Top Shelf Productions

Funny what a big-budget film adaptation starring Bruce Willis will do for your book... now more than ever, people are diving into the world of The Surrogates! Top Shelf is delighted to announce that Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele's graphic novel has now held on to the New York Times Best Seller list for three consecutive weeks! See for yourself at the Times' Arts Beat blog, and join us in congratulating the two creators. If you still haven't experienced The Surrogates, you can read a short preview here or download the first chapter for free for your iPhone.

And how about that Nate Powell?! On top of the 2008 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Debut, the LA Times Book Prize nomination, and the Eisner Award for Best New Graphic Novel, Nate recently continued his streak of honors by winning the 2009 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Artist! Nate's Swallow Me Whole is an incredible book that speaks to the confused teenager in all of us, and we're grateful that it's been so warmly received.

Rising superstar Nate Powell, whose Swallow Me Whole was previously awarded "Best Debut" in the 2008 Ignatz Awards (for the best book to debut at the 2008 SPX), has just been announced as a nominee for Best Artist in the 2009 Ignatz Awards, to be held at the 2009 SPX in Bethesda, MD from September 26-27. This marks the latest in a string of honors for Nate and Swallow Me Whole, which most recently received the Will Eisner Award for Best New Graphic Novel in July.

We offer loud congratulations to Nate and to all the Ignatz nominees, and we hope you're all looking forward to SPX! We at Top Shelf certainly are.

New footage continues to roll out of Touchstone Pictures' film adaptation of The Surrogates, debuting next month! Today, it's a host of never-before seen moments from the film, embedded in the tie-in music video "I Will Not Bow" from alt-rock band Breaking Benjamin. Notable parts include a shot of Ving Rhames in action as the Prophet and some amazing stunts from Radha Mitchell's character, Agent Peters! You can watch the whole thing here or click "MORE" to view it after the jump.

IGN has an exclusive new look at more Surrogates movie footage, combined with interviews with almost everybody -- director Jonathan Mostow, actors Bruce Willis, Rosamund Pike, Radha Mitchell, and James Francis Ginty, as well as Top Shelf's own Robert Venditti, author of the Surrogates graphic novels! Check out the video here or click "MORE" to view it after the jump.

Our pals at Diamond Comic Distributors are hosting an exclusive ten pages of the upcoming third book in Jeffrey Brown's SULK series of mini-graphic-novels: The Kind of Strength That Comes From Madness!!! Check out those never-before-seen pages, as well as a generous sampling of Sulk 1 (Bighead and Friends) and Sulk 2 (Deadly Awesome)!

Talk to your retailer now about Sulk 3 (in Previews now) and get ready to dive into Jeffrey's fevered imagination when the book arrives this October!

Touchstone Pictures and Wired have just made public this awesome new featurette exploring the real-life technology that is making The Surrogates -- both book and movie -- sound less like science fiction and more like, well, science. It also features some new footage from the Surrogates film as well as interviews with the cast and crew! You do not want to miss this incredibly cool little video. Click "more" to watch it!

The luscious new one-volume edition of Lost Girls, by Alan Moore & Melinda Gebbie, has reached stores in all its gold-foil-stamped beauty -- and in huge quantities! Alan and Melinda's erotic epic has been riding the "graphic books" section of the New York Times bestseller list for two weeks now, first at #2 and then again at #4. Congratulations to the creative couple, and we encourage readers over the age of 18 to investigate the book by clicking below!

SAN DIEGO - Top Shelf Productions announces with pride that Nate Powell's book Swallow Me Whole has won the Will Eisner Award for Best New Graphic Novel.

Swallow Me Whole, released in November 2008, is a tender coming-of-age story that explores the dark corners of adolescence and mental illness, as seen through the eyes of two stepsiblings. It is Nate Powell's first full-length book with Top Shelf, following the earlier short collection Please Release.

Top Shelf Productions and Sprite Animation Studios team up to bring beloved graphic novel character to life.



SAN DIEGO, July 9th, 2009 – Owly, the kindhearted star of the award-winning graphic novel series by Andy Runton, will come to life in an animated short at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 23-26.



It was jointly announced today by Chris Staros, Publisher of Top Shelf Productions and Junichi Yanagihara, Executive Producer at Sprite Animation Studios that the loveable Owly and his unlikely best friend Wormy will be animated in a brand-new original segment directed by Moto Sakakibara and storyboarded by creator Andy Runton. Prominently featured will be Runton’s innovative “Pictomation,” a storytelling device in which the characters’ thoughts and feelings are animated with iconic and expressive images rather than dialogue, enabling fans of all ages, languages, and backgrounds to enjoy the show.



Click here for the more information at the Sprite Animation website. And then click on "MORE" to read more here...

Superhero Hype and ComingSoon.net have the exclusive first look at the new poster for Touchstone Pictures' film adaption of The Surrogates by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele! Click here for the full-size view (featuring star Bruce Willis in all his goateed glory), and make your plans now for the movie's September 25 debut!

Kevin Cannon's rip-roaring sea adventure FAR ARDEN is shaping up to be quite the buzzed-about debut! Recently Kevin talked with The Comics Reporter, Tom Spurgeon, for a terrific interview about his career so far and the experience of creating Far Arden. Check it out here!

Also, don't miss this comprehensive list of sound effects used in Far Arden, as assembled by Kevin's studio partner and not-brother, Zander Cannon! Find your favorites -- me, I can't decide between THROW UP A LITTLE IN MOUTH and MID-AIR GROIN GRINDER!

Diamond Comic Distributors has released its sales charts for the month of May, and sitting on top of the graphic novel chart is none other than The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 1910 by Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill! Apparently the long-awaited new League story sold over four times the volume of the next nearest book. Hats off once again to Alan and Kevin for crafting a fantastic comic and inspiring such enthusiastic fans! And thanks to retailers for supporting us so strongly with this title, and to all the fans for picking it up. Viva la League!

One of our favorite Canadians, Essex County creator Jeff Lemire, is featured today by CBC Radio's Canada Reads Book Club! Host Hannah Sung talked with Jeff to get his list of favorite graphic novels, and the Book Club is also running a contest to win a pack of signed Jeff Lemire books! Head over to the site and check it out!

Top Shelf is pleased to announce that the buzz-building for September's SURROGATES film has begun in earnest! Last night, movie audiences nationwide saw the debut of the official Surrogates trailer, attached to select reels of Terminator: Salvation. Based on the graphic novel The Surrogates by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele, the upcoming Surrogates film stars Bruce Willis, Ving Rhames, Radha Mitchell, and Rosamund Pike and debuts from Touchstone Pictures on September 25! For more movie coolness, check out the Virtual Self Industries web site at ChooseYourSurrogate.com.

Since the New York Times unveiled its "Graphic Books" bestseller charts a few months ago, Alan Moore has been a regular presence, with Watchmen consistently topping the paperback chart, and strong showings for several other books including The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol. 1. A few weeks ago, the Top-Shelf-published masterpiece From Hell hit the list with its latest printing -- congrats, Alan and Eddie!

Now the most recent sales chart shows the Top Shelf debut of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Century: 1910, landing at #4 on the paperback chart! Not bad, fellas! Our 21st-century hats are off to the extraordinary team of Alan, Kevin O'Neill, Todd Klein, and Ben Dimagmaliw.