I remember being in the room for a panel about the return of Vertigo at the 2018 New York Comic Con. Then DC editor Mark Doyle wore his finest Canadian tuxedo. Dan Watters talked about Lucifer. One of the Thrilling Adventure Hour guys had a book out. Tina Horn made dirty jokes about her sex comic. Other people were also there:
Vertigo 2018: The Re-Vert-ening was short-lived. DC got spooked and gave Mark Russell and Richard Pace back the rights to Second Coming, their satirical Jesus comic that went on to become a tentpole of AHOY. Border Town was canceled after writer Eric Esquivel was accused of sexual misconduct. Horn’s Safe Sex became SFSX and moved to Image. Bryan Edward Hill and Leandro Fernandez’s American Carnage got Deep Impact–Armageddon‘d by Spike Lee’s film BlacKkKlansman.
Eventually DC gave up, scrapped Vertigo and moved everything that was left over to Black Label, an imprint that was more concerned with prestige takes on its biggest characters.
So it’s fitting, then, that the first book to come out of a re-relaunched Vertigo in 2026, announced Thursday at NYCC, is a midprogress Black Label book, James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez Bueno’s Nice House by the Sea, issue #7 of which will come out Feb. 4 and will be followed by new series launches in successive weeks.
And I gotta say, the line is stacked this time around. Besides Tynion, one of the biggest names in comics at this point, Vertigo 2026 includes books by Deniz Camp (Ultimates/Absolute Martian Manhunter/Assorted Crisis Events), Kyle Starks (Rock Candy Mountain), Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips (That Texas Blood), Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso (100 Bullets), Ram V (Detective Comics), Tom Taylor (also Detective Comics), Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell (Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me), and Si Spurrier and Aaron Campbell (Hellblazer).
It’s notable that many of these books feature creative teams that have worked together before and formed a trusted relationship.
Check out DC’s press release below, along with covers of the upcoming titles.
And if you’re curious what I’m hype for, it’s Bleeding Hearts and End of Life. Camp and Starks can shut up and take my money any day!
The Peril of the Brutal Dark: An Ezra Cain Mystery and Black Tower: The Raven Conspiracy are tied for third. And not just because they have long names!
***
DC today revealed the ten DC Vertigo comic book series that will publish in 2026, beginning in February, during its NYCC panel “DC Vertigo: We’re Back!” Moderated by DC Executive Editor Chris Conroy, the panel marked the first public unveiling of Vertigo’s new slate since the imprint’s revival was announced at last year’s Comic Con.
As with its historic legacy, the new DC Vertigo line will focus on creator-owned titles that push boundaries and defy convention. The panel featured exclusive announcements, cover reveals, and surprise appearances, including writer James Tynion IV, who joined to discuss the continuation of his acclaimed series The Nice House by the Sea.
Launching the slate is The Nice House by the Sea #7, the second cycle of the Vertigo horror epic by James Tynion IV, Álvaro Martínez Bueno, and Jordie Bellaire. Following the survivors of Walter’s “hexagon” experiment, the series explores the terrifying consequences of escape…and the threat it poses to what remains of humanity.
Joining Nice House in DC’s Vertigo imprint are nine new titles that span genres from psychological thrillers to occult espionage and post-apocalyptic horror.
Bleeding Hearts by Deniz Camp, Stipan Morian, and Matt Hollingsworth: A zombie named Poke discovers his heart beating again, threatening his place in a society where death reigns supreme.
End of Life by Kyle Starks, Steve Pugh, and Chris O’Halloran: A top-tier hitman returns to his Midwestern hometown to care for his dying father…and confront his own mortality.
The Peril of the Brutal Dark: An Ezra Cain Mystery by Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips: A noir detective tale that collides with magic, fascism, and a stolen artifact of unimaginable power.
100 Bullets: The US of Anger by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso: Lono returns to America and reignites chaos, taking the nation’s darkest impulses to their violent extremes.
Black Tower: The Raven Conspiracy by Ram V and Mike Perkins: Wizard spies in the UK navigate a global cold war over sorcery, revealing a hidden world of occult power.
Necretaceous by Tom Taylor and Darick Robertson: Scientists attempt to time-travel to stop a zombie virus, only to land 66 million years in the past, among dinosaurs.
Fanatic by Grace Ellis and Hannah Templer: A woman’s obsession with a comic book spirals into a deadly parasocial fixation on its creator.
The Crying Doll by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell: A Jekyll-and-Hyde thriller about just how far a young woman would go to protect her best friend, who may (or may not) be a killer.
A Walking Shadow by Simon Spurrier and Aaron Campbell: Eight strangers wake up chained to a boat in the woods. No memory. No escape. No explanation.
The new DC Vertigo slate begins rolling out in February 2026, with The Nice House by the Sea #7 leading the charge on February 4. Bleeding Hearts #1 will publish on February 11, End of Life #1 on February 18 and The Peril of the Brutal Dark #1 will launch on February 25, with the rest of the new DC Vertigo imprint releasing throughout 2026.
Each title promises to deliver the kind of daring, genre-defying storytelling that made Vertigo a legend, and now marks its return as the home for comics that refuse to fit the mold.
For more information, visit dc.com.
Dan Grote is the editor and publisher of ComicsXF, having won the site by ritual combat. By day, he’s a newspaper editor, and by night, he’s … also an editor. He co-hosts The ComicsXF Interview Podcast with Matt Lazorwitz. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, two kids and two miniature dachshunds, and his third, fictional son, Peter Paul Winston Wisdom. Follow him @danielpgrote.bsky.social.
