperbacks will never make enough to pay our royalties. And there are some current creators who depend on those royalties.
This won’t apply retroactively, those books are bound by previous contracts. It will only affect new projects going forward. From whatever date this policy actually came in.
This year has seen a number of underperforming monthly books cancelled at the company including Unknown Soldier, Air and Madame Xanadu.Future plans for a number of original graphic novels have been abandoned if the books were not sufficiently completed, involved editors have been made redundant, and Bob Harras has taking editorial responsibility for Vertigo with certain responsibilities away from Executive Editor Karen Berger. This was explained to me by a senior DC executive as being part of a financial rationalisation of Vertigo, the realisation that certain books have bled money for the company, without any likelihood they may make money for the company in the future. And they’d rather concentrate on the likes of The Unwritten and American Vampire. Well this looks like the next step.
DC/Vertigo have found it difficult to attract what used to be their stalwart creators after a previous change in contracts. The likes of Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis, Ed Brubaker and others have chosen to take their creator owned books to Avatar, Image and Marvel, rather than give up half their media property rights. And now we have a new generation of Scott Snyder, Jeff Lemire and Brian Wood joining the semi-new generation of Bill Willingham, Brian Azzarello, Mike Carey and Peter Gross. But how will they react to the new deal?

A reduction of sales and orders across the board in the comics industry mean that more monthly comics at Vertigo are at risk from cancellation, unless the company can find a way to justify their publication to the beancounters satisfaction.
This new change may make it harder to keep some of the people they still have on board. But it may also keep some of their books in publication…

EDIT: Okay, so this is primarily a rumor site, and someone over at CBR had this to say:

Over at Gail Simone's new forum, B. Clay Moore, who is negotiating his own creator-owned book with Vertigo right now, has said that Rich Johnston has some of his 'facts' mixed up. I don't think we have the full story yet.

So, at this point it's kind of a wait and see.

 

[Watchman]

Sweet guinea pig of Winipeg!

The last issue of Joe the Barbarian is finally coming out...in March...um better late than never.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I finally read Fables #100 last night and this morning (I fell asleep during the prose section). Good but probably not worth $10.

 

[Watchman]

Interview with Milligan on Hellblazer and the marriage of John Constantine

Anyone else been reading this? I've really been enjoying Milligan's stint on Hellblazer. It's a bit weird seeing such a bright and colorful Hellblazer book but it's a refreshing and entertaining change. Now only if Milligan could snag Brendan McCarthy for a few issues.

 

[chamber-music]

To be honest I have not been a fan of Milligan's Hellblazer run thus far