Broken Frontier

Top Cow Productions takes great pride in announcing the first intra-company event since 2002's "Endgame" with First Born. The event, which will center on Top Cow's flagship characters of Witchblade and The Darkness , is slated to release during the summer of 2007. 

First Born, will consist of a "First Look" preview book scheduled for in June and will be followed immediately by a self contained three issue mini-series in July. The series will be written by regular Witchblade ongoing scribe Ron Marz (Ion)  who has been laying the ground work for the event throughout his run on Witchblade. Providing art for the series will be new Top Cow exclusive artist Stjepan Sejic, who's digitally painted work can be seen in this month's Darkness Level 1 and upcoming issues of Witchblade including #105. Readers familiar with Marz's tenure on Witchblade know that Sara Pezzini, the bearer of the Witchblade throughout the publishing history of the comic, recently discovered she was pregnant and is relinquishing the Witchblade itself. This event and the birth of Sara's baby will have widespread and powerful effects in the Top Cow Universe. In fact, the events of First Born will ripple outward and affect other Top Cow favorites such as Tomb Raider, Angeleus, Aphrodite IX, Magdalena, and even Hunter-Killer. Groundwork and lead-ins for the major event will be seen throughout Top Cow titles, especially Witchblade, in the months leading up to June.

"I think when somebody says 'crossover,' a lot of people immediately think of four dozen heroes and villains in bright costumes beating the crap out of each other for whatever reason. Or maybe for no reason," explained Marz. "That's not what we're going for in First Born. The story will work as an intro to the Top Cow Universe, but first and foremost, it's a character-driven story about something I think everybody can relate to-the birth of a baby. When I first suggested the idea of Sara Pezzini becoming pregnant, I had no idea the storyline would blossom into this, but I think we've got something special here."

"The trend in comics of late has been these giant universe-spanning crossovers with far reaching effects, and sometimes they're so big that they alienate the core audience for them.", added Managing Editor, Rob Levin, "The goal of First Born is to tell a complete story in three issues that serves as both an introduction to our world for new readers, as well as delivering an event that will resonate with long-time fans and shape future storylines".

"We've wanted to offer our fans a large, sweeping story for some time", said Filip Sablik, Vice President of Marketing & Sales, "We also wanted to make sure fans and retailers would get a high quality event without having to invest in a ton of titles. We believe we're going to deliver just that in First Born".

Additional information on First Born can be found at www.topcow.com .  The continuing adventures of Sara Pezzini, can be found monthly in Witchblade.