Andrew A. Smith
Scripps Howard News Service
DC’s re-launch of its 52-title superhero line last September made explosive headlines, and now the publisher is upgrading its mature-reader line, Vertigo – albeit on a somewhat smaller scale.
Four new titles launch in March, three ongoing and one miniseries. DC recently published a preview, given away free at comic shops, with seven pages of each new series. That’s not enough to really offer an opinion – but I’m a fanboy, so naturally I will.
The title I’m most excited about is Fairest, a companion title to Fables, which has run more than 100 issues (and various miniseries) extrapolating adventures of fairy-tale characters as if they have always existed – immortal (if enough people remember them), enchanted and hiding just outside our perceptions. Remember the Prince Charmings from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves,” “Cinderella,” and half a dozen other stories? Writer Bill Willingham posits that they’re all the same guy, which means he’s something of a cad (but very charming). Jack Frost, Jack the giant-killer, Jack Sprat – all the Jacks, every one, are all the same guy. Which means he’s not terribly stable, but he does get around. You get the drift.
And in Fables, we’ve met some very formidable women: Snow White (wife of the Big Bad Wolf), Cinderella (an ultra-competent espionage agent), Beauty (of “… and the Beast,” mayor of Fabletown), and so forth. We’ve also met some women with problems, like the emotionally damaged Rose Red and the cursed Sleeping Beauty.
The current adventures of these fascinating females have been terrific fun, and now Fairest promises their previous adventures, which should be equally entertaining. Willingham is again the writer, with award-winning “good girl” artist Adam Hughes on covers, and fan-favorite Phil Jimenez (Wonder Woman) on board for the first storyline (starring Briar Rose).
A second title setting my comic-book senses a-tingle is The New Deadwardians, a miniseries set in a world mirroring England’s post-Victorian period, where the lower classes have all become zombies, and the upper classes have become vampires to protect themselves. The middle class is still human, but even so London homicide detective George Suttle usually has very little to do, given that most people are already deceased. That changes in the first issue, where an aristocrat turns up dead – well, deader – and Suttle must investigate the murder, which promises to show how the world got this way. Vertigo has already tested these waters with two “Victorian Undead” series – starring Sherlock Holmes fighting zombies and vampires – and if that’s any indication, Deadwardians ought to be good, wholesome, corpse-ridden fun.
I’m mildly intrigued by Saucer Country, starring the Mexican-American (and female) Gov. Arcadia Alvarado of New Mexico, who is planning to run on the Democratic ticket for president until she appears to be abducted by aliens. I’m not a big UFOlogist (is that a word?), but the part of the premise that intrigues me is the open use of real-world politics. I don’t want all my comics to become political screeds, and most comics publishers avoid politics so as to not alienate any potential reader, so every once in a while I like to see a comics writer try to tackle relevant issues and not just fantasy.
The preview of the fourth title, Dominique Laveau: Voodoo Child, doesn’t do much for me. It appears to be the cliché of a twentysomething discovering that they are “the promised one,” with various hidden factions battling for control over him or her (See: The Matrix). In this case it’s a her, a Tulane grad student, who – at a guess – will discover she is the descendant/reincarnation of Marie Laveau (the historical Voodoo Queen of New Orleans), or the new Voodoo Queen, or something similar. Been there, done that, played the videogame. Nor do I much care for the art, by comics veteran Denys Cowan, which relies heavily on scratchy-scratchy rendering I find unappealing.
These four books join a line that has canceled or ended a few series recently (DMZ, Northlanders, Scalped) but is still running strong on a line of core titles I truly enjoy, including American Vampire (about a new, more dangerous Wild West breed of bloodsucker), the aforementioned Fables, Hellblazer (starring John Constantine of movie fame), iZombie (a black comedy about monsters trying to fit in) and Sweet Tooth (a sweet-natured tale of post-apocalyptic human-animal hybrids).
The four new books fit in well at Vertigo, a line where the only thing the books have in common is a unique vision.
