January 28, 2014 / More →
Spring is the season of rebirth - and the perfect time for fresh printings of three award-winning Top Shelf perennials!
From Hell by Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell
Blankets by Craig Thompson (both softcover and hardcover editions)
Swallow Me Whole by Nate Powell
These titles, all winners of the Eisner and Ignatz Awards, are beloved masterpieces that no graphic novel reader should be without. Pre-order your copies today!
January 3, 2014 / More →
When Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill followed up their League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century trilogy with 2013's spinoff Nemo: Heart of Ice, critics hailed it as a return to form, "a throwback to the high adventure of the initial series," and a "late-career masterpiece, with a chiseled veneer of cracked adventure on the surface and a bubbling enthusiasm for the magic of storytelling welling up inside."
Now saddle up your submarines and study up on your silent films, because the new NEMO is now available for pre-order! Moore & O'Neill rampage through twentieth-century culture in a blazing new adventure, set in a city of totalitarian shadows and mechanical nightmares. Cultures clash and lives are lost in the explosive collision of four unforgettable women, lost in the black and bloody alleyways where thrive THE ROSES OF BERLIN.
You can pre-order it from this month's Diamond Previews catalog, for release in March. For more details and 5 preview images, click here!
Also coming soon:
BURNING BUILDING COMIX by Jeff Zwirek - HOT second printing of this innovative Ignatz-nominated gem.
ALONE FOREVER by Liz Prince - The author of the world's most lovable couples comic sets her sights on the single life.
THE BOJEFFRIES SAGA by Alan Moore & Steve Parkhouse - This nutty British comedy gives "nuclear family" a whole new meaning, now complete in a single volume with an all-new story!
January 2, 2014 / More →
"This is one of the books of this year. This is something that will be prominent in your career, no matter what direction it takes from here, for however long you continue to make comics."
So begins Tom Spurgeon's long and wide-ranging interview with our own Nate Powell, award-winning author/artist of Swallow Me Whole, Any Empire, Sounds of Your Name, and now artist of March: Book One, one of the most talked-about and highly-acclaimed graphic novels in Top Shelf history.
How does it feel to work so closely with a revered figure of American history? What does it mean to break through barriers for comics on television and in classrooms? What was the creative process to turn this powerful narrative into such innovative comic book pages? Tom and Nate get deeply into it, making this interview a must-read. Check it out!
December 18, 2013 / More →
The holidays are upon us, and Top Shelf has two special treats to help you celebrate:
First, James Kochalka returns to his raunchy cult-classic SUPERF*CKERS with a 16-page seasonal special! Yes, it's a timeless holiday gem for the modern age, SuperF*ckers Save Christmas! Grab this digital delight today, and it can be Christmas in your heart (and your tablet device) all year round.
But that's not all! The dynamic duo of Mark Russell and Shannon Wheeler, creators of this year's left-field hit God Is Disappointed in You, are caught up in the holiday spirit too. They've teamed up once again for a new book trailer, featuring the Biblical first Christmas -- God Is Disappointed in You style! Click here or watch it after the jump. (Some language may not be safe for work.)
Don't forget, God Is Disappointed in You makes a great gift for the believer or nonbeliever in your life -- or grab the ebook version to read on your shiny new devices!
Ho ho ho and happy holidays from Top Shelf!
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December 18, 2013 / More →
A special year-end congratulations to our authors & artists -- we're proud to see so much of their work praised in "Best Books of the Year" lists!
The historic and captivating March: Book One (by Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell) was particularly singled out for inclusion on over a dozen major lists! We also noted considerable praise for Kevin Cannon's thrilling Crater XV, Zander Cannon's powerful Heck, and the Double Barrel series that launched them; Jeffrey Brown's sober A Matter of Life; and Rob Harrell's delightful Monster on the Hill!
Our thanks to the fine folks with great taste over at The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, The Horn Book, Paste, Slate, Washington CityPaper, North Adams Transcript, ComicsAlliance, Multiversity Comics, Crave Online, Amazon, and Apple iBooks, among others!
December 3, 2013 / More →
November 20, 2013 / More →
Two weeks ago, Top Shelf partnered with the Fellowship of Reconciliation and with comiXology to release the first-ever fully-authorized digital edition of the influential 1950s comic Martin Luther King and The Montgomery Story, in an exclusive digital bundle with the bestselling graphic novel March: Book One. Following that launch, and the extensive segment on The Rachel Maddow Show exploring the connection between the two comics, interest has soared for The Montgomery Story, in both print and digital form.
