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DC is using its Absolute line to quietly set the stage for Vertigo Comics’ return in 2026
How DC plans to relaunch Vertigo by piggybacking on the success of Absolute DC.
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- DC is using its Absolute line to quietly set the stage for Vertigo Comics’ return in 2026
The biggest hit for DC Comics in recent years has been their Absolute DC line. Now, they're leveraging that to set up what they hope will be their next big hit: the return of Vertigo Comics.
DC has informed retailers that all of the Absolute DC books in February 2026 (and some in January!) will come with a preview of titles from the upcoming Vertigo Comics relaunch. It'll kick off with a preview of February's The Nice House by the Sea #7 in January's Absolute Wonder Woman #16. One thing DC is being careful about (and to assauge any retailer concerns) is to make sure the previews of Vertigo's mostly-adults-only books are age-appropriate to the Absolute DC Comics, which is for ages 15+.
This synergy between the Absolute DC line and the Vertigo line is a part of the tighter connection DC's various lines have in modern day, and also no doubt because the same person is overseeing both the Vertigo line and the Absolute line: DC executive editor Chris Conroy.
“At this point in my career, I’ve sort of moved around all of the various parts of DC. I’ve done the monthly superhero work, and I’ve done our genre experiments. In my current role, I’m overseeing the Absolute line, I’m overseeing Black Label, and I’m overseeing Vertigo," Conroy told us recently. "So, I have a very kind of finely developed sense of where we are and where we aren’t. And Vertigo really is just for all the genres under the sun that we don’t explore through the superheroes. It’s for our crime, it’s for our fantasy, and it’s for horror.”
Here is a full list of DC's first wave of Vertigo titles coming in 2026.
Need more? Here's our picks for the best DC Comics stories of all time.
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