Contact Andrew A. Smith of the Memphis Commercial Appeal at capncomics@aol.com
Comments
Well, as I've often said, fantasy has to have rules, which is why magic stories have trouble developing drama ("Why doesn't Zatanna just say 'Dab yug og yawa' and get this over with?"). There has to be some connection to reality, even in fantasy stories, or anything can happen. Anything at all. And as I often say, "If anything can happen, no one cares what eventually does." Everything in fantasy story should operate according to real-world rules, unless it's tied to the fantasy element. We like a story about the real world where you drop a dragon into it, but if you drop a dragon into a world where everyone has magic powers, then no one is restricted in any way -- people the dragon kills can come back from the dead, or other dragons can be wished up, etc. -- and who cares? To paraphrase CK, I can only believe so many unbelievable things before breakfast.
Or to put it yet another way, I have absolutely no problem with Superman flying -- in fact, I don't need any explanation, because "he's from another planet" will do. I don't know anyone from another planet, and who knows what's out there? But I DO know that people on Earth can't fly, so if Jimmy Olsen suddenly takes flight, there'd better be a damn good explanation.
And so it is with DMZ. There are political fault lines in America that conform to geography, but they're generally along the Mason-Dixon line or the Mississippi River, possibly the Rockies or Sierra Madre. This is a True Thing That I Know, and to change it, you'd better give me a damn good explanation -- like Jimmy Olsen flying. DMZ didn't give me any explanation at all, because it was so obviously enamored of its New York metaphor and setting. It didn't make any sense, nor did the story bother to explain what was going on in the other 99/100 part of the U.S. that ISN'T New York City (and would surely have an impact on what was going on in New York, just by numbers). Then I'm being asked to believe that a journalist -- and journalists seem even more unpopular in DMZ than in the real world, which is considerable -- is dropped unprepared into a war zone and isn't killed in the first 10 minutes. My suspension of disbelief burst like a cheap balloon, and I couldn't overcome that.
But I realize not everyone is like me, and everyone's position is different and viable, which is why we can have these conversations.
Cap,I agree with you about NYC being an implausible place for a national fault line. But Wood was able to sell it to me, and it certainly gave him lots of material to work with. The city almost functions as a character in the story; setting it in Kansas wouldn't have allowed for that. If you can accept superheroes flying around, I can accept this! I think it's kind of funny that your standard for suspension of disbelief is higher than mine in this case.
DMZ mostly faded because of lack of budget, Mark. Sooner or later I'll pick it back up, but when I started dipping into Vertigo trades again, I decided to go with Scalped and Northlanders rather than DMZ. (Another reason for that is that I lent my DMZ trades to a friend of mine, and can't remember which trade to pick up next.)
I never had a lot of interest in DMZ because of the implausibility of the premise. Sure, America could break up along political lines, but the fault line wouldn't be New York City, or anywhere close. There's an interesting, honest story to be told about the politics in flyover country, but we'll never read it.
I'm not sure why DMZ faded for you guys...but apparently you're not alone. I'm still enjoying it. Matty really got into politics after you left, and there have been lots of complications. The focus of the series definitely shifted. I'm planning to stick around to the end. I'll let you know if Brian Wood sticks the landing!
I was enjoying DMZ trades for a while, but dropped around the same time you did. Scalped has recently gotten back on my radar, though, and I'm now up-to-date on the trades. Man, what a ride!
I will be picking up the first issue of each of them, but likely tradewaiting either all of them or only the ones that interest me.
Sometimes with Vertigo, I will pick up the first issue and decide it's not for me, and then critical reviews will get me to pick up the first trade. Read as a trade, I love it. "Recent" examples include DMZ and Scalped. After one issue, I thought I would never read another one again. But now I've loved both of them (well, especially Scalped) in trade form. DMZ is one that I really enjoyed for about the first six or seven trades, but the last couple haven't wowed me, so I'm not sure if I will just gather up the rest of the trades or just let it peter out. After all, I have lots of stuff left unread as it is!
I'm going to be picking up Fairest naturally, and I have high hopes for it. Every time I think I am undead out something comes along like New Deadwardians comes along that entices me enough to check it out.
I wasn't trying to be comprehensive, but since I do read Unwritten, I should have mentioned it!
Unwritten is continuing, but there's only one month left of its double-shipping. These four are just the new Vertigo books... not the only ones.
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