CBR: Twlight Guardian & Genius Win Top Cow's Pilot Season '08

[CBR News]

Top Cow Productions has announced the winners of Pilot Season 2008 are
"Twilight Guardian" by Troy Hickman & Reza and "Genius" by Marc Bernardin,
Adam Freeman and Afua Richardson.


Full article here (http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=18112).

[dan bailey]

Congrats, Troy!

Interesting outcome, in that the last time I'd checked the voting, Urban Myths (which would've been my 2nd choice to be awarded a series) was leading.

[filipsablik]

Congrats to both the winning teams of Twilight Guardian and Genius! You guys and girl brought the ruckus and put out some top notch comics.
The field was thick with ridiculously talented creators this year and the voting was incredibly tight. We couldn't be prouder of everyone who participated. And thanks to the fans for voting!

[holeycrullers]

Thanks, Filip and Dan.

We'll do our best to come up with a great series out of this.

Unless I've been dreaming it all, in which case I'll just wake up and eat a Poptart.

[HaroldAllnut]

Congratulations, Mr. Hickman. You'd gotten the huge majority of my vote (the rest of which was dedicated to The Core). I'm looking forward to adding your book to my pull list.

[Sadyv]

Disappointing. These titles were, of those I read, the most bland and traditional comic tales, which, in hindsight, is likely why they run. They were the titles most geared toward the rather narrow tastes of the Top Cow fan base.

[holeycrullers]

Disappointing. These titles were, of those I read, the most bland and traditional comic tales, which, in hindsight, is likely why they run. They were the titles most geared toward the rather narrow tastes of the Top Cow fan base.

TG is geared toward the Top Cow fanbase??

I really need to get caught up on my reading...:biggrin:

[holeycrullers]

Congratulations, Mr. Hickman. You'd gotten the huge majority of my vote (the rest of which was dedicated to The Core). I'm looking forward to adding your book to my pull list.

Thanks! I'll try not to let you down.

[michaeljsmith]

Congrats Troy - you worked hard at this...please don't let the rest of my rant be taken as a comment towards you.


This voting process was BS at the very end. Warren Ellis posted on his website that he read TWO PAGES of Genius and all of the sudden the booked jumped up the charts. I wonder if Warren Ellis plugged a candidate for the election what would happen. I read 4 of the 6 books (The Core, Twilight Guardian, Genius, and Urban Myths) and I felt that out of the 4 I read Genius was 4th best. This is just my opinion. Going into the final week Urban Myths actually was in first place and never lower than second place thoughout the process... that is not my opinion that is FACT.

I really hope Top Cow recognizes this (and actually is part of the reason for the delayed announcement) and decides to run with THREE books after all is said and done. I view this very similar to Shadowline's "So You Want to Create a Superheroine". They picked one book Incredible Journey but recognized the goodness that was I Hate Galaxy Girl and decide to give that book a deal too.

The way this process played out it really has soured me on Pilot Season moving forward. I heard bad things about last year but I am really shocked to see this right now. This is NOT Top Cow's fault the way it turned out - let's just see if they recognize the problem and are willing to address it.

[dan bailey]

TG is geared toward the Top Cow fanbase??

I really need to get caught up on my reading...:biggrin:

Indeed. I'm hard pressed to think of a tiltle that's less geared toward what I gather (I've read very few TC books ... offhand, only Rising Stars, Freshmen, Necromancer & Cursed, I think) is the stereotypical "Top Cow fanbase." So much so, in fact, that I'm genuinely (& pleasantly) astonished that it's one of the two winners.

[Ben Akers]

The whole end result makes me less likely to pick up not only the winning books but also the several other Top Cow books I get as well as my other titles.

If Warren Ellis has that much control over Comicdom, it might be time to leave...

[die_yng]

I think the whole voting process is bs. Everyone should only be allowed to vote once, the way it was done it's worth nothing. It does in no way show which book the most people are interested in.
To me buying the book is how I choose what interests me, so I figure actual selling numbers should count for something too.
I won't buy any more pilot season books, because I just wind up with more one issue going nowhere crap (and a good book is crap too, if it is no whole story)

[Mel Caylo]

This voting process was BS at the very end. Warren Ellis posted on his website that he read TWO PAGES of Genius and all of the sudden the booked jumped up the charts. I wonder if Warren Ellis plugged a candidate for the election what would happen. I read 4 of the 6 books (The Core, Twilight Guardian, Genius, and Urban Myths) and I felt that out of the 4 I read Genius was 4th best. This is just my opinion. Going into the final week Urban Myths actually was in first place and never lower than second place thoughout the process... that is not my opinion that is FACT.

