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Saturday, June 22, 2019

Saying Goodbye

Saying goodbye is never easy. However, sometimes, as in the case of DC canceling their Vertigo line, supposedly for adult, edgy bois, it's a relief. Diversity & Comics did a video that echoed my sentiments perfectly. PERFECTLY.

I remember, starkly, the first comics released by Vertigo. My friend Cathy, who managed my Local Comic Book Shop, knew I loved Marvel's Excalibur and suggested Sandman to me. I immediately fell in love with that series. I'll be honest, I loved Neil Gaiman and his Books of Magic, I think it was called. I still love Gaiman even now when I sometimes just want to slap him.Gaiman was a huge inspiration to my imagination. Back then I was drawing and my youngest son loved my drawing I did that were inspired by Gaiman's stuff. I wish I still had that sketch book.

Jonah Hex was my next foray into Vertigo books. I loved it. Hated the movie, but I loved the books. However, Vertigo continued on with some pretty good books. I had stopped buying them by the time the millennium rolled around because... life and time.

Last year, Vertigo announced they were "rebranding" after Karen Berger announced she was withdrawing from the Vertigo line and DC altogether. They brought in a guy who made one bad decision after another. Allow me to illustrate. Yeah, Andi Khouri has done sooooo well.

These were the new books Vertigo announced last year, according to Wikipedia and Vertigo's own website on DC.

  • Border Town by Eric Esquivel and Ramon Villalobos – Cancelled in December 2018 after four published and two unpublished issues. Esquivel was outed as a serial sexual harrasser of underage, high school girls and forced nonconsensual sex on them while he was their boss at comic book stores.
  • Hex Wives by Ben Blacker and Mirka Andolfo – cancelled after 6 Issues. This book was so hypergamous and ... STUPID, that no one bought anything after issue 3.
  • American Carnage - The ONLY good book in the whole lot. by Bryan Hill and Leandro Fernandez.
  • Goddess Mode by Zoe Quinn and Robbi Rodriguez. Let's take a moment here to reflect on how Grifter Quinn got into comic books after being found to be a 6 timing whore in games and was found to be doing the same thing in comics, sleeping with reporters for good reviews. Then there is Robbi "Chocolate Starfish" Rodriguez. The man who purposely took a picture of his anus and posted it for Ethan Van Sciver on Twitter and DC's response was, "He's a freelancer!" Which is now the rally cry of every single entertainment genre because they're too afraid to fire people for being idiotic and turning off customers.
  • High Level by Rob Sheridan and Barnaby Bagenda Ugh, did anyone even read issue 1? I don't even remember getting past the third page.
  • Second Coming by Mark Russell and Richard Pace – cancelled before its debut, and that says everything.
  • Safe Sex by Tina Horn and Mike Dowling – cancelled before its debut,and again, says everything.
So, two books that never even got out of the chute and Four that were so bad they were very public when they tanked into the toilet they should never have climbed from.

Out of all of those books, only ONE was worth reading. American Carnage was good.  So, even a blind squirrel can find a nut. Or Andy Khouri a good comic book.

DC is already "streamlining" it's line. They are... not canceling... what's the word? Oh yeah, Canceling books to have less books on the shelf, but they took a page from Marvel's book and are now overshipping to comic book shops that are already operating on a losing margin. I guess, like Marvel, DC, too, can bundle up in plastic bags and sell unsold books to Walmart and Overstock and consider them sold. Industry standard, right?

Yet, they sit there in their offices, underpaying their labor, if they are paying at all, Yeah, Rooster Teeth, I'm looking at you, and saying, "We set the standard." You may, but is it selling?

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