Top Cow’s big plan for 2003 Get out the cookies, kids—it looks like the Cow’s ready to produce some fresh milk in 2003. Top Cow, with a string of already established hits such J. Michael Straczynski’s Rising Stars and Midnight Nation, Witchblade and Lara Croft Tomb Raider, has big plan for next year that include a relaunch of The Darkness, huge Battle of the Planets crossovers and one-shots and even a new project by one of the company’s top talents.

According to Top Cow President and CEO Matt Hawkins, 2003 will be a huge year for fans of the publisher’s varied line of titles, artist and writers.

"We’re going to have a big year," says Hawkins from his Santa Monica office, where Top Cow does business on a daily basis. "There’s some stuff I can’t even talk about yet but 2003 is definitely a year when we plan to make some big news."

One of the most looked-forward to events Top Cow has planned for 2003 is the release of two new series by superstar Fathom creator and fan favorite artist, Mike Turner. While plans for both books are still as top-secret as Christina Aguilera’s midnight booty-call list, the artist says the new series will have fans talking for a long time.

"I’m really going all out with this one," says Turner with excitement. "They’ve both been something that I’ve been playing with for a long time. I want to see these done right and I plan to get some really hot writers involved. I think it’ll be pretty big. When they hit it’s going to be like bam! It's going to be great. This is my movie."

Another project sure to have fans talking in March is Fiona Avery’s (No Honor) new Rising Stars mini-series, Rising Stars: Bright. A spin-off of Straczynski’s original 24-part tale of 113 beings born with superpowers in a world that’s never seen superheroes before, Bright chronicles the early years of Matthew Bright, one of the specials who used his powers as a police officer.

"The plan is to have Fiona [Avery] do a number of these spin-offs," says Hawkins. "Since Joe [Straczynski] controls the Rising Stars property, she’s actually the only one he trusts to do it. And we’re very happy with this first one. We’ve been wanted to do this for a long time and with Joe wrapping up Rising Stars in early 2003 this is a perfect way to keep it going."

Also in 2003, Top Cow teams with Dynamic Forces to produce a number of exclusive comics featuring some of the top talent in the comic book field. The new series of new #1’s begins in November with The Darkness Prelude #1 by Paul Jenkins (Origin) and Jae Lee (Fantastic Four 1234) and serves as a prelude to the new Darkness series launching this November. But that issue’s only the beginning according to Hawkins and Dynamic Forces President Nick Barrucci.

In fact, creators such as Bill Sienkiewicz (Elektra: Assassin), John Cassaday (Captain America), and Mark Texiera (Black Panther) have all signed on to produce the collector item comics. Even red-hot Ultimates writer mark Millar has signed on to pen a new Witchblade #1 early next year.

Also on tap are a number of Battle of the Planets projects. Besides the highly successful monthly series by Munier Sharrieff and Wilson Tortosa, which feature covers and art direction by painter Alex Ross Top Cow has plans to launch a BoTP/Witchblade one-shot as well as a BoTp: Princess mini-series.

"We’ve also got another Witchblade one shot titled Witchblade: Notingham," says Hawkins. "David Wohl (Witchblade) and Keu Cha (Rising Stars) are finishing it up now. We actually announced it years ago but it’s taken forever to get done. I think fans will really dig it though. It’s been moved back on the schedule a few times but now we’re sure it’ll be out in February."

"And then April will be Battle of the Planets month with our Battle of the Planets crossover with Thundercats, BoTP: Mark one-shot and the Battle of the Planets Battle Book, which is like a Marvel Universe for BoTP fans. It’ll be a huge month for Battle of the Planets fans."

But, like most publishers these days, Top Cow’s not just doing comics anymore. While the highly successful "Witchblade" series was just canceled by TNT, fans of the show have mounted a campaign to see the show move to another network. And "Witchblade" won’t be the only Cow property on the big or small screen. Although a number Top Cow’s movie and TV deals are still in negotiations fans can expect a big year on the comic racks and in multimedia from the Image imprint.

"There’s definitely some stuff we’ll be ready to talk about soon," says Hawkins. "This’ll be a big year for us and hopefully a big year for out fans too."

WRITER’S BIO: Mike Cotton is a staff writer for Wizard: The Comics Magazine. For more on Top Cow’s newest projects and all the comic book news fit to print, check out Wizard on sale every month at comic book specialty shops and newsstands everywhere.