I really hope Top Cow recognizes this (and actually is part of the reason for the delayed announcement) and decides to run with THREE books after all is said and done. I view this very similar to Shadowline's "So You Want to Create a Superheroine". They picked one book Incredible Journey but recognized the goodness that was I Hate Galaxy Girl and decide to give that book a deal too.

The way this process played out it really has soured me on Pilot Season moving forward. I heard bad things about last year but I am really shocked to see this right now. This is NOT Top Cow's fault the way it turned out - let's just see if they recognize the problem and are willing to address it.

Yes, we recognize it, and we would be hard-pressed not to do anything with Urban Myths or any of the other contenders. Pilot Season is an opportunity to test what the market likes and responds to, and the primary reason we decided to limit the program to two books every year is because it's not cheap to produce, distribute and market new projects. But in this year's case, when it's clear there is a market for at least four of the books, we're not going to ignore that.

That being said, we are going to focus on the two books that legitimately won in the voting because they should be applauded, not punished, for winning. After that, I don't doubt you'll be seeing more of at least two of the others.

Congratulations to Troy, Reza, Marc, Adam and Afua!

Mel Caylo
Top Cow Productions, Inc.

[filipsablik]

Hi Everyone,

We definitely appreciate all of the passion the fans have been showing regarding Pilot Season and the announcement of the winners. It's very cool to see folks this excited about the various new concepts we launched this year.

The race was incredibly tight throughout the competition and as a result we are discussing the possibility of doing more with a variety of the series. As Mel mentioned, the competition doesn't preclude us from doing more with any of the properties it just guarantees two of the series will be picked up.

The voting process this year allowed anyone to vote up to once per day, which was based on fan feedback from last year. This allows both the creators and fans to rally support over the course of several weeks instead of just a day or two. Brikhed and Ben - if you have suggestions on how to improve the voting process, we're certainly open to hearing it. The process continues to evolve each year.

Sadyv - I gotta confess, I'm confused why you think Twilight Guardian and Genius are "most geared toward the rather narrow tastes of the Top Cow fan base." Twilight Guardian has more in common with traditionally independent/alternative books like Ed Brubaker's classic "Lowlife" than in does with Witchblade or The Darkness. And Genius is one of the more unique titles I've run across in recent years. I can't think of another title starring a young, female African American lead and dealing with real world social issues all wrapped up in an action genre. Don't get me wrong, I understand your preferred title may not have won, but it seems pretty unfair to the creators of these other titles to write them off as "bland and traditional".

Take care,

[michaeljsmith]

Hi Everyone,

Brikhed and Ben - if you have suggestions on how to improve the voting process, we're certainly open to hearing it. The process continues to evolve each year.

Not blaming the process just saddened by the outcome - don't worry though you will be hearing a lot from the Urban Myth Nation because we want you to "BRING JACK BACK!!"

For all of those interested in more Urban Myths please let Top Cow know at fanmail@topcowent.com.

I would also encourage you to sign the petition that has been started to present to Top Cow on behalf of Urban Myths fans. They have already acknowledged that they are willing to move forward if there is support. We did a poor job of putting UM over the top the first time around, let's not make that mistake again.

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/SaveUrbanMyths

[dan bailey]

I would also encourage you to sign the petition that has been started to present to Top Cow on behalf of Urban Myths fans.

Done.

For all I know (I haven't read it), Genius is drop-dead brilliant, but the apparent Warren-Ellis-said-"jump"-&-his-flock-of-sheep-said-"how-high?" nature of its win is really quite shameful. Just for grins, it'd be neat if he started extolling the virtues of jumping off a cliff, just to see if his puppets followed suit ...

[michaeljsmith]

Done.

For all I know (I haven't read it), Genius is drop-dead brilliant, but the apparent Warren-Ellis-said-"jump"-&-his-flock-of-sheep-said-"how-high?" nature of its win is really quite shameful. Just for grins, it'd be neat if he started extolling the virtues of jumping off a cliff, just to see if his puppets followed suit ...

A few dozen I would think. Same with Mark Millar - these guys have seriously passionate fans. I do not blame them or Ellis in this process. They played the game and won. I still blame us fans of Urban Myths for not playing the game as well. So now it is time to change the game - thanks for signing.

This book will return.

