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Top Cow Productions
Top Cow Productions is an American comics publisher, an imprint of Image Comics. It was founded by Marc Silvestri in 1992. The company is known for publishing titles such as Cyberforce, The Darkness, Sunstone, Wanted, and Witchblade. It was the original publisher of Michael Turner's Fathom and published the first Tomb Raider comics.
Marc Silvestri was one of the original seven founders of Image Comics, along with Erik Larsen, Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Jim Valentino, and Whilce Portacio. When Image Comics first launched in 1992, Silvestri was still part of the Homage Studios group which at the time he co-owned with Lee, Joe Chiodo, Portacio, and Scott Williams. Silvestri's first title for Image Comics was Cyberforce. By the time the second issue was released in March 1993 Silvestri was publishing under the Top Cow Productions name.
Silvestri says that naming his company "Top Cow" was a drunken decision. He was about to change the name to "Ballistic Studios," but changed his mind when he saw the Top Cow logo.
Silvestri began expanding his line with Cyberforce spin-off called Codename: Strykeforce in 1994, which became the third top selling comic book of the year. He left Homage Studios in 1994 to move to Los Angeles to be closer to Hollywood and to better distinguish his publishing efforts from Lee's.
Following the move, Top Cow expanded its line of titles and its pool of talent. Chris Claremont wrote Cyberforce issues 9 through 11, published between December 1994 and April 1995. Also in 1995, Top Cow published a Velocity mini-series written by Kurt Busiek, a Weapon Zero mini-series written by Walt Simonson, and Steve Gerber took over writing chores on Codename: Strykeforce starting with issue 10.
Top Cow published the first issue of Witchblade, written by David Wohl, Brian Haberlin, and Christina Z, with art by Michael Turner, in 1995. The character first appeared in the Cyblade/Shi The Battle for Independents one-shot, a crossover between a character from Cyberforce and Billy Tucci's creator owned series Shi. Witchblade was co-created by Silvestri, Wohl, Haberlin, Z, and Turner in part as a response to the success of Shi other series with strong women lead characters. The series would later spawn a live action television series in 2001 and an animated series in 2006 (See Media adaptations below).
A Witchblade spin-off series, The Darkness, followed in 1996, written by Garth Ennis with art by David Finch. The new title's sales started strong and only grew stronger, despite the comics market downturn, with its eleventh issue becoming the top selling comic book of 1997. Top Cow president Matt Hawkins later called Witchblade and The Darkness the company's flagship titles and described the period following their debut as Top Cow's "second era."
In 1996, Top Cow briefly parted ways with Image during a dispute with Image associate Rob Liefeld. Liefeld left the company shortly after Top Cow's departure, and Top Cow returned to the partnership.
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Top Cow Productions
Top Cow Productions is an American comics publisher, an imprint of Image Comics. It was founded by Marc Silvestri in 1992. The company is known for publishing titles such as Cyberforce, The Darkness, Sunstone, Wanted, and Witchblade. It was the original publisher of Michael Turner's Fathom and published the first Tomb Raider comics.
Marc Silvestri was one of the original seven founders of Image Comics, along with Erik Larsen, Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Jim Valentino, and Whilce Portacio. When Image Comics first launched in 1992, Silvestri was still part of the Homage Studios group which at the time he co-owned with Lee, Joe Chiodo, Portacio, and Scott Williams. Silvestri's first title for Image Comics was Cyberforce. By the time the second issue was released in March 1993 Silvestri was publishing under the Top Cow Productions name.
Silvestri says that naming his company "Top Cow" was a drunken decision. He was about to change the name to "Ballistic Studios," but changed his mind when he saw the Top Cow logo.
Silvestri began expanding his line with Cyberforce spin-off called Codename: Strykeforce in 1994, which became the third top selling comic book of the year. He left Homage Studios in 1994 to move to Los Angeles to be closer to Hollywood and to better distinguish his publishing efforts from Lee's.
Following the move, Top Cow expanded its line of titles and its pool of talent. Chris Claremont wrote Cyberforce issues 9 through 11, published between December 1994 and April 1995. Also in 1995, Top Cow published a Velocity mini-series written by Kurt Busiek, a Weapon Zero mini-series written by Walt Simonson, and Steve Gerber took over writing chores on Codename: Strykeforce starting with issue 10.
Top Cow published the first issue of Witchblade, written by David Wohl, Brian Haberlin, and Christina Z, with art by Michael Turner, in 1995. The character first appeared in the Cyblade/Shi The Battle for Independents one-shot, a crossover between a character from Cyberforce and Billy Tucci's creator owned series Shi. Witchblade was co-created by Silvestri, Wohl, Haberlin, Z, and Turner in part as a response to the success of Shi other series with strong women lead characters. The series would later spawn a live action television series in 2001 and an animated series in 2006 (See Media adaptations below).
A Witchblade spin-off series, The Darkness, followed in 1996, written by Garth Ennis with art by David Finch. The new title's sales started strong and only grew stronger, despite the comics market downturn, with its eleventh issue becoming the top selling comic book of 1997. Top Cow president Matt Hawkins later called Witchblade and The Darkness the company's flagship titles and described the period following their debut as Top Cow's "second era."
In 1996, Top Cow briefly parted ways with Image during a dispute with Image associate Rob Liefeld. Liefeld left the company shortly after Top Cow's departure, and Top Cow returned to the partnership.