I love Vertigo. Superheroes are fine, but after events and weeklies and relaunches, I sometimes grow weary of men in tights beating the living snot out of one another, and I long for something deeper. That’s when I turn to Vertigo. The Unwritten is my favorite title, and I’ve loved many of the classic Vertigo titles such as Fables, Y: The Last Man, The Sandman and Sweet Tooth. Just as enjoyable are some of the mini-series and on-shots that have come out in recent years. Joe the Barbarian was beautiful, and I also enjoyed Daytripper and the recent one-shot Strange Adventures.
Last week, Vertigo released an anthology book called The Unexpected. For $7.99 I was expecting a lot from The Unexpected, and the writers and artists delivered. My favorite story was Americana, written by Brian Wood and drawn by Emily Carroll. Beginning in 2012, the story follows a 6-year old girl throughout the course of her entire life as she and her mother, and later her own daughter, attempt to forge a new life in post-apocolpyptic America. Beautifully drawn, this story was a touching reminder of the power of family, and that a woman can be strong in a way that is completely atypically of many comic book stories.
I hope Vertigo continues to release these anthologies. I, for one, will definitely be back for more.
Right there with you, for the most part. Although, I’ve kind of lost interest in Vertigo in recent years, the imprint has brought me some fantastic entertainment. It’s funny, I grew up on super-heroes, turned to the alternative black and white independent books in college, migrated to Vertigo with Sandman and Swamp Thing, then turned back to the super-heroes. Now I’m feeling a new call to the macabre–especially with the Vertigo-turned 52 heroes like Swamp Thing, Shade, and John Constantine (yes, I know technically they started out in the primary universe anyway).