5 Best Vertigo Series That Confirm It's The HBO Of Comics

Published Sep 25, 2026, 12:00 AM EDT

An experienced Editor representing Canada via ScreenRant's Team Anime, J.R. has been reading manga since the first printing of Shonen Jump in North America. This passion drove him to write about anime, manga, and manhwa since 2022, having recently served as Lead Anime Editor for ComicBook.com.

His favorite moments in media coverage include reviewing the series premieres of Zom 100 and Bleach: TYBW Part 2 back-to-back and briefly meeting Junji Ito at a VIZ gallery event in 2023.

Graphic storytelling has been part of human communication, mythology, and entertainment dating back tens of thousands of years, from cave paintings, to hieroglyphics, all the way through the present with comic books. For much of the world, varying comic formats are read around the globe, such as Japanese manga, Korean manhwa, or Chinese manhua. But for much of the population still enjoying the medium, Western-style comic books have long been the fixation for readers with stories far beyond the scope of mainline Marvel or DC. For those seeking exciting and cerebral stories for the mature reader, DC found its winner with the Vertigo Comics imprint.

Many of Vertigo's most enduring successes are grandfathered-in DC stories that predated its 1993-2020 tenure, with creator-driven comics covering everything from reimagined legacy superheroes to imaginative journeys with idiosyncratic or irreverent tones throughout. They occasionally contain brief runs of iconic creators, or establish lastingly popular characters emblematic of the imprint. Sadly, some creators have since complicated, tarnished, or destroyed their legacy, with a non-zero number of Vertigo writers amassing horrific allegations in the past several years. But others, and their works, have remained beloved parts of the mature comic book niche worth checking out.

5 John Constantine, Hellblazer

Arguably the most synonymous character associated with Vertigo, Liverpudlian legend John Constantine had his iconic stories under the imprint before integrating into mainline DC in the last decade. Hellblazer was a truly fascinating supernatural horror series exchanged between multiple distinguished writers over its 300-issue run, from Jamie Delano all the way to Peter Milligan. The series ran from 1988 to 2013, becoming the longest-running comic for Vertigo, creating a surprising bisexual icon in the early 1990s, and challenging storytelling norms for comic books everywhere.

Those who read Hellblazer might enjoy some real weight to its storytelling thanks to John Constantine aging alongside the series, starting at age 35 and reaching 60 years of age at its conclusion. Constantine's stories often tread into a mixture of occult and noir tropes, with him solving supernatural problems often with no shortage of deceit, as he is guided by synchronicity to right where he needs to be. But as Constantine attracts calamity to those around him, this coincidental blessing is often far more of a curse, as those around him often wind up dead, cursed, or more. The best original character to spin off from another legacy DC star featured in Vertigo, Constantine has been a consistent presence in comics ever since.

4 Swamp Thing

While many Swamp Thing comics came before and after Vertigo's imprint was created, its early deconstruction by legendary writer Alan Moore is arguably what people should seek out first. Saga of the Swamp Thing turned the story of Alec Holland into a far more complicated, postmodern look at what can separate humanity from nature. It features a fairly iconic retcon to the Swamp Thing mythology that arguably enriches the character and turns it into what is not so much tragic but rather, a transcendental figure, as it is a mass of plant matter imbued with Holland's memories and mimicking his personality.

There's so much to love about Swamp Thing in Alan Moore's run and beyond, such as the introduction and exploration of The Green, the cosmic power connecting all plant matter with Swamp Thing as its avatar. He faces an uncaring humanity mistreating nature while his monstrous traits fail to mask his compassionate, loving side. Swamp Thing also enjoyed great runs in the years and decades following, with even mainline runs from Scott Snyder and Charles Soule attaining acclaim of their own. Swamp Thing handily functioned, though, as the proto-Vertigo comic, embodying much of its norms and challenging storytelling and still being worth reading decades later.

3 Preacher

Comics don't get much more irreverent than Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's frequently satirical rendition of American religious fanaticism in the late 20th century. Jesse Custer is a small-town Annville, Texas preacher whose drinking problems and struggles with faith grow more complicated when he is merged with the Biblical entity known as Genesis. Suddenly endowed with the Word of God, Jesse is able to make anyone who knowingly hears his words obey him when using these new powers, making him an incredibly powerful force to be reckoned with.

Preacher's popularity grew with its live-action television series from the past decade, especially since one may argue it enhanced some characters' stories, even if characters like Arseface may lose their edge in the process. On a journey to literally find and confront God, Jesse runs into dangerous forces like an angel of death and an organization heaven-bent on preserving the bloodline of Jesus Christ, even if their results are uniquely disastrous. It's a fantastic comic worth reading, with spectacular linework and character designs on its interiors, and an overall brutally intoxicating satire.

2 Y: The Last Man

Praised not just as an exceptional Vertigo Comics series but also as an all-around solid recommendation for people wanting to get into the medium, Y: The Last Man remains an essential read to this day. The art feels less exaggerated with how it renders its characters, it's perfectly visually approachable, and it doesn't pull focus too much from the narrative as Pia Guerra's illustrations provide the canvas for Brian K. Vaughan's acclaimed post-apocalyptic story.

Y: The Last Man follows Yorick Brown and Ampersand, his male pet monkey, who become the only known living mammals left with a Y chromosome, as all others mysteriously die off at once. The ensuing carnage of such rapid simultaneous deaths claims the lives of many others worldwide, forcing half the world's human population to suddenly fill in the immediate void left behind by this new plague.

Protected by Agent 355 under the orders of Yorick's congresswoman mother, and with the help of Dr. Allison Mann, the addictive narrative dives into the mystery of just how Yorick survived, and whether there's hope for the future. Although there's some baggage that comes with its premise, Y: The Last Man stands among the strongest Vertigo Comics has to offer to this day.

1 100 Bullets

Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso's pulpy masterpiece weaves tight individual episodes into a horrible conspiracy, with a simple, fascinating hypothetical: would a person commit crimes or murder if given the means and no meaningful consequences? The series ran for 10 years from 1999-2009, with appropriately 100 issues across its first story with Vertigo, as it evolved into a brilliant neo-noir thriller where, true to the genre, heroes and villains are not so clear-cut.

The story introduces readers to Agent Graves, who gives wronged individuals the means to commit the perfect crime and get away with it. Each person is given a briefcase with an untraceable gun, and 100 untraceable bullets, with the series initially seeming like an episodic "victim of the week" format. Accented by its incredibly stylish and moody use of heavy shadows, silhouettes, and negative space, 100 Bullets visually embodies the gritty aesthetic rather consistently. But as the story fleshes out, with an invisible war materializing for readers between Graves and a shadowy cabal of elite families, the individual crimes he facilitates are brilliantly recontextualized in possibly the best, most clever neo-noir comic of the past 30 years.