Comments on: The Vertigo Encyclopedia

By: odessa steps magazine

odessa steps magazine — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 20:58:15 +0000

at the bookstore today, I thought it was odd that they had a bunch of copies of the Updated DC encyclopedia and also one copy of the old version.

I wonder if that was an inventory glitch or they just hadn’t gotten around to sending the order to pull it yet.

By: odessa steps magazine

odessa steps magazine — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 03:01:55 +0000

Yeah, I thought some of the decisions were curious.

Just from flipping through the book, it seems like a bunch of Milligan’s stuff was “relegated” to the end section (except of course for Shade), while almost all of Morrison’s stuff was in the front section.

I’d be curious to see a nerdy kind of break-down to see how projects by the big Vertigo names (Gaiman, Milligan, MOrrison, Delano, Carey, WIllingham) were in each part.

By: Dave Rose

Dave Rose — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:10:48 +0000

Projects like this one are great for introducing readers to series they might like, or reminding previous readers of series they’ve enjoyed but haven’t thought about for awhile.

Invariably there will be titles which are left out (either by accident or design) which aften leads to revised editions.

Personally, I really like books like this one. I look forward to reading it.

By: KC

KC — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:45:26 +0000

Jim, thanks for the update on missing titles!

I suspect that situations like this (involving creator ownership) will make the Vertigo landscape ever-changing, while rendering this book a snapshot of Vertigo circa 2008. Good thing that DK likes updating many of their books every few years!

And yes, I suspect that there will be much discussion of the “ranking” of various Vertigo titles in this book. Which is as it should be.

By: odessa steps magazine

odessa steps magazine — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:48:57 +0000

I browsed this the other day in Borders and was amazed by its thoroughness and timeliness (as mentioned by KC, like seeing Air in there already).

By: Jim Kosmicki

Jim Kosmicki — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 14:57:49 +0000

I had this pre-ordered from Amazon and have been reading it since it came out. I like DK books, and I’m a Vertigo fanboy of long-standing. It’s an interesting book, with lots of information laid out in pleasing design (typical of DK).

but there are some missing books, even in the Gazeteer at the end. Jamie Delano’s books 2020 Visions and Outlaw Nation are both MIA — probably due to the fact that he took both books to other publishers for their TPBs.

and what gets emphasized and what gets a minimal listing in the back is an interesting set of choices. Why does Codename: Knockout get a multi-page entry while The Crusades only gets a minimal listing? Both debuted about the same time, with The Crusades lasting 20 issues plus a one-shot debut issue and Codename:Knockout having 23 issues. Neither one got even a single TPB that I’m aware of. But one gets front of the book treatment and the other is relegated to the back. Obviously, I preferred The Crusades, but I don’t see where the listing for Codename:Knockout makes much of a case for it being innovative or influential.

but then again, with any reference book of this sort, those are the sort of editorial decisions that are going to come up. this is a book well worth the cost if you have any interest in exploring the Vertigo corner of DC.