WIZARD WORLD TEXAS: TOP COW PRODUCTIONS PANEL

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Top Cow Productions announced details of its two crossover one-shots involving Marvel Comics characters on Friday at Wizard World Texas.

Witchblade/Wolverine, by Chris Claremont and Eric Basaldua, will be released in April, and The Darkness/Hulk, by Paul Jenkins and Dale Keown, will be released in May.

Top Cow's Matt Hawkins said both books -- part of an agreement between Top Cow and Marvel that involved Marc Silvestri drawing a New X-Men arc -- will be 32 pages.

In other Top Cow news:

* Hawkins said situations with J. Michael Straczynski have been resolved, and the remaining three Rising Stars issues will come out next summer. Hawkins also said the movie deal with MGM for Rising Stars has been reupped.

* Look for Aphrodite 9 to be licensed for a feature film soon, probably by Raw Entertainment.

* Atari is developing a Witchblade video game, that will be used as a launch for the PlayStation 3.

* A Pitt vs. the Top Cow Universe one-shot is being targeted for late 2004, with Pitt creator Keown drawing and Jenkins likely writing.

* Jenkins' last issue of The Darkness will be #9.

* The new Codename: Strykeforce mini-series, first reported on at the Las Vegas Comic Convenvtion, will simply be named Strykforce. The series is by Jay Faerber and Tyler Kirkham.

* Paul Dini will be the point man for development of a Witchblade animated series. Dini wrote the recent one-shot comic set in an animated style.