Pilot Season was an annual initiative begun in 2007 by American comics publisher Top Cow Productions. Readers were able to vote on the future of six one-shot pilot comics released throughout the year. Voting took place on the Pilot Season MySpace page and the highest vote-getters later became ongoing series.Top Cows Pilot Program - Talking About Pilot Season , Newsarama, June 27, 2007Top Cow's Pilot Season with Rob Levin and Jason Aaron, Comic Book Resources, August 9, 2007
2007 The entrants for the 2007 season were (winners in bold): Cyblade #1 (W) Joshua Hale FialkovLife Before Cyberforce: Fialkov talks "Cyblade", Comic Book Resources, September 12, 2007Joshua Hale Fialkov on Pilot Season: Cyblade , Newsarama, September 12, 2007 (A) Rick Mays (Cov) Rick MaysVelocity #1FIRST LOOK: "Velocity: Pilot Season" #1, Comic Book Resources, October 2, 2007 (W) Joe CaseyJoe Casey Hits Terminal "Velocity", Comic Book Resources, August 31, 2007Joe Casey on Pilot Season: Velocity , Newsarama, October 15, 2007 (A) Kevin Maguire (Cov) Kevin Maguire Ripclaw #1,(W) Jason Aaron (A) Jorge Lucas (Cov) Tony Moore Necromancer #1 (W) Joshua OrtegaBelieve in Magic: Ortega Returns to "Necromancer", Comic Book Resources, October 24, 2007Necromancing: Joshua Ortega on Pilot Season: Necromancer , Newsarama, October 5, 2007 (A) Jonboy MeyersDrawing The Necromancer: Talking to Jonboy Meyers , Newsarama, October 19, 2007 (Cov) Francis Manapul The Angelus #1 (W) Ian EdgintonDivine Retribution: Edginton talks Angelus: Pilot Season #1 , Comic Book Resources, November 26, 2007 (A) Stjepan Sejic (Cov) Stjepan Sejic Aphrodite IX #1, (W) Dan Jevons (A) Eric Basaldua (pulled from schedule, never published as part of Pilot Season)Top Cow Pulls Pilot Season: Aphrodite IX From Schedule (press release), Newsarama, September 25, 2007
Over 4.1 million votes were received over the space of one month, beginning from December 17, 2007, and lasting until the closing date of January 21, 2008. Voters were allowed to vote as many times as they wanted. Although anyone was able to participate in online voting, those who had purchased the books themselves were able to increase their voting power by inputting special codes that appeared on their copies. These practices were not continued in Pilot Season 2008.
The protagonists in both of 2007's winning comics, Cyblade and Velocity, were characters spun off from Marc Silvestri's popular Cyber Force comic series. Both Cyblade and Velocity were slated for release as series in fall 2008. While Cyblade was released on schedule, Velocity suffered a series of delays.
Joshua Hale Fialkov and Rick Mays continued writing duties and art for Cyblade, and released a four issue miniseries.
Initially, Joe Casey resumed writing for Velocity, but ChrisCross took over from Kevin MacGuire on art. In December 2008, ChrisCross announced his resignation from the Velocity project due to "unforeseen differences". The series was officially cancelled in February 2009 without a single issue released. In an interview, writer Joe Casey indicated that he had written three issues, and ChrisCross had pencilled one, before "that famous Top Cow brand of common sense disappeared into an unexpectedly bizarre rift in time and space." He cited mass company dismissals of staff, including that of "our beloved editor", as contributing factors to the demise of the series. Following their departures from the title, Joe Casey and ChrisCross teamed up to create the DC Comics miniseries Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance.
In June 2010, Top Cow relaunched Velocity. Despite the new series being released under the Pilot Season banner, the creative team behind Velocity's 2007 win were not involved in this new incarnation. Instead, Ron Marz assumed writing duties, while Kenneth Rocafort was responsible for art. In a press release, Marz is quoted as saying "We're going to pay off Velocity's Pilot Season win with a story that's got her literally running for her life, and the lives of her teammates."
2008 The entrants for the 2008 season were (winners in bold):, Newsarama, September 18, 2008Twilight Guardian #1Pilot Season: Twilight Guardian #1 - The FULL Issue, Newsarama, August 29, 2008 (W) Troy HickmanHickman talks "Pilot Season: Twilight Guardian", Comic Book Resources, May 28, 2008Shedding Light on the Twilight Guardian with Troy Hickman, Newsarama, May 15, 2008 (A) Reza (Cov) Hendry PrasetyoGenius #1Pilot Season: Genius #1 - The FULL Issue, Newsarama, August 27, 2008 (W) Marc Bernardin & Adam FreemanBernardin & Freeman talk Top Cow's Genius, Comic Book Resources, October 27, 2008 (A) Afua Richardson (Cov) Afua RichardsonBernardin & Freeman - Creating Top Cow's "Genius", Newsarama, June 23, 2008 Lady Pendragon #1Pilot Season: Lady Pendragon #1 - The FULL Issue, Newsarama, September 1, 2008 (W) Matt HawkinsKnights of the Red Planet: Hawkins talks "Lady Pendragon”, Comic Book Resources, June 2, 2008 (A) Eru (Cov) Drew Struzan Alibi #1, Newsarama, August 28, 2008 (W) Joshua Hale FialkovAlibi Checks Out: Fialkov talks “Pilot Season: Alibi”, Comic Book Resources, June 25, 2008 (A) Jeremy Haun (Cov) Jeremy HaunExclusive Preview: Pilot Season: Alibi, June 21, 2008 The Core #1Pilot Season: Core #1 - The FULL Issue, Newsarama, August 25, 2008 (W) Jonathan Hickman (A) Kenneth Rocafort (Cov) Kenneth Rocafort Urban Myths #1Pilot Season: Urban Myths #1 - The FULL Issue, Newsarama, August 26, 2008 (W) Jay FaerberGreek to Me: Faerber on “Pilot Season: Urban Myths”, Comic Book Resources, July 9, 2008 (A) Jorge Molina (Cov) Jorge Molina
The 2008 season included 4 new original properties. Only 2 of the comic books, Twilight Guardian and Lady Pendragon, had a history of publication prior to participation in Pilot Season. This was a markedly different situation from the 2007 event, in which all five of the Pilot Season issues (along with the cancelled Aphrodite IX pilot issue) had been based upon pre-existing Top Cow characters.
