Sequart Organization » Vertigo

Monster Mash: Saga of the Swamp Thing and Monster Tropes, Part 2

Scott Weatherly — Sun, 03 Dec 2023 21:44:40 +0000

When Nature Attacks! Having achieved his goal of joining with the Green, Woodrue quickly begins his attack on the human race. Woodrue starts small but his escalation is devastating. The killing of a group of… [more]

Monster Mash: Saga of the Swamp Thing and Monster Tropes, Part 1

Scott Weatherly — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 11:00:40 +0000

Joining the Monster Squad Monsters enter our lives at an early age. We are told stories about the things that dwell in the shadows and the corners of our minds. The creatures that we –… [more]

Sequart Releases From Bayou to Abyss: Examining John Constantine, Hellblazer

Julian Darius — Fri, 05 Jun 2020 13:00:22 +0000

From Bayou to Abyss: Examining John Constantine, Hellblazer" title="Sequart Releases From Bayou to Abyss: Examining John Constantine, Hellblazer" style="float:left;" />Sequart is proud to announce the publication of From Bayou to Abyss: Examining John Constantine, Hellblazer, edited by Rich Handley and Lou Tambone. British occultist John Constantine elevated Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing, and it wasn’t long before… [more]

There is Another World: Postmodernism and Identity in Grant Morrison’s Doom Patrol

Roque Briones — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 23:00:00 +0000

Grant Morrison’s run on Doom Patrol is certainly not an easy book to recommend. On the surface, it’s a very dense work with dozens of different literary references hiding in every corner, and it can… [more]

The Road to Vertigo: The Suppression and Eventual Rise of Mature Comics and Their Readers

Mikayla J. Laird — Mon, 01 Jul 2019 11:00:44 +0000

The legacy of Vertigo recalls the very idea of comics finally being allowed to mature; letting people swear, drink, openly take drugs for recreation, and bringing in some serious ambiguity as to what it means… [more]

The British Invasion in Current Previews Catalog

Mike Phillips — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 09:00:30 +0000

The British Invasion in Current Previews Catalog" title="The British Invasion in Current Previews Catalog" style="float:left;" />If you like to make all of your hard-copy purchases through your Local Comics Shop, and you want The British Invasion: Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, and the Invention of the Modern Comic Book Writer… [more]

Sequart Releases The British Invasion

Julian Darius — Thu, 18 Aug 2016 23:50:05 +0000

The British Invasion" title="Sequart Releases The British Invasion" style="float:left;" />Sequart Organization is proud to announce the publication of The British Invasion: Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, and the Invention of the Modern Comic Book Writer, by Greg Carpenter. Moore. Gaiman. Morrison. They came from… [more]

Give the Devil His Due: Review of Lucifer Season 1

Karra Shimabukuro — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 20:45:39 +0000

Lucifer Season 1" title="Give the Devil His Due: Review of Lucifer Season 1" style="float:left;" />Even before Lucifer premiered its pilot episode on 25 January 2016 it was already disliked and panned by fans of the comic, Lucifer and the character’s original presentation in Sandman. The advanced reviews were not… [more]

Smorgasbord #42: The 99% Strikes Back

Tom Shapira — Thu, 19 May 2016 11:00:50 +0000

After a week off, Shawn & Tom are back to deal with the fallout from Shelly Bond’s firing from Vertigo, Oni’s new imprint, the release of Captain America: Civil War, movie announcements for both Sexcastle and Irredeemable,… [more]

Another Day, Another Dollar: Harvey Pekar’s Last American Splendor

Ian Dawe — Mon, 16 Nov 2015 20:00:13 +0000

Another Day, Another Dollar: Harvey Pekar’s Last American Splendor" title="Another Day, Another Dollar: Harvey Pekar’s Last American Splendor" style="float:left;" />For the last few years of Harvey Pekar’s life, he was on a creative roll. His American Splendor comic had never really gone away, but in the 1990s and early 2000s, Pekar was focusing more… [more]

Richard Bensam on Minutes to Midnight: Twelve Essays on Watchmen

Mike Phillips — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 15:00:30 +0000

Minutes to Midnight: Twelve Essays on Watchmen" title="Richard Bensam on Minutes to Midnight: Twelve Essays on Watchmen" style="float:left;" />As part of its ongoing Patreon campaign, Sequart runs a Book / Movie of the Month Club. Patrons get a digital copy of a Sequart book or movie at the beginning of each month, and… [more]

