Newsarama: For Queen & Comics: Darkchylde's Randy & Sarah Queen

For artist Randy Queen, comics have been a passion that has consumed his life for the past 14 years. He’s one of the few creators in mainstream comics to work almost exclusively on his own creator-owned characters, and his work has garnered a significant fanbase that follows his every release.

Queen burst onto the comics scene in 1996 with his series Darkchylde. Queen had done some small formulaic work at Top Cow up to that point, but Darkchylde was his first full-length comic and proved to be so popular that it’s been his calling card ever since. The series has been published in many different iterations, including a manga version at Dark Horse a couple years, and most recently re-appeared in a crossover with Top Cow’s the Darkness in a one-shot written & illustrated by Queen. In recent months, Queen has teased a new sci-fi project entitled Starfall, with several teaser comics being realized during conventions... but the big news as of late has been the release of test footage from a live action Darkchylde movie put together by famed special effects house Weta Workshop.

Read the full interview here.
Source: Newsarama

Omnicomic: Top Cow Unveils San Diego Exclusives

What would a Comic-Con be without convention exclusives? Top Cow will have at least five of said exclusives at the show and most of them are of the wraparound variety.

First at the show will be the Artifacts #1 Wraparound San Diego Comic-Con Variant by Michael Broussard and Sunny Gho for $10. It features the writing of Ron Marz and interior art by Broussard alongside Rick Basaldua and Sal Regla on illustrations. In it, thirteen mystical Artifacts, including the Witchblade, the Darkness and others guide the fate of the Top Cow Universe. The issue starts the tale of their uniting to potentially bring Armageddon into the world.

Read about the other exclusives here.
Source: Omnicomic

Broken Frontier Exclusive: The Darkness/Darkchylde SDCC Exclusive

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.

Source: Broken Frontier

Jazma Online Forum Interviews Sarah Queen

Richard Vasseur inerviews Sara Queen, and they talk shop on the Darkness/ Darkchylde crossover, Kindom of Pain.

Read the interview here.
Source: forums.jazmaonline.com

Jazma Online Interviews Randy Queen

Richard Vasseur from Jazma Online interviews Randy Queen. They talk shop about The Darkness Darkchylde crossover, Kingdom of Pain.

Check out the interveiw here.
Source: jazmaonline.com

Hollywood Jesus Reviews Darkness/Darkchylde

I can see why Randy and Sara became such huge hits. The writing and artwork here is tremendous. They do a great job capturing the essence of the characters, even if you know nothing about them.

Two things that sticks out here: Ariel telling Jackie “This isn’t about what we want, it’s about the GOOD in us being able to prevent a BAD that is coming” and “Things get cracked and broken, it happens. But they can still be beautiful again.” I think those lines really sum up the story. No matter how dark the world is, there is always a light that shines brighter.

Read the full review here.
Source: live.hollywoodjesus.com

Broken Frontier: Inside Look at Darkchylde/Darkness #1

Ariel Chylde has made her return to comics. The star of one of the most raved about books during the mid-Nineties 'bad girl' craze, Ms. Chylde has now moved to the same barn as Jackie 'The Darkness' Estacado: the Top Cow farm. Her story resumed in Darkchylde/The Darkness #1, a book that immediately generated buzz as if 13 years hadn't passed. So, BF invited creator Randy Queen over to discuss Ariel's return from the inside out.

Contributed by Randy Queen:

One of the things I try to do when writing is find a relatability with the subject matter and the audience. Why should we care about these people? How are our emotional touchstones the same? The cresendo of this particular story for me is not the climactic battle at the end, but when Jackie frees Ariel towards the middle. One of my favorite lines is when Miss Happy (a little splinter of Ariel's mind) tells Jackie "Absense doesn't always equate to apathy". There's no hidden meaning to that line. Just because a family member or someone you love isn't around, it doesn't mean they don't want to be, it doesn't mean they aren't thinking about you or missing you, or perhaps wishing they could be there or that things had gone differently. This line can be applied to many situations in one's life. Just becasue something isn't right in front of you, doesn't mean someone somewhere isn't wishing it were so. Absence doesn't always equate to apathy.

To see more, go here.
Source: Broken Frontier

Newsarama: From a Darkchylde to a STARFALL- RANDY QUEEN's New Book

Originally announced two years ago at New York Comic Con, Randy Queen's Starfall is finally touching down on comic shelves. Starfall is the story of a space-faring pirate who has the unenviable position of being the last surviving human of her kind after a virus wiped out her kind.. She survived by having her DNA spliced with that of a white dragon, a native creature of her homeworld that was the only species that survived.

After a limited edition preview book was put out last year at San Diego Comic Con, a second preview was seen in the recently released Darkness/Darkchylde one-shot put out by Top Cow last week. The Darkness/Darkchylde cross-over one shot was both a new Darkness story crossing over with a new character, but also an informal re-introduction to Randy Queen's artwork. Best known for his character of Darkchylde, Queen burst onto the comics scene in the late 90s at Top Cow before creating the character which he's become known for. Although relatively absent from the comics scene in the past few years, he's been working on Darkchylde projects both in and out of comics, as well as his new concept Starfall.

With the Starfall series tentatively set to debut later this year, Newsarama spoke with Randy Queen

Newsarama: In our previous interview, you gave us a little taste of Starfall – but this time we want the whole enchilada. Can you tell us about the lead character, Sierra Starfall?

