Comics
DC Comics permanently grounds its Vertigo Comics imprint
The titles will live on under DC, but will it be more archive than new, compelling stories?
What surely is the end of a great era for comics, DC has announced officially that it intends to close its sister imprint Vertigo Comics. The imprint began arguably with Watchmen and need and growth of the mature, high-end narratives.
The imprint, that made its start in 1993, was infamous for bringing content for the mature comic reader, including the likes of Hellblazer (Constantine),Transmetropolitan, Sandman, Swamp Thing and more. The shutdown of Vertigo is set to take place in full effect come year 2020.
DC intends to have all publishing under one banner, which is where their recent Black Label run will house the more mature content that would have likely fallen under Vertigo.
Read the full official statement below:
DC DOUBLES DOWN ON ITS BRAND, UNITES ALL PUBLISHING UNDER A SINGLE BANNER
Beginning in 2020
All Content will be Organized Under Three Age-Specific Labels:
DC Kids, DC and DC Black Label
Vertigo Publishing Imprint to be sunset at the End of the Year
DC announced today that beginning in 2020, all of its publishing content will be organized and marketed under the DC brand, creating three age-specific labels – DC Kids, DC and DC Black Label – that would absorb all of its existing imprints and focus DC’s publishing content around characters and stories that evolve and mature along with the awareness and sensibilities of DC’s readers. As a result of this new labelling strategy, DC will sunset the Vertigo publishing imprint at the end of the year.
The new segmentation, featuring the new age rating system, will launch in January 2020. Books currently being published under the recently launched DC Zoom and DC Ink imprints, which are focused on the middle grade and young adult segments, respectively, will be assigned to the DC Kids and DC labels depending on the content and intended audiences.
“We’re returning to a singular presentation of the DC brand that was present throughout most of our history until 1993 when we launched Vertigo to provide an outlet for edgier material,” said DC Publisher Dan DiDio. “That kind of material is now mainstream across all genres, so we thought it was the right time to bring greater clarity to the DC brand and reinforce our commitment to storytelling for all of our fans in every age group. This new system will replace the age ratings we currently use on our material.”
The three labels will be structured as follows:
- DC Kids will focus on readers ages 8-12 and offer content created specifically for the middle-grade reader
- DC, focusing on ages 13+, will primarily be the current DC universe of characters
- DC Black Label will focus on content appropriate for readers 17 and older
“What we’ve done here is apply an ages and stages organizing philosophy that will strengthen what we’re already doing well, whether that is our move into the young adult and middle-grade audience or our long track record of success with creator-driven pop-up lines,” said DC Publisher and Chief Creative Officer Jim Lee. “We will also continue to publish creator-owned projects, and will evaluate and assign to the appropriate label to help our fans find the best books for their interests. These new labels not only bring greater consistency and focus to our characters, but they also open up a wealth of new opportunities for the talent working on our books.”
