Top Cow Productions at Baltimore’s premier entertainment convention

SILVESTRI. MARZ. BALTIMORE COMIC-CON 2009.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Top Cow Productions, Inc. proudly announced today their attendance at the 2009 Baltimore Comic-Con.

This year’s Baltimore Comic-Con will held on the weekend of the 10th and 11th of October at the Baltimore Convention Center located downtown near Camden Yards at One West Pratt Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201. The Baltimore Comic-Con will be open to the public Saturday from 10 A.M. to 6 P.M. and Sunday from 10 A.M. to 5 P.M. Fans are encouraged to stop by to meet CEO and Founder Marc Silvestri (X-Men/Dark Avengers: Utopia, Pilot Season) who will be in attendance along with writer Ron Marz (Witchblade, Broken Trinity). Silvestri will be available to sign autographs and answer fan questions about the upcoming concepts for Pilot Season 2009, all of which have been created by Silvestri and Image partner Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead, Invincible) as well as Image United. For the Baltimore Comic-Con, the publisher is offering a Halloween themed convention exclusive variant cover to Witchblade #131 by current series artist Stjepan Sejic. Baltimore based online retailer Fantastic Realm will also be exhibiting at the Baltimore Comic Con and offering their exclusive variant for Witchblade #131 by Ale Garza (Supergirl) and Nei (Green Lantern Corps).

Ron Marz will be available to sign the convention variant and answer fan questions about the new direction he is taking the Top Cow Universe towards now that his recent “War of the Witchblades” story arc wrapped up in Witchblade #130. Marz and series artist Sejic are committed to staying on Witchblade up through issue #150. Ron Marz has been the sole series writer of Witchblade since issue #80 and was joined by artist Sejic with Witchblade #116. Marz will also be onhand to discuss his upcoming work on Top Cow series Angelus, Magdalena, and Artifacts.
Fans are invited to join Top Cow Publisher Filip Sablik, Silvestri, Marz, and Robert Kirkman for a special panel on Sunday, October 11th from 11:00am-12:00pm in the “Avengers Mansion” panel room. The creators will discuss Pilot Season, Witchblade, Angelus, Magdalena, and much,much more. Fans can expect some exclusive announcements as well and every attendee will leave with a special parting gift. Fans are also encouraged to attend the Image United panel on the same day and the same room at 1:00pm.

About Top Cow Productions Inc.
Top Cow Productions, Inc. (www.topcow.com), a Los Angeles-based entertainment company, was founded in December of 1992 by artist Marc Silvestri, who also co-founded Image Comics earlier that same year. Top Cow currently publishes its line of comic books in 21 languages in over 55 different countries. The company has launched 20 franchises (18 original and two licensed) in the industry’s Top 10, seven at #1, a feat accomplished by no other publisher in the last two decades. Its flagship franchise, WITCHBLADE, was TNT’s #1 original film of 2000 and the subsequent TV series was released on DVD on July 29, 2008. A feature film, co-produced by Platinum Studios, Inc. and Arclight Films, is slated to begin production in Australia with director Michael Rymer. WITCHBLADE is also the first American property to be fully adapted in Japan as an original anime and manga by Studio GONZO in 2006. Top Cow’s other flagship property, THE DARKNESS, was developed into a major next-generation video game release by Starbreeze and 2K Games and achieved platinum sales status. WANTED, an Eisner-nominated miniseries published by Top Cow from 2003-2005, is now a major motion picture from Universal Pictures starring Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman. Virtually all of Top Cow’s other properties are in development as feature films, live-action television, animation or video games. Top Cow has also successfully licensed and merchandised its franchises into toys, statues, clothing, lithographs, puppets, posters, magnets, shot glasses, lighters, lunch pails, wall scrolls, mouse pads, die-cast cars, calendars, Christmas ornaments, Halloween masks, trading cards, standees, video games and roleplaying games.