Vertigo Returns to DC With The Peril of the Brutal Dark

Vertigo is back as the iconic imprint returns to DC Comics in 2026! One of the most exciting titles is The Peril of the Brutal Dark: An Ezra Cain Mystery #1 by Ultimate Wolverine writer Chris Condon and fan-favorite artist Jacob Phillips. 

The Peril of the Brutal Dark: An Ezra Cain Mystery #1 tells the story of private investigator Ezra Cain, whose investigations into a stolen relic leads to a dark discovery that throws the entire United States into potential peril.

Covers for issue one are coming from Phillips, Tula Lotay, Hayden Sherman, Sean Phillips, and Álvaro Martínez Bueno. Check out the main cover art and text solicit for the issue below.

New York City, 1941. Ezra Cain is a private investigator with a reputation for taking it on the chin if it means solving a case. But it's his former life as an archaeology student that makes him the only man to track down an artifact that's gone missing from the Museum of Natural History... an ancient anvil said to hold the power of the Greek god Hephaestus. If someone could harness that power, they could bend nations to their will. Science fiction quickly becomes Cain's reality when a shadowy sect calling themselves the Brutal Dark appears in the city wielding resources that defy human logic. Now Ezra is the only thing that stands between them and their plot to overthrow America!

Writer Chris Condon and artist Jacob Phillips, creators of the hit series That Texas Blood and The Enfield Gang Massacre , introduce us to a private eye whose business is exposing our deepest secrets... but on this job, he'll learn that some mysteries are better off buried!

The Peril of the Brutal Dark: An Ezra Cain Mystery #1 arrives at CaptCan Comics on February 25th, 2025. Pre-order the issue now to ensure you don't miss out!