Artist Jeremy Haun to draw Artifacts, The Darkness
Artist Jeremy Haun is about to take a walk on the dark side.
The Joplin, Mo.-based artist recently signed an exclusive contract with Top Cow, to take over as the artist of “The Darkness.”
Yancy Butler: Nerdage’s #11 actress
Yancy Butler on the DVD cover to "Witchblade."
Yancy Butler is best-known to comics fans as Sara Pezzini/Witchblade in the TNT TV series by the same name. This year, she returned to films based on comics with a role in the movie “Kick-Ass” as Angie D’Amico. She comes in at #11 on Nerdage’s list of actresses with geek appeal. In 2009, she appeared on Syfy’s “Wolvesbayne” horror film, and she’s set to appear in “Lake Placid 3,” also for Syfy.
At the Dallas Comic-Con in Richardson, Texas in 2009, she compared working in television to working in film:
“You have a lot more time to prepare everything for a film. The role, the script, the costumes,” she said. “In television, I liken it to the ‘I Love Lucy’ episode with the chocolate conveyor belt, and they’re shoving chocolate in their mouth as quickly as they can … that’s television. It can’t go fast enough, it’s just this beast that goes so quickly because if you don’t have something you can put on the air, you’re looking at dead air space.”
- Matt Price
Milo Ventimiglia: Nerdage’s #18 actor
Milo Ventimiglia (AP)
“Heroes” star Milo Ventimiglia comes in at #18 on Nerdage’s list of actors with geek appeal. Not only does Ventimiglia star as a superhero on the nerd-friendly “Heroes,” he’s also produced his own comic book – “Berserker,” from Top Cow. Ventimiglia starred in a viral video promoting the comic.
“Berserker” started as a screenplay from Rick Loverd, a staff writer on “Friday Night Lights.” Ventimiglia, who portrays the superpowered Peter Petrelli on “Heroes,” and his producing partner Russ Cundiff both loved the script. But they thought the violence could make it a hard sell.
“They found this screenplay. They read it. They loved it; and they said, no one in their right mind is going to make this as a TV show or a movie – we should totally buy this,” Top Cow publisher Filip Sablik said. “Both Russ and Milo are comics fans, so they said this would be perfect for comics fans.”
Ventimiglia also promoted Free Comic Book Day this year with a viral video at freecomicbookday.com encouraging fans to visit local comic book stores on May 1.
- Matt Price
Top Cow’s Artifacts involves Witchblade, Darkness, more in yearlong event
From Friday’s The Oklahoman:
WORD BALLOONS
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A yearlong event involving all the supernatural characters of the Top Cow universe is the company’s big comic-book event for 2010, Top Cow Publisher Filip Sablik said at the ComicsPRO annual members’ meeting in Memphis.
The series will kick off with an issue on Free Comic Book Day, set for May 1.
“Our goal here is to make this a completely accessible series,” Sablik said.
“Artifacts” will bring together the 13 mystical artifacts that guide the fate of mankind in the Top Cow Universe.
And when those are brought together, “something really, really bad happens,” Sablik said.
The 13-issue series written by Ron Marz “is by far the most ambitious thing I’ve ever attempted on the publishing end,” Sablik said.
It will reveal how various pieces of the Top Cow universe fit together and should be appealing to Top Cow’s long-term fans, Sablik said. But the company also is making it new-reader friendly, with the Free Comic Book Day book aimed at introducing the characters of the Top Cow universe. The No. 1 issue of the series will follow in July.
The series will be broken into four-issue arcs, with the first arc drawn by Michael Broussard. There will be a second and third arc of four issues with separate artistic teams, and the final 13th issue will be “something special,” Sablik said.
The book will feature variant cover incentives, as well as an incentive across the series for a set of exclusive playing cards.
Sablik said he hopes even if readers don’t know about the mythology of the characters, they will buy into the human story behind “Artifacts.” Two of Top Cow’s main characters, the Witchblade and the Darkness, have a daughter named Hope.
“In Issue 1, the main villain, this mysterious villain, is going to kill somebody and kidnap Hope,” Sablik said. “For new readers, we hope the emotional story of two people, a father and a mother, trying to find their only child is going to suck them in and hopefully propel them through the rest of the series.”
- Matthew Price
Top Cow’s Filip Sablik talks Artifacts at ComicsPRO [video]
Filip Sablik, publisher of Top Cow, talks about positive retail interaction and the upcoming 
“Artifacts” series at the ComicsPRO annual members meeting in Memphis.
Top 5 Marc Silvestri comic-book runs
Happy birthday to Top Cow’s Marc Silvestri! Silvestri has proven his management skills with his quality team at Top Cow. But before that, he was a celebrated penciler for Marvel and DC. As one of the Image Comics founders, he created Cyberforce and co-created Witchblade and the Darkness. To celebrate, Silvestri’s birthday. I’m counting down my favorite 5 of his comic-book runs.
1. Wolverine 31-50, 52-53, 55-57
My favorite of his work is his 1990s run on “Wolverine” with Larry Hama. Silvestri, as shown here, can get a lot of characters on a cover and still clearly delineate what’s happening. His Wolverine was bestial yet honorable, and I enjoyed the storytelling throughout.
2. The Darkness 0-7
With Garth Ennis (“Preacher”), Silvestri creates Top Cow’s most-famous anti-hero, and, with Witchblade, the core of their supernatural comics. Silvestri was a great artist to create mob hitman Jackie Estacado’s dark world.
