Broken Frontier

Top Cow showed BF an Exclusive today of The Darkness/Darkchylde/Witchblade: Kingdom of Pain one-shot comic book Variant Cover for San Diego Comic-Con 2010.

Written by fan-favorite writer and artist Randy Queen and colorist Sarah Queen, the 48-page The Darkness/Darkchylde/Witchblade: Kingdom of Pain standalone finds Jackie Estacado, the bearer of the Darkness, with new nightmarish armor, and Ariel Chylde, the girl who can become creatures from her nightmares, with a new beginning. In addition to creating Darkchylde, Queen has the distinction of being the first artist to draw The Darkness after Marc Silvestri designed the character over 10 years ago. 

In the crossover, marking the first appearance of Darkchylde since 2002, Jackie intercepts a psychic plea for help and inhabits Ariel’s nightmares.  In doing so, he awakens her from a seven-year, self-imposed exile.  However, summoning his Darkness Armor in her Nightmare world, Jackie’s armor comes over corrupted and darker. With a guest appearance from Sara Pezzini, the bearer of the Witchblade, what happens when these monster makers encounter a new threat that can create anything?

Additionally, the one-shot comic will include a brand new original 8-page preview of Queen’s next epic series, Starfall. The sci-fi series was announced by Top Cow at Comic-Con International 2008 and has been hotly anticipated by Darkchylde and Top Cow fans alike.

Top Cow will once again storm into the convention and set up shop at booth #2629.  Among the goods to prepare attendees of CCI 2010 for the race to Artifacts will be exclusives, preview books, free goodies, variant comics and trade paperbacks, including free copies of Artifacts #0 as well as other comics, posters and bookmarks (while supplies last).

Attendees are invited to join Marc Silvestri (Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia), President Matt Hawkins, and Publisher Filip Sablik for an exciting and lively multimedia presentation about Top Cow’s plans for 2010 and 2011 in comics, film, television and much more. Be the first to hear announcements and updates on film projects including Witchblade, Magdalena, Alibi, Wanted, and The A-Team. Plus announcements on new comic projects with creators including Ron Marz (Artifacts), Jeff Katz (American Original, Freddy vs. Jason), Phil Hester (The Darkness) plus surprise guest directors, screenwriters, producers and more!  The panel will be featured in room 9 from 1:30-2:30pm under the title Top Cow: “We Create” Multimedia, on Saturday, July 24th. 

The schedule for signings as well as portfolio reviews at Top Cow booth #2629 will be released at a later date and will be available online at www.topcow.com as well as at the booth at the start of each day.

Joining the Top Cow team at booth #2629 will be Marc Silvestri, Ron Marz (Artifacts), Phil Hester (The Darkness), Michael Broussard (Artifacts), Kenneth Rocafort (Velocity), Jeremy Haun (Berserker), Eric Basaldua (Witchblade Annual), William Harms (Impaler), Rob Levin (Broken Trinity: Pandora’s Box), Bryan Edward Hill (Broken Trinity: Pandora’s Box), Nelson Blake II (Magdalena), Marc Bernardin (Genius), Adam Freeman (Genius), Jeff Wamester (The Darkness: Four Horsemen), David Hine (The Darkness: Four Horsemen), Jason Rubin (The Iron Saint), Joshua Ortega (Necromancer), Rick Loverd (Berserker), Sheldon Mitchell (The Darkness), Rahsan Ekedal (The Crazies, Echoes), Joshua Hale Fialkov (The Crazies, Echoes), Randy Queen (The Darkness/Darkchylde: Kingdom Pain), Sarah Queen (The Darkness/Darkchylde: Kingdom Pain), Jonathan Lincoln (Tracker), Rick Basaldua (The Darkness) and several other surprise guests.

Fans should note that because of anticipated crowding issues; artists appearing at the Top Cow booth will only be able to do a limited amount of free sketches per sitting.  Sketch tickets will be available at the beginning of each day of the show.  Sketch tickets are limited one per fan per day.  Fans must be present at the appointed signing time to redeem their sketch ticket.  Not all artists appearing at the Top Cow booth will offer free sketches and fans should inquire at the booth on the morning they plan to get a sketch for availability.

Also at the Top Cow booth #2629, the publisher will offer several items exclusive to Comic-Con International including three convention variant cover comic exclusives, two limited edition hardcovers, and an unannounced bargain-priced anthology book.

Fans who stop by the booth will be among the first to grab a copy of the debut issue to mega-event series, Artifacts by Marz and Broussard. Artifacts promises to be Top Cow’s most ambitious series to date and will weave together story lines from a number of Top Cow titles, including Witchblade, The Darkness, Angelus and Broken Trinity: Pandora’s Box.  It has been known for some time that thirteen mystical Artifacts guide the fate of the Top Cow Universe.  For centuries, it’s been whispered that bringing together all 13 Artifacts would bring upon mankind’s destruction.  The series will begin with a mysterious figure who seeks to put Armageddon into motion.  Artifacts #1 will arrive in stores on Wednesday, July 28th.

For up-to-date information on Top Cow’s plans at Comic-Con International in San Diego, please visit www.topcow.com or follow us on Twitter (@TopCow).