The voting period ran from August 4 through to September 8, 2008. In a departure from the previous year's competition (which allowed people to vote as often as they liked), individual computers were only able to vote once per day.
The final distribution of votes has been detailed as follows: Twilight Guardian: 29% Genius: 24% Urban Myths: 22% The Core: 15% Lady Pendragon: 7% Alibi: 3%
Twilight Guardian's first issue post Pilot Season was released in January 2011.
Genius' first issue post Pilot Season was released on August 6, 2014.
According to Mel Caylo, Top Cow Vice President of Marketing & Sales, some entrants that did not win the 2008 competition may still have a future at the company. "While we have two, very clear winners in Twilight Guardian and Genius, voting for the other books was so fierce that it doesn't preclude us from ever doing something else with those properties down the road."
2009 The entrants for the 2009 season were: Murderer #1 (W) Robert Kirkman (A) Nelson Blake II (Cov) Marc Silvestri Demonic #1 (W) Robert Kirkman (A) Joe Benitez (Cov) Marc Silvestri Stealth #1 (W) Robert Kirkman (A) Sheldon Mitchell (Cov) Marc Silvestri Stellar #1 (W) Robert Kirkman (A) Bernard Chang (Cov) Marc Silvestri Hardcore #1 (W) Robert Kirkman (A) Brian Stelfreeze (Cov) Marc Silvestri
Top Cow relaunched Pilot Season with major differences. In previous years, Pilot Season had been a competition between titles developed by a diverse roster of creative teams. All five Pilot Season titles released were written by Robert Kirkman, with covers by Marc Silvestri.
The first published issue, "Murderer", was released in December 2009. The rest were released over the course of 2010 with the exception of the final issue, Hardcore, which was due in 2010, but was finally released in May 2012. Image and Top Cow have no comment on the status of Pilot Season 2009 and 2010 moved ahead.
2010 The entrants for the 2010 season were (winners in bold):39 Minutes #1Forever #1 Crosshair #1 The Asset #1 7 Days from Hell #1 Midway Earth #1 (pulled from schedule, never published as part of Pilot Season)
Issues were released much more quickly than previously, with the competing pilot issues released every week in the space of 5 weeks. Unlike the previous round, in which all comics were written by the same author, all issues from this round were written by different creative teams.
Voting took place in November 2010.
2011 The entrants for the 2011 season were (winners in bold):The Beauty: A sexually transmitted disease emerges, which seemingly only makes the infected more beautiful and perfect... until the first person mysteriously dies. The Test: A dozen people are selected to repopulate the world inside an enclosed neighborhood environment after a post apocalyptic event. City of Refuge: In a post apocalyptic city where everyone is implanted with a chip that removes the human capacity for violence and only the internal security forces can take Freestone, a drug that removes the chip's effects; someone has released Freestone onto the streets. Fleshdigger: Brett tried to save a woman and was killed for his trouble, but at his grave, the woman invokes dark magic and raises him as a teeming mass of worms to seek revenge on the ones who hurt both of them. Theory of Everything: Scientist Charles Witten is recruited by a government task force to hunt down a group of dimension hopping thieves, using technology that Witten conceived, but was never able to get to work. Misdirection: Vince Martinez is an ex-con, ex-NASCAR driver who is tricked into driving a getaway vehicle during a bank robbery, but he'll soon realize he's part of something MUCH larger. Anonymous: A Special Forces operative who fakes his own death and tries to atone for his deeds by traveling the world and as an anonymous do-gooder using his old, lethal skill set. Seraph: The protagonist is recruited by Heaven to be its soldier on Earth; imbued with great power, the soldier must live by the letter of God's Law to maintain his blessings, but sometimes his missions make it impossible for him to do so.
Collected editions The first season is being collected into a trade paperback:
Pilot Season 2007 (144 pages, June 2008, )
Other media
Possible film adaptations Although it didn't win and only one issue was released Alibi was optioned for a film by Mandeville Films who had produced the film Surrogates based on the comic book series of the same name.Top Cow President Calls 'Alibi' Lead 'A Challenging Role For Any Actor' , Splash Page, MTV, September 3, 2009
References
External links
Pilot Season on Myspace 2008 Winners interviewed at comiXology.com
Reviews Ripclaw , Comics Bulletin Velocity, Comics Bulletin Twilight Guardian, Broken Frontier Twilight Guardian, Comics Bulletin Twilight Guardian, IGN Lady Pendragon, Comics Bulletin Lady Pendragon, Broken Frontier Genius, Comic Book Resources Genius, Broken Frontier Genius, Comics Bulletin