Another thing:
How many Vertigo books do you read and enjoy? Are you like me, and collect one or two? Or do you like to sample from the whole line like others?
The reason I ask this, is because top selling books like Sandman subsidize the Vertigo line. The Neil Gaiman books are considered Evergreens, which means they continue to pull in money for DC/Vertigo long after all the money for production was spent. Look at it this way. How many Vertigo books really take off? Maybe one series out of every twenty (these numbers are completely arbitrary, and are only being used to make a point)? Lets say for every book like Sandman or Preacher or Fables, there's nineteen other books that don't really make it past the first year or so, for whatever reason (bad concept, bad execution, bad marketing etc.) these books get cancelled with little fanfare, but obviously, if they're selling 10-15k a month, somebody must be reading them. There are a lot of Vertigo books that take a little while longer to find their footing. I think Y: The Last Man and 100 Bullets are perfect examples of that. I believe that if DC didn't have money rolling in from the collected editions of Sandman, Preacher and Swamp Thing, those books would have been cancelled before they really got a chance to find their audience.
A new Sandman book, even one that doesn't live up to the quality of the books before it, would still be a huge seller for DC. I think without it, we may be missing out on the next great Vertigo book.
Just my opinion though...
