the subsidiary of dc comics . for the dc comics villain see count vertigo . vertigo parent company dc comics time warner founded april 1 1993 founder karen berger country of origin united states headquarters location new york city key people alan moore neil gaiman garth ennis grant morrison publication types comic books fiction genres horror fantasy imprints vertigo visions vertigo voices vertigo v rit v2k vertigo pop vertigo x vertigo crime official website vertigocomics.com vertigo is an imprint of the american comic book publisher dc comics . it was originally created to publish stories with graphic or adult content that could not meet the stringent guidelines of the comics code authority allowing more creative freedom than in their main imprint . these age restricted titles were free to contain explicit violence substance abuse sexuality nudity profanity and other controversial subjects similar to the content of r rated films . although many of its releases are in the horror and fantasy genres it also publishes works dealing with crime social satire speculative fiction and biography . in early 2013 karen berger left her role as the executive editor of the imprint having overseen it since its inception in 1993 . she has been succeeded in that role by shelly bond . 1 2 vertigo comics series have won the comics industry s eisner award including the best continuing series of various years the sandman preacher 100 bullets y the last man and fables . several of its publications have been adapted to film like constantine 3 a history of violence 4 stardust and v for vendetta 5 and tv shows like constantine izombie lucifer and preacher . in 2010 it was announced that vertigo would become a strictly creator owned imprint and all titles that originated in the dc universe will return to dc s main imprint . this includes characters related to swamp thing hellblazer the sandman madame xanadu black orchid the books of magic house of mystery sandman mystery theatre the haunted tank unknown soldier and shade the changing man . this had already been done with animal man doom patrol and the human target . 6 contents 1 history 2 titles 2.1 early titles 2.2 debut authors 2.3 style and promotion 2.4 format 2.5 1993 present 2.5.1 formerly non vertigo titles 2.5.2 relationship to dc universe 3 creator owned series 4 current ongoing series 5 former series 6 original graphic novels 7 trade paperbacks 8 sub imprints and brandings 8.1 vertigo visions 8.2 vertigo voices 8.3 vertigo v rit 8.4 v2k 8.5 vertigo pop 8.6 vertigo x 8.7 vertigo crime 9 editors 10 writers 10.1 launch writers 10.2 later writers 11 artists 11.1 cover artists 12 adaptations in other media 12.1 film 12.1.1 future film projects 12.1.2 unproduced adaptations 12.2 tv 12.2.1 tv projects announced and in development 12.2.2 unproduced adaptations 12.3 video games 13 see also 14 notes 15 references 16 external links history edit vertigo originated in 1993 under the stewardship of karen berger a brooklyn college graduate 7 with a degree in english literature and a minor in art history 8 who had joined dc comics in 1979 as an assistant to editor paul levitz debuting with house of mystery 292 after a sgt. rock reprint collection . in the final issue of house of mystery 321 she was depicted in the comics as personally evicting cain from the house . ironically as condescending as she was portrayed treating him she was instrumental in the character s continued development at dc . by the mid 1980s berger then editor of such dc titles as wonder woman and amethyst princess of gemworld began assigning writers from the uk . these included neil gaiman whom she met in 1987 on a talent scouting trip 7 as well as peter milligan and grant morrison . 7 she found their sensibility and point of view to be refreshingly different edgier and smarter than those of most american comics writers 7 and worked with them and others on the superhero science fiction series animal man doom patrol vol . 2 and shade the changing man vol . 2 ; the black orchid miniseries neil gaiman s first work for dc 9 the fantasy series the sandman vol . 2 and the horror titles hellblazer and the saga of the swamp thing 10 that last written by alan moore a british writer inherited from previous editor len wein . these seven titles all of which carried a suggested for mature readers label on their covers 11 shared a sophistication driven sensibility the fan press dubbed the bergerverse 8 which would form the initial basis of vertigo . in a 1993 editorial meeting with berger levitz dc publisher jenette kahn and managing editor dick giordano berger was given the mandate to place these titles under an imprint that as berger described would do something different in comics and help the medium grow up . 8 several dc titles bearing the label such as green arrow which had it from vol . 2 1 february 1988 63 late june 1992 were not allowed to make the leap to the new imprint . 12 the question had borne the label from issue 8 september 1987 to its cancellation in spring 1992 and also never became a vertigo title . other suggested for mature readers titles to pre date vertigo include vigilante haywire and skreemer and miniseries and one shots such as gilgamesh ii tailgunner jo world without end mister e and batman the killing joke . these mature readers comics both those that became vertigo and those that did not often had the dc bullet printed in a smaller than usual size . several of the earliest new vertigo series derived from disney comics aborted touchmark comics imprint a line announced before the so called disney implosion of 1991 and subsequently abandoned . touchmark was to be helmed at disney by ex dc editor art young but when it was jettisoned both young and the properties were acquired by dc forming part of the debut vertigo line . berger notes that when art young became available with the touchmark properties ... that helped facilitate the line and the influx of projects allowed berger to double her proposed publishing plan . 