A little correction regarding American Vampire: Scott Snyder is the original creator. Stephen King was invited to write an issue by Snyder, but he ended up agreeing to write 5 half issues.
This is a great list! Of the titles I was unaware of, The Unwritten and American Vampire are intriguing and American Virgin sounds absolutely fascinating. As usual I'll re-visit this video as well, as necessary reminder of the specifics, and commenters usually have some pretty interesting things to say. Also, dammit! Just realized that after replacing a bank card I hadn't renewed my Patreon, so I appreciate that reminder. Thank you millions and billions and Godzillions. You've brightened a lot of drab days.
To a degree that was the sales pitch of the imprint. Creator driven work that existed outside of the constant churn of traditional status quo driven comics. Stories that could be told in full. Sometimes success and editorial pushes kept the wheels spinning longer than needed though.
Most of the big titles had good, earned endings. But that's because they were written with an end in mind, like any good story. But for every Sandman, there's a Madame Xanadu or Thessaly: Witch for Hire, where the former gets axed after a couple of years with a meh conclusion or the latter which is okay, but nothing special mini-series. (That might be a littIe overstated, neither are terrible, but they're not great either.) Or Hellblazer, where there were good stories and bad stories, but now it's just plodding along on the slow road of mediocrity, losing what made it great as they bilk the IP until irrelevance. Or like was stated, Fables, where Willingham had a satisfactory ending, but DC wanted to cash in. And as good as Fables was, Jack of Fables (intentionally smooshed together on the cover as "jackoffables" lol) was no where near as good before being pruned.
Apart from Animal Man (which I think SHOULD have ended with Jamie Delano) and Doom Patrol which should have ended with Grant Morrison... this mostly truly.
Vertigo was an amazing imprint and almost all of its titles are worth checking out. Here are some of my underrated favorites: Sandman Mystery Theatre House of Secrets iZombie Madame Xanadu Shade the Changing Man Scalped Cowboy Wally Show 100 Bullets Astro City Blood and Water DMZ Sweet Tooth I could keep going, but I’ll stop there hoping that you do more Vertigo videos in the future!👍🏼💙👍🏼
Editor Karen Berger doesn't get enough flowers for not just launching Vertigo in the late 1980s, but spearheading and pushing DC Comics into adulthood during this era with groundbreaking titles written by groundbreaking writers and artists. People forget how mostly childish DC Comics was until this era.
I would love to one day check out Fables. I have heard good things about it. Love Lucifer and The Unwritten though. Carey's writing style is just my kind of thing.
I never liked Lucifer or The Unwritten. But Scalped is a must-read all the way. Preacher may not have aged well in some aspects, but it is a solid story just as well.
I was at New York Comic Con when Vertigo's return was announced and I got so emotional! Wonderful video- I searched through the Vertigo catalog after I first learned about it from watching V for Vendetta and Constantine as a kid. Fables and Y: The Last Man are top favorites
@@davidgraham8299 Editor Karen Berger doesn't get enough flowers for not just launching Vertigo in the late 1980s, but spearheading and pushing DC Comics into adulthood during this era with groundbreaking titles written by groundbreaking writers and artists. People forget how mostly childish DC Comics was until this era.
If he won't, I will.... Tellos by Todd DeZago is pretty damn good. As are those twelve issues of Groo. Groo would probably STILL be at Image if they hadn't tried to underpay Sergio Aragones. Part of this was because of Image's other legal issues at the time.
I really loved American Vampire. In general, I think Scott Snyder is a great supernatural horror writer. But like with relatively long series, it kind of deflates at the end. It tries to go for the typical bombastic final battle final with all relevant characters of the series, but that ends being bogged down. In general, I think that this series was at it best when it explored the culture of the first half of 20th century USA. Once it enters on the space age section, it kind of misses its point. Instead of showing the shadows of history through the filter of literal monsters and personal stories, everything stars revolving around this big Satan like threat.
I put off reading American Vampire for so long. The modern, True Blood vampire vibe is off putting. But I gave it a shot, and did all 8 over a couple of weeks. Quite good.
There were highlights thereafter but Fable´s quality absolutely dropped after 75. The spin-offs are lame. Lucifer didn´t do too much for me in the end either. I read all issues and struggle to remember the plot. The Unwritten also ran on too long. A bunch of Vertigo books did.
