Friends of the Cow: Silvestri / Benitez / Montiel Judge New Comic Idol Contest

From our friends over at Riot Shell:

Silvestri / Benitez / Montiel JUDGE NEW COMIC IDOL CONTEST

COMIC IDOL ONLINE RE-INVENTS HERSELF

When first starting Riot Shell and Comic Idol Online, creators Adrian Nicita & Vince Panuccio set out to create a platform for new talent and an exciting means of seeing this new talent go farther and farther as time progresses. To this day the two still has the following to say: "I was amazed at the amount of entries we kept on receiving, be it the Page Contests or the Color Contest. I am humbled by this attention and at times completely stunned by the quality some people came up with."

Adrian & Vince also noticed that the voting by title of fans alone, was not delivering the goal they set out for them self's, namely having Adrian's character Riot Shell be presented in the best way possible. So in order to optimize the contest and its results they explained: "We wanted to be both true to ourselves as well as to the voters and the artists, so I decided to make the contest even more professional and indeed I asked a Jury Of Professionals to have the final say about the contributed artwork. We are pleased to announce our 3 judges
1. Marc Silvestri comic book legendary Artist & Top Cow Owner
2. Joe Benitez Aspen / Dc Artist
3. Martin Möntiel - Riot Shell #0 / Zenscope
The decision will be made by the Jury in November.


Adrian Nicita is very happy to have the contribution of comic-pro's to help his endeavor: "I cannot wait to see the next pieces of art for the third page of the first chapter come in and to have a Jury set in place to even professionalize Comic Idol Online more... well... that is something that just makes me feel good!!"

To get the ball rolling we have just released the page 3 script which is available at www.comicidolonline.com written by Julian Lawler ( broken tree comics / Arcana Comics/ Koniwaves Studio )

We at Comic Idol Online hope that more and more artists rise to the occasion in times to come, as it promises to be one hell of a Riot!

For more information: Broken Frontier

Newsarama: THE DARKNESS: ORIGINS VOLUME 2 Coming This Month

DARKNESS FANS CAN DIVE INTO JACKIE ESTACADO’S BEGINNING WITH THE WITCHBLADE

THE DARKNESS: ORIGINS VOLUME 2 TRADE PAPERBACK

LOS ANGELES, Calif., June 8, 2010 – Top Cow Productions, Inc. proudly announced today that the long sold-out early issues of The Darkness will be re-released as The Darkness: Origins Volume 2. Scheduled to be in stores June 30, 2010, The Darkness: Origins Volume 2 continues the rebranding presented as part of the publisher’s “Origins” trade paperback line reprinting of classic Top Cow Universe stories that includes the recently released Witchblade: Origins Volume 1 and 2, and The Darkness: Origins Volume 1 trade paperbacks.

Read the full release here.
Source: Newsarama

Top Cow is Collector's Paradise's Local Publisher of the Month for the Month of May

Top Cow Productions is Collector's Paradise's May Local Publisher of the Month! We work with a lot of publishers, and are friends with all of them, but none offer the support in both product and talent like Top Cow. Our customers have gotten to meet at our Release events people like Milo Ventimiglia, Jeremy Haun, Joe Benitez, Nelson Blake, Sal Regla, and this past weekend, Rick Loverd, Michael Broussard and the Top Cow founder himself, the tallest person in comics, Marc Silvestri. Top Cow is gearing up for a company-altering event, ARTIFACTS, which will re-focus the company’s titles and create a very convincing and entertaining mythology that will make fans want to pick up all the Top Cow titles. A 12 issue mini-series that will redefine the way you see Top Cow’s characters and create a cohesive reason for them to co-exist together as part of a shared universe. If you are an X-men fan, this is an event for you. If you like high concept fantasy and sci-fi, this is an event for you. Give ARTIFACTS a shot with the free FCBD ARTIFACTS primer, ask us for a copy, we have plenty in stock.

Source: Collector's Paradise

FCBD: COLLECTOR'S PARADISE CELEBRATES FREE COMIC BOOK DAY, SATURDAY, MAY 1

Come and celebrate with us the biggest event of the year (every year), the worldwide FREE COMIC BOOK DAY. We will be giving away a plethora of comics, many of which will be ALL AGES rated. In addition to the free comics, we’ll have Special Guests (list below) as well as Spider-Man in costume and an INCREDIBLE Balloon Artist. Our Special Guest Artists will do sketches for our favorite charity HERO Initiative.

