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During initial stages of Image Comics, Marc Silvestri shared a studio with Jim Lee, where he created his first creator-owned comic, Cyberforce,
as part of Image's initial line-up. After setting up his own studio,
Top Cow Productions, he expanded into other comics, launching Codename: Strykeforce, a new Cyberforce series and various spin-offs.
The company attracted several professionals known across the industry, including artist Brandon Peterson, writer Garth Ennis and former Marvel staffer David Wohl. It also helped launch the careers of various writers and artists, such as Christina Z., Joe Benitez, Michael Turner and David Finch. Benitez, Turner and Finch have since worked for DC and Marvel Comics.
In 1996, Top Cow briefly departed from Image during a power struggle with Image associate Rob Liefeld
until Liefeld left the company shortly after. At the same time, Top Cow
was abandoning superheroes and moving into a darker subsegment, the fantasy genre. New properties were Witchblade (where Turner had his first big success) and The Darkness (where Marc Silvestri returned to artist duties). Thanks to the success of Witchblade Top Cow was able to expand, adding to its line with titles that included The Darkness, Magdalena, Aphrodite IX,
and others. Silvestri was heavily involved in training and developing
new talent through the studio and Top Cow was known for a time for its
"house style".
In addition to company owned properties Top Cow has from time to
time worked with creators to develop creator generated properties.
These properties have included Turner's Fathom which eventually ended up at Aspen Comics; Joe's Comics, created exclusively for J. Michael Straczynski, which included Rising Stars and Midnight Nation; The Agency; Obergeist
Top Cow is also known for bringing Tomb Raider's Lara Croft to comics, with various graphic novels written and drawn by some of the industry's best known creators, including Dan Jurgens and Paul Jenkins and artist Andy Park. The cartoon Battle of the Planets is another, licensed property where Top Cow has invested, thanks to the collaboration of cover artist Alex Ross.
In 2006,
Top Cow made a business agreement with Marvel Comics to use several of
their licensed properties in their own series, with characters
including Wolverine and the Punisher, appearing in crossovers
(Darkness/Wolverine and Witchblade/Punisher). Also, as part of this
agreement, several Top Cow artists are to provide art chores on various
Marvel series, for example Tyler Kirkham completing Phoenix: Warsong and New Avengers/Transformers and Mike Choi completing X-23: Target X. At the 2007 San Diego Comic Con an announcement was made by Marvel Comics extending the deal into 2008.
At the 2007 New York Comic Con
it was announced that Top Cow will be one of the first major comics
publishers to offer online distribution, through a partnership with IGN.com. The initial titles offered will be Tomb Raider #1-50, The Darkness #1-50 and Witchblade #1-50, at around $1 per issue. [1] They have also announced a deal with Zannel to license their comics as mobile comics.
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