The Unwritten is such a wonderful series, almost like a more academic version of The Sandman or Fables; shame it kinda fizzles out by the end. Over obscure Vertigo stuff, I am fond of horror anthology Flinch, magical realist fable Daytripper, The Filth for Morrison at their edgiest, and Joe the Barbarian for them at their most wholesome.
Considering the sheer amount of entertainment stuff coming put today and the shorter tik tok attention spans of people i just thank the good lord that 100 Bullets was given time and leeway to be finished
I've read more of this list than I expected to have. The only one I didn't at least try is LUCIFER and I may be correcting that oversight in the near future.
It certainly makes me have to think too. I know there is symbolism and vague meaning to everything resetting and Wilson descending down the stairs. It's tough to piece together.
A little correction regarding American Vampire: Scott Snyder is the original creator. Stephen King was invited to write an issue by Snyder, but he ended up agreeing to write 5 half issues.
Y: the last man, the losers, and fables were actually the first few vertigo titles I was exposed to when i was younger. Glad to see you mention them.
Scapled deserves some love
Scalped was the best comic no one was reading.
It was the Breaking Bad of comics.
I think Mercy was a sort of underrated classic. As is Sandman Mystery Theater.
Great time to get into Vertigo. Thanks for the recs.
This is a great list! Of the titles I was unaware of, The Unwritten and American Vampire are intriguing and American Virgin sounds absolutely fascinating. As usual I'll re-visit this video as well, as necessary reminder of the specifics, and commenters usually have some pretty interesting things to say.
Also, dammit! Just realized that after replacing a bank card I hadn't renewed my Patreon, so I appreciate that reminder.
Thank you millions and billions and Godzillions. You've brightened a lot of drab days.
The unwritten was great, i aslo really enjoyed Sweat Tooth. Y the last man is a book I've been meaning to read, but never got round to.
My favorite Vertigo books are
Hellblazer
The Sandman
Doom Patrol
Vertigo books almost always seemed to end perfectly. Right story length and satisfying resolutions.
I mean sometimes. I can think of quite of few that drag big time. Also quite a few that are amazing but kinda for no one.
To a degree that was the sales pitch of the imprint. Creator driven work that existed outside of the constant churn of traditional status quo driven comics. Stories that could be told in full. Sometimes success and editorial pushes kept the wheels spinning longer than needed though.
Except for Hellblazer, which Peter Milligan and Shelly Bond ran into the ground.
Most of the big titles had good, earned endings. But that's because they were written with an end in mind, like any good story. But for every Sandman, there's a Madame Xanadu or Thessaly: Witch for Hire, where the former gets axed after a couple of years with a meh conclusion or the latter which is okay, but nothing special mini-series. (That might be a littIe overstated, neither are terrible, but they're not great either.)
Or Hellblazer, where there were good stories and bad stories, but now it's just plodding along on the slow road of mediocrity, losing what made it great as they bilk the IP until irrelevance. Or like was stated, Fables, where Willingham had a satisfactory ending, but DC wanted to cash in. And as good as Fables was, Jack of Fables (intentionally smooshed together on the cover as "jackoffables" lol) was no where near as good before being pruned.
Apart from Animal Man (which I think SHOULD have ended with Jamie Delano) and Doom Patrol which should have ended with Grant Morrison... this mostly truly.
I'd love to see one of these on Image comics, if you haven't done so already. Some absolute gems in there!
Im amazed that i only knew or at least recognized about half of these. I hadnt thought about American Vampire in what feels like decades.
You got me in to Vertigo. Love it. Thank you.
My Vertigo reading list:
- The Filth (Morrison / Weston / Erskine)
- Heavy Liquid (Pope)
- Clean Room (Simone / Davis-Hunt / Winter)
- DMZ (Wood / Burchielli)
- The Enigma (Milligan / Fegredo)
- Daytripper (Ba / Moon)
- Destiny: A Chronicle of Deaths Foretold (Kwitney / Williams / Zulli / Hampton / Guay)
Nice to see Lucifer on your list. It's under appreciated and deserves more eyes.
Vertigo was an amazing imprint and almost all of its titles are worth checking out.
Here are some of my underrated favorites:
Sandman Mystery Theatre
House of Secrets
iZombie
Madame Xanadu
Shade the Changing Man
Scalped
Cowboy Wally Show
100 Bullets
Astro City
Blood and Water
DMZ
Sweet Tooth
I could keep going, but I’ll stop there hoping that you do more Vertigo videos in the future!👍🏼💙👍🏼
I love The Unwritten, it really deserves more attention.
