V FOR VERTIGO

What makes a “Vertigo comic”?

Controversy and experimentation wasn’t the be-all and end-all of Vertigo under Karen Berger. The books all shared similar themes, including what Berger refers to as the “anarchic, rebellious, rage-against-the-machine or whatever you want to call that almost revolutionary, punk aspect. I think it was a big part of what was so attractive about those series. It just speaks to a lot of people at a certain age, who want to defy the system and question the world that we live in and explore the darker side and follow characters who have ambiguous moralities. “That’s probably the key thing that differentiates a Vertigo protagonist from a superhero protagonist – they’re complicated. They’re not black and white. You don’t necessarily always agree with what they’re doing.”