Tuesday, December 04, 2012

END OF AN ERA: KAREN BERGER LEAVES DC/VERTIGO

Nooooo! So today, KAREN BERGER announced she is leaving DC Comics. Berger is best known for being the Executive Editor & Senior Vice President of DC Entertainment’s VERTIGO imprint.

I can't help but think Dan DiDio is a major factor in this. Dick.

Anyway, Berger's early career at DC included taking over as Editor of Alan Moore's SWAMP THING and for bringing Neil Gaiman to DC to write THE SANDMAN. Not bad, eh? Her hard work of bringing in talented people to create original, mature content led to the creation of the VERTIGO imprint in 1993, which had some of the absolute best comics ever created.

Some of my favorite Vertigo books are:

Swamp Thing
The Sandman
Hellblazer
Preacher
Fables
Y: The Last Man
Lucifer
Enigma
Animal Man
The Invisibles
Human Target
100 Bullets
V for Vendetta
Doom Patrol
Books of Magic
Transmetropolitan
Black Orchid
Sandman Mystery Theatre
House of Mystery
Unknown Soldier
Shade, the Changing Man
American Vampire
Scalped
We3
Sweet Tooth
House of Secrets
....and many more!

I am so very thankful for Karen Berger. She is one of the all-time greats in the History of Western Comics. Thank you so so very very much, Ms Berger!

What will Vertigo be like without Karen Berger? And will Vertigo even survive? DiDio has already moved Swamp Thing, Animal Man and Hellblazer OUT of Vertigo and placed them into the New 52 regular DC Universe. Dick.

Perhaps Ms Berger can move to another company and continue to push the envelope of the medium. Maybe Image Comics? They're producing some great creator owned content.

It's the end of an Era. The DCU has been rebooted into a 90s Image Comic, and now this. Boo.

DiDio DC doesn't deserve Berger.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

She will be greatly missed... under her watch comic books became legitimized as a part of the true literary community and helped completely revamp and reshape the medium by bringing in adult (and FEMALE!) readers in vastly greater numbers than was previously the case. If the high command at DC really was responsible for her departure, then such a thing is tantamount to grievous self-inflicted wounds.