5 Movies that Deserve Comic Spin-Offs

Dom Fonce — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 21:00:41 +0000

As this writer got into reading comics, he noticed that dozens of movies are comic adaptations. It was a startling realization to see Men in Black, The Mask, Wanted, Oblivion, The Crow, Kick-Ass, Snowpiercer, The… [more]

Hinterkind Volume One Lacks Humanity

Desmond White — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 12:00:14 +0000

Hinterkind Volume One Lacks Humanity" title="Hinterkind Volume One Lacks Humanity" style="float:left;" />The concept of the ruins of the United States devolving into factionalism has been well-explored in other post-apocalyptic literature, but Edington refreshes the idea by incorporating monsters and races one might encounter in a game of Dungeons & Dragons. His human characters, however, leave a lot to be desired. [more]

The Fountain Comic Book: Many Roads to the Same Summit

Ian Dawe — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 21:00:25 +0000

The Fountain Comic Book: Many Roads to the Same Summit" title="The Fountain Comic Book: Many Roads to the Same Summit" style="float:left;" />The Fountain, Darren Aronofsky’s heartfelt sci fi masterwork, had a difficult road to the screen. This story is fairly well known: by 2002, he had written and designed the film, hired actors and started building… [more]

“About Sixty Per Cent Happy”: The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 40

Colin Smith — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 11:00:22 +0000

Continued from last week. The rest of Millar’s Swamp Thing tales shared the same weaknesses as River Run, although they only intermittently reflected the same strengths. The likes of Twilight of The Gods and Chester… [more]

Smorgasbord #4: Civil War, the Musical

Tom Shapira — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 17:00:58 +0000

It’s a busy post NYCC season as Shawn and Tom make their through a heap of news and declarations: new Marvel Comics events, the cancellation of the Fantastic Four, Vertigo’s expended line, Captain America 3 rumors, and… [more]

Happy 75th Birthday, Harvey Pekar

Ian Dawe — Mon, 13 Oct 2014 20:00:49 +0000

Last week, the date of Harvey Pekar’s birth (October 8) passed again, for the fourth time since his death in 2010. This time, it would have been Pekar’s 75th birthday and many admirers, friends and… [more]

Bugged Out! Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Fifteen

Ryan C. — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 19:00:38 +0000

Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Fifteen" title="Bugged Out! Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Fifteen" style="float:left;" />All good things, as they say, must come to an end. As must all bad things, and all mediocre things… and all truncated, confused, ambitious, intriguing, but ultimately, hopeless things. And so it was that… [more]

Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Fourteen: Indigo Primer

Ryan C. — Sat, 21 Jun 2014 15:00:02 +0000

Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Fourteen: Indigo Primer" title="Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Fourteen: Indigo Primer" style="float:left;" />Before delving into the eighth and final issue of John Smith, Scot Eaton and Mike Barreiro’s Scarab, we need to take a brief side-step and examine an earlier Smith creation, the trans-dimensional troubleshooting way-above-top-secret agency… [more]

Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Thirteen

Ryan C. — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 19:00:10 +0000

Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Thirteen" title="Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Thirteen" style="float:left;" />And so the big wind-up (or wind-down, depending on how you look at things) begins — I have no idea how much tinkering John Smith had to do with “The Power And The Glory,” his… [more]

Sneaking Barry Allen Back: The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 20

Colin Smith — Tue, 27 May 2014 11:00:17 +0000

Continued from last week. Millar’s habit of writing Swamp Thing tales, which demanded the presence of off-limits DCU characters, never entirely faded. Even at the climax of his run, and despite almost three years of… [more]

Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Twelve

Ryan C. — Fri, 23 May 2014 19:00:51 +0000

Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Twelve" title="Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Twelve" style="float:left;" />So here’s my theory: sometime between submitting his final scripts for Scarab #5 and #6, John Smith got word — probably via editor Stuart Moore — that DC wouldn’t be going ahead with his project… [more]

“Try Telling That to a 23-Year-Old Who Just Wanted to Play with the Toys”: The American Superhero Comics of Mark Millar, Part 19

Colin Smith — Tue, 20 May 2014 14:00:28 +0000

Continued from last week. That “bloody big shadow” of Alan Moore’s extended far beyond the pages of Swamp Thing. Trying to compete with his achievements on the title was a daunting enough prospect. But Moore’s… [more]

Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Eleven

Ryan C. — Fri, 09 May 2014 11:00:33 +0000

Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Eleven" title="Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Eleven" style="float:left;" />Like you, I’m not quite sure what Glenn Fabry and Tony Luke’s cover for Scarab #5 is exactly supposed to be depicting other than some weird electricity coming out of our protagonist’s head, but it… [more]

Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Ten

Ryan C. — Wed, 23 Apr 2014 11:00:37 +0000

Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Ten" title="Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Ten" style="float:left;" />Welcome back to the nominally fictitious town of Whitehaven, North Carolina and the most delightfully repulsive story to ever go out under the Vertigo imprint — if you thought that the opening installment of Scarab’s… [more]

Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Nine

Ryan C. — Fri, 11 Apr 2014 11:00:42 +0000

Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Nine" title="Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Nine" style="float:left;" />If you wanted to define the visual aesthetic of Scarab in one word, that word would probably be ugly. Everything from Glenn Fabry and Tony Luke’s covers to the title character’s costume/second skin design to the look… [more]

Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Eight

Ryan C. — Fri, 28 Mar 2014 11:00:52 +0000

Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Eight" title="Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Eight" style="float:left;" />The other day I was banging out a review for issue number two of Marvel’s new George Romero-scripted zombie series Empire Of The Dead and I remarked that second issues are kind of a tricky deal… [more]

Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Seven

Ryan C. — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 11:00:39 +0000

Finally! Time to get down to the nitty-gritty! We’ve spent the first six parts of this series setting the stage as thoroughly as, I like to fancy, is humanly possible given the vagaries of time… [more]

Revolving Image

Emmet O'Cuana — Mon, 24 Feb 2014 18:00:26 +0000

At Sydney’s Graphic Festival, held in the iconic Opera House last October, a trio of comic industry greats took to the stage at the invitation of comedian and MC Justin Hamilton. They were the charmingly… [more]

Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Six

Ryan C. — Fri, 21 Feb 2014 12:00:56 +0000

Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Six" title="Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Six" style="float:left;" />In the immortal words of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, “And Now For Something Completely Different —” It’s my belief, dear reader, that we live in drastic times — and that we have been for some… [more]

Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Five

Ryan C. — Fri, 07 Feb 2014 12:00:12 +0000

Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Five" title="Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Five" style="float:left;" />Welcome back to 1993! Nice enough place to visit, although you might not want to live here — Actually, 1993 wasn’t a bad year at all for comics. The Invisibles got off the ground with a… [more]

Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Four

Ryan C. — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 12:00:48 +0000

Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Four" title="Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Four" style="float:left;" />Where were we again? Oh yeah, it’s 1992, and despite attempting to jazz things up in their low-selling Dr. Fate title by having the Helmet of Fate’s original bearer, Kent Nelson, pass the golden dome onto… [more]

Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Three

Ryan C. — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 12:00:12 +0000

Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Three" title="Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Three" style="float:left;" />First off, a correction : when we left off last time I told you we were sometime late in 1991, with promising young British comics scribe John Smith receiving a phone call from DC editor… [more]

Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Two (or, The British Invader Who Stayed Home)

Ryan C. — Fri, 27 Dec 2013 12:00:28 +0000

Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Two (or, The British Invader Who Stayed Home)" title="Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part Two (or, The British Invader Who Stayed Home)" style="float:left;" />Believe it or not, I’ve never known a John Smith. They say it’s the most common male name in the English language, but seriously — I never went to school with one. I’ve never worked… [more]

Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part One

Ryan C. — Fri, 13 Dec 2013 12:00:23 +0000

Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part One" title="Bugged Out!: Scarab Reconsidered 20 Years On, Part One" style="float:left;" />So here’s the deal — your newbie (at least around these parts) author found himself having a few back-and-forth conversations with Sequart founder Julian Darius via Twitter over the course of the past several months,… [more]

Trillium #1 Review

Markisan Naso — Sat, 17 Aug 2013 19:00:14 +0000

Trillium #1 Review" title="Trillium #1 Review" style="float:left;" />Trillium #1 Written by Jeff Lemire Art by Jeff Lemire Colors by Jeff Lemire and José Villarrubia Published by DC/VERTIGO Comics Rating: 8.5 (of 10) “Trillium #1 is a captivating and skillful slice of sci-fi… [more]

