Here's everything Top Shelf has planned for 2009 (so far!) listed in order of release (i.e., January releases followed by February, etc.). Do yourself a favor this year and try some things that you're not that familiar with. You won't be disappointed.
With THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMAN (VOL III) and the all-new edition of LOST GIRLS hitting this Spring; THE SURROGATES movie starring Bruce Willis hitting theaters on September 25th; the ESSEX COUNTY, ALEC, MARSHAL LAW, and AX MANGA omnibuses being released; several key literary debuts hitting this year: namely, FAR ARDEN, SECOND THOUGHS, MOVING PICTURES, and WELCOME TO FOREST ISLAND; plus more kids comics from James Kochalka and two great anthologies from the guys at indiespinnerrack.blogspot.com and World War 3 Illustrated -- it's going to be an amazing year!
And for a quick look at the entire 2009+ publishing schedule, in one glance, just click here.
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 "Kochalka's simple line drawings and bright crayon colors stand out in this sweet, silly graphic novel. Children will easily identify with Johnny Boo’s sense of fun and with his fear at meeting someone new." -- Snow Wildsmith, Booklist
Johnny Boo has boo power and his pet ghost Squiggle has squiggle power. But which is better? And might there be a power that is greater than them both? Wiggle power? Giggle power? Squiggle goes
on a quest to learn the secret of twinkle power from the twinkling stars, but doesn't have much luck. Instead, a strange and hilarious secret is discovered about Johnny Boo's hair. This book will have
the kids howling with laughter. -- 40-Page, Full-Color Hardcover, 6" x 9"
IN PRINT! (PUBLISHED JANUARY 2009)
  $9.95 (US)
Diamond: OCT08-4391 - ISBN 978-1-60309-015-5 |
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 Edited by Peter Kuper and Kevin Pyle.
Now in its 28th year of publication! With all this talk about a picture being worth a thousand words -- and so much chatter being in the news with very little being said -- we've decided the 39th issue of World War 3 illustrated will be our first wordless edition. Completely international; beyond language barriers; with everyone speaking a common language -- Sort of a tower of a Babel (without the babble). Covers by Eric Drooker and Peter Kuper, and all-new comics by some of the best political catoonists and illustrators working today, including Geoffrey Grahn, Ryan Inzana, Edel Rodrigues, Seth Tobocman, Terry Laban, Felipe Galindo, Lloyd Dangle, Mac McGill, David Sandlin, Barron Storey, Andy Singer, Sabrina Jones, Santiago Cohen, and many more. Distributed by Top Shelf. -- A 120-page Perfect Bound Anthology (with an 8-page color section)
IN PRINT! (PUBLISHED MARCH 2009)
$5.00 (US)
Diamond: JAN09-4457 - ISBN 978-1-60309-048-3 |
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 Charlie Kaufman meets Sofia Coppola in this stunning debut from Sweden!
"Niklas Asker's debut hits just the right notes of longing, passion and tender reflection about those other lives and other loves that might have been. Like that special, meaningful album track or rock video, Second Thoughts will win your heart." -- Paul Gravett, author of Graphic Novels:
Stories To Change Your Life
"Niklas Asker is a young artist whose work puts him right in the center of the new transnational comics culture. His comics combine the best traits of European bandes dessinées and American graphic novels, with a bit of Asian manga thrown in for good measure." -- Fredrik Strömberg, author of Swedish Comics History and The Comics Go to Hell
Jess is a novelist without a novel. John is a photographer running away to New York. Though it lasts only a moment, their brief encounter in London's Stansted Airport will transform both of their lives.
How do you measure the distance between satisfaction and settling? At what point does wishful thinking take on a life of its own? In Second Thoughts, the clean, emotional ink-work of Swedish newcomer Niklas Asker guides two characters, in two worlds, through modern city life and love. Reality and fiction overlap in this haunting, deceptive, and inspiring graphic novel about the lives we imagine for ourselves, the lives we imagine for others, and the lives we ultimately must live. -- Softcover Graphic Novel with French Flaps, 80 pages, 6 1/2" x 8 1/2"
IN PRINT! (PUBLISHED APRIL 2009)
$9.95 (US)
Diamond: MAR094429 - ISBN 978-1-60309-037-7 |
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 by Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill
"While the premise of mixing and matching famed fictional figures has lost some of its novelty, the thrill of how adroitly and intelligently Moore does it remains. O’Neill’s detailed art matches the intricacy of Moore’s design, combining the meticulous line work of period book illustrations and a distinctly modern vitality." -- Gordon Flagg, Booklist
"A stunning return to form." -- Danny Graydon, The First Post
"A dense and lyrical story, with weirdness and whimsicality." -- Richard Pachter, Miami Herald
"A slick, enjoyable read." -- The AV Club
"This is a marvelously layered comic (not surprising), and when it shows up on the shelves, you really should pick it up." -- Greg Burgas, Comic Book Resources
"Among the finest works in Moore's oeuvre ... Century 1910 is everything this series has led you to expect: Fast-paced, visually dense and wildly imaginative. It feels to me like having comics back again, in all their unkempt glory. The League is back, and so are Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill. I haven't read anything better so far this year, and I urge you to lose yourself once more in this extraordinary series." -- Alan David Doane, Comic Book Galaxy
"Moore’s spent a great deal of time discussing magic, but his true wizardry is the way in which sees the world, drawing connections between literature and weaving it into a grand design of his own. He and O’Neill can be right proud of that, because the concept remains as strong as ever." -- Troy Brownfield, Newsarama
"Kevin O’Neill’s art is at its finest yet, here ... things may be very different with Century, but at the same time it feels like meeting up with an old friend after several years away. Welcome back, indeed." --Greg McElhatton, Read About Comics
Co-Published By Top Shelf Productions & Knockabout Comics.
