Meeting #25: Vertigo in the 21st Century

[JohnLees]

Looking up, the title for this meeting reminds me a little of Buck Rogers. Anyway, welcome once again to Comic Book Club. Today we wrap up our series exploring the advances comic books have made outside the superhero genre by taking another look at what, in the Introduction to Scalped: Indian Country, Brian K. Vaughn called “one of the best imprints in the history of the medium”: Vertigo. Of course, this is not the first time we’ve talked about Vertigo Comics. Way back in Meeting #5, we talked about the birth of Vertigo, some of the key players and titles involved in the imprint’s formation. This time, however, the topic is what Vertigo has become, what kind of comics it’s producing now, and what it represents in the comics industry.

Next month sees the cinematic release of The Losers, based on the Vertigo comic series by writer Andy Diggle and artist Jock. Quite a few of my friends have seen the trailer and are excited about it, but I don‘t think any of them were even aware the film is based on a comic book. The story and presentation seems far removed from what the language of the superhero genre has taught much of the mainstream to expect from comic book adaptations. In “Shoot to Kill. Play to Win. Nothing to Lose,” the introduction to the newly-released graphic novel collection, The Losers: Volumes One & Two, Andy Diggle suggests that this was different, and he was employing a rather different language of storytelling:


I wanted to write a comic for people who don’t read comics, but love a great action movie. A comic you could put in the hands of the average Joe – someone who doesn’t even know such things as comic shops exist, let alone would ever set foot inside one – and he’d get it, and get a kick out of it.


This idea of “comics for people who don’t read comics” is an interesting one, and one I want to pick up on later. But first, let’s explore this idea of The Losers as an action movie in comic form. Of course, the upcoming adaptation demonstrates how well the narrative lends itself to the action movie format, but in what ways does the comic itself make use of “cinematic” narrative techniques?

Reading the book, it struck me how few comic tricks The Losers uses. There are no thought bubbles, and captions are limited to single lines telling us the location of the scene, or at a couple of points an extended piece of dialogue being juxtaposed with various images demonstrating what the character is talking about. But we don’t get narration in the captions – we don’t get to see inside these characters’ heads. That of course plays an important role in the plot machinations, what with a key idea being that there’s a traitor in their midst.

Also, a lot of the set pieces felt to me to be very cinematic in its choice of set-pieces. For example, car chases (to me at least) feel very much to be the domain of the movies. You can’t seem to have a Batman film without an epic Batmobile car chase, but in the comics more often than not it seems like he just uses his car to get from one place to the other, and as somewhere to sit while Alfred feeds him exposition. But in the 6th chapter of The Losers: Ante Up, we are given a car chase sequence in an airfield, which works very well. In fact, Ante Up is peppered with various vehicular set-pieces that you might normally expect to see in an action movie rather than a comic. A big part of why these sequences work is the contribution of Jock. He seems to largely eschew conventional grid-style panel layouts in favor of dynamic, almost chaotic arrangements that are enormously effective in creating a sense of movement.

Take, for example, the page 17-18 spread in Chapter 5, depicting a boat chase. Panel 1 on page 17, presenting the boat full of gunmen firing at The Losers, overlaps along the side of the page, creating for me a kind of sweeping effect that reflects the motion of the boat. Panel 2 has Aisha firing her automatic rifle at the pursuers, but look at how the angular panel 3 cuts into this panel. It creates a layout where the second panel gets narrower from left to right, leading our eyes in that direction. Yet the direction of the gunfire goes from right to left. Again, this jarring conflict creates a sense of motion, as well as suggesting the kickback of the heavy weaponry. Panel 3 is a little bigger, setting up expectation for the boat flying over the ramp up ahead in the distance. Then with panel 4, when this boat jump happens, the boat leaps right out of the frame and into the borders of panel 3, as if it’s leading right off the page. On page 18, we are placed in a POV shot of the gunmen’s boat, which in my mind instantly generates a kind of “shaky-cam” feel. Panels 2, 3 and 4 on this page are made up of various boxed images showing extreme close-ups, echoing the “quick cut” editing of many a modern action film. And finally, we have this boat’s destruction, again leaping outwith the boundaries of its panel. Such techniques are frequently deployed throughout the book, and the overall effect is to create a comic that feels very kinetic, full of movement and energy. The Losers is, indeed, a comic that feels like an action movie.

