For its third go-round Top Cow has revamped its Pilot Season tryout, turning it from a contest for original properties from new writers and artists into a referendum on new properties created by Robert Kirkman (Invincible, The Walking Dead) with characters designed by Top Cow founder Marc Silvestri, who will also provide the covers for the five potential series.  In a sense the 2009 Pilot Season project reverts back to the initial 2007 contest, in which all the Pilot Season comics were based on pre-existing Top Cow characters.

As far as ICv2 can remember Cyblade is the only actual comic series to come out of the first two Pilot Seasons, though the precise fate of the 2008 winners, Twilight Guardian and Genius remains unclear (see “Top Cow’s Pilot Season Winners”).  Still, even if it failed to launch a new top drawer property, the first Pilot Season managed to garner some 4.5 million online votes, which testifies to some serious fan interest.  And with Kirkman creating the 2009 Pilot Season properties, the revamped Pilot Season may prove to be an excellent way for Top Cow to test the waters before plunging in and launching a new series with all its attendant expenses.