Comics
Top Cow Teams With Free Comic Book Day To Bring Fans All New ‘Darkness’ Prequel
As Free Comic Book Day 2011 is already shaping up to be the largest year in the annual event’s 10 year history, some of the industires biggest names are throwing their names into the ring, and one such company is Top Cow Comics and their long running series “THE DARKNESS”. This week the publisher announced that they will be giving away an all new prequel issue of the series that will directly coincide with the newest installment in the video game franchise (“THE DARKNESS II”) on the holiday, and inside you can check out the official press release as well as get all the details. Read on for the skinny…
WRITTEN BY: Matt Hawkins & Filip Sablik
ILLUSTRATIONS BY: Michael Broussard
“In anticipation of The Darkness 2 video game, coming out later this year from 2K Games, Top Cow proudly presents an original prequel comic featuring the origin of Jackie Estacado and the saga of The Darkness video game to date!”
OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE…
“New York, NY – April 4, 2011 – 2K Games, Top Cow Productions, Inc., and the Free Comic Book Day Committee announced today that they have teamed up to produce The Darkness II: Confession, an exclusive comic tie-in for The Darkness™ II video game, for Free Comic Book Day. The 32-page, full-color comic will be a prequel to 2K Games’ upcoming video game, The Darkness II. Produced by Top Cow’s lead artists and writers in partnership with 2K Games, The Darkness II: Confession will be distributed by Diamond Comic Distributors to thousands of independent comic book stores worldwide on May 7, 2011.
“Top Cow has always supported Free Comic Book Day and this year we’ve created our best offering yet with The Darkness II: Confession, a prequel to the upcoming video game The Darkness II by 2K Games,” said self-proclaimed hardcore gamer and president of Top Cow, Matt Hawkins. “In working closely with 2K Games on the comic, we’ve ensured that everything fits into The Darkness’ canon for long-time and new fans of Jackie Estacado. This free comic is a perfect primer for the game.”
Since its inception in 2002, the Free Comic Book Day event has celebrated the original American comic book art form by supplying thousands of participating independent comic book specialty shops around the world with free comic books for fans. Top Cow has participated as a publisher since the beginning and has given out over half a million free comics through the event, including The Darkness which has appeared in a number of previous Free Comic Book Day offerings such as Artifacts #0, Broken Trinity #0 and First Born: Conception. This year, Top Cow is a Silver Sponsor of Free Comic Book Day 2011, The Darkness II: Confession will be based on a story created by Top Cow’s Matt Hawkins and Filip Sablik, written by Filip Sablik (Pilot Season: Alibi, Last Mortal), feature art by Artifacts team Michael Broussard and Sunny Gho, and a cover by Matt Timson (Impaler, The Darkness).
The Darkness II: Confession introduces comic fans, video game fans, and new readers to Jackie Estacado, the bearer of The Darkness, an ancient primal force which acts a blessing and a curse for its bearer, allowing him access to an otherworldly dimension and control over the demons that dwell there. The Darkness II: Confession takes readers from Jackie’s origins in the first video game, through his rise to power, and the events leading up to The Darkness II.
The Darkness II video game breaks out of the sea of conventional first-person shooters with its fervid Quad-Wielding gameplay, which will allow players to slash, grab, and throw objects and enemies with their Demon Arms while simultaneously firing two weapons. The game is layered with the use of dark versus light, steeped in deep and twisted storytelling, and engulfed in stylistic violence that is visualized through a hand-painted graphic noir technique that stays true to its comic book origins.”
Free Comic Book Day Is May 7th Nationwide!
The supernatural world of Korean folk horror movie Exhuma grows larger with the arrival of prequel spinoff webtoon Maengjong this weekend, Variety reports today.
Naver Webtoon debuts Maengjong on May 30.
The series hails from Haemuri (Olgami) and will trace the high school origins of how shaman duo Hwarim and Bonggil, played by Kim Go-eun and Lee Do-hyun in the 2024 film, came together to face occultish threats.
The story is set to begin when “Hwarim, who has been concealing her identity following a childhood encounter with a snake spirit called Jin, crosses paths with Bonggil at their school.”
Variety notes that Exhuma director Jang Jae-hyun participated in the project’s early concept stage.
“We are presenting ‘Maengjong,’ a new series capturing the appeal of the horror-occult genre, ahead of the full summer season,” said Lee Jeong-geun, Naver Webtoon’s Korea webtoon content leader. “With the high school story of Hwarim and Bonggil, who left a strong impression in the film ‘Exhuma,’ enhanced by Haemuri’s characteristic tense direction, we expect it will be a welcome work for genre fans.”
“It is meaningful that the spin-off story of ‘Exhuma,’ loved by many audiences, expands by meeting the new grammar of webtoon,” said Lee Hyeon-jeong, managing director of the film business division at Showbox, which distributed the film. “We hope it will be a fresh experience for both film fans and webtoon readers.”
Exhuma was a breakout hit in 2024, becoming the first Korean occult film to surpass 10 million ticket buyers and the country’s highest-grossing film of the year. I wrote in my review that “the intricately woven Exhuma delivers one of the year’s biggest surprises in horror so far.”
The bond between Hwarim and Bonggil was one of the film’s highlights, making this prequel webtoon a must for fans.
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