On the subject of movies, our next comic, Y: the Last Man, has been in development for quite some time now. In its latest iteration, director D.J. Caruso is trying to get it off the ground – we’ll see how that goes. Y: the Last Man was recently mentioned in IGN’s new series of columns, “Getting Others Started on Comics”, with the focus on comics that might appeal to female readers. But after Dan Phillips goes over the obvious appeal female readers might find in a world where all men are killed off, leaving the women in charge, he touches on what makes the book appealing to readers of both genders:


But above all else, Y: The Last Man is a great place for any female target to start because it's a great series. It also has a beginning, middle and end, which is important to convince a skeptical person that comics are more than a silly hobby; they're an awesome medium with a limitless potential to tell great stories.


I think this idea of the finite story is a valid one. The bread-and-butter of Marvel and DC are ongoing sagas that are intended to go on forever without end. I have explained in previous benefits what I feel to be the great value of such stories, but there is also value in stories that do have a beginning, middle and end. You get more of a sense of the story being the vision of a single creator, or sometimes a single writer/artist team, that even in the beginning the pieces are being laid in place for everything to eventually come full circle in what is hopefully a satisfying resolution. It is an approach to storytelling associated with more respected mediums like prose, theatre, film or television, and stories like Y: the Last Man demonstrate that comics can do it just as well as those mediums can. For those unfamiliar with comics, or even cynical about them, titles that follow this structure may be more instantly appealing, and serve as an ideal gateway into wider comics reading. And Vertigo remains the most prominent advocate of these finite narratives in American comics, as with the odd notable exception such as the ongoing Hellblazer, Vertigo produces comic books that begin with a clear end in sight, whether it be 3 issues, 60 or 100.

Looking more closely at Y: The Last Man: Unmanned in particular, we can see that the first chapter is a brilliant example of building a world and establishing a premise. Brian K. Vaughan makes clever use of time, starting in the present with a first page reveal of “All the men are dead!”, before going back in time 29 minutes and introducing us to our cast of characters – giving us males to care about as well as females – all while inexorably counting down to the genocide that is destined to take place. This was a star-making book for Vaughan, who has gone on to become a big name in comics, and even part of the writing team for Lost. It is writing that really makes another apocalyptic tale feel fresh and exciting, with dialogue that really pops and flows well. Possibly my favorite piece of dialogue in Unmanned is the exchange between last surviving man Yorick Brown and his mother while they are under siege in the White House, on page 3 of Chapter Three:


But who the hell is shooting at us, mom? Terrorists?

Worse… Republicans.


Better not let Warner Todd Huston read that, his head would explode! One aspect of Y: the Last Man that really helps set it apart in what is still largely a male-dominated field of storytelling is its large, diverse ensemble of female characters. Too many comics – even a lot of good ones – fall into the trap of having characters who just feel like “the token woman”. Indeed, this is a problem that extends beyond comics – think how few truly great female movie characters there are in comparison to great male movie characters, for example. It’s refreshing therefore to see a story where females are the movers and shakers of the narrative, while still telling a story with action and intrigue that would appeal to conventional male readers too. Vaughan demonstrates that female casts are workable beyond romances and comedies, and one of the most commendable aspects I took from Y: the Last Man was this breaking down of the gender barrier.

Now, no discussion of Vertigo in the 21st Century would be complete without mentioning what stands as by far the highest-selling current Vertigo title: Fables. Let me start by telling you a Fables story. When I was headed out to San Diego last year, we had a connection at Philadelphia, and while at Philadelphia Airport I met a fellow Scotsman who was also going to Comic-Con. He had just bought Fables: Legends in Exile, having heard great things about it, for reading on the plane to San Diego. He explained that he was a teacher, and was campaigning to get graphic novels included in his school library, so thought Fables was a good example of a literary comic that might appeal to kids. Anyway, it turned out we were sitting next to each other on the flight, so I settled to reading We3 and Kill Your Boyfriend for an upcoming Comic Book Club, while my new friend read Fables. As he read, more and more he winced and cringed, shook his head. By the time he’d gotten about halfway through, he turned to me and said “No, this isn’t for kids.”

Indeed it isn’t. Whether it’s Prince Charming engaging in explicit sexual activity with waitresses (“I’ve always believed a truly accomplished nobleman should hone his cocksmanship every bit as much as his swordsmanship.”) or the Big Bad Wolf and one of the three pigs hurling obscenities back and forth at each other, this story about fairy tale characters stranded in the real world demonstrates how the characters have adapted to plenty of real-world vices. Or rather, it demonstrates that all those old fables have been sanitized and watered down in our retelling, concealing all kinds of violence and debauchery bubbling under the surface.

