The Top Cow Blog

Readers rediscovering 'Witchblade'

noreply@blogger.com (Top Cow) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:00:03 PST

"I think we're slowly changing the perception, but it's really one reader at a time. People tend to cling to their preconceptions, no matter how wrong they are, until you prove them wrong. But I have to admit, it's pretty satisfying when someone tries the book and then reports, 'This is nothing like I thought it would be,' " Ron Marz said.

READ MORE.

Famous Monsters Reviews Tracker #1

noreply@blogger.com (Top Cow) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:52:52 PST

To say Top Cow’s new title Tracker is a werewolf comic doesn’t seem quite fair; it doesn’t really capture the scope of the thing. It would be more accurate to call this a gritty, character-driven police drama… with werewolves in it.

The book, which hits stores next Wednesday, follows Alex O’Roark, an FBI agent who is tracking a mass murderer who appears to be something more than human. When he gets caught in, one of the killers attacks himself, he barely escapes with his life – and leaves part of his humanity behind. Suddenly, Alex finds himself manifesting new abilities and urges of a decidedly animal nature. His sense of smell is super-humanly sharp; he’s got a shorter temper and a lust for violence; he’s agile and durable enough to survive a 5-story leap while tracking his attacker.

What’s nice about this book is that writer Jonathan Lincoln makes us aware of these manifestations, of the change that Alex is going through – but they’re not really the point.

READ MORE.

Broken Frontier Previews Witchblade #132

noreply@blogger.com (Top Cow) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:36:56 PST

Witchblade #132

(W) Ron Marz (A) Stjepan Sejic (Cov) Sejic, Nelson Blake II

A quiet, romantic weekend in New England turns into a terrifying mystery when Sara and Gleason are pulled into an investigation of missing children. But is this a simple missing persons case or has the Witchblade been drawn to another supernatural crime? Featuring a cover by regular artist Sejic and a variant cover by Nelson Blake II (The Darkness)!

Cover A – Stjepan Sejic
Cover B – Nelson Blake II
Full Color 32 pages $2.99 ongoing series

READ MORE.

Writer Ron Marz changes fan perception of Top Cow's "Witchblade"

noreply@blogger.com (Top Cow) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:33:50 PST

Lehigh Valley's John Hardick used to think the Top Cow comic book “Witchblade.” was about a scantily clad woman running around New York City fighting generic monsters.

His opinion couldn’t have been more wrong.

“I think the book had a reputation as being a T & A comic, which was probably not far from the truth at certain points in the past,” said series writer Ron Marz in a recent interview through e-mail about the book’s perception.

“I think we're slowly changing the perception, but it's really one reader at a time."

READ MORE.

Dynamic Forces Reviews Witchblade #131

noreply@blogger.com (Top Cow) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:06:10 PST

To start things off, I’d just like to say that I originally started reading Witchblade with issue 1 up until about the 40 mark and returned to the title with the $5 TPB. Overall, Witchblade has changed from the lightly storied T&A book to a book with an in-depth story which keeps you coming back from month to month.

Issue #131 is the final issue in the "War of the Witchblades" storyline where we see the fall out of Sara and Dani’s fight to control the Witchblade. For a bit of history for those that don’t read the title or didn’t pick up the story line, The Witchblade is the child of The Darkness and The Angelus, which throughout time has been the balance between the light and the dark. When Sara Pazzini found out she was pregnant, she passed on the Witchblade to Danielle Baptiste; however, once she had the baby, Hope, Dani gave half of the Witchblade back to Sara.

READ MORE.

Hyper Geek Shares Details about Pilot Season: Demonic #1

noreply@blogger.com (Top Cow) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:26:47 PST

Top Cow Productions have revealed details about the latest Pilot Season one-shot, Demonic, written by Robert Kirkman, with artwork by Mark Silvestri.

Pilot Season 2009 will continue with Pilot Season: Demonic #1. Hitting comic book stores December 16, 2009, Pilot Season: Demonic #1 is a 32-page glance into the creative minds of Image Comics partners Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead, Invincible) and Top Cow founder Marc Silvestri (X-Men/Dark Avengers: Utopia, The Darkness).

Written by Kirkman and featuring art from Top Cow alumni Joe Benitez (Soulfire, The Darkness), Pilot Season: Demonic #1 centers on the story of Scott Graves and his inner demon—only his demon manifests itself in his real life. Providing him strength, the demon is only satiated when Scott kills. In a conflicted Faustian bargain, Scott will continue to kill as long as the demon promises not to make him kill his wife and daughter. Stalking the night as Demonic, a vigilante known for savagely slaughtering the wicked, Scott must asks himself how long he can continue living this way and if the demon is in fact real. Pilot Season: Demonic #1 features a cover by co-creator Silvestri.

