Initially disparaged by both alternative and mainstream fans, Vertigo finally succeeded in occupying a hybrid place while affirming its distance from the mainstream and alternative poles of the comics field, albeit in a very ironic way and by developing what the author calls a double awareness. “Once again, this angle refers to a specific culture in a particular historical context. But Vertigo presents a case where the actors define themselves automatically as being in the middle and are not afraid to make fun of everyone. They redefine their editorial position by borrowing from alternative currents and rewriting the lines of mainstream comics which are too easy and directing. This strong editorial policy is undoubtedly one of the reasons that explain why Vertigo has succeeded in lasting as the only imprint belonging to a larger mainstream conglomerate.. This project has enabled a new possibility, however. In the wake of the label, new independent publishers have, for example, seen the light of day by tying both ends of the comics spectrum together. Vertigo is for me one of the main actors which enabled comics in the US to diversify since the advent of so-called alternative comics. Nevertheless, the label remains financially dependent on a bigger group within which comics is not the most lucrative activity. It is therefore not immune to restructuring policies linked to the performance of DC Entertainment and, more broadly, Time Warner”.

Financial difficulties remain one of the aspects that link all these actors who sometimes need to find alternatives to their alternatives. The volume’s last contribution illustrates this perfectly. In the collection’s concluding essay, Thierry Groensteen, accounts for his tumultuous editorial career as a publisher(10). He recounts how he founded his publishing house “Éditions de l’An 2” in 2002, which he managed for four years during which he developed a unique, strict and rigorous editorial line. With this structure, Groensteen explains that he published numerous comics in colour, wrote complex essays on the medium and translated the work of many foreign authors. Unable to keep his publishing house afloat, however, he threw in the towel at the end of 2006. The company was then bought by the group Actes Sud in 2007, after which Groensteen continued his activity as a publisher by managing l’An 2 as a series within this larger publishing group. “Thierry Groensteen founded his own publishing house ten years after the creation of L’Association”, comments Tanguy Habrand. “When he speaks about alternatives to the alternatives, he is applying the idea that it is possible to innovate without echoing values that are being consecrated. This is not without its risks. His work of discovery, translation and creation of a critical apparatus required large sums of money. He tried the experience of joining a bigger group with all that that entails in terms of advantages and disadvantages. This trajectory is quite common in literary publishing. It is a lot rarer in terms of comics publishing”. Christophe Dony continues, “In the US smaller structures are often bought by bigger publishing houses. But during this process they no longer have any rights over their catalogue which can result in the disappearance of the unique characters and universes they created. This is why catalogues originally created by smaller publishers eventually disappear  within the new group, despite the fact that the purchasing company wants to develop the characters for which it has just bought the rights”.  

Dissidence is not always avant-garde

The publishing houses l’An 2 and Vertigo experienced two situations that are unique and exceptional. At the same time however, they echo the fate of other artists and structures whose disparate experiences make it hard for the scholar to bring them together  and examine them trhough a particular critical lens. The idea of dissent is after all overflowing, plural, and continuously evolving. Christophe Dony had the pleasure of noticing how possible new forms of dissent currently emerge even within Marvel and DC Comics. Although these publishing houses are conventionally associated with the mainstream,  some authors working for the ‘big two’ are today rising up against the ways in which other-media adaptations of licensed characters from Marvel and DC have reasserted an over-pronounced Manichaeism or have simplified the ‘multiverses’ of the publishing houses that many artists have worked for over the years. . While some speak of dissidence as being avant-garde, the authors of the work avoid falling into the same trap. The affirmation of this avant-gardism is past and is a marketing effect: a way of constructing a story. From a certain viewpoint it is useful to lay claim to being avant-garde when one does not have media success, but some of the most extreme representatives of these movements will one day join the ranks of the intermediate publishing houses. This will be due (among other things) to selection processes and institutionalization by value judgments which the academic world seems to distance itself from even while recognizing its effects in its work and criticism. Without being the dominant forces of tomorrow, dissident voices are raised every day and always in reaction to new situations. Dissidence is a moving target and therefore redefines itself constantly. 

(10) Ibid, Thierry Groensteen, De l’An 2 à Actes Sud, une alternative à l’alternative, Témoignage d’un éditeur