JUST ADDED: We can finally confirm and reveal our SPECIAL GUEST OF HONOR – Image founder and one of the most influential artist in the history of the medium – Top Cow’s Marc Silvestri. Marc is going to be signing at the store between 1pm and 3pm.

This year Collector's Paradise is presenting their best line-up of comic book creators to date, including:

Marc Silvestri - Founder, Top Cow Productions, Creator and Artist - Cyberforce, Witchblade, Darkness, Hunter/Killer

Marv Wolfman - creator - Teen Titans, Blade, Bullseye, Tim Drake, Black Cat, Nightwing, Deathstroke, Anti-Monitor and many more...

Bill Morrison - co-creator Bongo Comics, artist - Simpson Comics and more

Michael Broussard - artist - Darkness, FCBD 2010 Top Cow Artifacts comic, Artifacts 1-6

Joe Benitez - artist - Teen Titans, Soulfire, creator - Weapon Zero, Magdalena, Wraithborne

Peter Steigerwald - colorist, artist - Soulfire, Fathom, and more from Aspen Comics

Ray Friesen - kids graphic novel author - Another Dirt Sandwich, Cupcakes of Doom...

Rick Loverd - writer - Milo Ventimiglia Presents Berserker

In addition to the great creator line up, the event will feature the annual "Sketches for HERO Initiative" fundraiser, where most of the artists featured will do $10 sketches for the fans, with 100% of the proceeds directly going to HERO Initiative, a wonderful charity that helps comic book creators in need. Collector's Paradise has been working with HERO for the last four years to make sure that those creators who need financial and medical help are taken care of.

Kids are a big focus of Collector's Paradise' effort on FCBD. The event will feature an excellent Spider-Man in costume, a fantastic Balloon Artist, and several thousand kid-friendly comic books given away to all fans in attendance.

The event will be held at Collector's Paradise Comics & Cards from Noon to 7:00pm, with creator signings, Spider-Man and Balloon Artist from noon to 3:00pm.

Collector's Paradise Comics & Gallery is located at 7131 Winnetka Ave, on the corner of Winnetka Ave and Sherman Way, in Canoga Park.

Source: Collector's Paradise

Philadelphia Daily News: You could get hooked on 'Demonic'

Like the other books in this year's Top Cow "Pilot Season," writer extraordinaire Robert Kirkman summed up an idea with a one-word title and and developed it from there with artist - and Top Cow founder - Marc Silvestri.

This month's word is "Demonic" and you can sum it up with another one - awesome!

"Demonic" is about a good man - simply revealed as Scott - blessed with great power; only readers soon learn it is truly a curse.

Seems the demon who gives him his powers is truly evil (demons are funny that way), so evil that he tells Scott he will set him free if he simply kills his wife and young daughter - preferably in horrible and painful ways.

Naturally, Scott keeps refusing. So he has to kill plenty of criminals to make up for the two "pure souls" he keeps denying the demon.

Read the rest of the review here.

Source: Philly.com

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Friends of the Cow: Joe Benitez for Riot Shell

Riot Shell Promo Art
Pencils by Joe Benitez

Riot Shell logo & all it’s Characters are a © Copyright of Nicita Designs

Source: Comic Idol

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Geeks of Doom Audio Reviews Pilot Season: Demonic #1

It’s time for yet another installment in the 2010 version of Top Cow’s Pilot Season. What is Pilot Season? Well I’m glad you asked. Pilot Season is the annual initiative from Top Cow started way back in the year of 2007 that gives the fans control over which one shot will get turned into a full mini-series. Imagine American Idol for comics and you basically have Pilot Season in a nutshell.

Check out Geeks of Doom's thoughts on the first issue of Demonic below in my audio review.

Listen to the review here.

Source: Geeks of Doom

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Newsarama: Co-"Pilots" Silvestri & Kirkman Talk Top Cow's Demonic

Everyone has a dark side. It’s that little voice inside your head that pushes you to act on your baser instincts rather than the broader good. This so-called “inner demon” has been the root of countless struggles over time both in the fiction and in the real world, and in the recently released one-shot Demonic -- that inner demon is has broken free.

