Witchblade & Darkness Universe

[armlessphelan]

Still waiting for the new witchblade and darkness series

I know Top Cow is making money from it's romantic stuff now, but damn do I miss the TCU.

[K7P5V]

Still waiting for the new witchblade and darkness series

The wait has been agonizing, but hope springs eternal (XD)

[Uncanny X-Man]

I know Top Cow is making money from it's romantic stuff now, but damn do I miss the TCU.

Does Top Cow even exist anymore? I don't think they put nearly enough comics out to cover overhead for multiple people and I'm not sure what sources of revenue they have, unless they've been signing secret deals with Hollywood.

[armlessphelan]

Does Top Cow even exist anymore? I don't think they put nearly enough comics out to cover overhead for multiple people and I'm not sure what sources of revenue they have, unless they've been signing secret deals with Hollywood.

They tend to publish OGNs and the occasional monthly series. Mostly stuff written by Matt Hawkins or from the Seijics. And they do Kickstarters to publish collections of back issues.

[Jackalope89]

They tend to publish OGNs and the occasional monthly series. Mostly stuff written by Matt Hawkins or from the Seijics. And they do Kickstarters to publish collections of back issues.

So, barely functioning as an independent comics company, and still not doing the series that made bank for them. For some reason. Is it rights to the original creators or something?

[Uncanny X-Man]

So, barely functioning as an independent comics company, and still not doing the series that made bank for them. For some reason. Is it rights to the original creators or something?

I don't think there's any issues with the rights to the main properties, they've probably seen the audience is not there when they tried to relaunch Witchblade, Cyberforce, etc in the past. Although I'd argue they haven't really tapped into the nostalgia for the classic versions of these characters, nor have they committed to hiring high-profile creative teams to work on them. If Marc Silvestri were to provide the art for the first 6 issue of a relaunched Cyberforce or Darkness book instead of doing Batman, that might spark some interest.

Mind you, I think the most recent attempts at Cyberforce are infinitely superior to the original one, but I don't really think the book has any chance at succeeding unless it taps into a 90s nostalgia vibe.

[ausxwing]

Whatever happen to the Witchblade complete editions ....
was supposed to be 8 volumes but it has stopped at vol 2 ??

[armlessphelan]

Whatever happen to the Witchblade complete editions ....
was supposed to be 8 volumes but it has stopped at vol 2 ??

I'm guessing they're staggering them out alongside other projects.

[juan678]

https://www.cbr.com/marc-silvestri-c...-the-darkness/

[Uncanny X-Man]

https://www.cbr.com/marc-silvestri-c...-the-darkness/

Ehhh I don't know... a new Darkness book has been "coming next year" for several years now. The Hawkins/Grindberg book never materialised. The new Witchblade book by Bennett and Kristantina was never released. Talks of Witchblade and Darkness movies from many years back never amounted to anything. I have a soft spot for many Top Cow characters and for Marc Silvestri as a creator but it's hard to get excited after so much time of absolute nothing.

[Muadib]

The problem i always felt hampered the Image founders original titles was the lack of depth to their villains benches.

They had great protagonists, but few enough antagonists and those tended to be killed after a while. What would Batman or Spider-Man be without their large and diverse rogue's galleries?

I remember Mark Gruenwald saying that every super hero should have between 10 and 12 villains that you could write for, and many more b and c list villains. You also should create villains as much as practically possible, to keep the a list villains from being overexposed and because you never know which new villains are gonna take off. Great Nemeses are created by accident, rather than design.

The TCU had a particularly bad time for this, most of the major protagonists have 2, maybe 3 major villains, and nowhere near enough b and c listers waiting in the wings.

Its understandable though, in this day and age, for hire creators are reluctant to create new character for hire, since even Image has had missteps with creators rights and royalties. See how much money any of the Marvel creators are getting from royalties for characters that are now household names.

Also the power levels and powers of the Darkness and the Witchblade are very vaguely defined. We know what the limits are of a Green Lantern ring. What can Jackie or Sara do when they really cut loose, and if they are really powerful why arent they using that powerlevel consistently.

Thats just my take from being a casual fan of the TCU. I concede the power levels and stuff may have been answered elsewhere and i missed it, but i would love to hear anyone rattle off Jackies 12 most interesting a-list villains who are not the Angelus, the Darkness and the Witchblade. Or Sara's who arent Kenneth Irons, Nottingham and ... Shi No Tora?

