NYCC '08: THE TOP COW PANEL

[MattBrady]

At Saturday’s Top Cow panel at New York Comic Con, Publisher Philip Sablik opted to start things off by showing the trailer for the June 27th-debuting Wanted, which was met with applause from the crowd that nearly filled the room.

With the crowd in a good mood, Sablik next introduced the panelists joining him on the stage: President and COO Matt Hawkins, Witchblade writer Ron Marz, Witchblade artist Stjepan Sejic, Freshmen< co-creator and writer Hugh Sterbakov, VP Editorial Rob Levin, Darkness writer Phil Hester, Darkness artist Michael Broussard, Genius writer Marc Bernadin, Alibi writer Jonathan Hale Fialkov, and Freshmen co-creator Seth Green who joined the panel a few minutes late, joking that he had been sitting on the stage of an Avatar panel before he realized he was in the wrong place.

Sablik then moved on to talk about this year’s Pilot Season specials and properties, noting that unlike last year’s titles, the books coming out under the banner this year will be all new (or returning) properties, rather than Top Cow properties.

The books highlighted were:

May:

Lady Pendragon: [Hawkins (w), Eru (a) ] Created in the ‘90s by Hawkins, the retelling/updating of Arthurian myth sees a mystic sword being found on the surface pf Mars. When the ancient weapon is brought back to earth, it is drawn by a woman who finds herself called to it, and that action not only reawakens the spirit of Pendragon in her, but also returns magic to the earth.

Hawkins said that Top Cow will be collecting “nearly all” of his original Lady Pendragon series, except for the final six issues, which he was unhappy with, and has essentially removed them from the larger story.

Twilight Guardian: [Troy Hickman (w), Reza (a)] – A return to a character Hickman created years previous, the one-shot will tell the tale of a young girl who is motivated to become a real superhero in her neighborhood. Unfortunately, Sablik explained, her neighborhood is a suburban one, and relatively safe, so her hunt for crime is long and…well, long.

June:

Alibi: [Fialkov (w), Jeremy Haun (a)] – Created by Matt Hawkins, the one shot introduces the best assassin in the world, whose targets always die at their scheduled time, even though he may be somewhere else. “It’s an action-thriller whodunit,” Hawkins said.

Genius: [Bernadin (w), Afua Richardson (a)] – Once a generation, Bernadin explained, a military genius along the liness of a Patton or Napoleon is born to the world. And while they usually find their way to the military and large-scale armed conflict between nations, this time, the “genius” (Destiny Ajaye) is born in South Central LA, and as she grows up, becomes disgusted with the violence of her home, and takes control of the neighborhood and secedes from Los Angeles. “It’s big honkin’ action,” Bernadin said.

July:

The Core: [Jonathan Hickman (w), Kenneth Rocafort (a)] – The story will be science fiction mixed with social commentary and politics, Sablik explained, as it finds a soldier called to the most ancient place of all, the center of the universe.

Urban Myths: [Jay Faerber (w), Jorge Molina (a)] – “Greek mythology meets pulp detective novel,” Sablik said, adding that the main character is the son of the mythical Medusa (named Jack Medusa) who has to solve cases in New Athens, a city populated by gods, goddesses, monsters, and more.

Following the presentations of the titles, Hawkins pointed out the diversity of the lineup, calling the Pilot Season titles probably the six most diverse titles that readers would see coming from one publisher this year.

Moving on to Witchblade, Marz reiterated that he and Sejic are scheduled to be the creative team on the series from the recently shipped #116 through to 2010’s #150. “There will be no fill-ins unless someone dies, and if that’s the case, I hope it’s him, not me,” Marz joked.

Moving through the slides, Sablik commented at an upcoming cover (#119) which seemed to show a hybrid of Witchblade and Aphrodite IX, to which Marz replied, “No, that’s Aphrodite IV.”

Talking up his artist (whose trip to the convention was his first trip to the United States), Marz said that Sejic is “way too young to be this good and this fast,” with Sablik joining in to point our that no other publisher is shipping a fully-painted comic each month like Top Cow is with Witchblade.

Marz added that the book is always welcoming to new readers, noting that everything readers need to get into any issue is right there within the pages.

The discussion then moved to this summer’s crossover Broken Trinity miniseries which will be previewed in Top Cow’s Free Comic Book Day issue with a 12 page story by Marz and Sejic. Sablik explained that the entirety of Broken Trinity will consist of the three issues of the miniseries and three tie-in issues that aren’t necessary to enjoy the main story, but enhance it if readers want them.

“Three issues, three tie-ins at $3.00 each,” Sablik said after pointing out that other crossovers from other publishers cost well into the multiple hundreds of dollars for all the parts of the story, “For $18.00 and three months, you get the full story.”

Teasing the story in a very small way, Marz said that, since last summer’s crossover, First Born featured a birth in the Top Cow universe, it’s a safe bet that Broken Trinity is at the other end of the life cycle for a well known Top Cow character, adding that a “major” character will be dead by the end of the story.

The three-part miniseries will be illustrated by Sejic, with layouts by Hester, which, Sablik, Hester and Marz said, makes the entire process move much faster.

Moving on the Freshmen Sterbakov and Green spoke about the Summer Vacation Special which is set between the second and forthcoming third series, and features a very large, very angry plant which is a the character’s Green Thumb ficus all grown up and all dysfunctional about its relationship with Green Thumb.

“It’s modeled after my relationship with Seth,” Sterbakov joked.