Top Shelf is proud to present the all-new installment in the breathtaking series by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill! In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Vol III): Century #1 ("1910"), our familiar cast of Victorian literary characters enters the brave new world of the 20th century!
CHAPTER ONE is set against a backdrop of London, 1910, twelve years after the failed Martian invasion and nine years since England put a man upon the moon. In the bowels of the British Museum, Carnacki the ghost-finder is plagued by visions of a shadowy occult order who are attempting to create something called a Moonchild, while on London's dockside the most notorious serial murderer of the previous century has returned to carry on his grisly trade. Working for Mycroft Holmes' British Intelligence alongside a rejuvenated Allan Quatermain, the reformed thief Anthony Raffles and the eternal warrior Orlando, Miss Murray is drawn into a brutal opera acted out upon the waterfront by players that include the furiously angry Pirate Jenny and the charismatic butcher known as Mac the Knife. This one is not to be missed!
This book is the first of three deluxe, 80-page, full-color, perfect-bound graphic novellas, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill -- with lettering by Todd Klein, and colors by Ben Dimagmaliw. Each self-contained narrative takes place in three distinct eras, building to an apocalyptic conclusion occurring in our own twenty-first century. -- 6 5/8" x 10 1/8"
IN PRINT! (PUBLISHED MAY 2009)
$7.95 (US)
Diamond: FEB09-4465 - ISBN 978-1-60309-000-1 |
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 Top Shelf is proud to join the 2009 FREE COMIC BOOK DAY celebration with not one, but FOUR all-ages tales. In this free comic book, we present an all-new OWLY adventure by Andy Runton, together with two all-new, all-ages adventures from Owly's friends: JOHNNY BOO by James Kochalka and KORGI by Christian Slade, plus a classic YAM story by Corey Barba. It's perfect for everyone in the family.
Note: this year's cover is a collaboration by James Kochalka and Andy Runton! -- 24-Page Comic Book, 6 5/8" x 10 3/16"
LIMIT 2 PER ORDER --
PLEASE EMAIL IF YOU NEED LARGE QUANTITIES.
IN PRINT! (PUBLISHED MAY 2ND - FCBD - 2009)
$0.01 (US)
UPC 094922165725 |
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 "One amazing slice of storytelling magic." -- Junot Diaz, author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
"Cleverly plotted ... Cannon is one of the comics world's most energetic storytellers, and his minimalist artwork, far from cramping its subject matter, has its own eye-catching charm." -- Carl Hays, Booklist
"As the entwined pasts of Army, his ex, her current husband, a college couple and an orphan bent on revenge for his father’s murder are revealed, entwining pasts become clear and the full range of this engrossing story is revealed." -- Publishers Weekly
"Kevin Cannon is spinning one huge, huge yarn here; a classic adventure story that delights in ridiculous set-ups, far-fetched schemes, hidden treasure, mysterious strangers, outlandish characters and ridiculously contrived threats leading to even more ridiculously contrived rescues. Everything in Far Arden connects, every character is there for some reason implicit to the simple plot of one sailor attempting to reach the mythical Far Arden, a tropical island paradise in the middle of the barren and desolate Canadian Arctic. And it’s a great, great adventure." -- Richard Bruton, Forbidden Planet International
"Far Arden is one of the most unruliest and unpredictable adventure comics I’ve read in a long while, and yet the story weaves itself into a complex and consistent whole ... the best of two worlds: the purely spontaneous burst of comics creation and the carefully constructed adventure saga." -- Dave Baxter, Broken Frontier
"The character of Army Shanks is one that readers can really sink their teeth into. … He's a man with all the personality conflicts and defects and emotional confusion that make us human. And even when he surprises you by bringing a dead fish to a party at the governor's palace, it doesn't seem at all out of character." -- Sean Kleefeld, Kleefeld on Comics
Meet Army Shanks -- crusty old sea dog and legendary brawler of the high Arctic seas! He's got just one mission: to find the mythical island paradise known as Far Arden, which lies hidden (so they say) in the wintry oceans of the far North. But there's more than just water standing between Shanks and his goal: he'll have to contend with circus performers, adorable orphans, heinous villains, bitter ex-lovers, well-meaning undergraduates, and the full might of the Royal Canadian Arctic Navy! Not to mention he's not so sure how to get to Far Arden in the first place...
