Apparently, Dorling Kindersley have just compiled a Vertigo Encyclopedia in its series of DC-themed reference books. Compared to the Batmobile Owner’s Manual, at least this theme has some depth and relevance to it, but judging from this interview with executive editor Karen Berger, I’m not really sure if this rises beyond the typical topical DK fodder, and get to the level of the quite excellent Eyewitness books. I haven’t seen the book myself, but a blurb riddled with plattitudes like “up close and personal”, “cutting-edge work” or “extraordinary journey” don’t really fill me with hope.
That said, I think it’s quite interesting to hear Berger sum up the Vertigo mission in a short few minutes, even if those few minutes are edited disastrously : there’s far too many cuts in the voice for it to sound like natural speech flow, and at points you can even see the cuts in the visuals.
Ahem. Vertigo tries “TOO” hard. Ugh. Proofreading!
rp
It’s a bit self-congratulatory and uncritical, but it’s promo material, so what would you expect? I thought it weird that, in touting the appeal of the comics to women, she named only comics written by men (as most comics are). The book looks beautiful, but I don’t care about enough Vertigo titles to make it worthwhile. Vertigo now tries to hard (IMOO) to be “cool” and “hip” and “relevant” and “edgy.” A lot of the titles look and feel and read the same.
Thanks for posting this (and everything else you post),
rp