Vertigo (DC Comics) - Editors

Editors

In addition to founding editor (and the driving force behind Vertigo) Karen Berger, several other editors have become intrinsically linked to the imprint. Berger herself was editing proto-Vertigo titles from the start of her time with DC, beginning in 1981 with House of Mystery. She took over editorship of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run from Swamp Thing co-creator Len Wein in 1984, and in 1986 "became DC's British liaison," bringing to DC's pre-Vertigo titles the individuals who would be instrumental in the creation and evolution of Vertigo seven years later. From 1988, her Swamp Thing and other DC titles were joined by Gaiman and McKean's Black Orchid miniseries and Hellblazer as well as the odd miniseries The Weird. Editing Doug Moench's The Wanderers, Berger was joined on issue #5 (Oct 1988) by co-editor Art Young, who would also later be instrumental in the formation of Vertigo. Grant Morrison's Animal Man and the ultra-dark Arkham Asylum OGN were swiftly joined on Berger's slate by The Sandman, Skreemer, The Books of Magic, The Nazz and Shade, the Changing Man. Berger continued with The Sandman and Shade during 1992, and saw the pre-Vertigo titles as "all some basis in reality."

By the early 1990s, "he core Vertigo titles had already become their own little enclave," so when Berger returned from maternity leave, she spoke with DC President Jenette Kahn and Executive Editor Dick Giordano, the outcome being a separate imprint to "actively expand sensibility" of the titles she had been editing. Berger included in the initial Vertigo line-up the five titles she had had some hand in creating or editing (Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, Animal Man, Sandman and Shade) as well as Doom Patrol which she "decided to include... because Grant Morrison was working on it and the sensibility was very much like the other series." Berger has since overseen the entire Vertigo line, and was promoted to the position of "Senior Vice President — Executive Editor, Vertigo" in July 2006. Berger's promotion came as Vertigo was said to be equivalent to "the fourth largest American comic book publisher" in 2005, with Paul Levitz praising her personally as having "built Vertigo into an imprint which is simultaneously one of comics' leading creative and commercial successes." In addition, Berger won Eisner Awards for her editing in 1992, 1994 and 1995 for her work on the proto- and early Vertigo titles Sandman, Shade, Kid Eternity, Books of Magic, Death: The High Cost of Living and Sandman Mystery Theatre.

Art Young joined Karen Berger to edit pre-Vertigo issues of Animal Man (from issue #3), Hellblazer and Swamp Thing on issues cover-dated November 1988. Two months later, Young also took on the initial issues of The Sandman, before in mid-1990 moving to Doom Patrol, which with Animal Man he edited until early 1991 (also over-seeing the original Books of Magic miniseries along the way). He then left DC to work for Disney in setting up Touchmark, before returning with those projects to Vertigo in early 1993, when he edited debut title Enigma, and later miniseries and one-shots such as Sebastian O, The Extremist, Mercy, Rogan Gosh, The Mystery Play, and Tank Girl: The Moovy. He edited all four of the "Vertigo Voices" titles in 1995, as well as Shadows Fall, Ghostdancing, Egypt, Millennium Fever and both Tank Girl miniseries. Young's last editorial credit for Vertigo was Flex Mentallo #1 (June 1996).

