Per The Beat: DC to spend $250,000 on Vertigo marketing
I think is noteworthy, in that comic book publishers very rarely advertise their books outside comic book specific avenues. Really noteworthy, because it is for the Vertigo imprint which isn't your typical superhero fare that DC pushes anyways.Really glad to see them give these types of books the spotlight.
I guess all of those predictions of Vertigo folding in 6-12 months of the Karen Berger retirement announcement were just a little bit off.
Replies
Impressive!
All to the good. I suspect DC are starting to realise that Vertigo is a useful 'carrot' to entice big name creators to work or keep working for them. That was a mini-flood of creators to Image that we saw in the last few years. Working for Image doesn't stop creators from working with DC, but DC perhaps saw creators start to make a name/build a fanbase for themselves with DC and then cash that in with another publisher, where they use their less-derivitive, and more exciting and prestigious ideas.
All in the game, yo!
This is good news. I'll have to look out for that Publisher's Weekly ad (I'm on a circulation list in the library for it; I read it all the time for book news). I admit I was concerned about Vertigo's future, but this makes me feel better. It's still a good thing that Image has become such a haven for creator-owned projects. Having more than one venue with a strong presence is a great thing from my perspective. More to read, better money for the kind of creators I enjoy the most.
That's really good to hear! I hope behind the scenes DC is offering better deals and participation for creators of Vertigo titles, too, in order to make sure the product itself is created with pride of ownership. I'd heard they'd tightened up in that regard in the last decade.
One to watch is Chris Roberson's i-Zombie. Vertigo still had ownership of that and apparently a right to some royalties for some period after he quit. Cerrtainly he wasn't allowed to start an iZombie series with another publisher straight away. He seemed happy with the recent announcement of a TV deal for it, but I wonder if Vertigo got a cut? The fact that Vertigo and Warner Bros are the same outfit does give Vertigo a strong hand in having their products 'taken up' for development, but also gives them a means to buy Vertigo properties cheap for TV/films and to keep properties away from competitors even when they don't want to do anything with them themselves directly...
Good for Vertigo. I don't read much from them, but there was once a time when they were nearly all I read. I hope this push comes with a good creative effort as well.