13 touchmark titles included enigma sebastian o mercy and shadows fall . in december 2012 karen berger announced that she would be leaving the company in march marking twenty years with vertigo and 33 years with dc comics making her longest running dc employee . 14 berger s position at the head of vertigo was filled by shelly bond who had begun editing for the imprint in 1993 . in 2016 dc restructured vertigo eliminating bond s position 15 and oversight of vertigo was then placed under jamie s. rich . titles edit early titles edit having spearheaded the british invasion by head hunting such writers as moore gaiman delano grant morrison 16 garth ennis and peter milligan berger was well suited to head up the new line as she was already editing many of the series which would form the core of the early vertigo output . debuting alongside ongoing former dc series swamp thing 129 hellblazer 63 sandman 47 doom patrol 64 animal man 57 and shade the changing man 33 the first new comic book printed under the vertigo imprint was death the high cost of living 1 debuting a scant couple of weeks before enigma 1 in january march 1993 . of these ongoing titles hellblazer was the last to be canceled ceasing publication in february 2013 with its 300th issue . 17 having inherited some projects from disney s aborted touchmark project vertigo was able to plan a first year in which they were to publish two new series per month in a variety of formats either one shots or miniseries or ongoing monthlies . the initial two series were both miniseries the aforementioned death the high cost of living by neil gaiman and chris bachalo and enigma by peter milligan and duncan fegredo . enigma was initially going to be the launch book of disney s touchmark but became the second new vertigo title written by the author shade the changing man and drawn by the artist from grant morrison s earlier kid eternity miniseries . 13 the major launch of the second month was sandman mystery theatre described by berger as in the same format as batman legends of the dark knight with different storylines every four issues . written by matt wagner it was described as playing the 30s with a 90s feel ... haunting film noir ish ... and starring original sandman wesley dodds in a title whose sensibilities echo crime genre fiction . 13 joining mystery theatre in february cover dated april 1993 was j. marc dematteis and paul johnson s 64 page one shot mercy while other initially talked about vertigo projects included grant morrison and steve yeowell s 3 issue steampunk miniseries sebastian o another ex touchmark project . in addition steve gerber an influential force on many of the vertigo writers provided the miniseries nevada which was written based on neil gaiman s reiteration of a frequent request to write something more about the characters in the obligatory comic book fight scene in howard the duck 16 . 18 debut authors edit although regularly cited as one of the major forces behind the creation of vertigo comics none of the launch titles were written by alan moore having long left swamp thing and only created the character of but never written the spin off solo title hellblazer . 19 none of the initial launch titles had been written by grant morrison either who had similarly finished his seminal runs on both animal man and doom patrol under the dc logo . 13 20 instead the key launch vertigo writers were part of the second wave of british talent focused in large part around gaiman whose sandman was so critical to the decision to create vertigo and whose death miniseries launched it . peter milligan penned the other new series enigma and continued shade the changing man while ennis continued hellblazer delano wrote animal man fantasy author rachel pollack took over doom patrol and horror author nancy collins wrote swamp thing . 21 the ninth comic launched at vertigo s 1993 debut was the vertigo preview showcasing the concurrently released titles as well as j. m. dematteis mercy ann nocenti s kid eternity an ongoing series spun off from the earlier morrison penned miniseries dick foreman s black orchid an ongoing series spun off from the gaiman mckean miniseries and matt wagner s sandman mystery theatre . style and promotion edit although the books did not have a consistent visual style the cover designs of early vertigo series featured a uniform trade dress with a vertical bar along the left side which included the imprint logo pricing date and issue numbers . the initial vertigo look was created so people who see the books will automatically know it s a vertigo title . 13 the design layout continued with very little variation until issues cover dated july 2002 including fables 1 which introduced an across the top layout ahead of 2003 s vertigo x 10th anniversary celebration . the distinctive design was designed to be used on all vertigo books except the hardcovers trade paperbacks and graphic novels . 13 berger noted that dc was very committed to line having put a lot of muscle behind promoting it including a promotional launch kit made available to r etailers who order ed at least 25 copies of the february issue of sandman 47 a platinum edition variant cover for death the high cost of living 1 and a 75c vertigo preview comic featuring a specially written seven page sandman story by gaiman and kent williams . 13 in addition a 16 page vertigo sampler was also produced and bundled with copies of