The Four Color Media Monitor

A writer at ComicBook delivered what could surely be expected coming from such a fluff-coated site these days - an equally fluff-coated take on the Vertigo line, coming as it does at the expense of superhero adventures:

DC Comics created the superhero as we know it, and they redefined what a mainstream comic can be with their Vertigo imprint. Vertigo’s birth came from the British comic scene of the early ’80s, when the success of Alan Moore prompted DC to sign talent like Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis, Peter Milligan, Jamie Delano, and many others. Vertigo was born in 1993, off the success of The Sandman, Swamp Thing, Animal Man, Hellblazer, Doom Patrol, and Shade the Changing Man, and boasts some of the greatest comics of the ’90s. Vertigo blew the minds of an entire generation of comic readers, many of whom were brought into the industry by the comic boom of the early ’90s. Vertigo showed these new readers exactly what comics could be, as creators were free to create away from the strictures of the Comics Code Authority.

Wow, look how they give first billing to an overrated series written by a scribe who's since fallen from grace, Neil Gaiman (who isn't mentioned clearly in the puff piece). And that series too, came at the expense of the original Golden Age Sandman, Wesley Dodds. Why, even the Sandman Mystery Theater series did, and the only good thing about it was making Dian Belmont a co-star focus. After the discoveries of Gaiman's antics behind the scenes, it'll be a horrible shame if he's hurt the original Sandman's legacy. I sincerely hope nobody'll be discouraged from reading the Golden Age comics as a result of the Gaiman scandal. Also note the citation of at least 2 other overrated writers, Morrison, who ruined the X-Men in the early 2000s, and Ennis, who went on to make a career out of anti-superhero loathing, while simultaneously dumbing down the Punisher.

But Vertigo showed everybody what comicdom could be? Don't make me laugh. What did was the creator-owned comics of the 1980s, like Mike Baron's Badger and Nexus, along with Alien Legion by Carl Potts and Chuck Dixon, the latter who did some of the scripting early in his career. Why, even Denny O'Neil's take on the Question from 1987-90 came close to demonstrating the ability to tell a more adult story, and O'Neil did it pretty well in DC's Deluxe format that was available in direct sales, all without resorting to the kind of shock value some Vertigo titles like the Sandman did. The same could probably be said about Mike Grell's take on Green Arrow, which sold under the "New Format" imprint. That the columnist at ComicBook obscures any and all of those, along with the indie comics of the 80s, speaks volumes as to how selfish and narrow he's being. All that aside, if the claim is that only a brand like Vertigo ever did what its output featured, that's nonsense too. What, doesn't Stan Lee's Spider-Man story from 1971 attacking drug abuse matter? And there were stories confronting racial issues too back in the Bronze Age. Some of which did it a lot more convincingly than Gaiman's Sandman series ever did.

Vertigo brought forth a new Golden Age of Comics in one of the most maligned decades in the medium’s history. The ’90s was an interesting time to be a comic fan. The market was full of books that were all about style over substance, shiny covers hiding sometimes lackluster stories. However, Vertigo books were different. These comics allowed a whole generation to awaken to a new kind of comic, opening their minds to story types they hadn’t encountered in comics up to that point. Vertigo is back for the first time in years, and there’s a reason why so many fans celebrated this decision — Vertigo in the ’90s was something special.

Well I'm not saying there weren't any mistakes made with superhero fare in the 90s - obviously, there were, and I've written about them myself over time, but to say any and all of these Vertigo books were inherently superior in every way is laughable. In fact, it's insulting to the intellect to say a comic's inferior if it doesn't emphasize the kind of gross violence some of the Vertigo titles did.

Vertigo comics meant something special and they still do. ’90s Vertigo is an embarrassment of riches; there are so many best of all time comics that were printed by Vertigo in the ’90s. We don’t talk about The Sandman very much anymore but The Sandman used to be the kind of comic that you could hand to anyone and make them a fan of comics. Nearly every Vertigo book you could think of was like that. Cool people read Vertigo comics. The imprint even drew in readers many at the time didn’t see as being into comics; specifically Vertigo comics were popular with female audiences as well and that was a big deal in the ’90s. The imprint had quite literally something for everyone.

The columnist isn't talking much about Neil Gaiman, even as he cites the comic Gaiman was most known for. How odd. Is it really that embarrassing to reference Gaiman now, let alone admit his Sandman series was one of the most overrated products of its time? And to say "cool" people read Vertigo is an insult to those who read superhero fare, or even sci-fi fare. Where does the columnist get off insulting intellects like that? Adult themes alone do not a talented story make.

Since the subject of Gaiman came up again, I recently noticed actor David Tennant commented indirectly on the scandal that led to Gaiman's resignation from the Good Omens production staff, and according to the UK Independent:

David Tennant has commented on the “slight rejig” in the team behind the fantasy comedy Good Omens, after its creator, Neil Gaiman, was accused of sexual assault.

[...] In a new interview, Tennant, 54 – who plays demon Crowley in the show – discussed Gaiman’s exit for the first time.

Tennant appeared on the ITV show The Assembly, where he was interviewed by a panel of autistic, neurodivergent and/or learning disabled people.

One interviewee called Cameron asked the actor: “Someone you've worked with, a friend, has been cancelled for some quite serious allegations. How has that affected you?”

After Cameron clarified that the figure in question “worked on Good Omens”, Tennant said: “We're doing Good Omens again. We're going back to do the final. We're doing a final. There's been a slight rejig with the personnel.”

He added: “But we still get to tell that story – I think it would have been very difficult to leave it on a cliffhanger. So I'm glad that's been worked out.”

Season two of Good Omens ended with Tennant’s Crowley and Michael Sheen’s angel Aziraphale – the representatives of hell and heaven – sharing a kiss and going their separate ways.

I think I noticed some stills from the production making clear this was something of a LGBT metaphor, and it makes one wonder if that was the whole point of the adaptation, maybe even the novel it's based upon. In that case, nothing new here, though it does hint at Gaiman's divisive leftist politics.

Let's be clear. The 1990s did have its share of mistakes in the mainstream. That's undeniable. But to make it sound like only the Vertigo line made artistic achievements, and obscure even Marvel's Epic imprint for creator-owned comics in the process, is supremely silly, and a demonstration of just how cheap and tabloid these mainstream specialty sites can be, and how disinterested they are in searching for the potentially hidden gems of decades past. These media biases have to stop.

Labels: dc comics, golden calf of LGBT, history, misogyny and racism, moonbat writers, msm propaganda, violence