WWLA 08: THE TOP COW PANEL – NEWSARAMA
Filed under: Comic Book News, Coming Soon, Convention News
WWLA 08: THE TOP COW PANEL
by Vaneta Rogers
The Top Cow panel on Saturday had announcements about more Pilot Season, more Broken Trinity event news, and more Freshmen by Seth Green and Hugh Sterbakov.On the panel were:
- Filip Sablik, Publisher
- Marc Silvestri, CEO
- Matt Hawkins, President
- Rob Levin, Vice President of Editorial
- Seth Green, Freshmen creator
- Hugh Sterbakov, Freshmen writer
- Paul Dini, Madame Mirage writer
- Kenneth Rocafort, artist on Madame Mirage
- Josha Hale Fialkov, Cyblade writerSablik announced that the success of Pilot Season 2007 would bring more Pilot Season for summer 2008. Fialkov’s Cyblade was the winner of last year’s Pilot Season along with the comic Velocity, written by Joe Casey.
A total of six comics will be published for the 2008 contest and readers can vote online for which comic they want to be continued in a series. Already announced for 2008 are Lady Pendragon by writer Matt Hawkins and artist Eru, and Twilight Guardian by writer Troy Hickman and artist Reza.
Hickman, Sablik explained, was the writer on Common Grounds, which Green then talked about in detail, having read and enjoyed the series. Twilight Guardian will be about a normal person who has decided she’s going to patrol her neighborhood, "if you can imagine that," Hawkins said.
"Imagine?" Green said. "I did it until I was 17."
At the panel, Top Cow also revealed the other four series that will be part of Pilot Season 2008:
- Genius, coming out in June, written by Marc Bernardin and Adam Freeman, writers of the comic Highwaymen, along with female artist Afua Richardson. "Alfua has a really unique style I think is going to really blow people away," Levin said.- Alibi, also coming out in June, with writer Joshua Hale Fialkov and artist Jeremy Haun.
- The Core, released in July, with Jonathan Hickman writing and Kenneth Rocafort on art.
- Urban Myths, another July release, with Jay Faerber as writer and Jorge Molina on art.
At that point, Sablik announced that Rocafort has been signed to a Top Cow exclusive for three years. Hawkins said they’re excited about the work that Rocafort has been doing on Madame Mirage and his upcoming work. "Who knows? Maybe there will be more Madame Mirage down the line," he said, to which Dini nodded.
"He in my mind is one of the best character designers in comics right now," Silvestri added.
During the panel, the latest theatrical trailer of Wanted was shown, to the applause of the audience. Hawkins pointed out that the film is Top Cow’s first theatrical film release. Silvestri said he thinks Freshmen will be the second."What a sweet thing to say," Green said.
Hawkins hinted that another hot property for the company is Madam Mirage. "I’ve actually gotten more emails from film producers and TV producers about Madam Mirage than anything else," he said of recent contacts that have been made with Top Cow.
Dini took the opportunity to talk about the series, then apologized that it has been running late. "I got kind of behind the eightball with this and another commitment, so I’m sorry for the delays," he said.Dini said the series has a "big conclusion" in issue #6. "We’ll find some other stories to put her in after that," he said, hinting at future Madame Mirage appearances.
At this point in the panel, Green and Dini began to reminisce about their work together on Batman Begins, where Seth did voices and Dini was a writer.
"Whatever happened to Shane’s Halloween parties," Dini said, then explaining that Shane Black, a film writer of movies like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, used to throw huge parties with "thousands of people in the most random Halloween costumes."
"Hugh and I went one year as Scooby and Scrappy Doo," Green said.
Was he Scooby? "I was not Scooby, no," Green added, referring to how much taller Sterbakov is than him.
Green told a story about how the funniest thing that ever happened to him at a Shane Black party was that there was a Spider-Man who jumped out at him and started acting the part, attacking him. "I was like, ‘Stop touching my leg!’ So then he pulls off his mask and it was Luke Perry," Green said. "Then I was like – hey get back on my leg, Luke Perry. See if you can ride this for 8 seconds."
Next was an announcement about Broken Trinity, the big summer event for Top Cow in 2008 by writer Ron Marz with an artist to be announced. Top Cow revealed that there will be three issues that will tie in with the Broken Trinity story, which is a three-issue mini-series. The three tie-in issues will focus upon Witchblade, Darkness and Angelus. The tie-ins will not be part of the regular series for those characters, but will tie-in with Broken Trinity.
Hawkins said the Darkness video game went platinum worldwide. It’s launching in Japan next week.
Hawkins also talked about the new Darkness ongoing by Phil Hester and Michael Broussard, then shared art with the audience for issue #7 of that series, which will be drawn by Jorge Lucas for one issue.
An audience member asked about internships for artists and writers. "Writers no, artists yes," Hawkins said, then encouraged artists to come by the booth and bring a portfolio.
"Drop off your package; we’ll assess it," Green joked.
Hawkins said, "Most of the people we’ve hired come from conventions."
Silvestri pointed out that Top Cow is celebrating its 16th anniversary, and has developed a lot of new artists during that time. "I have a fetish for talent," Silvestri said.
"We have a lot of restraining orders," Green added.
Hawkins added that the company doesn’t really use unknown writers, but is actively pursuing finding new artists.
Someone in the audience asked about the Freshmen series: Is there any chance we might see a Robot Chicken cameo or action figures of the character? "Yes and yes, but not now," Green said. "It’s hard to judge the timetable right now, but we are working on a lot of things that will unfold over the next couple years for Freshmen."
Hawkins pointed out that sculptor Clayburn Moore is doing a bust of the Puppeteer, a character from Freshmen.
Fialkov was asked how he’s following up Pilot Season in the new Cyblade series? "I’m excited to explore her character," he said, saying he’s going to look at the Cyberforce origin through the eyes of Cyblade. "It’s not going to be quite as action-packed as the Pilot Season issue."A fan asked; Will there be more Hunter-Killer? Hawkins said there is a video game demo being done right now. Silvestri said: "There’s a very good chance to see more. We want to bring it back asap. I just don’t know what the schedule would be yet."
Will there be a sequel to the Darkness video game? Hawkins: "They haven’t announced a sequel yet. Unofficially, I recall reading an outline for the sequel."Hawkins added that Top Cow is working with people in Japan on doing animation for that as well. "It’s all to be determined, but much more stuff coming out from us in Japan," he said.
Green was asked: Will he be doing Mass Effect 2? "Are they making a Mass Effect 2?" Green laughed.
Will there be more Magdalena? "We do have plans for Magdalena, but it’s too early to announce it," Levin said, to which Hawkins added that they have been working on a 4-issue series by Ron Marz, but they’re "still trying to figure it out."
A fan asked: Where do you get your ideas? "It’s online. Same place you can get term papers," Green joked.
Are there any character crossovers planned for Top Cow? Hawkins said there will be a Witchblade-Devi crossover featuring the character from Virgin Comics, then a Devi-Witchblade comic out from Virgin Comics. "There are also three other Marvel crossovers we’re doing in the next year," Hawkins added, then encouraged fans to contact Top Cow and tell them which match-ups they’d like to see.
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