READ MORE.

Free Witchblade for Naysayers

noreply@blogger.com (Top Cow) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:17:30 PST

Filip Sablik is causing quite a stir as a guest columnist over at Newsarama. About what? Well his first entry was a plea with the reader to understand that Top Cow is not only a T&A publisher. Sure, Witchblade is one of the hottest heroines out there but she kicks serious ass in addition to looking good. Well that entry created a mini-firestorm of controversy if you will, and Sablik believes so strongly in his views that he's offering a free way to agree or disagree.

Through a partnership with Discount Comic Book Service and InStock Trades Top Cow is offering free copies of the original printings of the Witchblade trades featuring Ron Marz's first two storylines. Now they're not completely free (strings attached and all that). All you have to do is make one additional purchase (that doesn't have to be Top Cow mind you) through InStock Trades and either Volume 10 or 11 will be free. It gets better.

Personally, I don't think Witchblade in particular is any worse than half the other comics out there. Does her attractiveness help sell issues? Sure. Sex sells afterall. But Top Cow isn't predicated on looks alone, and Marz's storylines are actually quite compelling. I could name quite a few other heroines that use sex appeal a lot more than Witchblade (Supergirl has a mammoth-sized chest, Batgirl is a lesbian and just about anything Zenescope puts out is dripping with sex appeal). Rarely though do you have a publisher so willing to put their money where their mouth is.

It's kind of like voting. If you don't vote you have no right complaining about the results. Same thing goes here. If you don't give Witchblade a shot you have no right to say it's all about T&A.

READ MORE.

Newsarama Looks At The Process of Top Cow's TRACKER

noreply@blogger.com (Top Cow) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:13:12 PST

Conceiving a world is no easy task -- but imagine bringing that world to life.

Add in a new take to the werewolf mythology, and there are few people more qualified than artist Francis Tsai, who is working on Top Cow and Heroes and Villains Entertainment's upcoming series, Tracker, which follows an FBI agent after he is infected with lycanthropy.

How does one take that sort of vision, and distill it onto the page? Tsai sat down with Newsarama to discuss his influences, his process, and his thoughts on his circituous becoming a comics artist.

Newsarama: Francis, for those who don't know about your background, could you tell us of your experience with architecture and design art? How does that impact your take on Tracker?

Francis Tsai: Well, my formal education is in architecture. Actually, I have an undergraduate degree in physical chemistry, but I rarely use that education these days. I received a masters degree from the University of Texas School of Architecture, and worked in Austin and San Diego for a few years before switching to video game design. There was fortunately quite an overlap between architecture and video game design, mainly in terms of design process. In both cases you’re looking at a set of conditions and figuring out a specific problem to solve. In video games of course you also work on characters and props, whereas in architecture it’s pretty much entirely environmental design.

READ MORE.

Dread Central Takes A Look at Tracker #1

noreply@blogger.com (Top Cow) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:38:46 PST

We all know vampires are riding high on a wave of incredible popularity right now, but werewolves are holding their own pretty well, too. And on November 11th Top Cow introduces us to another lycan to love: FBI agent Alex O’Roark, aka Tracker.

Written and created by Jonathan Lincoln with art by Francis Tsai, the five-part Tracker is the first joint property from Top Cow and Heroes & Villains Entertainment.

If you like what you see, head to your favorite comic dealer (or online retailer) on Wednesday, the 11th, for the whole thing.

READ MORE.

Jim Lee Provides a Cover for Image United #1

noreply@blogger.com (Top Cow) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:53:41 PST

Sometimes, an image is truly worth a thousand words. When it's an image by Image Comics co-founder and estranged member of the group Jim Lee, it might be worth even more. Making the project truly Image United, we present to you exclusively Jim Lee's cover for Image United #1, one of an astonishing eleven available covers, including the chase variants, for the event comic.

THE CROSSOVER EVENT OF THE CENTURY IS HERE!

The heroes of the Image Universe are united in order to fight the greatest threat the world as ever faced! You can’t miss this historic event as the original Image Founders draw all the characters they made history with. Each page is an amazing jam piece – it’s a story told in a way never before attempted in comics!

READ MORE.

Queen's Darkchylde Returns

noreply@blogger.com (Top Cow) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:50:13 PST

The Darkness and Witchblade have enough to keep them busy. If they're not fighting their own versions of evil and bad then their paths are crossing a la Buffy and Angel. You can cut the romantic tension with a knife! Top Cow feels that the two of them crossing paths aren't enough and are bringing back a fan favorite to spice things up a bit.

Darkchylde is making her first appearance since 2002 in The Darkness/Darkchylde/Witchblade: Kingdom of Pain one-shot. For those of you not in the know, Darkchylde is Ariel Chylde, the girl who can become creatures from her nightmares. You can imagine that this could come in handy when fighting alongside Jackie Estacado with his spiffy new armor. But where does Witchblade fit into all this?