3. New X-Men 151-154
“Here Comes Tomorrow,” drawn by Silvestri, wrapped up Grant Morrison’s fantastic run on the X-Men.
4. Hunter-Killer 0-6
Developed with Mark Waid, this superpowered espionage title was a page-turner.
5. Uncanny X-Men #218, 220-222, 224-227, 229, 230, 232-234, 236, 238-244, 246, 247, 249-251, 253-255, 259-261
All with Chris Claremont, this longest of Silvestri’s runs may get overlooked somewhat for preceding Jim Lee.
- Matt Price
Top Cow at ComicsPRO: Ambitious scope for Artifacts
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Artifacts, kicking off on Free Comic Book Day, will bring together the 13 mystical artifacts that guide the fate of mankind in the Top Cow Universe.
Magdelena cover by Ryan Sook
And when those are brought together, “something really, really bad happens,” said Top Cow’s publisher Filip Sablik.
The 13-issue series written by Ron Marz “is by far the most ambitious thing I’ve ever attempted on the publishing end,” Sablik said.
It will reveal how various pieces of the Top Cow universe fit together, and should be appealing to Top Cow’s long-term fans, Sablik said. But the company also is making it new-reader friendly, with a Free Comic Book Day book aimed at introducing the characters of the Top Cow universe.
The 13 issue series will be broken into 4-issue arcs, with the first arc drawn by Michael Broussard. There will be a second and third arc of four issues with separate artistic teams, and the final 13th issue will be “something special,” said Sablik.
The book will feature a variety of variant cover incentives, as well as an incentive across the series for a set of exclusive playing cards.
Art from spring's "Velocity" series.
In April, Top Cow will release a Magdelena series, also written by Marz. Sablik said “for Ron, this is the series he came to Top Cow to do.” Ryan Sook is the cover artist; the interior artist is Nelson Blake II (“Pilot Season: Murderer”).
There is a Magdelena film in development, and Sablik said the series would feature a “Da Vinci Code” vibe.
In May, a four-issue miniseries starring the 2007 Pilot Season Winner Velocity will begin. That series is by Marz and Kenneth Rocafort.
In “Velocity,” Cyberforce has been infected with a technovirus, as has the team’s super-speedster, Velocity. With the clock ticking, it’s up to her to save her team — but she only has an hour.
After the first issue, for the remainder of the series, “every page is a minute — it’s a race against time with
Velocity cover by Kenneth Rocafort
every page.”
Sablik also reminded retailers of the “Iron Saint” trade paperback coming out from Top Cow in May, which was drawn by Francis Manapul, now the artist of DC’s “Flash” series.
Sablik, who spearheaded the “Let Us Win You Over” campaign from Top Cow last year, this year is challenging retailers to read a selected assortment of Top Cow books in order to provide personal feedback to Sablik, and to become more aware of the publisher’s current output. ComicsPRO will have additional information about this program for member retailers. Top Cow also plans a revamp of its Web site in April, to more closely coordinate with its e-mail newsletter, and to provide a hub of information for fans and retailers.
- Matt Price
NewsOK Comics Podcast: X-Men Forever 2, Dark Avengers X-Men Utopia, Wolverine Weapon X 3, Berserker 1, Detective Comics 854
Kyle Roberts and Matt Price review some of this week’s comics, including X-Men Forever 2, Wolverine Weapon X 3, Berserker 1, Dark Avengers/X-Men Utopia and Detective Comics 854. Note: I talked about Silvestri drawing a “whole comic” in Utopia, when in fact he had assistance from several other Top Cow folks.
Shipping highlights, 6-24-2009
The first full issue of Milo Ventimiglia’s Berserker from Top Cow hits stores today, and if you’re a fan of Wanted or some of Top Cow’s other more mature, violent books, this one is probably worth a look.
In other probably violent news, Predator comes back to comics in a new first issue from Dark Horse.
Meanwhile, Marvel has all kinds of high-octane releases, including “Utopia” No. 1 and the first “dark” Wolverine, in issue 75.
DC launches Gotham City Sirens, written by Paul Dini. Fans of Tulsa-born writer Sterling Gates can get your weekly Gates quota in “Green Lantern: Tales of the Sinestro Corps” trade paperback, which contains his work from the Sinestro Corps Superman Prime Special and the Green Lantern/Sinestro Corps Secret Files.
“Tales of Sinestro Corps” collects Green Lantern Sinestro Corps Special #1, Tales of the Sinestro Corps: 
Ion #1, Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Parallax #1, Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Cyborg Superman #1, Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Superman-Prime #1, Green Lantern/Sinestro Corps Secret Files #1 and backup stories from Green Lantern #18-20.
Other than “Tales,” not as many trades that I’m as excited about this week, though I imagine the “All-Star Batman and Robin” trade will sell well. The deluxe editions of the Grant Morrison JLA are also quality comics if you don’t already own that material, or if you want it in a higher-end package.
Given my Superman fandom, I’ll at least take a look at the “Tales from the Phantom Zone” collection.
What looks good to you?
- Matt Price
NewsOK Comics vodcast: Unthinkable 1, Wolverine 73, Unwritten 1 and Fusion 1
It’s an UNlikely week for comics, as three comics starting with the prefix “UN” are released. Kyle Roberts and Matt Price discuss two of them: Unwritten #1 and Unthinkable #1. Also discussed in this week’s NewsOK Comics Podcast are “Fusion” No. 1 featuring a Marvel-Top Cow crossover, and Wolverine 73.