Randy Queen: Sierra Starfall is a completely beautiful badass, bi-sexual 100 year old Space Pirate who is acknowledged as the Galaxy's Greatest Warrior. She's taken that title. She's infused with White Dragon DNA because they were the only creatures on her homeworld impervious to a devastating, planet-wide virus. When Sierra emerged from her splicing womb, her world was completely dead -- save for the white dragons. So she's this haunted, battle scarred character with a sad legacy. Her best friend is a robot who serves double duty as a digital diary for stored memories. Starfall, the story, is very thought out and well developed.

Read the full interview here.
Source: Newsarama

Comic Vine Reviews Darkness/Darkchylde

In my opinion, Top Cow has managed to create a very unique universe using elements of horror and the concept of light and darkness as themes to connect stories and characters. All this being said, if you ever wanted to learn about The Darkness and Darkchylde and were always skeptical of where to begin reading, then you need to look no further. This book not only acts as a perfect springboard into the Top Cow Universe, but it introduces both Jackie Estacado as well Ariel Chylde to new readers while simultaneously providing an intriguing story for longtime fans of the characters to follow and enjoy. The one-shot is a complete story that is interesting enough to keep you reading. The art, of course, is provocative (it is, afterall, Top Cow).

Read the full review here.

Source: Comic Vine

CBR Exclusive Preview: Select Pages from Darkness/Darkchylde: Kingdom of Pain

STORY BY: Randy Queen
ART BY: Randy Queen, Sarah Queen
COVER BY: Randy Queen, Sarah Queen
PUBLISHER: Top Cow Productions
COVER PRICE: $4.99
RELEASE DATE: Wed, May 26th, 2010

The Return of Randy Queen’s Darkchylde!

A new armor for Jackie Estacado, the bearer of The Darkness, and a new beginning for Ariel Chylde, the girl who can become creatures from her nightmares! Jackie intercepts a physic plea for help, and frees Ariel from a self imposed, seven-year exile. But what happens when these fan favorite monster makers encounter a new threat that can create anything? Guest starring Witchblade!

Also includes a bonus 8 page never-before-seen preview of Starfall, the highly anticipated sci-fi horror title from Randy and Sarah Queen!

See more preview pages here.

Source: CBR

Broken Frontier: The Darkness/Darkchylde Crossover Coming Soon

Through the Top Cow forums I found this liitle gem concerning the upcoming The Darkness/Darkchylde crossover book, straight from the mouth of creator Randy Queen:

Going the extra mile and reviewing hard copy proofs to make sure the colors are as accurate as possible. The book IS coming, and it is GORGEOUS. It will be worth the wait. Exhausted. We gave 125% on this one. Keep the enthusiasm high.

The Darkness/Darkchylde will reach stores next Wednesday, April 21, 2010 or the week after... A mere four months delay to truly make a point in proving: some things are worth the wait!
It promises to be a legendary piece of comic art!

Click here to read the Broken Frontier interview with Randy Queen

Source: Broken Frontier

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Newsarama Exclusive Preview: Randy Queen's STARFALL

After announcing Starfall in spring 2008, and showing off the preview book that summer at Comic-Con International: San Diego, the book seemed to fall by the wayside. Now, coming off the success of the revival of Randy Queen's Darkchylde in The Darkness/Darkchylde, Top Cow and Randy Queen are bringing Starfall to life at last. We have your first preview look at the series, coming in 2010.

READ MORE.

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Randy Queen Shares Thoughts on Darkness/Darkchylde: Kindgom of Pain One Shot w/ Ain't It Cool News

Up next AICN got a very cool, exclusive, behind the scenes piece here from Top Cow and the folks behind the upcoming THE DARKNESS/DARKCHYLDE: KINGDOM OF PAIN 48-page One Shot which hits the stands late December. Let's pass the mike over to writer/artist Randy Queen who will walk you guys through the process from sketches to final cover for this project and the design for the new look for the Darkness’ armor. Take it away, Randy!

I hope you enjoy this illustration process, but almost every piece is unique onto itself. Sometimes the image comes right away, and in a rare moment of confidence I draw right on the board. Most times it's revising multiple sketches until you get something which is sized up, and printed back out to be lightboxed. There is no one right way of course, and everyone's process varies.



READ MORE.

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Queen's Darkchylde Returns

The Darkness and Witchblade have enough to keep them busy. If they're not fighting their own versions of evil and bad then their paths are crossing a la Buffy and Angel. You can cut the romantic tension with a knife! Top Cow feels that the two of them crossing paths aren't enough and are bringing back a fan favorite to spice things up a bit.

Darkchylde is making her first appearance since 2002 in The Darkness/Darkchylde/Witchblade: Kingdom of Pain one-shot. For those of you not in the know, Darkchylde is Ariel Chylde, the girl who can become creatures from her nightmares. You can imagine that this could come in handy when fighting alongside Jackie Estacado with his spiffy new armor. But where does Witchblade fit into all this?

READ MORE.

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"DARKCHYLDE" MEETS "THE DARKNESS"

Don't expect the typical boy-meets-girl scenario when Randy and Sarah Queen's "The Darkness/Darkchylde/Witchblade: Kingdom of Pain" one-shot hits comic book stores next month courtesy of Top Cow Productions. Writer-artist Randy Queen, the creator of "Darkchylde," plans to reintroduce Ariel Chylde to comic readers by way of Jackie Estacado and - to a lesser extent - Sara Pezzini, two of the most popular characters in Top Cow's stable. The results of this meeting will be a literal nightmare for Jackie, Ariel and Sara - but if Queen has his way, it'll be a dream come true for fans of his long-dormant franchise.

Queen spoke with CBR News about Ariel's return to the paneled page and his future plans for the character. He also discussed his upcoming comic book project titled "Starfall," which has a special preview in the pages of the "Darkness/Darkchylde/Witchblade" one-shot.

READ MORE.

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