Editor Karen Berger doesn't get enough flowers for not just launching Vertigo in the late 1980s, but spearheading and pushing DC Comics into adulthood during this era with groundbreaking titles written by groundbreaking writers and artists. People forget how mostly childish DC Comics was until this era.
I would love to one day check out Fables. I have heard good things about it. Love Lucifer and The Unwritten though. Carey's writing style is just my kind of thing.
American Virgin sounds like utter tripe, but American Vampire interests me.
I knew most of these strangely enough but they all seemed up my alley
Nevada was a lot of fun, albeit short and unfinished.
Excellent list. Looking forward to the next video. Cheers
the comic "girl" by vertigo is also worth reading if you can find it, short and decent
DC released a tpb in 2020 I think. They should collect more work from Peter Milligan.
You should do Vertigo year bay year. They had a ton of short series in there.
I never liked Lucifer or The Unwritten. But Scalped is a must-read all the way.
Preacher may not have aged well in some aspects, but it is a solid story just as well.
These reading lists have introduced me and reminded me of books that I’m really interested in reading, thank you again!
Young Liars was the one I havent read so that's my afternoon, thanks ♥
I was at New York Comic Con when Vertigo's return was announced and I got so emotional! Wonderful video- I searched through the Vertigo catalog after I first learned about it from watching V for Vendetta and Constantine as a kid. Fables and Y: The Last Man are top favorites
So glad that Vertigo Comics came back from the dead.
It ain't back yet, and Karen Berger isn't attached to it.
@@davidgraham8299 Editor Karen Berger doesn't get enough flowers for not just launching Vertigo in the late 1980s, but spearheading and pushing DC Comics into adulthood during this era with groundbreaking titles written by groundbreaking writers and artists. People forget how mostly childish DC Comics was until this era.
Fantastic video, SPB!
I really liked The Exterminators, but I never got around to finishing it.
The Wolf Among Us has made me want to check out Fables for over a decade now, though I've heard they are quite different
All hail Karen Berger.
I know you don’t take suggestions, but I’d love to see a “Recommended Image Comics” video
If he won't, I will....
Tellos by Todd DeZago is pretty damn good. As are those twelve issues of Groo. Groo would probably STILL be at Image if they hadn't tried to underpay Sergio Aragones. Part of this was because of Image's other legal issues at the time.
@ Thanks!🤩
I really loved American Vampire. In general, I think Scott Snyder is a great supernatural horror writer. But like with relatively long series, it kind of deflates at the end. It tries to go for the typical bombastic final battle final with all relevant characters of the series, but that ends being bogged down.
In general, I think that this series was at it best when it explored the culture of the first half of 20th century USA. Once it enters on the space age section, it kind of misses its point. Instead of showing the shadows of history through the filter of literal monsters and personal stories, everything stars revolving around this big Satan like threat.
Yezzir
Present
Northlanders!!!
No war stories.
I put off reading American Vampire for so long. The modern, True Blood vampire vibe is off putting.
But I gave it a shot, and did all 8 over a couple of weeks. Quite good.
There were highlights thereafter but Fable´s quality absolutely dropped after 75. The spin-offs are lame. Lucifer didn´t do too much for me in the end either. I read all issues and struggle to remember the plot. The Unwritten also ran on too long. A bunch of Vertigo books did.
highly recommend The Invisibles to everyone
Y:The Last Man TV show also changed too much from the original comic so it didn’t click with anyone
There were 666 likes on this one until I hit the button, so now for several reasons aside from just enjoying the video to feel satisfied in doing so🤓
Great!
The Unwritten is such a wonderful series, almost like a more academic version of The Sandman or Fables; shame it kinda fizzles out by the end.
Over obscure Vertigo stuff, I am fond of horror anthology Flinch, magical realist fable Daytripper, The Filth for Morrison at their edgiest, and Joe the Barbarian for them at their most wholesome.
Considering the sheer amount of entertainment stuff coming put today and the shorter tik tok attention spans of people i just thank the good lord that 100 Bullets was given time and leeway to be finished
I've read more of this list than I expected to have. The only one I didn't at least try is LUCIFER and I may be correcting that oversight in the near future.
I don't understand the Unwritten ending!
It certainly makes me have to think too. I know there is symbolism and vague meaning to everything resetting and Wilson descending down the stairs. It's tough to piece together.
The entire story is highly esoteric, but the fact that its end rejects narrative convention do feel appropriate considering its themes.