Red Hood

DC Comics announced today that Vertigo, DC Ink and DC Zoom labels were shutting down and that now everything is consolidated in 3 branches:
DC Comics
DC Black Label - Mature audience titles
DC Kids - All kids titles

This is all part of the new corporate takeover from AT&T and the new leader from Global Branding, the department in which DC Comics has been relegated to. No mention of where the Young Animals imprint will fall and even though Black Label is the adult oriented label, it will be still heavily watched over by corporate, thus we won't see anymore Bat-Penises in the near future. Former Vertigo books and mature titles like Watchmen, will fall under the Black Label banner.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/21/1...ds-black-label

Josh-da-man

The next question is, which company will stop making new comics first, Disney or AT&T?

Red Hood

I don't think either. Both Marvel and DC serve their masters by providing cost effective source material for films and TV. As long as this keeps happening, both companies will keep making new comics. Still, I wouldn't be surprised if AT&T/WB licensed their DC properties to a third party for publishing new comic books. According to Jim Shooter, in one of these changes inside WB, DC approached him to either sell or license the DC characters. The idiot running Marvel at the time rejected the offer, and that's why it didn't happen.

BGPu

I think Shooter said that Marvel was being sued by First Comics for being a monopoly due to their market share. Acquiring DC and launching a separate, streamlined DC line wouldn't have made that look any better so they decided to pass.

I wouldn't expect either publisher to go anywhere, but I can see a shift to more digital and even more emphasis on trades/hardcovers in the next 10 years.

stingermck

Doesn't bother me at all. cant remember the last time I read anything vertigo. And Dido (for once) makes a good point:

Red Hood

Like it or not, the Vertigo imprint was still having an impact in mainstream. The Kitchen by Ming Doyle is being released as a movie this summer. Y: The Last Man just found another showrunner and is coming to FX. Sandman still in development. Yes, Image had taken a chunk of Vertigo's power by giving creators better terms, but Vertigo still is a brand name, more than Black Label, which is associated more to Johnny Walker. Karen Berger should have been brought back to DC to oversee Vertigo and jumpstart it. And Didio is half right. Edgier material is mainstream across genres, but only for some superhero books. And right now, the 2 moments that they have tried to go edgier (Bat-Penis, Second Coming), AT&T/WB standards and practices have gotten in the way and changed things. At the end, this is the main problem. AT&T is treating DC like AOL treated WCW back in the day. This shit will sink DC fast if they continue.

Mike86

Red Hood

Another reason of why DC and Marvel won't stop doing new comics anytime soon is for rights reasons. There are many characters in both companies which would have their rights reverted to the original creators if new material isn't published. Wonder Woman is one of those characters and the reason why she's always had her self-titled comic book

Trevor

I think they actually paid their way out of that deal with WW creator’s family a few years ago.

PhantomStranger

They have to keep using some characters every ten years or so to retain trademark rights in certain cases. That is why you'll get cycles of random older characters popping up again after sitting on the shelf for years and years.

As for Vertigo, it hasn't been Vertigo for awhile now. Once Karen Berger left a few years ago, I figured the line would flounder. If the new reorganization doesn't work that well, they can always bring Vertigo back.

davidh777

Red Hood

The last Vertigo book that had a buzz was Border Town and that was cancelled when one of the creators was found to be a serial sexual harasser at cons and other places

will travel

Hill House Comics is coming to DC Black Label.

https://www.cbr.com/dc-joe-hill-horr...cs-hill-house/

Trevor

Black Label needs something decent to get some footing, and Joe Hill’s comics are all top notch so far imo.