The Vertigo Deluge
DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint announced a few new projects at their “Looking Over the Edge” panel in San Diego last week.
First up: next month’s Un-Men, the old Swamp Thing foes and stars of the American Freaks mini-series. The monthly book, written by John Whalen and pencils by Mike Hawthorne, revolves around how the Un-Men are now running a tourist attraction at the nuclear test site reservation that was established at the end of the 1994 mini-series.
Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges will be bringing a monthly House of Mystery revival. It will not be a traditional anthology, but will have ongoing story arcs and one-shot stories within. The series kicks off with Cain arriving home from a visit to Abel and finding the house has been stolen and turned into a pub where patrons have to tell the story to pay their tab, a gambit reminiscent of the Sandman story that featured Cain and Abel. We’ll take this chance to again say the “place has been turned into a bar and tell a story” format sounds awfully familiar, particularly to GrimJack fans.
Out this spring will be a monthly Madame Xanadu title penned by Matt Wagner with art by Amy Hadly. The series will explore her relationship with The Phantom Stranger, revealing why it is they dislike each other so much and how she got the name “Xanadu.”
In October, UK teevee writer Si Spencer (Torchwood) offers up a slice of British sub-culture in the crime-noir Vinyl Underground about a group of four occult detectives in London.
In November Vertigo celebrates the 20th anniversary of the monthly Hellblazer title with Hellblazer: Pandemonium graphic novel. (The cover date of Hellblazer #1 was January 1988) Jamie Delano’s story takes John to Iraq and is a commentary on the current political situation.
November will also see the release of the graphic novel Cairo. A story structured like 1001 Arabian Nights about a genie trapped in a hookah features various occult characters form the Vertigo universe which will all be pulled into one story. Also out: Absolute Sandman Volume Two, which will feature lots of behind the scenes material.
Other upcoming Vertigo projects:
• Re-release of Nail Gaimen’s Stardust in hardcover, featuring character sketches by Charles Vess and Gaimen’s orginal proposal.
• Peter Straub and John Bolton are working on a project about a serial killer and the detective pursing him, covering the time from the Vietnam era to the present day.
• Josh Dice is writing a graphic novel based on Neil Young’s Greendale concept album. Dice is working very closely with Young who approached Vertigo with this project. Sean Murphy will be doing the art. The story takes place in 2003 and features a new storyline based around the Greens and other characters from the various Greendale projects.
• A softcover edition of David Lapham’s Silverfish will be out sometime next year.
• There will be an Unknown Solider ongoing series. Written by Joshua Dysart and drawn by Alberto Ponticelli, the series will “redefine a classic DC title and tackle the problem of corruption in Northern Uganda, where violence and poverty are on the rise.” The series introduces Moses Lwanga, an Amercian pacifist who has returned to the country of his birth to work in a refugee camp, an “encounter unexpectedly triggers a previously dormant, ruthless ability to kill.”
Many thanks to Linda Gold for the legwork.