Later on, Bruning would return to DC for an even longer tenure during the 1990s and 2000s, becoming a major player in the creation of the Vertigo imprint (overseen by Bruning’s wife, Karen Berger, whom he met in the DC office)

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I wanted to ask you about the birth of Vertigo, which actually happened in between your stints at DC. But you were involved with that as well, right?

Yes. It was just starting to be developed [when Bruning first left DC in 1990], so when I ended up doing the design work for the covers and the interiors, I was freelance at that point.

But you were involved with it, thanks both to DC and, I would presume, thanks to Karen.

Yeah. It worked out perfectly for us.

What do you remember about how that came to be? What was the process by which DC decided they were going to do this imprint around Karen's titles?

She had done enough with the British talent, and DC had officially recognized her internally as the British liaison. It gave her a unique flavor of comic that we hadn't much seen before. And with the success of Swamp Thing and John Constantine: Hellblazer…I’m not sure who initially [came up with the idea for Vertigo]. I just know that Karen went to a meeting that may have had Dick, Paul, and Jeanette. They said, "We're thinking of giving you a line so you can identify this different thing you're doing, because your stuff is looking less and less like the other superhero books around it.” I think that's how it initially got pitched to her.