Fans of DCUniverse.com, the DC Comics streaming service, have had reasons to be nervous of late. But Comic-Con International: San Diego has given them reason for hope (maybe).
Despite the apparent success of its first two live-action shows, DCU's debut of "Swamp Thing" was marred by the abrupt announcement of its cancellation. And the live-action "Stargirl," originally scheduled to premiere in the fall, has been pushed back to 2020. Meanwhile, WarnerMedia (which owns DC Comics) is prepping a streaming service with all of WB's properties, not just DC — which some fear will replace DCUniverse.
But the Warner Bros. Television Group has announced a two-hour DC Universe showcase July 20 at the San Diego Comic-Con. The program promises "sneak peeks, first looks and breaking news for 'Titans,' 'Doom Patrol,' the second half of 'Young Justice: Outsiders' and the upcoming animated comedy series 'Harley Quinn.' "
Plus, WBTVG is sharing a booth with DC Comics. They wouldn't be so chummy if WB planned to punt on DCUniverse.com, would they? Perhaps it will, after all, survive as a separate entity, or be folded into the WarnerMedia service with its offerings intact.
Goodbye, Vertigo
Vertigo was quite prestigious in its heyday. Run by the inestimable Karen Berger, Vertigo grew from primarily a bunch of adult horror books to a more varied line that pretty much had the high-quality, creator-owned, older-reader corner of the sandbox to itself. Vertigo gave us Brian Azzarello's "100 Bullets," Mike Carey's "Lucifer," Warren Ellis' "Transmetropolitan," Garth Ennis' "Preacher," Neil Gaiman's "Sandman," Brian K. Vaughn's "Y: The Last Man" and Bill Willingham's "Fables" and big, dark epics with characters like John Constantine and Swamp Thing. (If you don't recognize some of these books, don't worry, they'll soon be adapted to movies or TV, if they haven't been already.)
But Berger was fired, Vertigo contracts no longer allow creators to own their creations and the experimental environment that was once Vertigo's hallmark is long gone. Berger's creator-friendly atmosphere has moved to a variety of other publishers, and the big-name creators have moved with it. It's good that the things that made Vertigo great are now so widespread, but sad that Vertigo no longer offers the things that made it famous.
Ominously, the death of Vertigo is part of a restructuring at DC Comics, which is consolidating all of its various imprints into three lines: DC Kids, featuring all the younger-reader material; DC Comics, primarily its superhero universe; and Black Label, offering more adult fare. That may be a canary in the Batcave, signaling behind-the-scenes problems at DC that can't be anything good for the industry as a whole.
But killing off the watered-down Vertigo is really no loss. The great creators are still putting out terrific work, but elsewhere. And if Vertigo can't live up to its rep, why publish it?