Demonic is second in a line of titles being published by Top Cow for its current Pilot Season event series. As in years before, they’re presenting five one-shot titles that vie for a chance to “graduate” as it were to become full-fledged series. The two winners are chosen from reader’s votes – readers like you and me. In a novel twist on the third-annual Pilot Season books, Top Cow brought in prolific writer Robert Kirkman (Invincible, Walking Dead) to create and write all five issues this year – and Top Cow founder Marc Silvestri pitched in to help develop the stories and design its characters.

Read the entire article here.

Source: Newsarama

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All This Crap Reviews Pilot Season: Demonic #1

Publication Date: January 2010
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Pencils: Joe Benitez
Inks: Victor Llamas
Colors: Arif Prianto
Stats: 22 pages / 90 panels / 4.1 panels per page

Review: I had a bit of a hard time scoring this issue. On one hand, the concept is interesting. However, the context for the issue makes me wonder how it works. Let me explain.

I do like the concept that they explore here. Namely, a decent man with a wife and young daughter is being tormented by a demon. The demon really wants him to kill his family, but is willing to let things slide as long as the man feeds the demons lots of souls (preferably innocent souls). Thus, the guy goes out at night and slaughters people in an attempt to sate the demon.

Score: I'll give this one a pass. Just not sure that this concept merits a full ongoing. This guy would make a decent background character in another book. 6.8/10

Read the full review here.


Source: All This Crap

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Major Spoilers: Pilot Season: Demonic Sells Out, Back to Computer?

Top Cow let Major Spoilers know that Pilot Season: Demonic #1 has sold out at the distributor level and is heading back to press.

”It’s really exciting to see the reactions of fans, reviewers, and retailers for the new Pilot Season concepts,” commented Top Cow Publisher Filip Sablik. “We really appreciate the retailer support for another immediate sellout.”

From the creative minds of Image Comics partners Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead, Invincible) and Top Cow founder Marc Silvestri (X-Men/Dark Avengers: Utopia, The Darkness), Pilot Season: Demonic #1 is 32 paged-look into the story of Scott Graves and his inner demon. Unfortunately for Scott, his demon manifests itself in his real life. Written by Kirkman and featuring art from Top Cow alumni Joe Benitez (Soulfire, The Darkness), Scott’s demon is only satiated when Scott kills. In a conflicted Faustian bargain, Scott will continue to kill as long as the demon promises not to make him kill his wife and daughter. Stalking the night as Demonic, a vigilante known for savagely slaughtering the wicked, Scott must asks himself how long can he continue living this way and if the demon is in fact real.

Unlike other publishers who are quick to send the issue back to the printer, Top Cow plans to release the comic through partnered digital content producers in the near future.

Source: Major Spoilers

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Broken Frontier: Pilot Season: Demonic #1 Sells Out!

Official Press Release

Top Cow Productions, Inc. proudly announced today that following the path of Pilot Season: Murderer #1, the second installment of the 2009 Pilot Season, Pilot Season: Demonic #1, has also sold out at the distributor level.

”It’s really exciting to see the reactions of fans, reviewers, and retailers for the new Pilot Season concepts,” commented Top Cow Publisher Filip Sablik. “We really appreciate the retailer support for another immediate sellout.”

From the creative minds of Image Comics partners Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead, Invincible) and Top Cow founder Marc Silvestri (X-Men/Dark Avengers: Utopia, The Darkness), Pilot Season: Demonic #1 is 32 paged-look into the story of Scott Graves and his inner demon. Unfortunately for Scott, his demon manifests itself in his real life. Written by Kirkman and featuring art from Top Cow alumni Joe Benitez (Soulfire, The Darkness), Scott’s demon is only satiated when Scott kills. In a conflicted Faustian bargain, Scott will continue to kill as long as the demon promises not to make him kill his wife and daughter. Stalking the night as Demonic, a vigilante known for savagely slaughtering the wicked, Scott must asks himself how long can he continue living this way and if the demon is in fact real.

Top Cow Productions, Inc. plans to digitally release the comic through channels set up with partnered digital content producers for fans to catch up.