With Legends in Exile, we get some insight into the larger story at work of a mysterious magical being known as the Adversary driving all these legendary characters out of their homelands (there was a massacre in Oz, and the “pompous and holier-than-thou… old lion” Aslan got killed off once and for all in the conquest of Narnia) but the main focus is a more simple murder mystery that almost feels like an old hardboiled pulp noir, only with the role of the downtrodden gumshoe happening to be played by the Big Bad Wolf. Going by the name of Bigby Wolf since he reformed, he takes on a human form now (for the most part), and is probably the most compelling character in an intriguing ensemble. In “Chapter Five: The Famous Parlor Room Scene (Sans Parlor)”, Bigby has a monologue describing the mundane nature of his job as law enforcer amongst the fable community:


I’ve been on the job for more than two hundred years – ever since the first days of the dabbles in exile compact and general amnesty. I’ve never been in a gunfight – or fired a gun for that matter. I’ve never been in a car chase – much less learned to drive. And even the number of times I’ve had to chase a suspect on foot can be counted on one hand. All in all, I can’t say I’ve had what could be described as an exciting career – or even a very interesting one.


The boredom of his current live comes in stark contrast to the danger and excitement of his own one, as depicted in the masterful prose piece at the end of the graphic novel, “A Wolf in the Fold”. Here, we see him stalking and killing the forces of the Adversary, and note the irony when one soldier asks why he doesn’t join the Adversary’s army:


“Not interested,” the wolf growled in return. “Even the highest office in service to another is too low a station for me.” And with that the wolf sank his fangs into the captive’s neck. A single, irresistible shake ended the soldier’s tremors, instantly transforming living flesh into wet carcass.


Here, we see how far Bigby Wolf has fallen, going from serving no one to spending the whole of Legends in Exile being put-upon and having to deal with orders and threats. We should also note the sharp change in storytelling technique, going from this eloquently-worded prose piece that reads like a pastiche of classical fantasy literature, to a comic book with (for the most part) very modern, naturalistic language. As the title of Chapter Five suggests, we also see the narrative of the comic shift from hardboiled pulp to something more akin to an Agatha Christie novel. At this early stage at least, Fables seems to be a story about how stories can shift and change. Isn’t it funny how many of these comics we study seem to be about storytelling? Or is it just my reading of them?

Fables is another comic that gets a mention in Dan Phillips’ “Getting Others Started on Comics” column, with Dan succinctly summing up the title’s appeal:


You know how you love comics like Squadron Supreme, The Authority and The Boys because they riff on archetypes you love in interesting and subversive ways? Fables is like that, only instead of superheroes, it reexamines universally appealing characters from fairy tales, fables and myth.


This is something that carries over across all the titles discussed this week: the idea of the killer high concept. Note that I’ve touched on the film adaptations of both The Losers and Y: the Last Man; well, Fables also has an adaptation in progress, in its case a television series that producers are trying to get the greenlight for. I think the fact that so many Vertigo properties are ripe for adaptation ties into this high concept aspect. With most of Vertigo’s output of recent years, the story is built on a premise you can explain in a single sentence, and it’s bold and intriguing enough to instantly catch the interest of readers and give them an idea of what to expect from the book. And then the really clever thing, what really sets Vertigo apart, is that, more often than not, in the actual execution these titles manage to subvert those initial expectations and deliver something deeper and more resonant than the initial high concept would suggest. We talked earlier about the idea of comics for people who don't like comics; well I think that could be an ideal catchline for Vertigo, in that it tells the kind of stories a cynic might think comics can't tell, and tells them better than any other medium.

So we’ve looked at The Losers, Y: The Last Man and Fables, and discussed how each of them work. So now let’s try and answer the bigger question that each of these case studies was working towards: what is Vertigo’s place in the comics industry? It’s not a perfect analogy, but I like to think that, if prose novels represent movies, then comics are the equivalent of television. This applies to format, in terms of novels being a single, contained experience like film while comic books are episodic like television, but also relates to perception. Television has long been viewed as cinema’s lesser cousin, with some viewing the medium’s inherent limitations - such as less time to tell the story and having to tailor what they have around the hook that brings people back for the next episode – as deficiencies that put it below the purer narrative experience of cinema, and the protracted nature of the narrative largely created a sense that the individual episodes were more disposable. The parallels to comics, and how they are viewed in relation to novels, are evident.

