NYCC 2018: New Additions To The Sandman Universe, Hex Wives, Goddess Mode & More From Vertigo

DC Vertigo announced their relaunch this past summer and many fans of the imprint have been waiting in anticipation as they gradually released their titles. Friday morning, they held a panel at New York Comic Con to provide some insight on some of their upcoming series. Editor, Mark Doyle, moderated the panel which included Dan Watters, Kat Howard, Ben Blacker, Zoë Quinn, Rob Sheridan and Tina Horn.

More books are planned to expand the Sandman Universe starting with a new Lucifer book written by Watters with art by Max and Sebastian Fiumara. This version will be unrecognizable for fans of the television show as the titular character is now a ragged, blind, homeless man in hell. It will follow how one goes about torturing the devil. Because he is an immortal, Watters wanted him to experience the breaking down and aging of his body and find new ways to make him suffer. The writer also wanted to push more of a horror element into the story.


Another addition is Books of Magic from Howard and Tom Fowler. It follows Tim Hunter, who has the potential to become the world’s greatest magician or world’s greatest villain. Tim is in high school so the story covers both his struggles learning magic and navigating the drama of the teenage years. Howard, who is a novelist, was looking forward to visualize magic during her first foray into comics.



Hex Wives was a means for Blacker to channel his anger about the current state of events in a creative way. It follows a coven of witches that begin learning about their abilities while they are being held by men who want to control them. Each member of the coven is loosely based off of witches in pop culture including Samantha from Bewitched and Wendy from Casper the Friendly Ghost. One of Blacker’s favorite witches is based on the musician Lizzo. Mirka Andolfo provides the art.

Coming from writer Quinn and artist Robbi Rodriguez is Goddess Mode. The title features futuristic cyber girls in a world where technology is like magic and its power is being used to destroy one another. It follows people who want to make the world better while dealing with the major brunt of the suffering.





Rob Sheridan’s High Level is based in a post-postapocalyptic world where people are trying to rebuild society. The first arc is set on the road and was inspired by Sheridan’s own road trip around the country in an RV with his wife. Barnaby Bagenda and Romulo Fajardo Jr. provide the art.




Finally, Horn has another tale set in a dystopian society with her series Safe Sex. It is about a rag tag team of sex workers rebelling against an oppressive regime that wants to regulate their jobs. The themes are very important to Horn because she has close ties to the community in real life. She also wanted to address how under represented groups carry out the will of those over them by fighting amongst themselves instead of working together against their oppressors. Mike Dowling is the artist for the series.


DC Vertigo has a long history for thought provoking and great creator owned projects and the upcoming group of titles looks to follow in those footsteps.