A hardcover edition of the first series is coming, Sablik announced, which launched Green into a litany of reasons why people needed to buy it and get it on their bookshelves next to their other hardcovers. It was also announced that sculptor Clay Moore is nearly done with a bust of the Puppeteer character.

Next up was a brief discussion of Darkness, with Hester saying that both he and Broussard are on the book for the long run, and he has roughly 36 issues planned out at this point. Upcoming, Hester said that he’s setting up a new villain that will be worthy of Jackie Estacado, “but given that Jackie is pretty much a villain himself, this guy is going to be pretty horrible.”

On the Darkness front, Hawkins said that currently, he cannot announce that another Darkness videogame is in development – while nodding and then mouthing the word, “yes.”

Two new, upcoming projects were announced at the panel, the first being Dragon Prince by Marz and Lee Moder. Originally, Marz explained he was working on the project with Jeff Johnson and it was set up at Dark Horse, but it stalled with Johnson took a job with Warner Bros. Animation. A couple of years later, now with Moder attached, Dark Horse said they were no longer interested in the project, which allowed it to move to Top Cow.

Marz described the project as modern day fantasy with ancient Chinese mysticism blended in, “With a dragon.”

Also announced was Starfall, a new miniseries written and drawn by Randy (Darkchylde) Queen. Hawkins pointed out that Queen started at Top Cow in the ‘90s, so for him, this was something of a homecoming. The project has been in development for a couple of years to date, and given his occasional problems with lateness, Hawkins said that he took the project for Top Cow with the condition that it would only be solicited when it was completely written and drawn, so it would ship monthly.

The project is still probably a year away, Hawkins said.

Look for an interview with Queen about Starfall early this coming week at Newsarama.

Ending the presentation portion of the panel, Hawkins quickly added that fans will be seeing more Witchblade anime.

The floor was then opened to a brief question and answer period. Highlights included:

Top Cow has several properties in various stages of the movie process, but Hawkins said he puts no real belief in any of them until production is imminent and all the ts are crossed and is are dotted. To illustrate his point, Hawkins said that he’s seen nearly 50 film options for Top Cow’s various properties cross his desk in his years at the company. Not ending on a downbeat note, Hawkins did add that there is some “real” stuff going on which should lead to announcements soon.

Along with the said but left unsaid sequel to the Darkness videogame, Witchblade will most likely be the next Top Cow property to make the leap to videogames, Hawkins said, adding that there is strong interest in Hunter-Killer as well, and Magdalena and Aphrodite IX’s respective tires are being kicked by developers.

With the mention, a fan asked if there will be more Hunter-Killer forthcoming, to which Hawkins and Sablik said yes, and that it will most likely be a part of the company’s 2009 publishing plans.

Similarly, a Magdalena project is still in the works with Marz writing, and former Witchblade artist Keu Cha illustrating. Marz said that the one-shot will be fully painted, and, after some starts and stops, Cha is working on it, but it will take a while to complete. “We want to do it right, rather than rush it out,” Marz said.

As the panel ended, Hawkins made one final announcement – Top Cow has cleared up the legal issues surrounding Inferno and will finish the project in 2009.

Return to the NY Comic Con mini-site

[Stazz]

A mention of Madame Mirage would have been nice...

[TheWay]

Originally Posted by Stazz

A mention of Madame Mirage would have been nice...

What? Why would they mention the best title they've produced in years?

I will say that I am interested in most of these new titles and checking in on the old ones.

[holeycrullers]

Just a quick correction: Twilight Guardian is a middle-aged woman, not a young girl (although, chances are, she probably was ONCE).

I hope everyone will check it out!

[AuburnTiger]

I was hoping I'd get some mention of when Madam Mirage #6 would finally be out. Nothing like withholding the last chapter to a story .

[filipsablik]

Madame Mirage #6 should be out in May. I agree it rocks & one of our best titles in recent years!

Sorry about the misrepresentation Troy!

Take care,

[Chitty]

Originally Posted by filipsablik

Madame Mirage #6 should be out in May. I agree it rocks & one of our best titles in recent years!

Sorry about the misrepresentation Troy!

Take care,

I give you, and the others at Top Cow that drop by, mad props for doing so. It shows that you give a sh!t.

[JD21]

Well, I for one, really couldn't care less about Madame Mirage (I tried reading the 1st 4 issues but found them thoroughly disappointing, a real lack of quality character development). I am however very much looking forward to some of the new projects coming out soon =) Lady PenDragon especially so (I totally loved those books when last they were being made). Also Twilight Guardian and Genius both sound like very promising new books (which I will definitely buy). Urban Myth sound like a possibility too, I'm a little skeptical on the premise, but Jay Faerber's writing has a very good track record. Alibi I'm not too hopeful for, the idea seems a bit of a dead end to me. Of course, Hunter-Killer is on my list to read for sure. Starfall looks interesting too, Randy Queen did a great job with Darkchylde, so this new series will probably be good too. *sigh* but for Broken Trinity I'm sadly not holding out much hope. Ron Marz, as a writer, seems to have a time limit on his stories for some reason. They start off really good, but after a while they just drop off and lose some type of quality to them... I saw it happen with Scion, The Path, Green Lantern, etc... I was just glad he left Mystic at a good point when the story was still at it's peek. After reading the issues of Witchblade sense Fist Born ended, it seems like the well's run dry on this project too... I'd be very happy if he ended up proving me wrong though ^_^;

[GrendelOne]

Urban Myths looks interesting.