Shelly Bond (née Roeberg) is probably the most prolific and wide-ranging (as well as the second-best known after Berger) Vertigo editor, long since installed as a Group Editor. Like Young, she has overseen a large number of notable projects during her (almost-)exclusive time working with Vertigo since April 1993. Roeberg took over editorial duties on the second Vertigo issues of both The Sandman and Shade, the Changing Man from Lisa Guastella - then Lisa Aufenanger - editing those two titles until their respective final issues; she also edited the first 36 issues of the "ahead of its time" crime/noir series Sandman Mystery Theatre. Between 1993 and 2000, she edited titles exclusively for Vertigo (with one exception - the nine issues of Peter Bagge and Gilbert Hernandez's Yeah! (1999–2000) for DC's imprint Homage), including relatively little known titles and one-shots such as Skin Graft, The Last One, The Heart of the Beast (1994), Mobfire, Terminal City, Menz Insana, The Girl Who Would Be Death, Heavy Liquid, Pulp Fantastic and Accelerate. She also edited the first Vertigo works of Bill Willingham and Ed Brubaker in Proposition Player and Scene of the Crime, and the higher-profile series Moonshadow, Girl, Seekers into the Mystery, The Minx and all issues of House of Secrets (with Jennifer Lee from issue #11).
She (co-)edited the final 25 issues of The Dreaming between 1999 and 2001, initially as Shelly Roeberg, and latterly as Shelly Bond (after marrying artist Philip Bond), and most of the Sandman Presents... miniseries and one-shots. From 2000, she has continued to edit most of the highest-profile Vertigo titles, including almost all of Mike Carey's Lucifer (with Mariah Huehner) and the entirety of Ed Brubaker's Deadenders, Howard Chaykin & David Tischman's American Century, Jonathan Vankin's The Witching, Si Spencer's Books of Magick: Life During Wartime, Steven T. Seagle and Kelley Jones' The Crusades and Bill Willingham's Fables (to date). She oversaw the first fourteen issues of American Virgin, the first eleven of Jack of Fables, the first two Vertigo Pop! miniseries, Paul Dini's Zatanna: Everyday Magic and the innovative Vertical one-shot. She helped shepherd the OGNs Barnum!, Confessions of a Blabbermouth, 1001 Nights of Snowfall, God Save the Queen, The Little Endless Storybook, Re-Gifters, Sandman: Endless Nights and Silverfish as well as both Bite Club miniseries, Faker, Grip: The Strange World of Men, My Faith in Frankie and House of Secrets: Facade. From 2007, she has also been heavily involved in the new DC imprint "Minx", but is still editing titles for Vertigo, including the new 2007/8 series House of Mystery, Vinyl Underground and Young Liars.

Tom Peyer was, by 1990 editing (with Karen Berger) what would become the pillars of Vertigo - Hellblazer, Sandman (taking over from Art Young), Swamp Thing and Shade, the Changing Man. He soon left Swamp Thing to Stuart Moore, however with issue #100, and Moore would edit and co-edit the remaining 71 issues of that title, including the switch from DC to Vertigo. Peyer moved to Doom Patrol and Animal Man, which he edited during the transition from DC to Vertigo, before moving to edit the initial issues of Kid Eternity and Black Orchid as well as two "Vertigo Visions" one-shots. Peyer left editing behind in 1994, returning to DC as a writer. Moore edited a wide range of Vertigo titles between 1993 and 2000, including the transitional issues of Hellblazer as well as Swamp Thing, the first fifteen issues of The Invisibles, the first seventeen issues of Preacher and the first thirty issues of Transmetropolitan. In 1996, Moore won the Eisner Award for best editor, for his work on Swamp Thing, Invisibles and Preacher. He edited the first issues of Books of Magic, and both Books of Faerie miniseries (with Cliff Chiang), and returned to the main Books of Magic title for a further 20+ issues with Chiang in 1998. He also edited several miniseries for both Vertigo and Vertigo's sister imprint Helix.

Axel Alonso (who would later move to Marvel Comics) began his editorial career at Vertigo on Animal Man, Black Orchid, Doom Patrol and Hellblazer, and also edited the opening issues of Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso's 100 Bullets and the final issues of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's Preacher.

Will Dennis was promoted from assistant editor to editor upon Alonso's departure. He took over the editing of 100 Bullets and later assumed the reins of Vertigo's biggest hit series since Preacher, Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra's Y: The Last Man. Dennis has been responsible for bringing writers Brian Wood (DMZ) and Jason Aaron (Scalped) to Vertigo. He teamed writer Andy Diggle and artist Jock on their breakout series The Losers. Dennis edited Vaughan's commercially successful graphic novel "Pride of Baghdad". He is the editor presiding over the ongoing Vertigo Crime line of graphic novels.

Jonathan Vankin was hired as an editor at Vertigo in 2004 after previously writing two of the line's Vertigo Pop miniseries and several entries in the Paradox Press "Big Book" series as well as several other non-comics works . His contributions to the line as an editor have included the series, The Exterminators and Testament. For the latter, he brought media theorist Douglas Rushkoff to Vertigo. Taking over editing of Hellblazer from Will Dennis, he hired acclaimed Scottish crime novelist Denise Mina to write the title for 13 issues. He brought Harvey Pekar to Vertigo, where Pekar published the graphic novel The Quitter as well as eight issues of Pekar's long-running American Splendor autobiographical series. Vankin also edited the graphic novels Incognegro by Mat Johnson and The Alcoholic by novelist and essayist Jonathan Ames.