Please dont take my comments as a diss. I see miles and miles of untapped potential in all of these characters , and would love to see then do well and see them on the big screen. But the lack of a concerted effort to world build and franchise build is hampering these characters potential future success.

[juan678]

https://twitter.com/stjepansejic/sta...32353234481152

https://twitter.com/stjepansejic/sta...88376652943361

[juan678]

https://twitter.com/stjepansejic/sta...41851661778944



https://twitter.com/stjepansejic/sta...89429533986817

https://twitter.com/stjepansejic/sta...70927644413952

[Toxin45]

The problem i always felt hampered the Image founders original titles was the lack of depth to their villains benches.

They had great protagonists, but few enough antagonists and those tended to be killed after a while. What would Batman or Spider-Man be without their large and diverse rogue's galleries?

I remember Mark Gruenwald saying that every super hero should have between 10 and 12 villains that you could write for, and many more b and c list villains. You also should create villains as much as practically possible, to keep the a list villains from being overexposed and because you never know which new villains are gonna take off. Great Nemeses are created by accident, rather than design.

The TCU had a particularly bad time for this, most of the major protagonists have 2, maybe 3 major villains, and nowhere near enough b and c listers waiting in the wings.

Its understandable though, in this day and age, for hire creators are reluctant to create new character for hire, since even Image has had missteps with creators rights and royalties. See how much money any of the Marvel creators are getting from royalties for characters that are now household names.

Also the power levels and powers of the Darkness and the Witchblade are very vaguely defined. We know what the limits are of a Green Lantern ring. What can Jackie or Sara do when they really cut loose, and if they are really powerful why arent they using that powerlevel consistently.

Thats just my take from being a casual fan of the TCU. I concede the power levels and stuff may have been answered elsewhere and i missed it, but i would love to hear anyone rattle off Jackies 12 most interesting a-list villains who are not the Angelus, the Darkness and the Witchblade. Or Sara's who arent Kenneth Irons, Nottingham and ... Shi No Tora?

Please dont take my comments as a diss. I see miles and miles of untapped potential in all of these characters , and would love to see then do well and see them on the big screen. But the lack of a concerted effort to world build and franchise build is hampering these characters potential future success.

I mean spawn has been improving on the villains in recent times like sinn,forsaken,brimestone,sansker,godsend,etc

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

The problem i always felt hampered the Image founders original titles was the lack of depth to their villains benches.

They had great protagonists, but few enough antagonists and those tended to be killed after a while. What would Batman or Spider-Man be without their large and diverse rogue's galleries?

I remember Mark Gruenwald saying that every super hero should have between 10 and 12 villains that you could write for, and many more b and c list villains. You also should create villains as much as practically possible, to keep the a list villains from being overexposed and because you never know which new villains are gonna take off. Great Nemeses are created by accident, rather than design.

The TCU had a particularly bad time for this, most of the major protagonists have 2, maybe 3 major villains, and nowhere near enough b and c listers waiting in the wings.

Its understandable though, in this day and age, for hire creators are reluctant to create new character for hire, since even Image has had missteps with creators rights and royalties. See how much money any of the Marvel creators are getting from royalties for characters that are now household names.

Also the power levels and powers of the Darkness and the Witchblade are very vaguely defined. We know what the limits are of a Green Lantern ring. What can Jackie or Sara do when they really cut loose, and if they are really powerful why arent they using that powerlevel consistently.

Thats just my take from being a casual fan of the TCU. I concede the power levels and stuff may have been answered elsewhere and i missed it, but i would love to hear anyone rattle off Jackies 12 most interesting a-list villains who are not the Angelus, the Darkness and the Witchblade. Or Sara's who arent Kenneth Irons, Nottingham and ... Shi No Tora?

Please dont take my comments as a diss. I see miles and miles of untapped potential in all of these characters , and would love to see then do well and see them on the big screen. But the lack of a concerted effort to world build and franchise build is hampering these characters potential future success.

Part of the problem is the Top Cow crew are all Punisher types who tend to kill their enemies. So having a huge rogues gallery feels anthetical to them. New characters would have better luck building one.