Random Happenstance

Someday I'd like to do a little supplemental reading, on the creation of DC's Vertigo line--and possibly, its demise. Especially since, just doing a quick search, I thought Swamp Thing and Doom Patrol were Vertigo titles much earlier than they actually were; but I'd also forgotten some sub-labels under Vertigo, like Vertigo Voices (like Face) or Vertigo Vérité or Vertigo X. I've often wondered why Marvel never seemed to get a Vertigo-style line running, and I suspect it largely boils down to both timing and that they didn't have an editor like Karen Berger, with both a vision and some degree of autonomy to go after it; but Marvel did take a few shots at it. Today's book would probably fall in that category! From 1993, Children of the Voyager #1, "Shadows and Fog" Written by Nick Abadzis, art by Paul Johnson. With an "Embossed, glow-in-the-dark, painted cover" because this is Marvel, after all.

This was part of Marvel's Frontier comics line, which had four mini-series at launch, and a quarterly book that was doubtless intended to kick off another run of mini-series but instead was the line's capstone. All of which were collected a few years back, and while I didn't recognize Abadzis or Johnson offhand, there were some names in there: Liam Sharp, Mark Buckingham, Charlie Adlard. Buying a batch of dollar books the other day, I didn't add this to my pile until I had all four issues; but felt it was maybe a cointoss if I had read it before: nope! Sharp's Bloodseed was only two issues, but I'm not sure I'd ever even seen it before; Dances with Demons didn't seem familiar either; and Mortigan Goth: Immortalis didn't grab me, although it was tied into the Marvel Universe. (Judging Immortalis by its cover, it looked like a poncy, Anne Rice-style vampire book; and naming your lead 'Mortigan Goth' seems like a bit much unless the whole series was about nominative determinism.)

All well and good, but how was it? "Shadows and Fog" has a good hook, as a young woman is found by a towering, shadowed figure; who calls her "his child" before draining all the life out of her, leaving only a pile of dust. Strangely, the woman didn't seem afraid, but only asks "Mother...Father...will I dream?" and is told no. Elsewhere, up-and-coming horror writer Sam Wantling is read the riot act by his publisher, since the new book was late. His editor Mona is more understanding, if still prompting him to get over "writer's block" and get back to work, but Sam has other problems; like waking nightmares, sleepwalking, speaking in tongues...nightmares like a towering figure draining the life from him. While he takes his girlfriend leaving him in stride, even video games aren't calming him down--ooh, I think that's a Genesis controller, that takes me back. Still, the dreams persist, and Sam realizes, real or imagined, something was after him.

Even with the dreams and the life-sucking thing, Sam being a horror writer feels like the most Vertigo element in the book! It does predate the movie In the Mouth of Madness, but I still think "horror writer sucked into horror" was a go-to. The main plot is interesting, although I'm being a little vague here, but while you can probably piece it together if you read the first issue--the title's a big clue--the Marvel Frontier editorial page at the end of the story largely gives away the game in the description for the issue! Oops. Still, I liked it; and if you find all four cheap, give it a shot.