Artifacts #1

The entire Top Cow Universe converges in this ambitious 13-part miniseries opener from writer Ron Marz, and the cover — penciled by a remarkable team including Michael Broussard, Marc Silvestri, Stjepan Šejić, Kenneth Rocafort, Nelson Blake II, and Sheldon Mitchell, with inks by Rick Basaldua — announces the scale of the event beautifully. An armored winged warrior surges forward at the center, flanked by a masked figure, a horned woman in red, and a fierce airborne fighter, while a tattooed man clutching a cross, a young woman with a rifle, and two massive supernatural faces loom across the background. With thirteen artifacts, a sprawling cast, and this much artistic firepower assembled for a single cover in 2010, this is exactly the kind of series launch that reminds you why shared universes can be so thrilling.