Vertigo Visions: Ten Years on the Edge

by Alisa Kwitney

Featuring more than two hundred full-color illustrations, a ten-year retrospective of DC Comics' Vertigo features an updated version of the original edition, along with additional masterworks from celebrated artists Dave McKean, Marshall Arisman, and Sue Coe, as this ongoing, influential comic makes its way into the new millennium. Original.

Genres: Art, Comics, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels, Sequential Art, Comic Book

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

I'm the author of YA, graphic novels and novels for adults who still feel young, at least most of the time. Recent works include GILT, a graphic novel about time-traveling women of a certain age; Cadaver & Queen, a YA Feminist Frankenstein meets Grey's Anatomy tale, and Mystik U from DC Comics, which features Zatanna and other magical characters in their first year at college. I also co-host a Sandman podcast, The Endless, with Lani Diane Rich.

My first novel, Till the Fat Lady Sings, is also about college and romance and eating disorders. (It was my thesis at Columbia University's MFA Program, where I felt like an outlier for liking comic books and romance as much as literature.) I was an editor at Vertigo, the mature/dark fantasy branch of DC Comics, before going freelance. (I've also written two hormonal werewolf books as Alisa Sheckley.)

I live near the Vanderbilt Estate in Hyde Park, NY, with two dogs and a frightening number of books.

aka Alisa Sheckley

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say that I was not sure what to expect from this book as I spotted while trawling for artwork books but I am very impressed. The book essentially spotlights some of the most distinctive and influential covers up to the year 2000 that graced the Vertigo publications.

The book has a potted history of the foundation and growth as a leading brand in the more mature comic book arena - there are no doubt better and more well chronicled books out there on the subject - after all this is to spotlight the art not the publishing house.

However this is not a bad thing as you get to see some of the most impressive (and I think memorable) covers they released although for each image they do share there are so many more they could not. What I will say is that even for a complete comic and graphic novel novice like myself there were so many I recognised and so many more that I now want to hunt down the books they come from just so I can see some more.

So a surprise find and one I am very very pleased with

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is confounding, on one hand it is a wonderful scrappy guide to the art of DC's Vertigo imprint from the early days until 2000, on the other it's a hack job.
Whilst, without doubt, a generous portion of the artwork is excellent, one cannot help but feel cheated by the piecemeal atittude. The book would have been more satisfying if a more linear approach to the history of the Vertigo had been included rather then Kwitney's slapdash incoherant rendering.
A book that was pushed out very Kwitney, sorry, quickly to cash in particulary on Dave Mckean and Neil Gaiman's popularity at the time, not a bad thing at all, but could have been published in a less cynical "Here you are kiddies and nerds" approach.

Four stars for the artwork only.

[LG (A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This slim volume features a selection of cover, trading card, and gallery art from DC Comics' now discontinued Vertigo imprint. A few of the series featured are ones I've read, albeit a very long time ago: Sandman, The Books of Magic, Black Orchid, Swamp Thing, Sandman Mystery Theatre. Most are series I've never heard of before, or heard of but never looked into enough to find out what they were about. I've been meaning to try Animal Man for ages, for example, but it still hasn't happened.

When I was in high school, I'd occasionally use my lunch period to go to a nearby comics shop and buy a few things. The store was arranged by publisher, with imprints getting their own subsections, and an odd "miscellaneous" section to catch anything by smaller publishers. I spent most of my time in the Marvel and "miscellaneous" sections (yay, Elfquest!), but my love of Neil Gaiman's Sandman prompted me to spend time in the Vertigo section as well. Although I never bought many Vertigo titles - I didn't have much money and didn't know which series I might like, and the store owner was so unwelcoming that I didn't dare ask him for recommendations - I loved the covers. They looked so different from the Marvel and other DC stuff.

I spotted this book during a shopping trip years ago and bought it with the intention of using it as artistic inspiration. Nothing ever came of that, but it was still nice looking at all the artwork and huge variety of styles. Each section has a little bit of text, normally something about the history of a particular series. Most of the artwork just has captions with the title and issue number if applicable, date, and artist, but a few include tidbits of info about the artists' style and, very occasionally, something about their technique or the medium used.

All in all, this is a nice collection of artwork. I wish there had been more text focused on particular pieces, though, and interviews with some of the artists would have been great.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

[Douglas Cosby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love graphic novels, and I particularly love Vertigo's graphic novels. This book is a not only a great way to enjoy the wonderful and diverse art of the major 1993-2003 Vertigo titles, but it is also a good reason to walk down memory lane and enjoy some of these series all over again. Seeing the old faces and art styles is exhilarating, and the extra history included with the art makes it all the more compelling. I have already gone back and started re-reading some of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing issues based on Kwitney's heartfelt descriptions. In my dream world, I would print out large copies of many of these images and hang them all around my home.

[Chris Browning · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a time capsule of a very particular era in comics, but it’s a very important one and a little melancholy now we know Vertigo has been shuttered off by D.C. comics. As such, much as a new edition mopping up later covers would be nice I think Image would be a better selection for a new volume as they have more than picked up the baton left by the imprint in its best years. It’s also rather wonderful to see artists being celebrated for their work as all too often we focus on the writers who are, rather sweetly, simply a footnote here

[fran · Rating 3 out of 5]

a book full of unrefined and scrappy paintings of comic book covers, incredibly profound to look at, though some artwork definitely shines above others. wish more modern pieces were shown or actual slides from inside the novels - really like the swamp thing and the sandman pages

[Robert Waterman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Some great, creative artwork inside.

[Vincent Casil · Rating 5 out of 5]

First time I seen these Illustrations, I wanted a digital sketchpad in the future.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous collection of artwork from the first ten years of the Vertigo imprint, with commentary by Alisa Kwitney (who is a former Vertigo editor and writer). Most of the covers are reproduced without their trade dress, and there are many images from posters, trading cards, and gallery pinups. As a longtime Vertigo fan, I was delighted to see many images I've never seen before. It was published in 2003, and I don't know why I haven't run across it before now, but it was a nice bargain bin find.

[Mike Duncan · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a focus on the comics than the art. There are some really original and interesting works in here but the media/ process and significance of the work is largely ignored.

[Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book, that fulfils its intention without exceeding it. That is to say, I think a little more depth would have been nice with various pieces of art, rather than just a few intro words and side text.
I’ve followed Vertigo since the first books came out, and while never a rabid fan have always enjoyed the variety and uniqueness of many books. The unusual art was definitely one of the things that got Vertigo noticed, notably painted covers, and this book gives a good cross section of that art across many books. I would quibble with some of the choices personally, but the author clearly has her favourites as I have mine, and so we must run with her choices.
What the book is successful at is reminding us how, for a few years back in the 90’s, Vertigo became a pop culture darling and truly set the bar for mature themes and characters.
And for that alone, I tip my hat.