After 26 years of reboots, DC Entertainment announces that its adult-focused imprint Vertigo will be shuttered as part of a restructuring of its imprint divisions.

The company said that it will wrap up operations in January 2020 onwards, together with its DC Zoom and DC Ink YA brands. It will wrap up its Sandman Universe spinoffs, or just transition them in the newly-updated version of DC’s current Black Label line.

Long story short, Vertigo will be absorbed into one of DC Comics’ three new labels. They are:

• DC Kids, for readers aged 8-12,
• DC, for readers aged 13 and above,
• and DC Black Label, for readers 17 and above. Yes, this imprint is sounding more like a whiskey brand by the day.

Sounds like an end of an era? Not quite; you can still get your Vertigo fix under Black Label, albeit with a different name. Readers will still get “pop up” limited time imprints like Gerard Way’s Young Animal or Warren Ellis’ The Wild Storm from time to time.

Here’s the official press release tidbit from DC Comics:

We’re returning to a singular presentation of the DC brand that was present throughout most of our history until 1993 when we launched Vertigo to provide an outlet for edgier material. That kind of material is now mainstream across all genres, so we thought it was the right time to bring greater clarity to the DC brand and reinforce our commitment to storytelling for all of our fans in every age group. This new system will replace the age ratings we currently use on our material.

Despite what we said, this still sounds like the end of the Vertigo name and the legacy it carries. Stick around with Kakuchopurei next week as we talk about our favourite Vertigo comics because, at this point of publishing, it’s the weekend and our team need to sleep, goddammit.