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 with characters designed by Top Cow founder Marc Silvestri, who will also provide the covers for the five potential series.

To this day Cyblade is the only actual comic series to come out of the first two Pilot Seasons, though it remains to be seen what lies ahead for Pilot Season 2008 winners, Twilight Guardian and Genius. (Go Genius!)

One thing’s for sure, 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.