David Baillie

The next chapter of Vertigo's stunning fantasy epic is here in RED THORN VOL. 2! With the "Glasgow Kiss" epic finished, Isla must pick up the pieces of her shattered reality. How will she cope with the devastating consequences of her greatest trial? Evil forces are at play and no one is safe as the legends of Scottish mythology collide with the modern world. Fans of FABLES and THE SANDMAN won't want to miss this riveting dark graphic novel series! Collects issues #8-12.

Red Thorn Vol. 2: Mad Gods and Scotsmen

An unearthed child's skeleton sets into motion a mentally ill orphan's desperate search for his lost home--this gritty, post-punk-era coming-of-age street novel is like Jonathan Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn meets Joe Hill's Heart Shaped Box . . . if both had been written in the back corner of CBGB.

Little Bones

Skinheads. Drug dealers. Cops. For two brothers-of-circumstance navigating the violent streets of this industrial wasteland, every urban tribe is a potential threat. Yet it is amongst the denizens of these unforgiving alleys, dangerous squat houses, and underground nightclubs that the brothers—and the small street tribe to which they belong—forge the bonds that will see them through senseless minor cruelties, the slow and constant grind of poverty, and savage boot culture violence. Friendship. Understanding. Affinity. For two brothers, these fragile ties are the only hope they have for salvation in the wake of a mutual girlfriend’s suicide, an event so devastating that it drives one to seek solace far from his steel city roots, and the other to a tragic—yet miraculous—transformation, a heartbreaking metamorphosis from poet and musician to street prophet, emerging from a self-imposed cocoon an urban shaman, mad-eyed shaper of (t)ruthless reality.

What We Salvage

Hamilton, Ontario, 1953. A nine-year-old boy meets with a horrific death at the hands of a sociopath; his little body is then hidden away in a soon-to-be-sealed tenement coal chute where it lies for two decades. The remains, discovered by contractors rerouting a pipe in 1974, make for sensational news; the fact that ten small bones are missing causes further speculation. But interest in the cold case fades quickly—except in the imagination of a tragically lonely boy named Scott Campbell, a resident of that sad building who suffers (equally) from undiagnosed Selective Mutism and the terrible neglect of his mentally ill mother. In the building’s furnace room, Scotty meets his one and only friend: a child’s playful, coal-black shadow that follows him through a litany of foster homes and into adulthood. Now, in 1987, thirteen years after the discovery of those remains, Scotty is an enigmatic street artist who makes strange sculptures out of found objects, which he leaves in the forgotten and overlooked corners of the city. Scotty’s social worker, Simon, despairs over Scotty’s plight: the mute will soon be completely on his own, for he aged out of government-sponsored aid almost two years ago and is now living on the remnants of a miracle extension arranged by Simon’s boss. Simon also has his own dilemma: as a Mohawk with invested interest in the Six Nations of the Grand River, he feels like he is betraying his own community by working for the government-funded Children’s Aid Society in Hamilton. Caught between pressure at home and the impending end of Scotty’s meagre support, Simon is losing faith in both the System and himself. Little Bones is a heart-rending tale of loss, redemption, and the cruel consequences of investing in that most beautiful of lies—hope.

Skinheads. Drug dealers. Cops. For two brothers-of-circumstance navigating the violent streets of this industrial wasteland, every urban tribe is a potential threat. Yet it is amongst the denizens of these unforgiving alleys, dangerous squat houses, and underground nightclubs that the brothers - and the small street tribe to which they belong - forge the bonds that will see them through senseless minor cruelties, the slow and constant grind of poverty, and savage boot culture violence. Friendship. Understanding. Affinity. For two brothers, these fragile ties are the only hope they have for salvation in the wake of a mutual girlfriend's suicide, an event so devastating that it drives one to seek solace far from his steel city roots, and the other to a tragic - yet miraculous - transformation, a heartbreaking metamorphosis from poet and musician to street prophet, emerging from a self-imposed cocoon an urban shaman, mad-eyed shaper of (t)ruthless reality. What We Salvage is a reckless, gritty, and unapologetic journey, a novel that seizes the poignant fragility of Catcher in the Rye and throws it into a merciless world reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange. It is a work that author James Morrow dubbed "postmodern punk," a term that befits Baillie's poetry-as-street-prose style.

Jeff Lemire

Gene Luen Yang

Tom King

Francesco Francavilla

Steven T. Seagle

Si Spencer

F‡bio Moon

Mary H.K. Choi

BLACK is back for the final issue of the CMYK Quarterly. We've got some of comics' top writers and artists coming at you with bold statements and dark accents. Join us as we celebrate VERTIGO's favorite color and the anthology that's been bringing it all year long.

Vertigo Quarterly BLACK (2014-) #4

RED GOD RISING Although she grew up in America, gifted artist Isla Mackintosh is a Scot at heart. Both of her parents were born in Glasgow, and 25 years ago her older sister Lauren vanished during a visit to the land of her ancestry. Now, Isla is following in her sister’s footsteps, hoping to discover the truth behind her disappearance. The secret she’s about to unearth, however, is far older and more dangerous than she ever could have guessed. Something has been waiting for Isla, deep beneath the moors. A pagan demigod has been trapped there for millennia, caged inside the bones of ancient gods. He smells of the blood of a thousand enemies and the sweat of countless lovers. His name is Thorn, and Isla’s art is the key to his freedom. Writer David Baillie and artists Meghan Hetrick and Steve Pugh bring the myths and legends of Scotland roaring back to life in RED THORN VOL. 1: GLASGOW KISS-a sweeping, supernatural saga in the classic VERTIGO tradition! Collects RED THORN #1-7.

David Baillie

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