After dropping a news bomb about the return of the storied Vertigo imprint at last year’s New York Comic Con, DC finally fought past their nausea at this year’s New York Comic Con (that’s a Vertigo joke) with the unveiling of the full, initial slate of comics and creative teams coming from the line next year. And it is a doozy.
First launched in 1993, the more mature creator driven line has launched lauded titles ranging from Y: The Last Man and Preacher, to Fables and DC Universe titles like Hellblazer and Swamp Thing. Unfortunately, DC discontinued the line in 2020, ending nearly three decades of lauded and award winning comics.
As for the new lineup? As already announced, The Nice House By The Lake and The Nice House By The Sea by James Tynion IV and Álvaro Martínez Bueno is getting relabeled from DC Black Label to DC Vertigo… Going forward, DC Black Label will be for creator driven stories about DC Comics superpower universe characters, while Vertigo is creator owned. But what about the rest of the lineup??
As revealed thanks to a sampler distributed by DC Comics right at the start of the panel, the initial launch titles are:
- The Nice House by the Sea by James Tynion IV and Álvaro Martínez Bueno, beginning with issue #7
- Bleeding Hearts by Deniz Camp and Stipan Morian
- End of Life by Kyle Starks and Steve Pugh
- The Peril of Brutal Dark by Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips
Chris Conroy, the Executive Editor of the new Vertigo started to the panel saying he’s “thrilled” to see something he’s been working on for years finally come to fruition. He also gave a shout out to the iconic Karen Berger for the original Vertigo. “That is the model DC Vertigo is going to [use] going forward… The home for original, creator-owned work,” said Conroy.
But wait, there’s more! As Conroy teased, they are announcing 10 titles total, including ongoing titles — something they’re very “committed” to. Those include:
- 100 Bullets: The US of Anger by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso
- Necretaceous by Tom Taylor and Darick Robertson
- Fanatic by Grace Ellis and Hannah Templer
- The Crying Dolls by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero O’Connell
- Black Tower: The Raven Conspiracy by Ram V and Mike Perkins
- A Walking Shadow by Simon Surrier and Aaron Campbell
Bringing up Tynion, Camp, Starks, and Condon, the panel talked about the impact of the original Vertigo, with Tynion adding that he always thought of Nice House as a Vertigo title. He also teased that Nice House by the Sea, the second series, is only the “halfway point” in the epic — and for body horror fans, “you will eat.”
As for other titles, Camp plugged his unique zombie tale, Bleeding Hearts: “What a culture might look like of zombies, and what happens when someone starts to question that.”
Moving on to Starks’ main character in End of Life, who is a “true piece of shit” according to Conroy, with Starks adding that he’s “not very likeable” but trying to be better, and ends up robbing The Menagerie, an animal theme park. “It’s John Wick goes to Northern Exposure,” teased Starks. The book will also include a strip called Wrongdog by Starks, which is “published” in the world of the book.
Condon and Phillips’ book is “an Ezra Cain mystery,” which is a character Condon drew in high school, “so it’s really crazy to me that it’s now a Vertigo book.” Cain is a detective in the mode of Sam Spade, and a classic detective story, but there’s also “a little bit of sci-fi, a little bit of fantasy, and mostly adventure… It’s an action run,” that’s set in the lead up to World War II… Specifically 1941 in New York City. “The idea setting it then is… Maybe there’s an attack that’s been planned in New York.”
As for the release cadence, Bleeding Hearts and End of Life are monthly ongoing titles; the Ezra Cain mysteries will be released in six issue arcs… Each story will be branding as “an Ezra Cain Mystery.”
Joining by video, Ram V and Mike Perkins talked The Black Tower, focusing on a paranormal investigation branch of MI-5, “a contemporary spy thriller with that… Vertigo magic,” said Ram V. Similar to the Condon/Phillips book, this will be released in different six-issue arcs.
And then it was time for Brain Azzarello to talk bringing back 100 Bullets. The always cranky Azzarello (complimentary) talked about how, “The heart of America is violent… That’s what I wrote about.” The new series starts “right now.” When Azzarello and Risso were finishing up Blood Brothers Mother for DSTLRY, they were talking about “things going on in our respective countries with our disrespective Presidents… and said we have a way we can address this.”
The new series will be printed in black and white, with Azzarello joking, “We have 100 variant covers, how about that… Not just blind bags, we’ll print them in braille. There will be a DNA thing… We were thinking we might give you a story too.” And then he added, “Since some of you didn’t like how the last series ended, this one will end with a blank page so you can write your own.”
