Potentially disturbing news from over the pond...
It appears that there is some serious powerplay going on at DC where rumours say the Swamp Thing is to return to the DC universe.
At the same time, the China Mieville scripted Vertigo series has been ditched with a kill-fee despite having a couple of issues done already.
Now I know there is not a lot of love for Dan Didio but I really hope that this isn't a case of pinning down, if not removing Vertigo from existence.
Let me briefly explain:
Vertigo is essentially the 'adult' inprint of DC Comics. Started on the back of Alan Moore's success on the DC labelled Swamp Thing, it has spawned such brilliance as Sandman, Preacher,Sandman Mystery Theatre, Fables, rescued Transmetropolitan and continued Hellblazer.
It has shifted between fantasy, science fiction and reality seeing such titles as DMZ and Northlanders.
Now sales in the monthly format have never been brilliant but all the titles above have a long shelf-life in bookstores and I know of people who happily read these titles without ever considering that they came from the same stable as Superman and Wonder Woman.
Conceptually I have no problem with Swampy going back to the DC universe if done right. Hellblazer on the other hand...erm nope, not for me.
I do have a problem of ditching the Mieville Swampy as the crossover market could have been huge and garnered a hell of a lot of media attention.
However, what gets me is that if this is indeed powerplay then what a stupid, idiotic thing to do. Karen Berger has been one of the most innovative publishers in the States and if DC is about to shaft Vertigo then if I were her I would find another publishing company and restart again - after all most of the current titles are creator-owned, which come to think it, maybe what really annoys the paymasters at Warner Brothers.
Vertigo stand alone among mainstream publishing companies for its sheer variety and nerve and I hope the rumours are totally unfounded. If not then someone in Warner Bros should really start looking at the management of DC as a whole because there appears to be some serious retro, backwards-looking, sales-dropping, movements happening at the moment without the kudos that the likes of Vertigo gives the company.
Seriously angry if this is true