Up next for Pilot Season 2009 is Pilot Season: Stealth #1, set to hit stores in March. Written by Kirkman and featuring art from Top Cow studio artist Sheldon Mitchell (Trinity: Blood on the Sands, WItchblade: Annual), Pilot Season: Stealth #1 centers on the story of Todd Carey whose life is falling apart on him. While recovering from a nasty divorce, he learns that his daughter is flunking out of college and his father has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Even though he is unable to really take care of himself, Todd allows his father to move in with him. What Todd doesn’t know is that his father is the masked vigilante Stealth, and has been his entire life. Stealth has many enemies and his erratic behavior could easily get him killed – and all these troubles fall squarely in Todd’s lap.

Pilot Season has been an annual Top Cow tradition since 2007 that give fans the power to choose the next Top Cow series based on a selection of one-shot Pilot Season “pilot” issues through online voting. The inaugural Pilot Season initiative garnered more than four million votes from fans across the globe.

Pilot Season: Demonic #1’s success joins five other recent sold-out Top Cow titles, The Darkness/Pitt #1, The Darkness/Pitt #2, Tracker #1, Angelus #1 and Pilot Season: Murderer #1.


Source: Broken Frontier

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Not Approved by the Comics Authority Shares Quick Thoughts on Pilot Season: Demonic

Demonic #1
by Robert Kirkman and Joe Benitez
Top Cow

Speaking of gross out, if you are sensitive to decapitations, this is a book you should skip. Robert Kirkman is the current man of the hour in comic book land since his Walking Dead series has firmly planted him in the upper echelon of comic creators. Demonic is part of the Pilot Season where are bunch of first issues are created and I guess we vote on the ones stories we like.

This book is about Scott. A man who seems to be possessed by a demon which requires sacrifices. Constantly needling Scott for souls, he goes out and kills criminals to satiate the demon. An interesting psychological story with some deeply moral questions. (Is one persons life more valuable than another?) I'd be interested in reading more of this story.

Catch some more quick thoughts here.

Source: Not Approved by the Comics Authority

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Impulse Creation Reviews Pilot Season: Demonic #1

Impulse Creation reviews Pilot Season: Demonic #1 in this week's Pull-O-Rama:

A human with the face of a demon—not your everyday premise, but writer Robert Kirkman and artist Joe Benitez fashion such a character in their unconventional Demonic comic, a runner in this year's Pilot Season fan-decided competition. The issue begins with a scene depicting a normal husband and wife and then shatters the happy illusion with an otherworldly spawn that looks like Aliens and a hot pink Furby got into a fight. After a bit of persuasion, Scott dons a tattered cloak and a mask resembling the demon that haunts him.

Demonic's concept is unexpectedly refreshing, and Kirkman darkens an ordinary man into an anti-hero whose policy checks but whose decisions remain questionable. Some of the characters, like Scott's wife Jamie, are mundanely lacking in personality, and altogether the characters could use more depth in writing. Still, it's hard not to want to read more. Kirkman and Benitez might just have a winner on their hands, but we'll have to see what other contenders Top Cow rolls out in the coming months.

Read the full review here.

Source: Impulse Creation

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Pendragon's Post Reviews Pilot Season: Demonic #1

Pendragon's Post reviews Pilot Season: Demonic #1:

Scott is your basic family man, loving wife and daughter at home, with an abnormal problem: a demon from hell wants his family's souls. The demon demands souls to be appeased so Scott transforms himself night after night into Demonic, a killer of street hoods in order to pay the price but is this deal maker even real or just a figment of Scott's imagination? When Demonic is ambushed by the NYPD's SWAT team, he tears through them like a hot knife through butter. The next morning , when Scott returns to work from a one week absence he finds himself in the middle of something that can only make his life more chaotic.

Demonic #1 presented by Marc Silvestri and written by Robert Kirkman is an interesting addition to Top Cow's annual Pilot Season with its fluid writing and intriguing premise: In order to protect his family from himself a man must kill enough people who's souls will equal theirs. Marc Silvestri's cover is eye catching while Joe Benitez's art style is greatly suited to this title as his splash art and bloody panels compliment Kirkman's written word. I've been a fan of Robert Kirkman's writing since reading his Walking Dead series a few years back and this series again makes the people, not the genre, its focus which makes for better stories in my opinion.

Source: Pendragon's Post

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The WEEKLY CRISIS Reviews Pilot Season: Demonic #1

The Weekly Crisis' Ryan reviews Pilot Season: Demonic #1 in this week's installment of Comic Book Review Power Rankings.