READ MORE.

Top Cow and InStock Trades Offer Free Witchblade Graphic Novels

noreply@blogger.com (Top Cow) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:38:48 PST

Filip Sablik, the Publisher at Top Cow Productions, occasionally posts over at Blog@Newsarama. Last week, Sablik said that he felt that Top Cow’s flagship title, Witchblade, is not a “T&A” title, which lit up a firestorm of responses. This week, in an attempt to defend his previous comments, he announced a deal with Direct Comic Book Service and InStock Trades for a free copy of Witchblade vol. 11 or 12 with any purchase, to prove to readers that Witchblade is a serious title.

Thanks to the generosity of our friends at Discount Comic Book Service and InStock Trades, you can now get a FREE copy of the original printings of the Witchblade trades containing Ron Marz’s first two storylines. All you have to do is make one additional purchase (which doesn’t have to be a Top Cow item) through InStock Trades and either Volume 10 or 11 will be absolutely FREE.

Look What Went To Print in Italy: Witchblade: Aphrodite

noreply@blogger.com (Top Cow) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:04:32 PST

Here's a peek at what our friends in Italy see when they bust out a trade copy of Witchblade.

Broken Frontier Exclusive Preview: Witchblade #132 Virginia Comicon Variant Cover

noreply@blogger.com (Top Cow) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:50:16 PST

Top Cow have provided Broken Frontier with this exclusive preview of the Witchblade #132 Virginia Comicon variant cover.

The solicitation for the issue reads:

Witchblade #132

(W) Ron Marz (A) Stjepan Sejic (Cov) Randy Green, Felix Serrano

A quiet, romantic weekend in New England turns into a terrifying mystery when Sara and Gleason are pulled into an investigation of missing children. But is this a simple missing persons case or has the Witchblade been drawn to another supernatural crime?

READ MORE.

CBR Previews Tracker #1

noreply@blogger.com (Top Cow) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:36:16 PST

The first property from Top Cow and Heroes & Villains Entertainment is here! Alex O’Roark, the FBI’s top tracker, has his perfect life ripped to shreds when a case to capture the world’s most dangerous serial killer leads him straight into the maw of a werewolf. Now, keeping his secret from his gorgeous fiancé and the FBI, he must hunt down the wolf that infected him before the disease turns him into a monster.

READ MORE.

ComicVine's First Look at Pilot Season 'Demonic #1'

noreply@blogger.com (Top Cow) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:57:26 PST

Have you been keeping up with ' Top Cow: Pilot Season'? If you are then be sure to catch Robert Kirkman's latest book, Demonic #1 which is due to hit store shelves on December 16th, 2009! The book will consist of 32-pages of a story developed by both Kirkman and long time Image partner and Top Cow founder Marc Silvestri. Demonic #1 is illustrated by Soulfire and The Darkness artist Joe Benitez.

The story of Demonic #1 focuses on Scott Graves, who struggles with his inner demon that occasionally manifests itself in Graves' every-day life- posing to be a pretty big problem. In order to satisfy his inner demon, Graves is forced to kill. If Graves wants to keep his wife and daughter alive, he must acquiesce to the demands of the demon.

READ MORE.

Chicago Bears' Lance Briggs Names Pitt and Darkness as Favorite Comics

noreply@blogger.com (Top Cow) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:16:14 PST

Briggs is seriously into comics

Lance Briggs has dreamt up a comic book character, a man named Marco Marciano — named after, of all people, his publicist.

The Chicago Bears linebacker doesn't sketch or draw or paint, but he knows plot. He's plotting his own comic book.

Briggs, who signed a 6-year, $36 million deal in 2008, laughs that he doesn't talk to his Bears about his favorite comics— Pitt, a human-alien hybrid, and The Darkness, about a power manifested on the 21st birthday of its owner.

READ MORE.

"DARKCHYLDE" MEETS "THE DARKNESS"

noreply@blogger.com (Top Cow) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:46:49 PST

Don't expect the typical boy-meets-girl scenario when Randy and Sarah Queen's "The Darkness/Darkchylde/Witchblade: Kingdom of Pain" one-shot hits comic book stores next month courtesy of Top Cow Productions. Writer-artist Randy Queen, the creator of "Darkchylde," plans to reintroduce Ariel Chylde to comic readers by way of Jackie Estacado and - to a lesser extent - Sara Pezzini, two of the most popular characters in Top Cow's stable. The results of this meeting will be a literal nightmare for Jackie, Ariel and Sara - but if Queen has his way, it'll be a dream come true for fans of his long-dormant franchise.