In his first solo graphic novel, Kevin Cannon (THE STUFF OF LIFE, T-MINUS) proves himself a master spinner of yarns. FAR ARDEN is an epic journey through a world not quite our own, written and drawn with strokes bold and swift. As readers hurtle toward the stunning conclusion, Cannon assembles countless details, characters, and relentless plot twists into an astonishing whole far greater than the sum of its parts. Thrilling, eccentric, lusty, genuinely moving, and often hilarious (with sound effects that alone are worth the price of admission), FAR ARDEN may be the best adventure comic you'll read all year. --A 400-Page Deluxe Hardcover Graphic Novel, 5" x 6 1/2"
IN PRINT! (PUBLISHED JUNE 2009)
$19.95 (US)
Diamond: MAR094430 - ISBN 978-1-60309-036-0 |
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 Top Shelf presents Welcome to Forest Island, the flagship monograph by Bwana Spoons, a painter, designer, screenprinter, zine rocker, and toymaker whose work has been featured on a dizzying array of shoes, skateboards, apparel, baby strollers, art toys, and gallery walls throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia.
All 144 full-color pages — including paintings, maps, sketches, comics, and more — are dedicated to Forest Island: the wild, hyperchromatic paradise Spoons has been constructing with his art for several years. The denizens of this mind-bending island include sweet whale-gators, boozy super-cicadas, arrow-slinging, basket-weaving bearded love tribes, an ex-hobo mushroom farmer, and one brutally intense bat who plays drums in a proto-metal band and would do just about anything to make a bagel relinquish its jelly filling!
Rendered in swaths of psychedelic fluorescents in a flurry of wild yet delicate brushwork, the explosive pages of Welcome to Forest Island establish Bwana Spoons as the cuddliest art-monster around, whose furious imagination is matched only by the intimacy of his handskills.
The thoughtful and provocative design, by Tokyo wunderkind Ian Lynam, elevates Spoons’ opus beyond a “mere” collection of jaw-dropping artwork to a true coffee table gem. Cloth-spined and case-bound, this full-color compendium heralds not only the birth of a wild and woolly nation, but also the arrival of a major new force in the art world.
-- Full-Color Hardcover Art Book, 144 pages, 6 1/2" x 9"
IN PRINT! (PUBLISHED JUNE 2009)
$30.00 (US)
Diamond: APR091000 - ISBN 978-1-60309-040-7 |
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 ALL-NEW PAPERBACK EDITION!
"Part mythic cycle, part fictional history of Moore's hometown, part collection of fireside ghost stories, Voice of the Fire is as clever and well-crafted as Moore's other genre experiments, and by taking his dialogue out of word-balloons and panel arrangements, it gives his limitless literary ambition room to stretch out into new and fascinating forms." -- Tasha Robinson, The Onion
A brand-new paperback edition of the one and only prose novel by Alan Moore! (with an Introduction by Neil Gaiman, a signature of full-color plates by José Villarrubia, and a cover design by Chip Kidd).
In a story full of lust, madness and ecstasy, we meet twelve distinctive characters that lived in the same region of central England over the span of six thousand years. Their narratives are woven together in patterns of recurring events, strange traditions and uncanny visions. First, a cave-boy loses his mother, falls in love and learns a deadly lesson. He is followed by an extraordinary cast of characters: a murderess who impersonates her victim, a Roman emissary who realizes the bitter truth about the Empire, a crippled nun who is healed miraculously by a disturbing apparition, two witches, lovers, who burn at the stake, and many more. Through each tale, Moore travels through history blending truth and conjecture, in a novel that is dazzling, moving, sometimes tragic, but always mesmerizing. -- A 304-Page Softcover Novel with a Full-Color Signature, 5 1/2" x 8", Mature (16+), Note New ISBN: 978-1-60309-035-3
IN PRINT! (PUBLISHED JUNE 2009)
$14.95 (US)
Diamond: JAN09-4456 - ISBN 978-1-60309-035-3 |
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