To continue the analogy, I would propose that if comics in general are television, then Vertigo is HBO. HBO shows like Oz and The Sopranos, and later Six Feet Under and The Wire, among others, played a major role in changing the way people looked at television. It showed that its different format of storytelling could in fact be an asset rather than a limitation, allowing for immersive longform stories made all the richer for being serialized, really showcasing the inherent strengths of the medium in a creator-driven environment. A similar argument can be made for Vertigo. Like HBO in the TV world, Vertigo is a brand that has become associated with quality and innovation. In recent years, as well as the titles discussed in this meeting, Vertigo has produced the likes of Scalped, 100 Bullets, Preacher, Unknown Soldier, DMZ, The Unwritten, Northlanders, Young Liars, We3, Seaguy and Sweet Tooth, all critically acclaimed. Creatively speaking, a Vertigo creator-owned series remains probably the pinnacle for a writer in American comics.

How does Vertigo stand, as regards the overarching issue of comics without superheroes? It’s interesting, in that the imprint grew out of the superhero-driven DC Universe, to become the premiere destination for non-superhero comics. If you look back over this block of meetings, you’ll see that a lot of the stuff covered – some of the crime comics, some of the war comics, some of Warren Ellis’ comics – came from Vertigo. Vertigo, to me, has since its inception been a herald of the future, a trailblazer in comic trends. I think the diversity of its output foreshadows a time when the comic book medium will one day be regarded as just as versatile as cinema, or prose, or any other dramatic medium, able to cover a range of genres. Rather than being viewed as lesser or niche or just for kids and deviants, I would like to see it become just a different way of telling a story. But at the same time, Vertigo’s partnership with DC shows that these different genres needn’t necessarily be at odds with the superhero genre. Superheroes can stay, but comics have shown the potential to build up a wide variety of other genres and types of story around them. The future’s bright for comics.


Meeting #26
It’s our one year(ish) anniversary, and we’ll be marking the occasion with another Open Forum. This one will be an important one, where I want us to talk about the future direction of Comic Book Club. More details will be forthcoming at the meeting itself, but I’d really like you all to check it out and reply. In the meantime, start thinking about your favorite comic book series.


Meeting #27
The Sandman: The Doll’s House
The Sandman: Dream Country
The Sandman: Season of Mists

[wiegeabo]

Just started reading Losers and Y, so it'll be a while for me to get something up. I decided to catch up on my normal readings over the weekend.

it makes me very glad I've already read Fables. For so many reasons.

[tiggerpete]

I have read almost all of Y the Last Man, and I am only short by one or two volumes, and I really like it even if it tends to get preachy on occasion, but the preachy parts stand to establish the narrative, so I can forgive it I guess.

One question I have is, we covered the beginning of Vertigo, and now the most recent Vertigo, are we going to get to the late nineties to talk a little Preacher?

[JohnLees]

Originally Posted by tiggerpete

One question I have is, we covered the beginning of Vertigo, and now the most recent Vertigo, are we going to get to the late nineties to talk a little Preacher?

Patience, my friend. You wanting to focus on Preacher? Well... check out the next meeting.

[tiggerpete]

well, Preacher is the only Vertigo series I have read beginning to end, and despite its insanity is a very enjoyable read.

[wiegeabo]

It's funny. Having seen the trailer before reading the comic, I could literally picture how The Losers movie would play out. Especially since the book was essentially a movie on paper. Everything about it was dynamic and intense. And while it took me a couple of issues to get into it, by the time I reached that great scene displaying Jensen's 'telekinetics', it became an addicting read.

If there's one problem I had, it was with the distinct lack of character development. Not a big deal for an ongoing series. There's plenty of time for characterization in future books, freeing up this first arc as an action packed romp to hook readers. But I hope they'll be adding some significant development to the movie, without bogging down the pace or the action. Otherwise, while it'll be a great action flick to see, it could come of as rather empty feeling.


I've heard pretty much nothing but good things about Y for years now. And while the premise sounded interesting, I never really found myself wanting to read the books. I'm not a huge fan of post-apocalyptic type stories. So they have to be really good in order to keep my interest. I was also concerned with how the gender role reversal would be handled. It could easily be handled very poorly.

