“So, what comics did you like before?” the clerk at BOSCO’S Comics, a comic shop in Anchorage, Alaska, asked me.

I had to give the question some serious thought. I needed to because it was my first time in a comic shop in several years, as I had stopped reading during my late teen years. It’s a common tale, one that marks the end of the run for many readers. But thanks to encouragement from my mom, I decided to give the medium another shot. And as I considered the comics I read from the before times, there was one that stood out the most.

“Preacher,” I told the clerk.

“That was the last comic I read before I stopped, and it was my favorite.” 8

The clerk chewed on that for a minute and then came to a decision, landing on something he clearly thought was a fit. Grabbing a trade paperback of a comic I didn’t recognize — which made sense, as I didn’t really recognize anything after a few years away — he made his choice, and what a choice it was.

“You should read Y the Last Man,” he said while handing me a copy of the first volume of Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra’s series. “Its first trade just came out, and it’s amazing.”

I did, and the rest, as they say, was history.

I ended up walking out of the store that day with the first volumes of Y the Last Man, Fables, and The Walking Dead, but three of the four titles I’ve mentioned so far had one thing in common: They were published by Vertigo, the legendary imprint of DC Comics famed for offering creators a home for their non-superhero work at a time when options like that were few and far between.

After that, it was over. Vertigo became more than just an imprint to me. It was my personal king of comics, one that acted as a gateway into an entirely different side of the medium. To say Vertigo changed my life isn’t just true; It might be an understatement, as it’s led me to where I am today. And I wasn’t the only one who felt like that.

From the time Karen Berger founded it back in 1993, Vertigo became a go-to haunt for readers who wanted something different and creators with something to say beyond superheroes. That was true for a long time, and it’s where many of my favorite comics were published, from obvious classics like Preacher, Y the Last Man, and Daytripper to personal faves like Scalped, The Unwritten, and Joshua Dysart and Alberto Ponticelli’s Unknown Soldier series. For decades, Vertigo was undoubtedly and undeniably associated with a rare level of prestige in comics, a hallowed name revered by many.

That is, until 2020 when Vertigo was discontinued, leaving behind a massive legacy as both an imprint and a brand. While its presence had become muted by that point, it still felt like a major loss.

Until now.

That’s because today brings the first release 9 of a new era for Vertigo, as James Tynion IV and Álvaro Martinez Bueno’s The Nice House by the Sea #7 arrives in comic shops everywhere. For the first time, this series will come adorned with the Vertigo logo in its top left corner, as it always should have been. It’s only the beginning, as each Wednesday this month will bring the launch of a new series, with many more to come in 2026. That makes this a banner stretch for readers like me, folks whose lives were changed by this fabled imprint.

But will it still resonate in the way it once did? That’s a good question to ask as Vertigo prepares for its rebirth.