Artifacts #10 & Origins (Top Cow)

writer: Ron Marz, Marc Silvestri
artist: Jeremy Haun, Ryan Sook, various

First off, these are not new comic, but since I bought them off racks containing new comics, I figured I'd treat them as such.  Part of the reason for that is that I want to emphasize that Artifacts is a book currently in print that I very much want to support.

It just so happens that I didn't really know that until Top Cow announced a talent contest that will potentially allow a schmuck like me the chance to write the characters in this series.

The comics I found happen to feature Ji Xi.  The one-shot Origins features exactly that, origins for all thirteen bearers of the eponymous totems of power.

I haven't until now come to appreciate Artifacts because I tend to read most of my superhero comics from DC and sometimes Marvel.  For about a decade Image competed pretty heavily in the superhero genre, but now mostly sticks to Spawn, Savage Dragon, and Invincible, two out of three from its earliest days.  Top Cow was one of the studios that more or less spun off from Image, and thus counts as a solo entity, a small publisher in other words.  Most small publishers trying to do superheroes inevitably prove why they're small publishers trying to do superheroes.  Their effort are bush league.

I assumed Top Cow was the same.  Marc Silvestri launched the imprint with Witchblade (in essence the original Artifact), who originally appeared to be just another member of the '90s bad girls craze, mostly because her costume, which was an extension of her Artifact (worn one hand when not fully activated), covered her body just enough not to show private parts.  The short-lived live action TV series that followed was just one indication that she could be more than just another bad girl.

After The Darkness followed and became another successful franchise, Top Cow solidified itself as an imprint.  Some time later, Ron Marz came along and started to expand the concept that had become central to the imprint.  This eventually resulted in Artifacts.

Artifacts #10 was originally #10 of 13 issues.  It became an ongoing series once everyone realized what they had.  Therefore Marz has had the luxury to continue a slow build on everything he's done so far.  This has meant that a character like Ji Xi can sit back while other characters like Tom Judge take the front seat.  Of all the totem bearers, he's still known for possessing the so-called Thirteenth Artifact, because even the artifact doesn't have a name yet, much less a history.  His appearance in this issue is indicative of his role so far, trying to figure out how he fits in, if he's a villain or a hero (because these Artifacts can go both ways).  It may not be the wisest move to try and understand everything that's going on by reading a random issue like this, but it's still plenty of indication of the quality that's gone into the project, and the strong characters who exist.

Origins, again, presents two-page recaps of the major developments worth knowing about the thirteen characters at the heart of the Artifacts franchise.  Aside from Witchblade, the Darkness, and Ji Xi, there's Angelus (the light that counterbalances the dark), Tom Judge (the Rapture), Glorianna Silver (Ember Stone), Michael Finnegan (Glacier Stone), Alina Enstrom (Pandora's Box), Ian Nottingham (Blood Sword), Sabine (Wheel of Shadows), Magdalena (Spear of Destiny)Abby Van Alstine (Heart Stone), and Aphrodite IV (Coin of Solomon).  Angelus (also known as Dani Baptiste, who once served as a replacement Witchblade), is considered one of the big three in the franchise, along with Witchblade (Sara Pezzini) and the Darkness (Jackie Estacado).  The Magdalena and Aphrodite IV are also known elements of the Top Cow landscape.

What's impressive is that Artifacts has successfully transformed the Top Cow catalog into a working mythology.  I'm embarrassed to admit that it's taken me so long to discover it, much less appreciate it, but at least I have.  I'm making it a mission to try and spread the word, not because I have the vague hope of one day hoping to shape it, but because it's worth supporting in its own right.  If you have no working knowledge of it, Origins is a good way to go.  Otherwise pick up a random issue for yourself and see if it catches your fancy, too.

It All Comes To This!

THE MAGDALENA #12 (Top Cow)

I’ve been visiting Comic Book Resources for a couple years now, as it’s become my major touchstone to the major goings-on of the comic book world, and every now again it’ll motivate me to read something I hadn’t previously planned on checking out.  It happened recently with HITMAN, and now again with Ron Marz, who has a regular column there.  When talking about THE MAGDALENA, a series I had no intention of reading (and only had experience with via a one-shot crossover with Daredevil a few years back), he made it just compelling enough to rouse my interest.  I’d previously assumed that it, along with every other Top Cow character, was still basically the flimsy pinup book the whole line was originally conceived as.  Marz has been writing for the company for several years now, but I assumed he was basically slumming it (I retain a great amount of respect for his Green Lantern work).  Also, it was just plain easier to keep on assuming that, as it allowed me to limit my reading pool.  Then he talked about the project like it really meant something to him, and so it seemed like it might mean something to me, too (this is sometimes, but always, the case with passion projects).  Magdalena is a DA VINCI CODE kind of gal, the descendent of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, now a protector of the Church.  Well, it turns out she also fights dragons.  I never really believed that the character’s adventures could be all that religious, because she’s still mainstream.  The art is surprisingly standard (something Top Cow probably switched to years ago).  If this were published by DC, no one would really consider it out of place.  Marz doesn’t really dig very deep into his story, and I don’t say that as someone who couldn’t figure out what was going on having only read the one issue, but rather as someone who read it and figured it to be fairly light storytelling.  One of those not-bad-could-have-been-better sort of deals.  I have no particular regrets, though.  Still worth a look, and I can see where it was probably a tad more interesting for those who read the rest of the series, cancelled after poor readership and many creative delays, unfortunately.  In another reality, I bet I was a fan.

PETER PANZERFAUST #4 (Image)

The latest issue of Peter Pan in WWII sees the erstwhile lost boys laying low with the Darlings and has a great deal of depth to it, a gratifying issue for someone who still wasn’t sure if their faith in the series was unfounded.  Almost every Image book is touted as a creative triumph only Image would have published (the reality is that Image publishes just about anything, and rarely makes sure it’s really going to stand out or amount to something), so there was no guarantee that something that sounded intriguing was actually going to be.  This book is.  I like Peter Pan, yes, and would’ve been interested one way or another, at least to sample, but this is the kind of issue that proves that there was no mistake, that this series really does have something to say, not just about Peter Pan in a different context, or about war, but both, and beyond even that, and that’s what really makes this book work.  This is the issue to persuade anyone to read it, for any reason they like.

RASL #14 (Cartoon)

Hard to believe there’s only one issue left of this Jeff Smith series.  Smith is best known for BONE, the novelty that turned into epic fiction and one of the biggest cult hits in comic book history.  I tried to argue with Tim at Heroes & Dragons my disappointment that RASL hasn’t gotten anywhere near the kind of interest BONE garnered.  He didn’t really seem to understand what I meant, but I can be a little obsessive about quality projects getting their due (which may be why I can never seem to focus on any one quality project, because I identify too many of them for my own good).  I originally believed that fans who loved BONE loved Smith enough to embrace, even at a diminished capacity, his next project, but that simply hasn’t been the case.  Perhaps RASL is a little too different, a little more ambitious than those fans were anticipating.  Then again, who seriously believed that someone like Smith had another great big idea in him?  It’s not uncommon for creators to have only one sure thing in their arsenal, and it’s just as easy to assume that this really is all there is to believe.  And maybe that’s something of what’s happened to RASL (or maybe I’m simply jumping the gun, and its popularity will rise in the collected edition, much as what happened with BONE).  Anyway, it’s a tale of science gone amok, parallel worlds, Nikola Tesla, and a guy’s enduring love for the woman he lost, and found again.  All that’s coming to a close, and this issue sort of suggests how.  I will leave concluding thoughts for the final issue.