Top Cow just announced a subscription service available through the mail, not entirely unlike the one that DC Comics rolled out along with the New 52.Well, actually, that’s not true. Other than being a subscription service through the mail, Top Cow’s new plan is entirely unlike DC’s–or any other comics subscription service I’ve seen from a publisher. Ten bucks a month gets you all of the Top Cow monthlies (that’s Witchblade, The Darkness and Artifacts, for those of you keeping score at home) and a Top Cow Store exclusive variant cover each month. The books will ship by US Postal Service First Class Mail, and Top Cow promises that they’ll arrive “in pristine shape.” Ironically, the idea of bundling the full universe is something that fans were buzzing about when DC’s relaunch happened, and it’s possible given the attrition on some New 52 titles that having such a plan could have been a good long-term strategy for the publisher.The Top Cow Store site appears to suggest that the package–which includes an extra $5 per month for shipping and can be purchased either as six-month or one-year subscriptions–will include three standard covers per month plus a fourth comic featuring the variant cover as a ‘bonus.” The comics will, according to Top Cow, ship once monthly (presumably to save on shipping costs). No word, yet, on a digital option, something that seems like an obvious eventuality in an increasingly-digital market.The Top Cow universe was recently reborn following the events of Artifacts #13, and the longtime creative teams behind Witchblade and The Darkness left, handing the reins of the revitalized books to new Witchblade scribe Tim Seeley and incoming Darkness writer David Hine.
