I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but there’s this little event going over at Top Cow now called “Artifacts”. Ring any bells?

Sarcasm aside, one of the great selling points on Artifacts isn’t just the fantastic story (so far) that’s being architectured by Ron Marz, but he’s working on a rotating team of artists. Recently it was announced that Jeremy Haun (Detective Comics, Berserker) will join the rotation, picking up where Whilce Portacio leaves off.

Blog@ spoke briefly with Marz about the artists he’s been working with and the great chemistry between story and art, as well as working with Jeremy Haun.

Blog: Okay, so, first it was Michael Broussard, then Whilce Portacio, and now Jeremy Haun — who approached who about working on Artifacts? You or Jeremy?

RM: Top Cow publisher Filip Sablik was the matchmaker here. When he knew Jeremy was signing an exclusive with Top Cow, Filip called me up and asked what I thought of Jeremy taking the last on the third arc of Artifacts. Took me all of two seconds to say yes, as Jeremy is somebody I’ve been wanting to work with for a while. We actually talked about working together last year, but I don’t think either of us expected it to fall into place this quickly.

Blog@: Some say Whilce Portacio is doing some of his best work in a long time working on Artifacts, what is it about this story you think that elevates these artists to a whole other level?

RM: I certainly agree, I think this is some of Whilce’s strongest stuff ever, but I’m a bit biased obviously. Whoever I’m working with, whatever project I’m working on, a big part of my job is to play to the artists’ strengths and give them something they’re excited about drawing. Comics are a visual medium, so the scripts need to be as visual as possible. Otherwise, what’s the point? I also think you have to mention Joe Weems on inks and Sunny Gho on colors. They’re both bringing their best as well, so they make a great team with Whilce.

Blog@: Who’s on your shortlist of the artists you’d love to have on the final installment of Artifacts? Or do you already have somebody in mind?

RM: My shortlist has one name on it for who should draw issue #13, and that’s who’s drawing it.

Artifacts: Volume 1 is on sale now.

Tis the season.

Over on Ron Marz’s blog, he mentions that he usually gives to Toys For Tots every year. This year, he’s doing something a bit different. He is selling copies of Top Cow’s latest hit, Artifacts #1, signing, and if you want personalized, and every cent will go to Toys For Tots. Each issue with be $13: $10 for the comic and $3 for shipping. If you want more copies, the price of the comic stays the same, but the shipping goes up $1, ie, 1 is $13, 2 is $24, 3 is $35 and so forth.

Marz gave a few words to Blog@ about his feelings towards charities such as these and why he’s doing something like this. “I feel very fortunate to be able to do what I do for a living. So this is a way I can take what I do and benefit others in some small way, thanks to the generosity of the fans. I think the vast majority of comics fans are a giving, loyal bunch. This is just more proof of that. The response has been great thus far, so I hope it keeps up and we can put toys in the hands of as many kids as possible.”

Marz also mentions that the easiest way to pay is through paypal, which can be paid at: kmarz@nycap.rr.com.

Remember the 2001 Greg Rucka comic Felon? What about Tony Harris and Dan Jolley’s Obergeist, from the same year? Both were fr0m Top Cow’s mostly forgotten Minotaur Press imprint. Not forgotten by Top Cow itself, evidently, as the publisher today confirmed plans announced at this year’s Comic-Con International: San Diego to bring back the line.

The first two new Minotaur titles are Echoes (by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Rahsan Ekedal) and Last Mortal (co-written by Filip Sablik and John Mahoney with art by Thomas Nachlik). Both premiere in October’s Top Cow First Look trade paperback, before coming out in single issues in late 2010 and early 2011.

If you’re wondering what the difference between a Minotaur Press book and the rest of their non-Top Cow Universe offerings, well, it does seem a bit vague, but here’s official word straight from the press release: Minotaur will “act a home for darker, more nuanced stories.” Alrighty.

Full text of the press release follows after the jump.

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Blair Butler announced yesterday on Attack of the Show that Top Cow would be revisiting their Pilot Season Competition, where fans will vote on five comics to determine which two will become a miniseries.

But instead of rookies and indie talent, this competition will be different: all five series have been developed by Image partners Robert Kirkman and Marc Silvestri.

I gotta say, with the success of Kirkman properties such as Invincible and the Walking Dead (and Astonishing Wolf-Man isn’t bad, either), I’m pretty excited. There’s no word on interior artists (as Silvestri is only doing the covers), but we’ll report more as we hear about it.

Usually when a game ties in to a movie, the aim is to release it alongside the film, or at the latest alongside the DVD. However, some developers and publishers have actually recognized that movie tie-in games tend to, well, suck, and have elected to do what they can to buck the trend and produce some quality games that happen to tie-in to movies. The upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine game was actually being developed before they got a license for the movie, and includes a whole bunch of new content written by Marc Guggenheim. The most popular movie last year, The Dark Knight, skipped the movie tie-in altogether; instead, Warner is releasing an original game that has more to do with the comics than the movies this summer with Arkham Asylum.

Now the Wanted tie-in is coming, set after the events of the movie, and based on the demo that’s available now on Xbox Live and PSN, this game is going to be a ton of fun. The demo features a few tutorials to give you the basics of the cover system and a few of the advanced techniques, then throws you into the airplane level that’s been in every trailer for the game since it was announced.

The tutorial gives a quick look at just how easy developers Grin implemented things like Bullet Curving and their version of “bullet time:” “Assassin Time.” You charge your special meter the easiest way possible, by killing some bad guys. There’s a fantastic sticky cover system here, complete with flashy animations for dashing from one point of cover to another. Baseball slides, tuck and rolls, roadie-runs, they’ve got them all, and it looks great. There are basically two levels to Assassin Time, too. One is achieved simply by blind firing from cover. This puts you just a hair faster than your enemies, but does allow you to sneak up behind them and use your knife (or hands, or knees) for a swift kill, if there’s enough cover to navigate. The other is an actual special ability that almost pauses the screen, allowing you to quickly take aim and fire on as many enemies as you can see.

The bullet curving is an easy to use, one button (plus thumbstick) function. Hold the button, find the right angle, and release- it’s that easy. This isn’t typically going to kill an enemy, but it will hit one in cover without you having to break cover yourself, and usually causes them to stumble out into the open, ready for an easy kill.

Great cover system, easy-to-use advanced moves, solid controls, voices of the actors from the movie, a sensibility that combines the movie and comic a bit more; this is all adding up to be a great game that just happens to tie-in to a movie, just the way gamers have hoped. The game comes out March 24th in the US (European gamers have to wait a little longer- 26 June for them), and we’ll have the full review for you here. Until then, I’ll be mastering the airplane level. If it’s any indication (and I’ve now played the demo 10+ times), this game will be wanted all over.

Top Cow has released its New York Comic Con schedule, and it’s looking to be udderly amazing!

According to the Witchblade publisher, two celebrities will be hitting its booth — on February 7th at 4:15, Heroes star Milo Ventimiglia will be on location to discuss his new comic, Berserker #0.

Meanwhile, from 11:30 – 1pm, Freshmen mastermind Seth Green will be in attendance, along with co-creator Hugh Sterbakov and colorist Blond.

In addition, Ron Marz will be on hand to discuss Witchblade’s 125th issue, and J.G. Jones will be on the scene to sign after the Sunday panel at 12:15 discussing the Wanted video game. And finally, all who come to the booth will get a sneak peek at Top Cow’s latest event, Cyberforce/Hunter-Killer.