Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Vertigo Title Review (R.I.P.)

They just reissued the collected edition yesterday. I bought it and stayed up late last night reading it.

I don't really know what to say without spoiling any of the important details. It's challenging to the point of being frustrating, especially early on, but ultimately it's enlightening and rewarding.

Milligan is hit and miss with me, sometimes within the same series, but overall I consider this one a hit.

Just read the first HINTERKIND trade by Ian Edginton and Francesco Trifogli...A plague has wiped out most of humanity and the world has been reclaimed by mythical races and creatures. The story begins with our young protagonist and her community in an overgrown NYC, skyscrapers and streets slowly being reclaimed by nature. We soon learn humans are toward the bottom of the food chain and a commodity for the elder races and patchwork subterrarean people. Engaging characters and writing; I definitely want to read more.

Second trade available= added to this month's DCBS.

Sandman Overture just jumped the shark big time for me. Retroactively turning Dream's entire story into a case of "Mommy and Daddy don't love each other, so I'm sad" is just so bizarre and silly. It took me right out of a story that was already on shaky ground. I can't decide if Neil's working out issues or just phoning it in.

Gaiman also, yet again, goes to a nod/wink to the main series with Dream confounding Destiny. I'll have to drag out the trades, but when this happened in the main series wasn't a big deal made that this was the ONLY time Destiny didn't have something in his book?

I saw Sandman:Overture in the shop, and couldn't even remember the first issue which I'm sure I have. I just passed on it.

It's a series that I've not read since not long after it finished. I'm more likely to pick up Sandman Mystery Theatre to reread.

Okay, I was WFTT on OVERTURE solely for JHW3, but you guys have scared me away from it...

Don't get me wrong, the art is insanely good, but the story is just not clicking for me.

I'm not overly invested in Sandman... I never followed the series(HERESY!!), and only own the DEATH minis and Little Endless books. So I'm pretty sure I *will* be buying the collected Overture. JHW3 is just *that* good, where I'll probably check something out just because he's drawing it.

Sharp-eyed posters will see that I'm hemming and hawing the HELL outta my latest TPB order. I've pretty much decided that I'm FINALLY gonna purchase the original Morrison/Animal Man trade. What I'm debating about adding is the first Brian K. Vaughn Swamp Thing trade. I love BKV but have no idea whether his Swamp Thing was any good. Opinions?

The art on Sandman Overture is definitely worth the price of the book. I wish I could say as much for the story, but so far (I've read through issue #5) it's pretty unremarkable.

It's... not bad. It's certainly early BKV, and it's not consistently strong, but there's a lot to offer. It both does and doesn't rely heavily on previous runs (the story is about Tefe as Swamp Thing, not the traditional big guy). it's certainly more character driven than plot driven, as I couldn't give you a plot sysnopsis for the life of me, but I remember her character progression well.

Sorry, not the most glowing recomendation.

It's okay, Dave. I found a deal on eBay that contains the 2 TPBs printing the whole run for the price of one. So in any case, I won't pay a lot.

Speaking of which, Vertigo, floundering of late, is kicking off a huge number of series this fall that many see as the last gasp attempt to re-invigorate the line. Any of these seem interesting to anyone?

OCTOBER
THE TWILIGHT CHILDREN #1 (Gilbert Hernandez, Darwyn Cooke)

SURVIVORS’ CLUB #1 (Lauren Beukes, Dale Halvorsen, Ryan Kelly)

CLEAN ROOM #1 (Gail Simone, Jon Davis-Hunt)

ART OPS #1 (Shaun Simon, Michael Allred)


NOVEMBER
UNFOLLOW #1 (Rob Williams, Mike Dowling)
SLASH & BURN #1 (Si Spencer, Max Dunbar, Ande Parks)
RED THORN #1 (David Baillie, Meghan Hetrick)
JACKED #1 (Eric Kripke, John Higgins)

DECEMBER
SHERIFF OF BAGHDAD #1 (Tom King, Mitch Gerads)
NEW ROMANCER #1 (Peter Milligan, Brett Parson)
LUCIFER #1 (Holly Black, Lee Garbett)
LAST GANG IN TOWN #1 (Simon Oliver, Rufus Dayglo)


October seems the most promising month of the three for me with creators like Cooke, Simone and Allred involved in 3 different books.

Peter Milligan used to be one of my favorite writers, but his track record has faded over the last decade.

I suppose there's a new Lucifer comic because of the new TV show. Not sure if it continues from the last iteration or what. I've never read the original Lucifer series by Mike Carey, so I have no opinion on that.

I agree with Lardy about Milligan, but I'll give the first issue of New Romancer a chance for its brilliant title alone.

I never got into Carey's Lucifer, which surprised me, because I loved sizable chunks of his Hellblazer run. I might give the new version a chance, being the heretic I am.

IMO Karen Berger was the heart and soul of Vertigo. Her departure was the beginning of a decline that continues to this day.

^This. I honestly think Willingham would still be writing FABLES if KB was still running the show.

Agree 100% as well.

After taking a more considered look at the offerings at hand, I've decided to give not only New Romancer and Lucifer a chance, but also Red Thorn.

I met Berger at San Diego 2010. This was shortly after regime change, but before the big Vertigo shake up. Not sure it was what transpired earlier, but I got the distinct impression her heart just wasn't in it, so I wasn't at all surprised when she jumped ship.

I'll be really interested in your reviews Fanfie!

I'm considering New Romancer myself. I'll also definitely be getting Twilight Children.

If anyone likes one of the new Vertigo series, please tell us why!

Thanks, Cobie.

I'm passing on Twilight Children despite Cooke's involvement, because I find Hernandez a bit too arty and obscure.

Today your local LCS should have a free sampler with a few pages of Lucifer, UnFollow and Twilight Children. All the rest get 1-2 page ads (some with concept art)

Picked up Simone's "Clean Room" today. It was a little underwhelming. Scary unseen forces manipulating people to do nefarious things leading the journalist protagonist to try and uncover a dark secret. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood, but it seemed like pretty by-the-numbers horror tropes to me.

How's Unfollow? I have purchased it but not read it yet.

Looks interesting. I somehow missed hearing that Dini went through something like this.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/paul-dini-revisits-his-traumatic-842031