Queen spoke with CBR News about Ariel's return to the paneled page and his future plans for the character. He also discussed his upcoming comic book project titled "Starfall," which has a special preview in the pages of the "Darkness/Darkchylde/Witchblade" one-shot.

READ MORE.

Witchblade and The Darkness Get the Fifth Degree at Westfield Comics

noreply@blogger.com (Top Cow) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:41:43 PST

Fifth Degree: Covers for January 2010

Darkness: Shadows and Flame
Cthulhu-esque looking Darkness? Sign me up!

Witchblade #134
I have no clue what Michal Ivan has drawn in the variant cover, but it’s AMAZING! Ron Marz, who’s been awesome on this run, bringing Aphrodite IV (not quite Aphrodite IX) back to Witchblade is pretty awesome, too!

READ MORE.

Milo Ventimiglia directs PSA starring Masi Oka, Olivia Munn

noreply@blogger.com (Top Cow) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:27:55 PST

NBC PSA about personal responsibility is a fun little video with a good message, written and directed by Milo Ventimiglia, who stars on “Heroes” and has his own comic book, “Berserker,” from Top Cow. Masi Oka stars as a guy who just can’t catch a break, and Olivia Munn also appears. Check it out.

READ MORE.

SciFi Pulse Unveils New Preview Art from Darkness/Darkchylde

noreply@blogger.com (Top Cow) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:13:53 PST

Earlier in the week SciFi Pulse featured an exclusive interview with Randy Queen who talked to roving comics reporter Nick Yanes about the new Darkness/Darkchylde Crossover comic.

Randy was kind enough to pass on some sample art from the new series of books, which SciFi Pulse has included for your viewing pleasure below.

READ MORE.

Newsarama Shares Exclusive Preview of Witchblade #132

noreply@blogger.com (Top Cow) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:01:50 PST

Witchblade #132

(W) Ron Marz (A) Stjepan Sejic (Cov) Sejic, Nelson Blake II

A quiet, romantic weekend in New England turns into a terrifying mystery when Sara and Gleason are pulled into an investigation of missing children. But is this a simple missing persons case or has the Witchblade been drawn to another supernatural crime? Featuring a cover by regular artist Sejic and a variant cover by Nelson Blake II (The Darkness)!

Cover A – Stjepan Sejic

Cover B – Nelson Blake II

Full Color 32 pages $2.99 ongoing series

READ MORE.

Robert Kirkman Talks 'Image United' with USA Today

noreply@blogger.com (Top Cow) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:17:15 PST

Image United is one of the most anticipated comic-book series to emerge in recent years. Six of the seven original founders of Image Comics are collaborating for the first time to launch a monthly six-issue series that debuts Nov. 25.

Each of these artists will draw the characters that they originally created as the first titles under the Image Comics banner. The challenge of writing the story for this project has been taken on by Robert Kirkman, a current Image partner and acclaimed author of popular comics series The Walking Dead and Invincible.

Kirkman recently spoke to USA TODAY as part of an ongoing series of interviews with the creative team behind Image United.

Q. You're the first non-founder to be brought in as a partner in Image Comics. What is it about the history of Image that led you to your current role?

A. The basis of Image Comics as a company was and always has been creator ownership. It's a comic company by comic creators for comic creators. For really the first time in history, these popular artists took a stand and said we don't need the big corporation; we can go out and do our own thing.

READ MORE.

Origin Issue: Filip Sablik

noreply@blogger.com (Top Cow) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:42:28 PST

Recently we introduced a new regular feature in Scoop: Origin Issue. The subject is a straightforward question, but one with many different answers: Why do you collect?

The subject this time is Filip Sablik, Publisher of Top Cow Productions, who has an interesting take on why he collected before he got to his present position.

I must confess, I don't really collect comics anymore. After about a dozen moves and having to downsize my living space a few years back, I decided to give away and sell off my single issue comic collection (at the time about a dozen short boxes). I kept two boxes.

The first is a box of my own published work and the second was a full run of George Pérez comics from the late 1970s through the 1990s. Pérez was one of my largest artistic influences and the first time I felt compelled to get everything a creator had done.

It took most of my middle and high school years to assemble so I've never been able to part with it.

READ MORE.

Witchblade #131 & Albany Comicon covered by Albany's Times Union

noreply@blogger.com (Top Cow) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:34:21 PST

This is their fourth Albany Comic Con– they average two a year. And each one gets bigger than the last. Matt tells me they’ve put more time and resources than ever into this one.

One impressive new offering is their exclusive custom variant cover for WitchBlade issue #131. Only 250 copies of this version of the comic have been printed. WitchBlade is currently written by Ron Marz who’s pretty close to local and the variant cover art is by Matthew Dow Smith from Saratoga. Both Marz and Smith will be attending the Con so it shouldn’t be hard to get your copy autographed.

READ MORE.