Coping with Hallucination: Revolutionizing Character Internalization in Joe the Barbarian

Stuart Warren — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 12:00:03 +0000

Joe the Barbarian" title="Coping with Hallucination: Revolutionizing Character Internalization in Joe the Barbarian" style="float:left;" />Indie comics occasionally introduce characters that would otherwise be unexpected, given that they fall outside of the norm of what is expected in a “hero.” When people think “comics,” perceptions arise that eclipse the mundane… [more]

The Girl Who Was Let Down: Examining Volume I of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Graphic Novel Adaptation

Nathan Harmon — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 12:00:08 +0000

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Graphic Novel Adaptation" title="The Girl Who Was Let Down: Examining Volume I of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Graphic Novel Adaptation" style="float:left;" />The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has become a very recognized international brand. It started when a Swedish journalist Stieg Larsson wrote a few manuscripts that he intended to get published. It’s said that he… [more]

Peeking from Behind the Sofa: The 25th Anniversary of Violent Cases

Greg Carpenter — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 12:00:37 +0000

Violent Cases" title="Peeking from Behind the Sofa: The 25th Anniversary of Violent Cases" style="float:left;" />Violent Cases is the greatest comic ever written about an osteopath. That probably sounds like a backhanded compliment, but it shouldn’t. Both of the creators, Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, have made careers out of… [more]

Alan Moore on the Couch

Julian Darius — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 12:00:51 +0000

Previously, we’ve discussed and dismissed the charges that Alan Moore or Grant Morrison ripped off anyone in any serious way. We next discussed the timeline of Grant Morrison’s career, including his hiring at DC. We… [more]

Karen Berger to Leave DC

Julian Darius — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 03:43:46 +0000

After a long career that included creating and helming DC’s Vertigo imprint since its inception, Karen Berger is departing DC Comics. In an industry where few editors are known to readers and fans, Karen Berger… [more]

Grant Morrison’s Day-Glo Years: The Mystery Play

Patrick Meaney — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 11:00:10 +0000

The Mystery Play" title="Grant Morrison’s Day-Glo Years: The Mystery Play" style="float:left;" />The Mystery Play is another short-form Morrison work from the “adult comics” era of the early ’90s. It feels decidedly removed from pretty much anything Morrison has done in the past fifteen years, as he… [more]

On Garth Ennis and Gary Erskine’s War Stories: Archangel

Colin Smith — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:00:12 +0000

War Stories: Archangel" title="On Garth Ennis and Gary Erskine’s War Stories: Archangel" style="float:left;" />There’s such an obvious distinction to be made between the two, but there’s a lot of folks who consistently fail to do so. On the one hand, there’s the Second World War story as it’s… [more]

A Closer Look at DC’s Line-Wide Relaunch: Non-Super-Hero Offerings

Julian Darius — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 12:00:51 +0000

Beyond its super-hero offerings, DC’s relaunch includes its “dark” magic titles, which incorporates some Vertigo characters into the DCU, and also a few non-super-hero, non-supernatural titles. How do these stack up, as part of an… [more]

Abstract-Empire-China: must there be a Sandman?

Shathley Q — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 16:04:48 +0000

I am being slightly humorous with the choice of title of course, but I wish to evoke the sense that the politics in this essay have been negotiated before, in a different context. The piece… [more]

Memoir in Ben-Day Dots

Julian Darius — Wed, 16 Apr 2003 11:00:20 +0000

I can’t recall the first comic I ever read. I’m sure they featured in my early childhood, as my family has tattered old Donald Duck and other Gladstone comics to prove it. There were also, to… [more]

A Brief Consideration of Gaiman’s Usage of Lucifer in The Sandman

Julian Darius — Mon, 20 May 2002 11:00:02 +0000

The Sandman" title="A Brief Consideration of Gaiman’s Usage of Lucifer in The Sandman" style="float:left;" />Before he had his own ongoing series, Lucifer came to prominence in Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. But Gaiman’s Lucifer went through three very different depictions, somewhat inconsistent with one another. The angelic appearance of Lucifer… [more]

The State of American Comics Address, 2002

Julian Darius — Sat, 02 Feb 2002 17:00:53 +0000

The American comic book industry, as an economic institution, is doing terribly. Artistically, however, this will be remembered as a fairly good period. Many mainstream titles are selling less than 20,000 copies; a few even… [more]