Not that much into comics although there is some excellent work out there (I did buy and loved Five Fists of Science when it came out in 2006 - Nikola Tesla is one of my idols and love that Edison and Marconi are portrayed as the villans they are). Looks like one publisher recently started promoting social justice and their sales dropped into the bucket. From Bounding Into Comics:
Rumor: DC Comics to Shut Down Vertigo Comics
A new rumor indicates DC Comics will shut down their Vertigo Comics imprint.
The rumor comes from Rich Johnston and Bleeding Cool who notes he “has been informed by a number of sources.” He also states that the shuttering of the iconic comic imprint has “come from on high rather rapidly.”
About the origin:
Vertigo Comics was founded in 1993 by Karen Berger and focused on the horror and fantasy genres with comics targeted toward a more adult audience that featured violence, drug abuse, sexuality, nudity, profanity, and other controversial topics. It would eventually house crime, social commentary, and other genres.
The imprint saw success in a number of now famous comic book series including Sandman, Preacher, Y: The Last Man, 100 Bullets, Animal Man, V for Vendetta, American Vampire, Fables, DMZ, Doom Patrol, Swamp Thing, iZombie, and Hellblazer.
Many of the Vertigo Comics titles have been adapted into live-action television and films with Bill Willingham’s Fables series seeing a successful video game adaptation in The Wolf Among Us from Telltale Games.
Vertigo Comics TV series include Constantine, iZombie, Lucier, and Preacher. A Y: The Last Man series is currently in development. As for films they include Constantine, A History of Violence, V for Vendetta, The Fountain, The Losers, and the upcoming adaptation of The Kitchen.
Some major titles there - good bonafides. And their downfall?
While Vertigo Comics has a storied past, it’s current incarnation is anything but. DC Comics announced a relaunch of the imprint under Senior Editor Mark Doyle in 2018 that featured a number of extremely controversial creative teams including Zoe Quinn, Robbi Rodriguez, Ramon Villalobos, Eric Esquivel, Rob Sheridan, and Richard Pace among others.
Did these changes hurt the sales much?
And while the creators themselves were making controversial statements, their books were not selling. Quinn’s first issue of Goddess Mode only shipped 17,471 copies. The second issue shipped 8,116. It wouldn’t get any prettier.
Esquivel and Villalobos’ Border Town would only ship 15,259 copies of the first issue. The second issue shipped 8,847. You can already see the trend forming.
Hex Wives by Ben Blacker and Mirka Andolfo would only 17,158 copies of issue one. The second issue shipped 9,869.
Sheridan’s High Level #1 shipped 16,824 copies. The second issue shipped 8,155 copies.
American Carnage would only ship 12,891 units for its first issue. The second issue only shipped 7,434 units.
Like they say: Get Woke, Go Broke. Social Justice is toxic for the bottem line.
Nikola Tesla had feet of clay before he stepped in some other stuff. There's plenty about him in books; no need to run down others to make Tesla look better.