Whilce Portacio Added as New Artist for Artifacts

When he's not illustrating Frank Castle's murderous revenge for the death of his family or the drawing X-Men dealing with social issues of the time, Whilce Portacio manages find time to work on another comic universe in Top Cow. As in, he's been tapped to illustrate the second arc for Artifacts, starting with issue 5.

The fourth issue will segue into the next four-issue arc where Portacio will replace Michael Broussard in joining Ron Marz on the universe spanning epic. Fans can check out the fifth book December 29. Full press release and alternate cover after the jump.

WHILCE PORTACIO REVEALED AS ARTIFACTS’ SECOND ARTIST

LOS ANGELES, Calif., September 29, 2010 – Top Cow Productions, Inc. is proud to announce Whilce Portacio as the new artist for the second ARTIFACTS story arc.

Portacio is best known for his work on The Punisher and Uncanny X-Men, helping co-found Image Comics and creating Wetworks. Most recently, he’s been attached to Uncanny X-Men for Marvel Comics.

ARTIFACTS recently made news as the publisher’s first title to ever sell out at the distributor level and go back for a third printing to meet demand. The limited series weaves together story lines from a number of Top Cow titles, including Witchblade, The Darkness, Angelus and Broken Trinity: Pandora’s Box. The first arc, written by writer Ron Marz (Witchblade) and art by Michael Broussard (The Darkness, Unholy Union), kicked off with a mysterious figure seeking to put Armageddon into motion by bringing together all 13 artifacts.

ARTIFACTS will segue into the next four-issue arc with Portacio joining Marz on the project. The first chapter of Artifacts will conclude with a shocking cliffhanger and the second chapter shows no sign of letting up. With all of the players on the board, the antagonist manipulating the bearers of the artifacts moves to complete his plan for utter annihilation of the world. But how do the members of Cyberforce fit into the machinations of the supernatural?

Artifacts #5, a 32-page full color comic book, will be in stores December 29.