The hour of DC Vertigo’s relaunch is finally upon us, and with all the hype, maybe it’s gotten some of you with your deep shelves of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman comics curious about what else might be out there. If that’s the case, then welcome!
This is a time for us to celebrate that comics are not a genre, but a medium—an art form where stories of all kinds can be told. But, at the same time…we get it. When you think DC, you think superheroes, right? Well, don’t worry. If the DC Universe is your main frame of reference, we’re here to help you find a place to start at Vertigo. Allow us to guide you through just a small sample of what the DC Vertigo library has to offer.
IF YOU LIKE WATCHMEN…
Read V for Vendetta—a series just as densely layered and considered as its superhero-themed successor, with a political message that feels just as powerful today as it was forty years ago.
IF YOU LIKE HELLBLAZER…
Read Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s Preacher—a series starring as irreverent a spiritual protagonist as Constantine himself could reckon with, across a tableau with much to say about religious fervor and national patriotism.
IF YOU LIKE DOOM PATROL…
Read Grant Morrison’s The Invisibles—a series that takes everything you like about the World’s Strangest Heroes and amps it up to levels unseen before. Pure Morrison, with the limiters all the way off.
IF YOU LIKE GRANT MORRISON’S ANIMAL MAN…
Read The Unwritten—a nuanced metatextual comic which similarly engages with the lines between fiction and reality.
IF YOU LIKE SCOTT SNYDER’S BATMAN, ABSOLUTE OR OTHERWISE…
Read American Vampire—a series which takes Snyder’s unique eye for rich worldbuilding and badass scene setting applied to a world with a long history of vampires living among us.
IF YOU LIKE ABSOLUTE FLASH…
Read Sweet Tooth—the acclaimed comic by Absolute Flash author Jeff Lemire that’s similarly about a boy with a strange gift, forced to find tomorrow in a world turned against him.
IF YOU LIKE BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN…
Or any of the other Batman comics mired in Gotham’s criminal underworld, for that matter, read Road to Perdition—the sensational historical drama depicting one family set among the most notorious figures in organized crime of the 20th century.
IF YOU LIKE BATMAN: NO MAN’S LAND…
Read Brian Wood’s DMZ—a series which really gets into what life in America’s most densely populated city would be like if it were cut off from the rest of the country. But this time, there’s no Batman to save us.
IF YOU LIKE CATWOMAN…
Read Andy Diggle and Jock’s The Losers—one of the best heist comic series ever published, disguised as a war comic.
IF YOU LIKE JONAH HEX…
Read Scalped—a modern western epic never afraid to get gray and dirty.
IF YOU LIKE ZATANNA…
Read Midnight, Mass.—a series about a charming husband and wife team of paranormal investigators who take on all kinds of supernatural cases.
IF YOU LIKE TOM KING’S MISTER MIRACLE, RORSCHACH, STRANGE ADVENTURES, GRAYSON, THE OMEGA MEN OR WONDER WOMAN…
Read Tom King and Mitch Gerads’ Sheriff of Babylon—the semi-autobiographical series about training the Iraqi Police during the War on Terror, setting the themes which continue through King’s work to this day.
IF YOU LIKE WONDER WOMAN: EARTH ONE…
Read Y: The Last Man—a very different vision of a feminine future, when the entire world’s male population (with one or two exceptions) is eliminated overnight.
IF YOU LIKE KRYPTO: THE LAST DOG OF KRYPTON…
Read We3—a heart-squeezing odyssey of three cybernetically enhanced animals just looking to find their way home.
IF YOU LIKE SUPERMAN VS. MESHI OR TASTE OF JUSTICE…
Read Get Jiro!—the culinary action graphic novels co-written by the great global gourmand, Anthony Bourdain.
IF YOU LIKE MILESTONE COMICS LIKE STATIC, ICON AND HARDWARE…
Read The American Way—an original superhero series set in the mid-20th century about the first Black superhero to debut in the American public eye. (This one was originally published by WildStorm, but is now a DC Vertigo book.)
IF YOU HAVE EVER LIKED ANY COMIC AT ALL, OR WANT TO…
Just read Daytripper. There’s really nothing else like it.
GIMME THE NEW STUFF!
Or hey, maybe you just want to check out the new batch of Vertigo titles. We’ve got you. We can’t get much into the general vibes for some of the not-yet-released books, but we can give you some matches based on the writers and artists involved.
READ THE NICE HOUSE ON THE LAKE AND THE NICE HOUSE BY THE SEA IF…
You like shows like Lost, movies like The Cabin in the Woods and comics like 2016’s Detective Comics or 2018’s Justice League Dark (writer James Tynion IV and artist Álvaro Martínez Bueno).
READ BLEEDING HEARTS IF…
You like zombie movies and shows like 28 Years Later and The Walking Dead, Absolute Martian Manhunter (writer Deniz Camp) or Catwoman: Selina’s Big Score (colorist Matt Hollingsworth).
READ END OF LIFE IF…
You like Peacemaker Tries Hard! (writer Kyle Starks and artist Steve Pugh), the Peacemaker TV series or The Boy Wonder (colorist Chris O’Halloran).
READ THE PERIL OF THE BRUTAL DARK: AN EZRA CAIN MYSTERY IF…
You like classic noir detective films like The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep, and the most recent run on Green Arrow (writer Chris Condon and artist Jacob Phillips).
READ 100 BULLETS: THE U.S. OF ANGER IF…
Obviously, if you’ve read 100 Bullets, the Vertigo series this spins out of, or if you like Flashpoint: Batman – Knight of Vengeance (writer Brian Azzarello and artist Eduardo Risso).
READ THE BLACK TOWER: THE RAVEN CONSPIRACY IF…
You like The Swamp Thing (writer Ram V and artist Mike Perkins).
READ NECRETACEOUS IF…
You like DCeased (writer Tom Taylor) or Hellblazer: Rise and Fall (Taylor again, this time with artist Darick Robertson).
READ FANATIC IF…
You like Lois Lane and the Friendship Challenge (writer Grace Ellis). Though, uh, this one will probably be a lot different.
READ THE CRYING DOLL IF…
You like Supergirl: Being Super (writer Mariko Tamaki) or Lumberjanes/Gotham Academy (artist Rosemary Valero-O'Connell).
READ A WALKING SHADOW IF…
You like John Constantine: Hellblazer and John Constantine: Hellblazer: Dead in America (writer Si Spurrier and artist Aaron Campbell).
Whether you’re headed out to your comic store or archive diving—and all of these older titles are available right now on DC UNIVERSE INFINITE, by the way—you’ve got plenty of work cut out for you beyond the shadow cast by the Justice League watchtower. It’s time to discover how much more comics can be than capes and cowls.
Alex Jaffe is the author of our monthly "Ask the Question" column and writes about TV, movies, comics and superhero history for DC.com. Follow him on Bluesky at @AlexJaffe and find him in the DC Official Discord server as HubCityQuestion.
NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Alex Jaffe and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.
