A Queasy, Unbalanced Feeling: Karen Berger Leaves Vertigo Comics

It’s been while since the 1990s glory days of Vertigo Comics, when books like Sandman, Hellblazer, Shade The Changing Man, Y: The Last Man and Preacher stomped on the terra and helped solidify the concept that comics weren’t for children anymore. These days, it feels like Vertigo is down to what feels like a few miniseries, some original graphic novels and Fables, and with the recent announcement of the cancellation of Hellblazer, it has seemed like the imprint has been at a crossroads. And, as anyone who’s ever listened to Robert Johnson knows, good shit never happens at the crossroads.

And today is living proof. DC Comics has announced that Karen Berger, the longtime Executive Editor of Vertigo Comics, is leaving the company at the end of first quarter 2013.

DC’s official announcement is after the jump.

Bar Gags And Animal Cruelty: I, Vampire #14 Review

I’ve honestly missed the last several issues of I, Vampire – not because it’s a bad book or one that I don’t like, but the ugly reality is that, when you spend the week writing 1,200 word reviews of comics, it is impossible to read one while you’re writing about another, sometimes because of the pure, inexorable nature of time, other times because it’s hard to type and read when you’re already holding a glass of whiskey.

However, after finishing yesterday’s vaguely frustrating read of this week’s Angel & Faith, I figured it was as good an opportunity as any to check back in with the book. Because after reading an vampire story that seemingly blithely chucked aside the plot that had been driving the story, I thought it might be comforting to revisit vampire Andrew Bennett and his eternal war against his darker nature, and against his girlfriend Mary’s efforts to turn vampires into the ascendant race on the planet Earth.

So yeah, funny story: at some point in the last few months? It seems Andrew lost.

So here we have yet another vampire comic that, at some point, has taken its status quo and turned it on its head, reversing pretty much everything you’d expect from the book. That doesn’t mean it’s necessarily bad… but it does mean that I’m not entirely sure what in the hell is going on.