Top Shelf Productions

The March 2010 issue of Diamond Previews just landed, and it's got a ton of great new Top Shelf books ready to be pre-ordered, in advance of their May arrival. First, Rich Koslowski (creator of the beloved graphic novels Three Fingers and The King) teams with talented writer J.D. Arnold for a thrilling, emotional tale of racism, murder, revenge, and music, in BB Wolf and the 3 LPs. Then, the phenomenal team of Kathryn and Stuart Immonen make their Top Shelf debut with Moving Pictures, a tense portrait of a complex relationship and the fate of art during the Nazi occupation. Then, Jeffrey Brown presents a massive, long-awaited collection of his shorter works, Undeleted Scenes! And finally, the international gang at Stripburger have a beautiful new collection, Greetings from Cartoonia, based on the idea of borrowing each others' national culture.

For details and previews of each book, click below!

Holy lingonberries! The crazy geniuses over in Sweden are so excited about their books coming out in English from Top Shelf that they put together this awesome video to introduce themselves!

What can we say, except that this demonstrates perfectly the amazing charm, creativity and offbeat sense of humor that make their books so great. Check out the video below, pre-order their books now at your local shop, those of you in the Chicago and New York areas should make plans to party with the Swedes in April!

Leve den svenska invasionen!

Kevin O'Neill is not only the visual genius who brings to life one of our best-selling books -- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (with Alan Moore) -- he's also got a deluxe collection of his devastating superhero parody, Marshal Law (with Pat Mills), coming from Top Shelf at the end of this year!

So we're delighted to see Kevin plumb his own depths in a deep and wide-ranging conversation with critic Douglas Wolk, hosted in five parts on the Comics Journal web site! Check out the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth parts -- it's all great stuff!

CBR's Robot 6 blog continues to spotlight upcoming titles from our April Swedish Invasion event!

First we saw a scandalous scene from Simon Gärdenfors' 120 Days of Simon. Then a full-color look at the furry freakiness of Kolbeinn Karlsson's The Troll King.

Now Robot 6 presents a darkly hilarious scene from Mats Jonsson's painfully honest memoir of hipsters, heartbreak, and Britpop, Hey Princess!

You can see the 12-page preview HERE!

Another day, another preview on CBR's Robot 6 blog of a new Swedish Invasion title!

After giving us a saucy look at Simon Gärdenfors' 120 Days of Simon, today Robot 6 has a weird, wild, and wonderful first glimpse of the full-color magic that is The Troll King by Kolbeinn Karlsson.

Check out the 16-page preview HERE!

CBR's Robot 6 blog will be taking a closer look at our Swedish Invasion books this week, giving you an advance look at some of these amazing stories that we'll debut in April (though you can pre-order them now in your local shop)!

First up, a scandalous excerpt from The 120 Days of Simon by Swedish cartoonist/rapper Simon Gärdenfors! The scene begins on Day 2 of the trip, with Simon meeting his second volunteer host. But she's awfully young... And you won't believe what they get up to in the day care center where she works! CLICK HERE to find out!

When a trend gets big enough, all the mainstream media eventually take a look at it! CNN's Breeanna Hare investigated various comic-to-film adaptations and spoke to a few industry figures for comment -- most prominently, Top Shelf publisher Chris Staros! In the wake of Touchstone's blockbuster Surrogates film and our recent capital investment / film production deal, Top Shelf is a prominent example of how publishers can respond to Hollywood's interest in graphic novels, without dashing for the quick buck or creating books as a means to an end. Our mission is to publish great books, and we welcome the chance to work with talented filmmakers to adapt those books -- with creator approval -- and introduce a wider audience to the comics that are and always will be our focus.

Click here to read the article!

How cool is this? The February 3 episode of Jeopardy! College Championship included this clue: "A graphic novel by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele was the basis for this Bruce Willis film about androids that live for users."

Solution: "What is THE SURROGATES," of course! Freshman James Hill III nailed it -- and went on to trounce his competitors with over $25,000.

Check out the video here!

Välkommen!

Okay, so our mastery of the Swedish language stops there. But we've got to say how excited we are to welcome you to THE SWEDISH INVASION, our overall title for a whole host of amazing Swedish stuff coming to you from Top Shelf this spring.

By April, we'll have seven whole books showcasing the best of this hotbed of comics talent, including four full-length graphic novels, two incredible anthologies, and one full-color reference book by one of Sweden's top comic scholars! It's a veritable smörgåsbord of comics!

