Over the past few months, it's was rumored that DC was making plans to retire their Vertigo imprint, leaving readers curious as to the fate of some of the label's more popular titles, such as High Level, Goddess Mode, American Carnage, in addition to several off-shoots belonging to Neil Gaiman's The Sandman universe. While details were scarce for a time, we now have confirmation that, starting in January of 2020, DC will end their Vertigo, DC Zoom and DC Ink imprints, with plans to release all titles under the DC brand. Alongside the re-branding of DC's publishing arm will also come a new age-specific labeling system, that will rate the content of each title for pre-teen readers, general audiences, and material aimed at readers 17 and older. If you want, think of this new rating initiative as the ESRB of DC Comics.
Here's the breakdown for each department of DC Comics:
DC Kids: Readers aged 8-12
DC: Readers 13+
DC Black Label: Readers 17+
While comic book creator Sean Gordon Murphy's Batman: White Knight has already been collected under the DC Black Label banner, several new series have alsobeen announced as a part of DC's adult-oriented sector, such as Harleen from Stjepan Sejic, Batman: Three Jokers from Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok, and Superman: Year One from Frank Miller and John Romita Jr., just to name a few.
With regard to titles belonging to DC Zoom and DC Ink for a 2020 or later release, these books will now be presented by way of DC Kids. As for DC Vertigo ongoing titles, these books will now be absorbed into DC Black Label.
“We’re returning to a singular presentation of the DC brand that was present throughout most of our history until 1993 when we launched Vertigo to provide an outlet for edgier material,” DC publisher Dan DiDio said in a statement. “That kind of material is now mainstream across all genres, so we thought it was the right time to bring greater clarity to the DC brand and reinforce our commitment to storytelling for all of our fans in every age group. This new system will replace the age ratings we currently use on our material.”
Jim Lee, DC's creative chief officer then added, “What we’ve done here is apply an ages and stages organizing philosophy that will strengthen what we’re already doing well, whether that is our move into the young adult and middle grade audience or our long track record of success with creator-driven pop-up lines. We will also continue to publish creator-owned projects, and will evaluate and assign to the appropriate label to help our fans find the best books for their interests. These new labels not only bring greater consistency and focus to our characters, but they also open up a wealth of new opportunities for the talent working on our books.”
For those of you wondering about Young Animal, DC's other imprint founded by My Chemical Romance frontman and comic book creator Gerard Way, it's been said that DC will continue to host this unique line of books.
Ch-ch–ch-changes are happening at DC, folks! While the shift in labels will likely take some time to get used to, it sounds as if titles will be easier to find once they're been consolidated into a more streamlined library. I think the big takeaway here is that books aren't going away, and that's really what matters. Innovation is a must in the comic book publishing business, and this re-branding is simply DC's newest attempt to stay ahead of the curve and get their books into the appropriate hands. Now if only we could get them to market their books a bit better, then we'd really be in business. I'm talking about pop-up comic book shops in movies theaters, a return to food store check-out racks (a la Archie Comics) and beyond. Making movies about comic book characters is great and all, but those ticket sales seldom result in comics sold. Let's start thinking outside the box and see if we can't usher in a new era of comic book consumerism, shall we?