So we're pleased to announce that, due to popular demand, Martin Luther King and The Montgomery Story is now available on some of the most popular ebook platforms, including Amazon's Kindle store, Apple's iBookstore, and iVerse's Comics+, as well as independently on Comixology! As always, all our proceeds from this fully-authorized release will be donated to F.O.R., and the printed edition is also available.
Thanks to the Fellowship of Reconciliation, all our digital partners, and to YOU for your support of this timeless piece of comics history!
November 13, 2013 / More →
TWO big announcements from the world of Top Shelf Digital today:
First, we're kicking off a massive SALE, across all digital platforms, temporarily slashing prices on dozens of our most beloved graphic novels!
We don't have room to list them all here, but to give you a taste:
- Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer #1 (debuting today!) by Van Jensen & Dusty Higgins
4.99 $2.99
- March: Book One by Rep. John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, & Nate Powell
9.99 $4.99
- Nemo: Heart of Ice by Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill
4.99 $2.99
- All these awesome new releases for $3.99 each: We Can Fix It! by Jess Fink, Crater XV by Kevin Cannon, Heck by Zander Cannon, The From Hell Companion by Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell, A Matter of Life by Jeffrey Brown, Monster on the Hill by Rob Harrell, and God Is Disappointed in You by Mark Russell & Shannon Wheeler
- Alec: The Years Have Pants by Eddie Campbell
9.99 $3.99
- The Underwater Welder by Jeff Lemire
9.99 $3.99
- Wizzywig by Ed Piskor
9.99 $4.99
- From Hell by Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell
9.99 $3.99
- Gingerbread Girl by Paul Tobin & Colleen Coover
7.99 $2.99
- Awesome all-ages comics for $2.99, like Incredible Change-Bots by Jeffrey Brown, Monkey Vs. Robot by James Kochalka, and Spiral-Bound by Aaron Renier
- And so much more!
Go ahead, poke around, get lost in there! With prices like these, you really can't go wrong.
Add a digital edition to your print purchase with Kindle MatchBook!
On top of that, we know that many of you love the beauty of our books as physical objects, but also want the convenience of a digital edition that you can read on the go. So we're announcing that many of our books are now available in Amazon's Kindle MatchBook program! If you've bought certain Top Shelf titles from Amazon in the past, or will in the future, you have the option to scoop up a digital version for just a few bucks more! So far the program applies to titles like March: Book One, God Is Disappointed in You, From Hell, Essex County, Wizzywig, Monster on the Hill, Johnny Boo, Owly, and more! Head to Amazon's Kindle MatchBook page to see which of your purchases are eligible for this convenient digital add-on.
November 11, 2013 / More →
Congressman John Lewis and his graphic novel March: Book One are back on TV -- and this time he's got company! MSNBC's Rachel Maddow brought on Congressman Lewis and his collaborators Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell Thursday night for a live on-air interview, marking the first time The Rachel Maddow Show has featured the full creative team of a graphic novel. Watch here, or scroll down for a summary!
Maddow led off with a recap of Congressman Lewis' life and career, as well as the 1950s comic book that inspired the March project (now available in our new digital bundle).
Then she played a new 60-second animation of Nate Powell's art from the book, with voiceover by Congressman Lewis, before bringing on the three creators to discuss the book and its message.
The whole video's embedded after the jump, or you can click over to the Maddow site for additional bonus footage and even a sneak peek at Nate's sketches for Book Two!
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November 6, 2013 / More →
The new graphic novel series March, by Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell, is a landmark for the comics industry and a genuine publishing phenomenon, bringing civil rights history to new life for new generations of readers. Now it's time for a new piece of the story to emerge.
As Congressman Lewis has explained in interviews, the March project is patterned after a comic book he read in the 1950s, which inspired him and many other young activists to join the movement and use the principles of nonviolence to battle racial discrimination.
