From: rkelly@carina.unm.edu (Robert Kelly)
Subject: Re: Vertigo Preview
Date: Fri, 01 Jan 93 05:21:59 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque


My veiws:

in short: the Veritgo Preveiw is worth 75 cents.

Dani writes:

>The first page is written by Karen Berger, the Vertigo Group Editor.
>That's already a selling point.  Berger is consistently associated with
>good comics.  There comes a time to stop writing that off as coincidence.

I agree.  She has proven beyond my doubts that she is probably the best
editor in the business currently.

>Death:  A three-issue miniseries.  Don't miss this.  The art is
>attractive, if crowded, the scripting is pure Gaiman, and Death
>is acting in character.  

I think the woman (?) killing the pigeon is Mad Hettie a la John
Constantine.  I think she wants to die or to kill Death.  Looks good.

>Enigma:  An eight-issue mini-series about a super-genius on "an
>existential journey of self-discovery".  Two pages later I still
>haven't a clue what to make of it.

_I_ love the art and the chameleon--Extremely breathtaking if you hold the 
	book a way from you about arms distance.

>Sandman Mystery Theatre:  The further adventures of the Golden Age
>Sandman.  By Matt Wagner, which counts for something.  The preview
>reminds me of Baker Street for some reason.  Hard to tell how good
>this will be, but probably worth a try.

If you like the Barry Winsor Smith kind of art, it is ok.  Personally, this
series is going to have to be VERY GOOD fro me to tolerate.  Somehow,
I doubt it will make it--but I do give Matt Wagner 3 issues to prove 
himself.  I wish he were drawing it.

>Mercy:  A graphic novel about "...a spiritual entity called Mercy, 
>and...her impact on three very different lives".  Splash pages don't
>make good preview material; I haven't a clue what to make of this, either.

I don't think these were splash pages... I think that is the entire 
way the book is going to be done... bold, I must admit, but we'll see.
Good art.  What else has JM DeMatteis done?  I can't remember.

Wasn't he writing Constantine and Animal Man for a while?

>Kid Eternity:  "The continuing tale of a dead-again adolescent."  

*GAK* Bad art.  Lousy (IMHO)-as normal for Nocenti-characterization.
I will look at this once, only once, until there is either a new writer 
or the story BLOWS me away.  It looks pretty shitty as is.

>Sebastian O:  A three-issue mini-series about an insane-asylum escapee 
>in a high-tech Victorian England.  It looks from the preview like an
>uninteresting story set in an interesting milieu.

Well, bad art, but the panelling makes up for it... I am not too 
crazy for the Xtraneous Xtra Boob-Women, but it is Grant Morrison.
When's he going to have Xtraneous Xtra Buff Men?  Oh well.  

The dandy himself promises to have characterization a la (YES!)
	___Mr. Nobody_

"The dandy has one unique advantage over the common herd.  No matter what the 
situation is, he will always be more exquisitely dressed than his enemies."

If you like.... Oh *SHIT* I forgot the name who wrote the Picture of
Dorian Gray!  The Imporatance of Being Earnest.  *SHIT*  
Someone, revoke my Queer Card!  *SHIT* O... H.O.

Damn!  I'm a sad senator, Cheese!

OSCAR WILDE!   (*PHEW*  May I have my Queer Card back?)


>Black Orchid:  I'll give this title a try, of course, since the
>mini-series was so good. 

Dani, bad form... LOOK AT IT!  This is supposed to be a preview
of the best parts and what we see is TOTALLY uninspiring.
But hey, we're individuals and, well, _I'm_ uninspired. :-)


Animal Man
If it keeps as good as the Flesh and Blood story, I'll continue...
But F&B has been the first story since AM#5 that I liked (yeah, I know,
I hardly liked the rest of the Morrison/Truog run).  Well, I am not
getting my hopes up.

Doom Patrol
I like it so far... these are two pages from the latest issue where
Pollack takes over.  I was sort a hoping that Pollack would have dropped 
all of the characters except Steele and ran with it.  But Crazy Jane 
_IS_ alive... or is she?

Hellblazer
Garth Ennis does keep me coming back.  I've only regretted one or two
stories thus far, so I'll be patient.

Shade
I like this new twist on Shade.  I think Milligan has been setting us up 
for this... he is much more suited for Shade than Animal Man and I am 
getting exicted.  Art by Bachalo is really impressive too.

Swamp Thing
Drek.  Drek.  Drek.  Drek.  Drek.  Drek.  Drek.  Drek.  Drek.  Drek.  
Drek.  Drek.  Drek.  Drek.  Drek.  Drek.  Drek.  Drek.  Nothing new,
Collins, well, is uninspiring, art is... OK, nice--but Collins has
left me really uninspired, nor do I expect her to change.

The Sandman story
Where did they dredge up the Kelly Jones/Dave McKean cross breed?  I
am not so sure I *like* the art, but it is *good* art.
	
All-in-all, the Vertigo preview is worth 75 cents.


>All told, we can expect Vertigo to send up a fair number of trial
>balloons over the next year or so. 

AGREED.. I just wish VERTIGO would do things more like Big Numbers and
Cages rather than staying with the 8 1/2 x 11 format... they could really do 
lot more.



Senator Robert Kelly (NM-L)
rkelly@triton.unm.edu
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