At New York's MoCCA Festival and Chicago's new C2E2 Convention, we'll bring along a whole host of the Swedish cartoonists who created these awesome books, and throw, not one, but two (!) killer parties to welcome them to the States in style. We hope you can join us in the celebration.

The comics scene in Sweden is a real treasure trove that has gone virtually unnoticed in our part of the world... but now we'll all have a chance to get to know these creators and fall in love with their books. Take a look at the information below, and let the invasion begin!

Chris, Brett, Rob and Leigh
Top Shelf Productions

***Full details continue below! Click [MORE] to read!***

The blockbuster film Surrogates, based on the Top Shelf graphic novel by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele, comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray this Tuesday, January 26!

In anticipation, MTV's Splash Page blog has got an exclusive clip from one of the disc's coolest bonus features -- a 7-minute featurette delving deep into the original graphic novel! In this preview clip, you'll see interviews with both Rob and Brett, plus some amazing animated graphics that bring Brett's outstanding art to life in "motion comic" form! Don't miss it!

Well, the whole comics internet (and beyond) has been buzzing with the news of our new investors! But what does the news really mean?

To find out, Kiel Phegley from Comic Book Resources sat down with Top Shelf publisher Chris Staros for some answers straight from the horse's mouth. CLICK HERE to read the interview and get the inside scoop on the future of Top Shelf!

News from the recent Midwinter Meeting of the American Library Association: the official 2010 list of Great Graphic Novels for Teens has been announced, and we're delighted to see Nate Powell's sweet, frightening, heartbreaking book Swallow Me Whole is one of the honored graphic novels!

It's the latest in a long line of honors for Swallow Me Whole, which won the 2009 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Novel, often considered the highest award in comics. Recently Neel Mukherjee praised it in The Times (UK), writing: "It’s not an easy book, but its dark brilliance marks its creator as a writer-artist of genius." We hope the GGNT committee's decision will help more teen readers discover Nate's book and connect with its young heroes, Ruth and Perry.

PS: Hats off to Top Shelf buddy Van Jansen for also scoring a GGNT honor with his debut graphic novel Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer (with Dusty Higgins)! Nice work, guys!

For this month's catalog solicits, James Kochalka and Matt Kindt both have big releases available for pre-order, so they teamed up to produce this killer ad showcasing both of their books!

James Kochalka presents the long-awaited, vinyl-covered, rainbow-hued all-in-one collection of SUPERF*CKERS, the raunchiest and most hilarious super-book in human history! You get all four issues plus the all-new Jack Krak special, in a single super volume.

Matt Kindt, meanwhile, has been cooking up a super secret smorgasbord of spy stuff to follow up his Eisner-nominated breakthrough (and Wizard's Indy Book of the Year) Super Spy! Super Spy: The Lost Dossiers is a 96-page compendium of new stories, puzzles, codes, annotations, 3-D comics, and more!

CLICK HERE to see the awesome tag-team poster in its full glory! And remember, talk to your local comic retailer and ask to pre-order these books by name!

TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS ANNOUNCES INVESTMENT DEAL
WITH JOHN S. JOHNSON AND PRODUCER ANTHONY BREGMAN



January 13, 2010 -- Atlanta/Portland/New York -- Co-Publishers Chris Staros and Brett Warnock of independent graphic novel and comic book publisher Top Shelf Productions (www.topshelfcomix.com) announced today that it has entered into a capital investment deal with new media entrepreneur John S. Johnson, and independent film producer Anthony Bregman.



Johnson, and Likely Story, Bregman’s film production company, have purchased a 33% interest in Top Shelf Productions, Inc. Johnson will join the board of Top Shelf, and Likely Story will get a first-look deal for all new Top Shelf publications for possible film and TV development.



This deal represents a supportive investment in the company; one that leaves Chris Staros and Brett Warnock as majority stockholders (and firmly in control of the company), but also brings to bear the resources, skills and connections of John and Anthony in helping the company expand and grow over time.

"The graphic novels that have really grabbed the public imagination have tended to be biographies and autobiographies," declares Stephen Weiner of The Boston Globe today. He mentions Art Spiegelman's Maus, Harvey Pekar's American Splendor, Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, and Alison Bechdel's Fun Home as key masterworks in the graphic-autobiography genre that have crossed over to become true mainstream classics.

"To this list," continues Weiner, "we now can add Alec, Eddie Campbell’s graphic memoir starring his surrogate, the young cartoonist Alec MacGarry."

Fine company to be in, and we must agree: Eddie has produced a modern masterpiece. Check it out below!