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Somebody put together not too long ago a short tribute video for the good count here of his appearances in various DC animated media. It's just under two minutes and it starts off with music but shortly transitions into just a montage of various scenes with Vertigo . .er I mean Count Vertigo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiD9QQ9k7i0 Ya know it's a shame that these animated DC shows like
Young Justice haven't been able to explore the character beyond his roots in the DC Universe as a classic villain archetype.
In the Ostrander Suicide Squad we saw how he went from being this fairly one dimensional arrogant aristocratic type villain to someone who was struggling with a disease (chronic manic depression) that ultimately humbled him. Looking back I really think Ostrander purposely made it ambiguous for the reader as to when Count Vertigo did something out of a sense of bravery, fear, indifference or just because he was having a mood swing.
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| One of my favorite Count Vertigo moments was in Suicide Squad 33 |
The Squad gave him a sense of purpose keeping him from succumbing to his continued thoughts of suicide. That sense of purpose over time turned him into a man who began to take pride in his work with the Squad and even develop a sense of professionalism as a government operative. When
Poison Ivy's toxins inadvertently cured him of his mental illness he discovered he had a new lease on life. But even so he realized the chemical imbalance in his brain having been righted couldn't fix a lifetime of the emotional struggle that was still a part of him. As irony would have it, his work as a member of the Suicide Squad (both as a field agent and in administrative services) and as Waller's Knight in
Checkmate may have had more to do with his rehabilitation then anything else.
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Shortly after his first appearance in the Suicide Squad (issue 24 1989) till their last adventure in the old DCU (Blackest Night Suicide Squad Secret Six crossover 2010) Count Vertigo ended up being one of the most effective and dependable members of Task Force X. Count Vertigo is definitely worth getting to know better in many ways his evolution as a character was not so much unlike that of Marvel's
Magneto.
Next posting, I found something in a $1 box yesterday that raises some continuity issues with the old DCU that spans the Suicide Squad, Shadowpact, Secret Seven and Secret Six. Yeah I know what your thinking but I'm going to put off that break for a bit longer.
Hello!
ReplyDeleteVery nice post on Count Vertigo. I would have forgoten to say Count if you hadn't remember it to me :)
I like him a lot, and yes he was one of the more regular characters from the old Squad on the old universe, just with Waller and Deadshot. I wonder why it is rarer to find coments on him from readers.
Also, were is the last comic strip from? Probably Checkmate, but I never read it before.
Poor thing, afraid of having Waller cross :)
thank you, i was up pretty late last night working on it. i think even now the Count is a somewhat under rated character in DC Comics which is too bad because i really came to like him a lot in the past decade. John Ostrander and and Greg Rucka (Checkmate) really deserve the credit for that. him being on a cover but not any where in the story of that Resurrection Man cross over was another one of those things that really made me mad with the current Squad series. the clip art is from issue #5 of the Raise The Flag 9 issue mini-series (2004-05). i don't think Count Vertigo ever appeared out of costume in the Checkmate series. i think that was a good move to have him in a business suite for that scene with Twister.
DeleteI don't know Aliera because Vertigo is a good character, he should be major.
DeleteCount Vertigo gets just enough exposure for us to know he's there but not enough for comic guys to care.
most of those "comic guys" don't appreciate the finer things in life. foolish peasants.
DeleteIndeed
DeleteHere's a guy that never really caught, despite as you pointed out, Ostrander and Rucka both crafting very interesting stories with him. One of my favorite stories of his, was from B:TAS, where Batman ultimately won through sheer will and ingenuity.
ReplyDeleteThen there was the time in 2000/2001, where he joined up the with Injustice Society when they attacked the JSA. Seemed promising, but the team only lasted a short arc.
I'd also like a Count Vertigo DCUC figure, as I've wanted him, Chronos, and the rest of the Flash's Rogues for years, but alas, still no Count Vertigo. I figured he'd be easy enough to craft, with a re-use of someone's cape, and crafting an original masked head, he screams easy done in one.
Good character to showcase.
And looking forward to that continuity glitch. Sounds promising.
RIP Joe Kubert.
aside from everything else i mentioned about the Count how can you not be able to relate to all those manic moon swings. especially with the way life's been in the last 4 years. and then of course there's shit like bad break ups that always makes for some pretty mood swinging anti-social behavior.
DeleteI've been waiting on a Count Vertigo as well. I thought after Deadshot and Chemo, we would see Flagg, Vertigo, Enchantress and Nightshade at least. With the Enchantress showing up in several books I knew she was a shoe in. And like you said Count Vertigo has shown up on tv and print, I thought he was next. Guess I was wrong.
Deletethat's ok my friend, as George Bush said "fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice . .and you can't be fooled again".
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