Vertigo’s comic line-up has dominated the “alt” comic sphere by creating a series of genre and conceptional creator-driven comics that completely changed the industry in the 1990s. Even though it has had some of the most cutting edge properties released on the medium, and often feeling like premium television or film projects, the Vertigo library of film adaptations is woefully short. V for Vendetta, The Fountain, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Constantine, and almost nothing else can really be called a ‘Vertigo” project, and we are still waiting for adaptations of Y: The Last Man, Scalped, DMZ, and the rest.

Sandman has been our real star of hope as actor-turned-director Joseph Gordon Levitt has been holding the reigns of the upcoming Sandman film adaptation. Its future may be a little brighter as Warner Bros. has moved the project to its subsidariy company, New Line. This is a good sign since New Line is better known for more challenging genre films with less of a broad appeal. This is a good signal that Sandman is going to maintain the qualities that made it such a cult classic, without watering it down for a general audience that would not connect with its dark fantasy and meta-textual commentaries.

This is the first real step for Warner Bros to handle their possible Vertigo titles as they use their main brand to take care of the coming DC Cinematic Universe. Let’s hope that this is the outline of things to come.