Nerdage: Top Cow at ComicsPRO: Ambitious Scope for Artifacts

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.

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.

Read the full article here.

Source: NewsOK's Nerdage

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Multiversity Comics Presents: Francis Manapul

This week on our interview feature Multiversity Comics Presents, we have one of our favorite artists and a rising star in the industry: Francis Manapul. Manapul is perhaps best known for his recent work on Adventure Comics with Geoff Johns, who evidently liked him so much he decided to take him over to the Barry Allen Flash title. His work on that title looks like will quickly make him one of the biggest names in the industry as his work is on par with some of the great names who have drawn that title.

Hope you enjoy this, and if you haven't yet make sure you check out Manapul's work. It really is quite incredible.

How did you get started in comics and, more specifically, at DC?

FM: I got my first work published in a book called Love in Tights which was written by J. Torres for SLG. This lead to us working on Monster Fighters Inc. for Image comics and eventually to Top Cow. I had been in contact with DC for quite a bit before I actually began working for them but I took some time off to work on a french graphic novel (Sept Guerrieres, and Iron and the Maiden. Once I was ready they welcomed me with open arms and started work in the Legion.

After moving from Top Cow to DC, was it hard drawing clothing on your characters again? I could imagine it would be quite the change for an artist.

FM: Actually I found it quite the opposite. I drew more clothing at Top Cow than I did at DC. Main reason is that even though the DC characters I've tackled have costumes on they are pretty form fitting so they might as well be naked. LOL. It's quite a misconception how books were visually portrayed at Top Cow. When I was working on Witchblade since it was a police crime drama, there were more civilian clothing than I was used too. I didn't think I'd be clamoring to draw tights as much as I did after that run. It was strange because prior to working at Top Cow as an aspiring comic book artist all of my samples portrayed heroes in tights. When I started working at Top Cow I had to learn how to portray drapery quite fast. So it was a very valuable experience in learning how to portray real world scenarios.

READ MORE.

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Best Shots reviews Art of Top Cow

Ever since the Top Cow imprint was founded in 1992, it has earned a reputation of having some of the most outstanding art in comics, sometimes to the detriment of its stories, if you listen to some critics. That audacious artistic legacy is on display in this handsome hardcover, coffee-table sized offering from Top Cow. In over 350 sumptuous pages, the finest Top Cow artists and their work are on display.

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