“What if dinosaurs could be cooler? What if we added zombies?” teased Tom Taylor via video, with artist Darick Robertson clarifying the dinosaurs are zombies in Necretaceous. It’s a survival tale with, per the images shown on screen, some pretty bloody classic Robertson art.
“Why are there two zombie comics? No one has ever proved that can work?” joked Conroy, adding more seriously they are, “wildly different stories,” with two teams they wanted to work with.
Fanatic is a comic about a woman obsessed with a comic. Ellis read an article about a woman who would post her chapters online, and determine what she should write next based on the feedback… The book is about the parasocial relationship between creators and fans, and what it’s like to be a fan like that. The lead character, Jane, has had her relationship warped in a way similar to Talented Mr. Ripley, where she’s getting out of increasingly warped situations because of her lies.
Over to A Walking Shadow, it’s “a bit of a mind-bender” according to Conroy. Not mentioning about the plot, Si Spurrier beautifully quoted Shakespeare, instead, the “tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow” speech from Macbeth, teasing that the speech contains a lot of the thematic ideas for the story. He’s playing with “light and dark” and is about “eight men and women and children who wake up in a forest… Chained to a boat.” They need to get out of the forest to survive, but are being hunted by something in the woods. And beyond that, the character discuss their backstories.
Spurrier also teases that this came across Stephen King’s desk, who said, “He told us he thought this was one of the best pitches, and one of the best ideas he’s ever seen.”
Aaron Campbell is making puppets for the character of Bobby, a young girl who is one of the main characters in the book. He’ll be taking pictures of the puppets and use that art in the series. “I wasn’t sure I was going to go this route, and now I’m stuck,” Campbell said, laughing.
Taking a little break, Conroy noted something folks may have caught on to already. “Every creative team we announced today is a great team has worked together before,” he said. Not only did he want teams that knew what they were doing so they could hit the ground running, We wanted teams that work together beautifully… I think you’re going to see the next level,” for these teams working on these books.
Last up was The Crying Dolls, which is set in New York in the 1970s. Tamaki said she’s obsessed with the more “bombed out buildings” look for New York. The book is hitting the beginning of the AIDS crisis, and how “all these people are dying and the administration is ignoring them.” Tamaki did add this is sort of the “Vertigo take” on the real world event, and will deal with how this impacted queer culture at the time.
“This is also about messed up lesbians,” Tamaki said, referencing the previous collaboration between the duo.
And Conroy plugged that Walking Shadows, Crying Dolls, and Fantatic are all ongoing, with one final surprise:
Swamp Thing 1989 #1-#4 is getting published. It will be the never-before-published issues of Swamp Thing by Rick Veitch that found the character meeting Jesus… They’ll be in the original trade dress, and collected as Swamp Thing Volume 3, so they fit right on the shelf next to the older printings. This will be released under DC Black Label.
And that was it! See you at the next panel, and Vertigo forever, and you can check out the official synopses and release dates, below:
Bleeding Hearts by Deniz Camp, Stipan Morian, and Matt Hollingsworth: A zombie named Poke discovers his heart beating again, threatening his place in a society where death reigns supreme.
End of Life by Kyle Starks, Steve Pugh, and Chris O’Halloran: A top-tier hitman returns to his Midwestern hometown to care for his dying father…and confront his own mortality.
The Peril of the Brutal Dark: An Ezra Cain Mystery by Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips: A noir detective tale that collides with magic, fascism, and a stolen artifact of unimaginable power.
100 Bullets: The US of Anger by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso: Lono returns to America and reignites chaos, taking the nation’s darkest impulses to their violent extremes.
Black Tower: The Raven Conspiracy by Ram V and Mike Perkins: Wizard spies in the UK navigate a global cold war over sorcery, revealing a hidden world of occult power.
Necretaceous by Tom Taylor and Darick Robertson: Scientists attempt to time-travel to stop a zombie virus, only to land 66 million years in the past, among dinosaurs.
Fanatic by Grace Ellis and Hannah Templer: A woman’s obsession with a comic book spirals into a deadly parasocial fixation on its creator.
The Crying Doll by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell: A Jekyll-and-Hyde thriller about just how far a young woman would go to protect her best friend, who may (or may not) be a killer.
A Walking Shadow by Simon Spurrier and Aaron Campbell: Eight strangers wake up chained to a boat in the woods. No memory. No escape. No explanation.
The new DC Vertigo slate begins rolling out in February 2026, with The Nice House by the Sea #7 leading the charge on February 4. Bleeding Hearts #1 will publish on February 11, End of Life #1 on February 18 and The Peril of the Brutal Dark #1 will launch on February 25, with the rest of the new DC Vertigo imprint releasing throughout 2026.
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