• The good folks over at Top Cow were kind enough to send along a copy of this week’s Pilot Season candidate, Demonic, which focus on a cop who is haunted by a bloodthirsty demon that forces him into some serious ethical dilemmas.

• I do really like the ethical dilemmas that Scott faces and the fact that its not even clear if the demon is real or if Scott is just going insane.

• Joe Benitez’s artwork is considerably more controlled here than his more outrageous work for DC, though it is still quite stylized.

• There is a good sense of movement in the action sequences, which really kicks up the story a notch during these scenes.

Verdict: Check It. I really dig the concept of Demonic and think that, given time, Kirkman could spin a very complex and thought-provoking story that would balance well with the action and gore that the story warrants. I imagine something a long the lines of Showtime’s Dexter show, but with more supernatural influences and less John Lithgow. You can see that promise in this issue, though as a standalone story, Kirkman never gets past the surface setup, so it never really sucks the reader in. It’s a cool idea, but I’m not 100% sold at this point.

Read more of Ryan's bullet points here.

Source: The Weekly Crisis

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Geeks of Doom Review Pilot Season: Demonic #1

It’s time for yet another installment in the 2010 version of Top Cow’s Pilot Season. What is Pilot Season? Well I’m glad you asked. Pilot Season is the annual initiative from Top Cow started way back in the year of 2007 that gives the fans control over which one shot will get turned into a full mini-series. Imagine American Idol for comics and you basically have Pilot Season in a nutshell.

To listen to the full review, go here.

Source: Geeks of Doom

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The Nerdiest Kids Reviews Pilot Season: Demonic #1

The Nerdiest Kids reviews Pilot Season: Demonic #1:

Robert Kirkman writing means I’m gonna buy it, and I’m oh so glad I did! This sad story is about a guy who seems to have struck a deal with a demon to protect the lives of his wife and daughter, but in return he has to go out nightly and slaughter others to satiate the appetite of the one he struck the deal with. And the heads and limbs begin to fly! I’m looking forward to see what comes out of Pilot Season next! $2.99.

To read more reviews, go here.

Source: The Nerdiest Kids

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The Quarter Bin Reviews Pilot Season: Demonic #1

The Quarter Bin reviews Pilot Season: Demonic #1:

On its own and without the comparisons to Murderer, Demonic is an interesting concept, and I would keep reading it. I want to see where it goes, and if Scott has any chance for redemption whatsoever. He’s not going to give up his family without a fight, but it’s going to be nearly impossible for him to continue living as a killer by night and police officer by day.
Pilot Season: Demonic is on sale now for $2.99.

Read the full review here.

Source: The Quarter Bin

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Newsarama Best Shots Reviews Pilot Season: Demonic #1

Newsarama's Russ Burlingame reviews Pilot Season: Demonic #1 in Best Shots:

Pilot Season: Demonic #1 (Published by Top Cow; Review by Russ Burlingame): In spite of having a main character whose ethical code is somewhere south of Deadpool’s and who looks on the cover to be the love child of Edward Scissorhands and the dude from “Haunt” (conveniently, one of Kirkman’s 89 other monthly books), the concept of this title—that this guy will allow a demon to rule his life and will do anything for her in exchange for sparing him from having to kill his wife and daughter—is something that you kinda want to wonder why The Spectre never thought of two or three years ago. That said, it’s an interesting book that raises some interesting issues and while I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s smart, it’s certainly got a hook. The surprise on the last page is a long time coming, though, and I don’t feel particularly driven to see what happens next.

Read more comic book reviews here.

Source: Newsarama

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GeekWeek Reviews Pilot Season: Demonic #1

GeekWeek's Iann Robinson took the time to review this week's in-store, Pilot Season: Demonic #1:

When Top Cow sent me a copy of their new Robert Kirkman penned, Joe Benitez drawn comic Demonic I was apprehensive to say the least. Then I cracked the book open and the good times started to roll! Demonic is a super violent, high paced action comic that is able to weave in a solid story that hooks you by the third page.

Art wise Joe Benitez knocks this one out of the park. Demonic reads more like a movie than a comic book and all of that falls on Benitez’s art. Everything from clothing to hair to capes seems to move in the panels and when put together with other panels Demonic begins to move with a living rhythm. Benitez also seems to understand how to use shadow to achieve depth as well as paying attention to the detail of faces so the emotion displayed on them is very real.

Read the full review here.

Source: GeekWeek

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