Vertigo? . . .

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Somebody put together not too long ago a short tribute video for the good count here of his appearances in various DC animated media. It's just under two minutes and it starts off with music but shortly transitions into just a montage of various scenes with Vertigo . .er I mean Count Vertigo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiD9QQ9k7i0 Ya know it's a shame that these animated DC shows like Young Justice haven't been able to explore the character beyond his roots in the DC Universe as a classic villain archetype.

In the Ostrander Suicide Squad we saw how he went from being this fairly one dimensional arrogant aristocratic type villain to someone who was struggling with a disease (chronic manic depression) that ultimately humbled him. Looking back I really think Ostrander purposely made it ambiguous for the reader as to when Count Vertigo did something out of a sense of bravery, fear, indifference or just because he was having a mood swing.

One of my favorite Count Vertigo moments was in Suicide Squad 33

The Squad gave him a sense of purpose keeping him from succumbing to his continued thoughts of suicide. That sense of purpose over time turned him into a man who began to take pride in his work with the Squad and even develop a sense of professionalism as a government operative. When Poison Ivy's toxins inadvertently cured him of his mental illness he discovered he had a new lease on life. But even so he realized the chemical imbalance in his brain having been righted couldn't fix a lifetime of the emotional struggle that was still a part of him. As irony would have it, his work as a member of the Suicide Squad (both as a field agent and in administrative services) and as Waller's Knight in Checkmate may have had more to do with his rehabilitation then anything else.

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Shortly after his first appearance in the Suicide Squad (issue 24 1989) till their last adventure in the old DCU (Blackest Night Suicide Squad Secret Six crossover 2010) Count Vertigo ended up being one of the most effective and dependable members of Task Force X. Count Vertigo is definitely worth getting to know better in many ways his evolution as a character was not so much unlike that of Marvel's Magneto.

Next posting, I found something in a $1 box yesterday that raises some continuity issues with the old DCU that spans the Suicide Squad, Shadowpact, Secret Seven and Secret Six. Yeah I know what your thinking but I'm going to put off that break for a bit longer.