[Ben Akers]

It's the whole Warren Ellis says "jump" and everybody says "how high" thing that really got me. If he can really affect the outcome of the voting process in a few days then it makes me wonder if its even worth it to be in the medium anymore. I mean, the books he likes are going to sell because the Warren Ellis clones are going to buy them, so the books I like won't have a chance. So why buy them anymore unless they're Warren Ellis approved. Hey, that's a good idea, how's about we stamp his name all over a book if he likes and just pulp something if he doesn't.

[Greg Anderson]

It's the whole Warren Ellis says "jump" and everybody says "how high" thing that really got me. If he can really affect the outcome of the voting process in a few days then it makes me wonder if its even worth it to be in the medium anymore. I mean, the books he likes are going to sell because the Warren Ellis clones are going to buy them, so the books I like won't have a chance. So why buy them anymore unless they're Warren Ellis approved. Hey, that's a good idea, how's about we stamp his name all over a book if he likes and just pulp something if he doesn't.

Damn, Brutha Ben, you are indeed bitter today. :redface:

[Ben Akers]

Damn, Brutha Ben, you are indeed bitter today. :redface:

I am. I am.

Maybe I'm overreacting, but this is one sad state of affairs.

[holeycrullers]

Does it count if Alan Moore once called me a "snappy dresser"?


No?





Ah, well, he didn't anyway.

[michaeljsmith]

For those of you that want more Urban Myths please go to the official Bring Jack Back home at http://bringjackback.blogspot.com

[Greg Anderson]

Just finished reading Twilight Guardian. This was so good and freakin' hilarious. How you're going to write more of this I don't know, but there lies a bit of intrigue. Great stuff, man! :biggrin:

[holeycrullers]

Just finished reading Twilight Guardian. This was so good and freakin' hilarious. How you're going to write more of this I don't know, but there lies a bit of intrigue. Great stuff, man! :biggrin:

Thanks!

As far as more of it, to quote Hanover Fiste...I've got an ANGLE...

Troy


P.S. Thanks for injecting more Twilight Guardian into this thread! :wink:

[Greg Anderson]

Thanks!

As far as more of it, to quote Hanover Fiste...I've got an ANGLE...

Troy


P.S. Thanks for injecting more Twilight Guardian into this thread! :wink:

Hey, if you're not too busy, are you still up for the interview? :smile:

[holeycrullers]

Hey, if you're not too busy, are you still up for the interview? :smile:

I'm never too busy for an interview...or for pie.

[Kid Kyoto]

The voting process this year allowed anyone to vote up to once per day, which was based on fan feedback from last year. This allows both the creators and fans to rally support over the course of several weeks instead of just a day or two. Brikhed and Ben - if you have suggestions on how to improve the voting process, we're certainly open to hearing it. The process continues to evolve each year.



I'm not sure why you would do that? Surely just because someone votes for a book everyday you don't expect that to translate to higher sales do you? Just because people are voting several times for a book doens't mean they'll buy multiple copies.

Then again I guess it does show a depth of commitment, so those people are more likely to pay for the book in the future.

But in that case, why vote at all? Why not just go by the sales of each one shot?

[JumpingJupiter]

I think the voting process is fine. The Warren Ellis thing should not phase you dude. Such is life. He thought the book was good, his fans trust his opinion (he is an excellent writer and thus likely qualified to judge good writing). Like the Top Cow dudes said, they know this and seem to have a reasonable attitude about it. They didn't just look at the numbers.

But then again I was voting for Twilight Guardian so screw me.:biggrin:

[Jay Faerber]

But in that case, why vote at all? Why not just go by the sales of each one shot?
Because it's very, very hard to get true SALES numbers. Comics are ordered ahead of time by retailers on a non-returnable basis. So you could have Pilot Season "Book A" that was ordered at 10,000 copies (just to pick a random number) and "Book B" ordered at 7,000 copies. But what if there are 5,000 copies of "Book A" still sitting on store shelves, whereas "Book B" sold nearly all of its 7,000 orders? That means that "Book B" actually reached more readers, but on paper, "Book A" technically sold more. Now, on a regular series, a publisher can study trends as retailers adjust their orders up or down to meet their individual stores' needs. But it's very hard to judge the success of a single book with no sales history.

I'm not speaking for Top Cow, obviously. But that's my take on one reason to go with voting. Plus, it's a good publicity move. It gets people talking. And that's always a good thing.

~ Jay

[JumpingJupiter]

Plus, it's a good publicity move.

That's pretty much the whole story right there.

[Muadib]

I found Twilight Guardian the best of the bunch, and they were all good.

I'm sad the Core didnt make it, Sci-Fi+J. Hickman+K. Rocafort really had me going.

But yes, i'm down with the Guardian.