I’ve asked a few of the editors about their time here at Vertigo. You’ve seen pieces by Will Dennis, Mark Doyle, Jonathan Vankin and Angela Rufino. Next up is Pornsak Pichetshote, you saw a photo of him just a few days ago laying out the pages of THE UNWRITTEN #17 on the floor of his apartment.

PM: What was the first Vertigo book you read?

PP: This is a complete blind guess, but the furthest back I can trace is THE INVISIBLES # 1. INVISIBLES led me to PREACHER which led me to TRANSMETROPOLITAN, which in turn led me to SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE, SANDMAN, SWAMP THING, HELLBLAZER, ANIMAL MAN and DOOM PATROL, and then before I knew it, I begrudgingly had to admit I was a VERTIGO fan. (For some reason, when I was in college, I considered VERTIGO a goth publisher, and thought I couldn’t really be a fan, since I wasn’t a goth.)

PM: What was the first Vertigo book you edited?

PP: You always remember your first… THE LOSERS # 21. THE LOSERS was a special experience for me. Before I had any aspirations to work in comics, I was a comics fan, who had heard of the buzz of this Ocean’s 11 meets Three Kings book, and I think I bought the first issue the week it came out. Then, I got the job as an assistant editor at Vertigo, and I think the day issue 2 came out was one of my first weeks on the job. By issue 5, I became the assistant on the book, with Will Dennis (the editor who developed the book with Andy and Jock) slowly letting me contribute more and more of my input as it progressed. By issue 21, Will handed the book over to me to edit, and I’ll always be grateful to him for trusting me with it. (It is hard to give up your kid to let somebody else raise). The original art for the very last page of the series is framed in my apartment.

PM: How do you acquire a comic book series or graphic novel?

PP: Me, I’m basically looking for books that are going places that VERTIGO hasn’t gone before. As a result, new pitches involving angels, hell and demons usually makes my eyes gloss over. But anything else, I’m game. I’m actually not a fantasy / sci-fi fan, but as a result, I enjoy looking for fantasy / sci-fi pitches that can convert me. When it works out, like it seems to with THE UNWRITTEN, everybody wins. Aside from that, I’ll approach anyone whose work impresses me, regardless of the medium I’ve discovered their work.

Today, over at WIRED/Geek Dad they announced The First Annual GeekDad Awards. Among the multitude of categories is Best Comic Book. Making the list of multiple choice is, The New York Times bestseller, THE UNWRITTEN. There's also a category for Best Geek Celebrity and Neil Gaiman makes the cut!

So go vote now!

Most of you reading this blog on a regular basis would likely agree that the re-coloring initially done for ABSOLUTE SANDMAN was:

a) Beautiful.
b) So beautiful it’s hard to put it into words.
c) “Lavish.” (As described by the DENVER POST, PATRIOT NEWS and LIBRARY JOURNAL)
d) Or, in the words of the NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, “Beautiful… lavish.”

Seriously, the re-coloring done for ABSOLUTE SANDMAN (with improved production values, natch) was truly stunning.

Beginning next year, Vertigo will publish new trade paperback editions of SANDMAN in ten volumes - remastered and corrected versions of the comic the Los Angeles Times Magazine called “the greatest epic in the history of comic books,” featuring newly designed covers using Dave McKean’s spectacular and innovative art. We've got the very first look at the covers of volumes one and two here. The books are still filled with amazing stories by Neil Gaiman. They just look better.

How would you describe the covers?