Year 3: The Scholar

ST302 The Wider DC Horror Line: From Cain and Abel to Vertigo

The hosts of the House of Mystery and the House of Secrets, the Phantom Stranger, Deadman, the Demon and the Spectre: the stock of supernatural characters Moore inherited. Then the writers who followed him across the Atlantic, Hellblazer, Animal Man, Black Orchid, Sandman and Doom Patrol, and the imprint that launched in January 1993 to hold them. Was Moore's Swamp Thing the origin of Vertigo, and what does it mean to say so?

6 lessons 6 units 2 assignments

Introduction

Moore did not invent the supernatural DC universe; he inherited it. Cain had hosted the House of Mystery since 1968 and Abel the House of Secrets since 1969, the Phantom Stranger had walked since 1952, Deadman since 1967, Etrigan since 1972, the Spectre since 1940. Swamp Thing Annual #2 and #49 to #50 assembled them into a cosmology; #33 put the creature's own origin inside Cain and Abel's house. The first half of this module reads that inheritance: who these characters were, what kind of comics they came from, and what Moore's use of them changed.

The second half reads what came after. In 1988 and 1989 DC's editor Karen Berger brought a generation of British writers to the same corner of the universe: Jamie Delano on Hellblazer (January 1988), Grant Morrison on Animal Man (September 1988) and Doom Patrol (February 1989), Neil Gaiman on Black Orchid (December 1988) and Sandman (January 1989). Each of them started from something Moore had touched. In January 1993 the imprint Vertigo launched under Berger with eight titles, Swamp Thing #129 among them, and for twenty-seven years it was where mainstream American comics went to be literary.

The module's question is causal and it is contested. It is often said that Vertigo began with Moore's Swamp Thing. This module gives you the evidence to decide how true that is, and what "began with" would mean.

Learning objectives

  • Identify the principal DC supernatural characters Moore used, with verified creators and first appearances.
  • Analyse how Moore assembled inherited characters into a cosmology.
  • Read the 1988 to 1989 British titles as readings of Moore's run.
  • Narrate the founding of Vertigo accurately and assess its relation to Swamp Thing.
  • Evaluate an origin story (Vertigo from Swamp Thing) as a historical claim.
  • Write a research essay on comics history using publisher records, creator accounts and scholarship.

Lessons

Unit 1: Week 1: The hosts

Cain, Abel and the anthology tradition.

  1. Cain and Abel: the hostsThe House of Mystery and the House of Secrets, their hosts, and what Moore and Gaiman did with them.120 min

Unit 2: Week 2: The stock

The supernatural characters Moore inherited.

  1. The supernatural stockThe Phantom Stranger, Deadman, Etrigan and the Spectre: where they came from and what Moore made of them.120 min

Unit 3: Week 3: 1988

Hellblazer, Animal Man, Black Orchid, Sandman, Doom Patrol.

  1. 1988: the British arriveFive first issues in fourteen months, each starting from something Moore had touched.180 min

Unit 4: Week 4: Sandman and the cosmology

Gaiman's inheritance of Moore's supernatural map.

  1. Sandman and the inheritanceHow Gaiman took the cosmology of Annual #2 and #49 to #50 and built a different mythology on it.150 min

Unit 5: Week 5: Vertigo

January 1993 and the imprint.

  1. Vertigo, January 1993The imprint, its eight launch titles, its editor, and what it claimed to be.150 min

Unit 6: Week 6: After Vertigo

The line since, and the essay.

  1. After Vertigo, and the essayJustice League Dark, Black Label, the end of the imprint, and the question of origins.120 min

Core texts

Secondary reading

Assessment

Two assessed pieces. The first is a close reading of one 1988 to 1989 first issue as a reading of Moore's Swamp Thing. The second is a research essay evaluating the claim that Vertigo began with Moore's run, requiring at least four secondary sources.

ST302-A1: Close reading: a 1988 first issue as a reading of Moore

Choose Black Orchid #1, The Sandman #2, Animal Man #1 or Hellblazer #1. Read it closely as a reading of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing: what does it take from the run (characters, cosmology, method, tone), what does it refuse, and what does it do that the run did not?

Length
2000 words (1800 to 2200)
Sources
Primary source plus optional secondary research. Primary sources plus optional secondary reading. One issue against Moore, on the page.

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ST302-A2: Essay: did Vertigo begin with Moore's Swamp Thing?

It is often said that DC's Vertigo imprint began with Alan Moore's Swamp Thing. Evaluate the claim. What kind of cause, if any, was the run: necessary, sufficient, contributing or symbolic? Argue a position using the inherited characters, the 1988 to 1989 titles, the January 1993 launch and at least four secondary sources, including at least one publisher record or creator account and at least one scholarly source.

Length
2500 words (2250 to 2750)
Sources
Research assignment, minimum 4 secondary sources. Research assignment. At least four credible secondary sources including one publisher or creator account and one scholarly source; MHRA with page numbers; traced sources only.

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Source requirements

Assignment 1 is primary source plus optional secondary reading. Assignment 2 is a research assignment: at least four credible secondary sources, including at least one publisher record or creator account and at least one scholarly source, each cited as what it is.