For Karen Berger, a day at the office used to mean happily invading other people’s dreams and bringing them to life. As the executive editor of the Vertigo imprint at DC Comics, she oversaw illustrated tales of fantasy, speculative fiction and outcast characters who did not fit into the publisher’s mainstream lineup of costumed adventurers.

“It’s the weird stuff,” Ms. Berger said recently. “The stuff that makes you different.”

But these days, simply visiting DC’s Midtown Manhattan offices is a weird experience for Ms. Berger, who helped start hit series like “Fables” and “Y: The Last Man,” and the careers of writers like Neil Gaiman, the author of “Sandman,” and Grant Morrison, who has written titles including “The Invisibles.”

In December, Ms. Berger announced plans to leave the company where she worked for more than 30 years. She left her full-time position in March but continues to consult on a few coming Vertigo projects. Shelly Bond, the DC and Vertigo veteran, succeeded her as the imprint’s executive editor.

In its 20 years of operation, Vertigo has been a brand name fervently embraced by readers who were interested in imaginative graphic storytelling but who did not necessarily care for the familiar fisticuffs of characters like Superman and Batman.