Top Cow Productions, Inc. & Editorial Work
From 2008 to 2013, I worked at the boutique comic book publisher, Top Cow Productions, Inc. Over that course of time, I rose the ranks from intern to Assistant to the Publisher to Managing Editor.
Progeny cover artwork by John Tyler Christopher. Progeny written by David Hine, Ron Marz, and Tim Seeley.
As the Managing Editor at Top Cow, I supervised the completion and pre-press approval of an average of 350 pages of printed published material every month, including all new monthly single issues, trade paperback collections, and foreign editions translated by our partners at Panini.
In addition to continuing the ongoing core Top Cow Universe titles Witchblade, The Darkness, and Artifacts, I oversaw the debuts of Aprhodite IX: Rebirth, Bushido, Cyberforce: Rebirth, A Voice in the Dark, and my personal favorite, Think Tank.
Think Tank #9 cover artwork by Rahsan Ekedal and Bill Farmer. Think Thank created by Matt Hawkins and Rahsan Ekedal. Witchblade #169 cover artwork by John Tyler Christopher. Witchblade created by David Wohl, Brian Haberlin, Marc Silvestri, and Michael Turner. The Darkness #114 cover artwork by Jeremy Haun and John Rauch. The Darkness created by Garth Ennis and Marc SIlvestri. A Voice in the Dark #1 cover artwork by Larime Taylor. A Voice in the Dark created by Larime Taylor. Aphrodite IX #3 cover A artwork by Stjepan Sejic.
Since its debut in 1995, Witchblade had grown to become the longest ongoing superhero comic book to star a female lead without cancellation or rebooot.
Starting with issue #170, I assigned the first ever all-female art team to the Witchblade ongoing series (Laura Braga on line art & Betsy Gonia on colors) and sales for their debut issue saw a 9% from the previous month.
Witchblade #170 cover artwork by Marc Silvestri and Sunny Gho. Witchblade #170 written by Ron Marz with interior artwork by Laura Braga and Betsy Gonia. Lettering by Troy Peteri. Witchblade created by David Wohl, Brian Haberlin, Marc Silvestri, and Michael Turner.
I co-authored and spearheaded the design of The Top Cow Bible, a company franchise and brand sourcebook cataloging 20 years of preexisting and in-development IP for the cross-media licensing in film, TV, consumer products, video games, and apps.
Less than one month after the release of The Top Cow Bible, Mandeville Films optioned Alibi.
I helped to exceed Top Cow's $75,000 crowdfunding goal to ultimately raise $117,134 via Kickstarter for the relaunch Top Cow’s founding comic book title Cyber Force for its 20th Anniversary.
In another landmark move, the first FIVE issues of the relaunched series were made available for free through participating retailers.
Cyber Force cover artwork by Marc Silvestri and Sunny Gho. Cyber Force created by Marc Silvestri.
On a more subtle note, I coordinated the production on J.P. Lavin and Chad Damiani’s Family Affair, including the hiring of artist Chris Johnson, which received a script commitment from Shane Brennan and CBS for a new television series without the comic ever seeing print or digital release.
A Family Affair artwork by Chris Johnson. A Family Affair written by J.P. Lavin and Chad Damiani. Lettering by Troy Peteri.
For Top Cow's original mini-series to better compete in a marketplace glut with household name legacy properties, I implemented a strategy by which the single issue pamphlets traditionally released monthly would be released weekly within the span of one solicit month.
All five issues of Bushido were released in October 2013, seeing only a 30% sales attrition between the first and the last issue.
Since then, Top Cow has continued to implement this weekly issue release strategy for their original mini-series Shotgun Wedding, Genius, Cutter, and American Legends.
Bushido artwork by Studio HIVE. Bushido created and written by Rob Levin for Heroes and Villains Entertainment.