It looks like Swamp Thing, The Sandman and Tim Hunter are coming back to the mainstream DCU. Personally, I think it's about time.
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It looks like Swamp Thing, The Sandman and Tim Hunter are coming back to the mainstream DCU. Personally, I think it's about time.
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But all the characters who Vertigo claimed years ago, and have been dormant -- Shade, Prez, Swamp Thing, Black Orchid -- they're all good moves. (And there have already been moves in that direction -- Jonah Hex, Animal Man, Crazy Jane, Wes Dodds, etc.)
Vertigo no longer needs these characters, and for the most part hasn't done anything with them for years.
As for Hellblazer, Unknown Soldier, House of Mystery, and any other ongoing titles with ties to the DCU, they could just remove the Vertigo label and have the books continue just as they always have. They don't necessarily have to have Constantine bumping into the Justice League, or Wonder Woman dropping by the House of Mystery every other issue. Just let them occupy their own little corner of the DC Universe without paying much attention to the rest of it.
The current Vertigo Unknown Soldier has no connection with the DCU one other than title: and it wouldn't fit into the DCU at all. But you're right about the other two. They never did pay much attention to the rest of the DCU when they were in it, and they could easily still work that way. I've said several times that the current Madame Xanadu Vertigo title could be published as a regular DC title without any significant modification.
But all the characters who Vertigo claimed years ago, and have been dormant -- Shade, Prez, Swamp Thing, Black Orchid -- they're all good moves. (And there have already been moves in that direction -- Jonah Hex, Animal Man, Crazy Jane, Wes Dodds, etc.)
Vertigo no longer needs these characters, and for the most part hasn't done anything with them for years.
I agree. Actually the Morrison runs of Animal Man and Doom Patrol were both originally published before Vertigo existed, and have been retroactively made Vertigo (along with other "Mature Readers" titles that Karen Berger edited). Anything that was crossed over into Vertigo has roots in the DCU. But I think some of them, like the Endless and Shade, The Changing Man, would really be hard to use convincingly in a DCU story. Zatanna is the only character that has been equally effective as Vertigo and DCU. Tim Hunter is kind of a special case. Gaiman created him in the DCU, but he was really defined as a character in the ongoing Vertigo series (a lot like the creation of Constantine in Swamp Thing, but not really defined until his own series, which still predates Vertigo).
It's hard to say, 'Have them all be in the DCU, but just don't mention Superman or whatever". Our world and the DCU are very different, and stories work out differently in each. For one thing people who've suffered trauma like Bruce Wayne just become messed up neurotics for life rather than avenging angels in any kind of 'realistic' world.
Not having Swamp Thing in the DCU is just silly. Especially since every writer and his dog has copied Alan Moore's "He's the living spirit of the XYZ" explanation to make some characters goofy powers more consequential. Swamp Thing was the original, and as a non-underpants-wearing shambling monster adds to the texture of the DCU. The alternative is Geoff Johns' Lycra brigade.
Did anyone read Gaiman's Endless Nights? Most of the tales in that took place in 'our' world, but there was one beautiful story that took place in the DCU, billions of years ago. Sto-Oa, and Rao, the suns of the Green Lantern planet and Krypton were in it as living beings that were called to a conference of astral bodies along with the Endless. The story made sense on its own terms and was very deferential to DCU cosmology.
Anything that prevents good stories being told is a stupid idea, including blanket bans on how certain characters can be used.
Everything's worth a try, though. And on the plus side, Swamp Thing's always available to have his arm ripped off!
That's just weird.
And it would sell like nobody's business!
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