DC Comics announced all the creators and titles for the Vertigo revival at New York Comic-Con on Thursday, announcing a total of 10 new issues, with the list of creative teams including Deniz Camp and Stipan Molian. Kyle Starks and Steve Pugh. Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips.
The announcement comes over the weekend, nearly a year after DC announced Vertigo would be returning at NYCC 2024. At the time, the publisher said The Nice House by the Lake and its sequel, The Nice House by the Sea, would be retroactively added to the imprint. But for the past year, there has been no news about vertigo.
Obviously things have changed, and as the kids and we online people say, we’re all the way back.
The title and series concept were also revealed. All 10 of the newly announced creative team have previously collaborated, and the publisher said this was a deliberate choice to ensure the title’s long-term success.
The first book released was the Camp/Morian comic. The film is called “Bleeding Hearts” and is set 10 years after humanity has been wiped out by a zombie apocalypse. Camp and Morian previously collaborated on 20th Century Men.
“This is really a story about what zombie culture is like and what happens when someone starts questioning it from within,” Camp said.
Next up is Starks and Pugh’s comic “End of Life,” about a professional hitman who collides with the boss of an international assassination group. As a result, he has to move to a small town in the Midwest. Starks and Pugh previously co-starred in The Peacemaker Tryes Hard!
“‘End of Life,’ in a nutshell, was ‘John Wick goes to Northern Exposure,'” Starks said. “…Like all small towns, this town has a tyrant: a canceled cartoonist.”
Next, Condon and Phillips are collaborating on a new comic called The Peril of the Brutal Dark: An Ezra Cain Mystery. The comic tells the story of an investigator in 1940s New York City who becomes involved in stealing from the gods through a museum heist. The main character’s name is Ezra Cain, the book is called The Ezra Cain Mystery, and the team wants to write a new Ezra Cain story in the sixth issue block. Condon and Phillips collaborated, most notably on “That Texas Blood.”
And of course, the aforementioned “Nice House” book by James Tynion IV and Álvaro Martínez Bueno is also back in the colophon.
“In my mind, ‘Nice House’ has always been a ‘Vertigo’ book,” Tynion said during the panel discussion.
According to their announcement, the “Nice House” series, which has now published 12 issues, is only the midpoint of the entire “Nice House” epic (we can expect a property next to the ocean, but not an estuary or something).
All four books listed above will be released one book each week in February.
But those were just the beginning of the announcements. The committee also announced a new book by Lamb V. and Mike Perkins called The Black Tower: A Raven Conspiracy, along with a video of the authors.
Ram V described the comic as “a modern spy thriller with the distinct flavor of Vertigo Magic.”
But not all books were new. The publisher is also bringing back “100 Bullets” with a new series called “100 Bullets: The US of Anger” from the original series’ creative team, writer Brian Azzarello and artist Eduardo Risso.
“Some people didn’t like the way the original series ended, so we’re going to end up with a blank page this time,” Azzarello cheekily said during the panel. “And you can write your own.”
The book will be released on July 1st.
Next was the announcement of a new book by author Tom Taylor and artist Darick Robertson, who also appeared in a video. The comic is called “Necretaceous” and is a combination of zombies and dinosaurs.
“What if dinosaurs were cooler?” Taylor said in a video message. “What happens if we add zombies?”
Additionally, the publisher has also announced three books for the second half of 2025.
The first was The Fanatic by authors Grace Ellis and Hannah Templer. They previously worked together on Patricia Highsmith’s graphic novel biography. Their new book is about a protagonist whose relationship with reality has been distorted by fandom.
The next book was A Walking Shadow by author Simon Spurrier and artist Aaron Campbell, who had previously teamed up on the (very underrated) Hellblazer. The manga is a survival horror book with a big twist that wasn’t revealed during the panel discussion.
“This is a book about eight men, women and children who wake up in the forest and have no idea how they got there. They are chained to a boat and have to start working to avoid starvation,” Spurrier said. “But there’s a problem there, because there’s something out there that preys on them.”
On the artistic side, Campbell creates stop-motion puppets to use as references in the book, which he even brought to the panel. Check it out…
The last team they announced was one of the most exciting. Writer Mariko Tamaki and artist Rosemary Valero-O’Connell previously worked together on the wonderful graphic novel Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up. Their book deals with the beginning of the AIDS crisis, New York City in the ’80s, and a real-life concept called the Crying Doll.
“I think it’s worth noting that Laura Deen is about a lesbian who’s fucked up, and this one is about a lesbian who’s fucked up,” Tamaki said.
The panel discussion was moderated by DC Editor-in-Chief Chris Conroy, who described the announcement as the culmination of several years of work. He also made it clear that Vertigo’s return is not the end of Black Label. Vertigo will feature original ideas owned by creators, while Black Label will continue to tell stories told by the publisher’s superhero characters (more info here).
Conroy also said the choice to bring back Vertigo with a creative team of 10 people he had previously worked with was intentional. The publisher wanted a team that was ready to hit the ground running, liked by the fans, and could run the title for a long time.
“You’re going to see the next level of a lot of partnerships in these ‘Vertigo’ books,” Conroy said.
For those of you who aren’t familiar (and I’m sure none of you read this website), Vertigo is probably the most beloved installment in the history of the Big Two comics. Founded in 1993 by renowned editor Karen Berger, the imprint’s publishing highlights include early books set in the DCU universe (Swamp Thing, Hellblazer) as well as later original titles (Preacher, Y: The Last Man, 100 Bullets, etc.).
Its reach has expanded to other mediums, from movies to television and video games.
However, its traces have been dormant for the past six years or so. A final attempt to revive it was made in 2018, and although it produced some interesting comics (High Level was my favorite), it struggled to find its place in the publishing industry. (PS: I was on a panel at SDCC in 2018 where I announced its return, because time is a flat circle.)
I hope it works this time. Based on these announcements, the future looks very bright for Vertigo. In fact, in the eight years or so I’ve been covering Companel announcements, I think this is the most exciting announcement I’ve been a part of (and to report on it as breaking news? What a rush!).
Stay tuned to The Beat for more coverage of NYCC ’25.
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