Vanity (comics)

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Vanity is a fictional city located in the DC Universe version of the U.S. state of Oregon.

Created in 1996 as the main backdrop of the short-lived series Aztek the Ultimate Man by Grant Morrison, Mark Millar and N. Steven Harris, Vanity was given several defining characteristics setting it apart from other DC Universe-specific American cities: its architecture, the neighborhood names apparently derived from convicted American murderers of varying degrees of infamy, and its suicide rate, then the highest in that particular version of the United States. Additionally, superheroes who operated in Vanity for long periods of time often had a tendency to become corrupt in thought and deed.

Since Aztek's title was cancelled in 1997, Vanity's status has been unclear due to lack of usage in other DC Universe titles. However, in 2005, a character in Frankenstein, one of the titles in Morrison's Seven Soldiers series, made a reference to "our town having the highest rate of teen suicide in the US". Whether this is a return to Vanity, or just Grant Morrison's re-use of an arresting concept, is unknown.