Top Cow universe

[Mecha]

My intrest to this has risen after i got couple versions of Witchblade and Magdalena and one version of Aphorite IX. So what its all about and who is who?

[Hadez]

Witchblade is NY cop Sara Pezzini who wileds a powerfull glove weapon that has been used by many great women in history (Joan of Arc, Cleopatra,etc).

Magdalena is the descendant of Mary Magdalena, the prostitute turned good by Jesus Christ; The magdalena is an agent of the Vatican as, say, a Templar Knight.

Aphrodite IX is an assasin in a possible future that everytime she does a murder, she forgets everything.

Hope it helps.:cool:

[Mecha]

How about Ian Nottingham, The Darkness and Angelus?

[Q99]

Basic story is there are three (well, maybe four) 'forces' that were made awhile back (possibly involving some great over-technology that went wrong because it wasn't supposed to be introduced to the baser natures of humans, since it was made for the enlightened).
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The Light, the Dark, and the Warrior.

The light is personified by the Angelus, a spiritual being that takes a host who becomes immortal and gives her (and always her) powers and abilities, derived from light. She can construct warriors, and has various other light-based powers. The Magdalena's power is I believe hinted to be related to the light.

The Dark is, of course, personified by the Darkness, which is passed on physically, from father to son (they are also immortal while they have the darkness, but as soon as they have a son, they die, so it tends not to matter). It's powers only work in the Darkness, but seem to be stronger. While both it and the Angelus can make beings, even full living things, of their power, the Angelus seems to take time to sculp them while the Darkness's purely physical powers can make roomfuls of tenticles and the like. It confers regeneration on it's host (to a great extent- a Darkness was burn almost to ashes in a fire and it put him back together during the nights that followed), so it's quite hard to kill. Overall, being the Darkness seems kinda a raw deal compared to the Angelus, but unlike the Angelus it doesn't take over your mind (or merge with the host's mind, or something like that), but it is quite strong and easy and flexible to use.

Third, are the Weapons of warriors, the Witchblade and the Excaliber, each of which chose a worthy host of appropriate sex (and it's obvious in it's selection: Both are gauntlets. You stick your hand in. If it's the witchblade and you're male, you either get burned to death or you lose your hand. If you're female, you just lose your hand or it just doesn't work, I think. Flip for Excaliber). They have regeneration, armored, and can make things, but don't seem to make independant constructs like the other two (although they have 'infected' people...).


Ian Nottingham was a man who, through magic, actually possessed the Witchblade for awhile (but it truly was not designed for that, so began to eat away at him). Before that, he was supposed to have the Excaliber, but something happened then and the Excaliber went dormant until recently, although someone who's read the storyline may wish to correct me. In the current issues, he has the Excaliber.

Basically, he's a man/assasin who is very much tied into the warrior weapons in his personal destiny.

[Hadez]

What he said:)

[Q99]

Also, I recommend a cool comic called 'Darkminds', a Bladerunner-ish future where an android/replicant designed for detective work gets drawn into a case involving the witchblade. It's 90% independant of the rest of the universe, but very cool.


The trade that has the various lives of women who used the witchblade is also interesting, and a lot more linked with the current story of Sara and Ian and all that.

If you have any other questions, just ask (I've fairly recently gotten into the comic and thus the trades are still fresh in my mind).

[Briel]

While it has little bearing on the current Top Cow Universe, Ascension was an excellent title. About two extra-dimensional races that served as the inspiration for angels and demons, and their war which spilled onto Earth.

David Finch's poster of Andromeda from that series still serves as the sexiest drawing I have ever seen. It was also the cover to #5.

The early TCU also included Cyberforce which deal with a bunck of mutants who were outfitted with cybernetic enhancements.

Tomb Raider also routinely interacts with Witchblade as Lara and Sara are best friends.