Fortunately, most of my fears were unjustified. While the Amazon's are a group against having men, to the degree they even burn down sperm banks (which makes absolutely no sense, unless they actually do want to be the last generation of humans). But they only represent one facet of the new society. A society scarred and ruled by tragedy and fear.

My only complaint, Yorrick can be blinded stupid at times. He spent two months effectively hiding his identity and surviving on his own. Yet, suddenly, he's perfectly happy exposing himself as a man at potentially the worst times, or getting himself into dangerous situations that are easily avoidable (like at the Washington Monument). He even stated more than a few times that he may be the only one who can start repopulating the planet, and yet he keeps jeopardizing himself. Yes, one can argue that his irrational acts are just the fear and pressure occasionally overriding logic. And if this had been a few days or even a week or two after the plague struck, I'd have no issue with it. But it's been two months of him doing everything he can to hide his identity and stay out of trouble, with his only goal getting to his girlfriend. Admittedly, it's a minor nitpick given everything he's going through, but it seems to be happening too frequently in such a short amount of time.

But, like the Losers, after a couple of issues, it became a rather addicting read. And I wanted to see how it would turn out.


Fables, unlike the other two, was an instantly addicting read for me. Ever since I was introduced to the series last year, I've been reading it (although I did stop a few months ago). I'm 50 issues in, and plan on catching up completely when I can find the time.

And this first arc was fantastic. Especially the reveal at the end of the book. While reading the first issue and getting our initial look at the crime scene, we see everything Bigby sees, and everything he takes interest in. All the clues are there, but I didn't put them together, or even see them all. And by the last issue, I had forgotten most of them. Which made the final reveal of how the crime played out all the better. Because it all made sense. Little clues that, even though we are told they are clues, don't make any sense except for someone who knows how to put a mystery together.

Not only that, but without giving too much away, and thereby keeping our interest, we get a great introduction to all the characters, and they life they live in our mundane world. Honestly, for the most part, the series just keeps getting better. And I highly recommend it to everyone. If you enjoyed the first five issues, you'll enjoy the first fifty.

[LanternLight]

Alright, long time no see guys! This seemed a good topic to jump back in on, as Vertigo is probably my favorite imprint. From Fables to Sandman, Swamp Thing to Hellblazer, I've liked just about everything I've ever read from the imprint. That being said, I had not sat down and read "Y" before this reading. It was on my to do list, but I have just never taken the time to sit down and do it. So we'll start there.

Y: the Last Man was enjoyable. A nice play on your typical half the world dies in Armageddon plot, where this time the half that dies is highly specific. I can't even imagine the world in such a state, mainly because I doubt I'd be lucky enough to be the one guy who survives with his pet monkey. The thing I loved best about Y was the writer's voice. It's highly evident as to why Vaughn is one of Joss Whedon's favorite comic writers, in that they share a knack for dialogue and story telling. I honestly can't remember where the reading ended in terms of story, because I sat down and plowed through every issue. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole run of the book, and there were moments at the end that even further made me compare Whedon and Vaughn. Thank you Keyser for making me get off my lazy butt and read this book.

Now on to The Losers; I came into this book with misconceptions. I already associated the Losers with war comics, and I'm not a fan of war fiction in general, so I had avoided the book. But because it was on the reading, I decided to give it a try. As I started reading, I felt my fears were realized, as it opened like a modern day war book. But as I got further into the reading, I realized it was more than that. It was a very espionage thrill ride book, much like one of my favorite books, Queen & Country. I enjoyed the first arc, and plan to finish the series, but who knows when I will accomplish this.

And now finally on to the part that made this the week I jump back in. As I said in my Top 10 of the 2000s, Fables is my favorite book on the market right now. Thats actually not giving it enough credit. Fables is in my top 3 series of all time. The only two I put ahead of it are Crisis on Infinite Earths and Sandman. Like I said before I started reading the series in the fourth arc, but went back and read all the rest before the arc ended. I don't remember what made me pick the book up, but whatever it was, I am humbly in its debt. The first arc was great, but really, you need to read the whole series. You can't read the first arc without craving more, as it only gives you a taste of what these characters are like. Its the equivalent of a dealer giving you a smidgen of heroin, before making you spend your life's savings on brown sugar. Honestly, the slight character glimpses you get in this introductory arc don't begin to do justice to the characters as you begin to know them in later issues. Again, like the other two titles, this is one where once you're hooked, you're hooked for the rest of the series. Unfortunately for you, this one is still going strong at 94 issues. So have fun catching up, I know I've had fun following along.