That unique comic book was Martin Luther King and The Montgomery Story, published in 1957-58 by the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Five decades later, Lewis mentioned it to his aide Andrew Aydin, who began researching the comic’s fascinating history, including the forgotten story of its creation and the numerous translations which have taken its message to activists in South Africa, Uruguay, Vietnam, Egypt, and beyond. Aydin soon graduated from Georgetown with a master’s thesis titled “The Comic Book That Changed the World,” and at the same time worked with Congressman Lewis and Nate Powell to carry on that tradition in the March trilogy.
Now Top Shelf has teamed up with the Fellowship of Reconciliation to produce the first ever fully-authorized digital edition of this historic comic book, as a companion to the bestselling graphic novel March: Book One. Exclusively through Comixology, you can download a digital bundle containing both March: Book One and The Montgomery Story for only $9.99! What's more, F.O.R. has also published a new physical reprint of The Montgomery Story, which you can order from Top Shelf right here.
All Top Shelf & Comixology fees and proceeds will be waived/donated to F.O.R., from your purchase of this timeless and globally influential piece of comic book history.
November 5, 2013 / More →
The March team's latest adventures included thrilling crowds at the Southern Festival of Books, a meeting with former Vice President (and new March fan) Al Gore, and an in-depth interview on stage with Rachel Maddow for the University of Louisville's Kentucky Author Forum, which just aired on PBS Monday night! You can watch that captivating hour right here:
That's not all: the full team -- Congressman Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell -- will be guests on The Rachel Maddow Show, airing at 9pm on MSNBC tomorrow (Thursday, November 7th)! This will be their first TV studio appearance as a full trio, not to mention the first graphic novel guest in the history of the Maddow show. And if you're in New York, meet all three at their signing tomorrow at Midtown Comics' downtown location from 6-7!
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October 31, 2013 / More →
Appropriately enough for this spooky season, Amazon's Comics Newsletter has a great Q&A with Monster on the Hill author Rob Harrell, with brand-new art of your favorite monsters -- in costume, of course!
Here's a sample:
What's the most fun thing about drawing monsters?
RH: I love the fact that there are no rules. You can literally do anything you want with a monster drawing. Sometimes I’ll just make some random lines and squiggles on a piece of paper and then start piecing them together to see what evolves. It’s really kind of therapeutic. You don’t have to worry about scale or symmetry or physics. You can just sort of let your mind wander and see what happens. That’s how Rayburn and Tentaculor, the main characters in Monster on the Hill, came about. They were sketches that turned into finished drawings that eventually led me to a story.
Click on over to read the interview!
September 25, 2013 / More →
With a book this funny and profound, created by two Portland talents, it's no wonder that legendary Portland bookstore Powell's Books is keen on God Is Disappointed in You by Mark Russell and Shannon Wheeler! Staff member Gigi says "Don't take this book to Sunday School unless you want to laugh your butt off and then go to Hell."
Those kind words follow a super-successful signing at Powell's, where crowds turned out for a full evening of "weird Biblical entertainment," including animated videos, book readings, live audience-member-sketching, and musical interludes from the likes of "King" David Lindenbaum and more.
Don't miss the awe-inspiring pulpit/lectern Mark and Shannon performed from, after the jump:
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September 3, 2013 / More →
You already know those irreverent reverends Mark Russell and Shannon Wheeler have produced God Is Disappointed in You, a gut-busting and thought-provoking comedy condensation of the Bible, presented as a gorgeous faux-leather-bound volume... But what do they do for an encore?
Whip together a jazzy spoken word performance, of course, with voiceover reading by Mark and all new cartoons from Shannon!
Check out the video above, or watch it on YouTube here, and pick up a copy of God Is Disappointed in You for all the saints and sinners on your gift list!
August 25, 2013 / More →
Jeff Lemire is on a roll!
After winning top honors for his rural epic Essex County (the American Library Association’s Alex Award, the Doug Wright Award, and the Joe Shuster Award) and creating the beloved 3+ year serial Sweet Tooth, he returned to the graphic novel form with The Underwater Welder, immediately earning rave reviews from all corners: the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, the CBC, Publishers Weekly, ComicsAlliance, Barnes & Noble Review, and countless more.
Now, not only has The Underwater Welder received two Harvey Award nominations, we're delighted to report that Jeff Lemire has just won the Joe Shuster Award — again! For the second time, he is officially the year's Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist / Créateur Canadien Exceptionnel de Bandes Dessinées. The award recognizes his final year of Sweet Tooth as well as The Underwater Welder.
