Lee Bermejo, cover artist extraordinaire for the Vertigo Crime Line, tried out a few different directions for the newest addition, RAT CATCHER by Andy Diggle (The Losers) and artist Victor Ibanez.

Here’s a look at the visual evolution from gritty to mod to just right.

Look for the book with this cover, in stores now.

Vertigo Crime has published works from the likes of authors Ian Rankin, Brian Azzarello, Jason Starr, Christos Gage and many others. Today, we add two more titles to the ever growing list of excellent crime/mystery graphic novels.

In RAT CATCHER by Andy Diggle (The Losers) and artist Victor Ibanez, an FBI agent and a notorious mob hitman become involved in a thriller with a twist that keeps the action moving and the characters playing a high stakes game of cat and mouse.

In NOCHE ROJA, a timely and explosive mystery by Simon Oliver and artist Jason Latour, the murders of young women just South of the Mexican border hide a deeper, darker corruption that retired private investigator Jack Cohen becomes determined to expose if it’s the last thing he ever does. Which it may be.

Look for RAT CATCHER and NOCHE ROJA with covers by Lee Bermejo in 2011!

As an editor, sometimes you find writers who you just know are your type of, uh, writer.

You know because you can throw any weird idea at them, and they come back with, “I think I’ve got something on that.” And then they actually do.

That’s what happened with Christos Gage when, a few years back, I mentioned one of my odd little fascinations to him. I have quite a few, as it turns out. But for some reason, at this point in my life, I was intensely fascinated with things that go wrong with brains.

Not sure what prompted this minor obsession. I’ve never had a serious head trauma. Maybe I was going through some kind of mental crisis. It wouldn’t be the first time. Or the last. But that’s a blog post for another day.

You gotta admit, the subject is fascinating. All that you are, your memories, your dreams, your hopes and desires, your neuroses and your virtues, your grandiose schemes and your dirty little secrets -- they’re all imprinted on this three-pound glob of gray, spongy stuff that sloshes around in your skull. What happens when something goes wrong with that big glob of goo you call your brain? If your brain changes -- you change too. Can it make you a different person? Can it make you -- better?

That’s what I said to Chris. And I knew Chris was my type of writer when he came back with, “I think I’ve got something on that.” And then he actually did.

What he had was AREA 10, the newest graphic mystery from VERTIGO CRIME, in stores today (April 7). AREA 10 is a police thriller with a rapid fire pace and a tightly wound plot -- exactly what I expected from Chris, given his resumé writing for some of TV’s most successful cop shows.

But even better, AREA 10 (the title refers to a specific section of the human brain, naturally) explores what transpires when a hard-nosed homicide detective in New York City suddenly gets his brain all messed up -- in a particularly chilling way. Does he become a better cop, or just a stranger one? And what if he isn’t the only guy in this burg with the same brain modification? What if the bad guys got it too?

There was no one better than Chris Samnee, a master of light and dark, to illuminate this tale. His art on AREA 10 is mindblowing. (See what I did there?) So, if you have a brain, I think you’ll find AREA 10 as fascinating as I do -- and maybe after you read it, my odd little obsession will become yours.

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Lee Bermejo talks Vertigo Crime Covers:

I'm going to spin a yarn here. People always say that every story has a beginning, middle, and end so let's start at the beginning.

Act 1: A couple years back, Will Dennis approached me about doing covers for a new, somewhat experimental line for Vertigo. The line itself sounded fucking awesome, but there was something he said about the gig that both frightened and intrigued me. It was pretty simple, 'We don't want anything that looks like a comic book cover'. For a guy who does comic books for a living, and specifically COVERS of comic books, that statement is the proverbial laying down of the gauntlet. He also wanted to keep the images simple. Anyone who knows me or my work may now release the snorting laughter you're trying to suppress. SIMPLICITY?!?!?! Yeah, not really my bag as much as I wish it was. This wasn't going to be about just breaking out of my box, I was going to have to find a whole new box. Could I have been more wrong for the job?!?!?! That in itself was every reason to accept.

Act 2: They also say that in every good story, the main character goes through some kind of significant change brought on by conflict. In this business, you almost NEVER get offered something you're clearly not right for but desperately want to do anyway. When it does happen, the difficult thing is pushing through some of your own limitations to prove that the powers that be didn't fuck up by giving you this chance. Let's face it, you also want to prove it to yourself. In the case of these covers, my challenge was more in the idea phase than in the final execution. What is the idea phase, you may ask? Sketches, sketches, and more sketches. Let me tell you something, if the recycle bin outside my house was a hungry animal, the process of doing the Vertigo Crime covers has kept it well fed. I seem to toss out as many sketches as I finish, and try to be pretty hard on myself in terms of what I eventually show to my editor. Here is a smattering of some of the failed ideas. Hey, any storyteller will say that the main character can't succeed all the time. Where's the drama in that?!?

FILTHY RICH

THE BRONX KILL Coming in 2010

FOGTOWN Coming in 2010

A SICKNESS IN THE FAMILY Coming in 2010

A major part of Campbell's 'A Hero's journey' involves the main character of the story aquiring some kind of boone that helps he/she on their quest/journey. In the case of this story, that boone would have to be Mr. Josh Beatman, graphic designer extraordinaire. He's the Doc Brown to my Marty McFly. I can drive the time machine, but if he doesn't fix it, I don't go where I need to go. You can check out his magic on the cover finals, and see how the picture finally starts coming together.

Act 3: You gotta buy the Vertigo Crime books for that. Trust me you'll like the way the story ends....