MTV has partnered with comic legend Stan Lee to produce The Seekers, an original property with the twist that its writer and illustrator will be chosen be The Man himself.

The basic outline is that, “the Seekers is the story of an ancient people who have been planted on earth and little by little start to arise” to destroy the planet, says Lee. Defending the planet are a group of heroes, whose look and background, presumably, will be fleshed out by the winning pair.

The contest itself begins August 1, when artists and authors alike will have the opportunity to submit their work through a nomination page on MTV.com. At the end of the month, “MTV Geek’s editorial team will narrow the pool down to 20 and feature their work on the site.” From there, visitors to the site will vote for their favorites, winnowing the selections down to five stories and five artists for Lee and MTV Geek to decide on. The winners will be announced at New York Comic Con in October.

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When the Witchblade was formed, it was created to represent the balance between the light and the dark. Created by both the Darkness and the Angelus, the universe’s two primal forces, the mythical weapon bonded with New York City Police Officer Sara Pezzini. Recently the Witchblade split in to its two sides, with Sara retaining its Darkness while the light side went to Danielle Baptiste.

The two battled it out in last month’s Witchblade #127 which culminated in Sara sending Danielle off the edge of the building they fought on, only for Sara to be surprised herself by Angelus’s forces when Sabine plunged her blade through Sara’s back. Recently, we were given a sneak peek at the first few pages of Witchblade #128 and simply put, they look beautiful.

Stjepan Sejic’s pages look more like a painting than simple pencils. The level of detail and the backgrounds are gorgeous. Picking up the moments after the end of Witchblade #127, the fate of Sara and her side of the Witchblade is revealed.

Even in the first few pages, a few surprises pop up keeping the excitement high after seeing the series’ main character take a seemingly fatal blow at the end of the previous issue. Coming July 1st, this is a book that is definitely worth taking a look at. In the meantime, check out the bigger preview pages after the jump.

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Who is Jackie Estacado? What is The Darkness? What powers does it have? How is it connected to Jackie? All of these are questions for anyone who might find themselves picking up The Darkness Volume 2 #78 on comic store shelves later this month. With thirteen years of history to the character, one of the most intimidating things for a new reader is to dive into an established series for the first time. Unlike such iconic characters as Superman, Batman or Spider-Man, The Darkness hasn’t reached a level that everyone, comic fan or not, knows the character’s origin, or even the most important facets of it. But Top Cow is doing something to remedy this problem.

Later this month, Top Cow Productions is publishing The Darkness Origins Volume 1. The first rare six issues of the first volume of this series will be reprinted and packaged together allowing readers to relive the beginning of The Darkness.  According to Top Cow’s official info on the book:

“The Darkness Origins Volume 1 tells the story of how mafia hitman Jackie Estacado was blessed and cursed on his 21st birthday when he inherited the power of The Darkness. Readers will learn how the elemental force of The Darkness gives Estacado access to an otherworldly dimension and control over the demons who dwell there. This volume collects the origin of Estacado as the current bearer of The Darkness, and introduces classic characters such as the Angelus, Butcher, and Sonatine.”

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