No time for half-measures: Some thoughts on Vertigo’s return

Features Tegan O'Neil | September 1, 2026 Oh, Vertigo. Back once again, I see. Just like Kim Novak. Or perhaps merely a chance resemblance. The original Vertigo was born, leastwise on stands, in early 1993. An era of tempest. These were the boom months of the boom years, and it would be strictly incorrect to assert that the early Vertigo wasn’t buoyed by the same waves that lifted Spawn. More people were buying comic books, of all kinds. More people were buying X-Men and Spider-Man, more people were buying the early Image — and indeed, more people were buying Doom Patrol, Swamp Thing, and, yes, Sandman. Of course, the actual advent of Vertigo as a distinctive publishing imprint was preceded by many decades of evolution. To begin with the grandfather of the notion we must look to Joe Orlando — yes, the same Orlando who began his career working for Wally Wood, and became a mainstay staff artist for EC, and later worked for Classics Illustrated and the National Lampoon, before serving as an editor for Warren’s Creepy. In 1968, after being hired by National as an editor, he took over the company’s horror line. The covers to House of Mystery #173 and #174. Or perhaps its would be more a...