8/1/03 -- The State of Top Cow

Now is the time to vent, like the comic book supergeek that I am. Those of you that tend to zone out when I start ranting about comics...feel free to skip down to the bottom.

Here we go: I am sick and tired of a million writers and artists trooping through the pages of Witchblade. Can't Top Cow keep one MAIN artist for more than 20 consecutive issues? 15? 10? There are so many inconsistencies and...well...BAD WORK lately. And now they put Jim freaking McLaughlin as editor? WTF?! He's a nice guy but MAN has he EVER been batting for the competition. >_<

And Renae Geerlings seems to care more about how sexy people think she is than actually DOING HER JOB as an editor. Did anyone pick up the recent issue of the Darkness? The ENTIRE interior cover page was the same as the current Witchblade issue! The indicia was even still the same. It even said, "Witchblade, Volume 1..." NO MENTION of the Darkness! How in the HELL could an editor let THAT one slip through? It's like they cut & pasted the Witchblade issue into the Darkness one, to change the template around...and just forgot to delete it. Amazing.

And Mike Turner has left the company. Man, I wish we could go back to the "glory days" with Benitez & Turner. Remember the Family Ties Crossover? THAT was good reading. Not one of a gazillion crossovers/one-shots/alternative covers that the Image market is flooded with today. Those are so confusing ... did anyone read Battle of the Planets/Witchblade? How did THAT come about?

I have always been a loyal Top Cow fan - I have been there from the beginning (Cyberforce, Weapon Zero, 23, etc) ... but this is so damn frustrating! I really liked the Manapaul/Wohl run - they had a great thing going with the "Sara/Ian" (finally!) interaction and the artwork was GORGEOUS. It was a little anticlimatic, though. I mean, I've waitied since the BEGINNING of the series for a declaration like the one Ian made...then it happened and Sara just shrugged it off! I realize that a happy-go-lucky couple is not meant to last (i.e. Cyclops & Jean), but a LITTLE bit of sex could go a long way, especially for the Nottingham fans out there! LOL

I have even gone back to reading New X-Men & Uncanny X-Men. The storylines are pretty damn interesting. And the Jim Lee run on Batman has been great, as well. I just hope that Turner's new company can pour some vitality back into the Non-Marvel/DC comics biz for me. And where are the new Poison Elves and A Disant Soil issues? Come ON, people -- throw me a freaking BONE!

GAH. So THAT'S my frustration. Isn't it scary being me? @_o

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