Top Shelf Productions

It's a deluge of long-awaited new releases from Top Shelf this week!

One year ago, Kevin Cannon and Zander Cannon, the fabulous studio-mates and not-brothers, let their powers combine for the bold experimental digital-comics magazine Double Barrel. Now, as that serial wraps up, its beautiful spawn has arrived: two thrilling hardcovers!

Kevin's is the sequel to his beloved first graphic novel Far Arden, bringing ornery sea-dog Army Shanks to the Arctic space-race mystery of Crater XV! It's somehow 96 pages longer than the already-brick-like Far Arden, and so far critics agree that it's even better! Find out for yourself today. [also available in a deluxe signed & numbered bundle!]

Meanwhile, Zander brings his terrific chunky black ink-work to bear on an infernally haunting story: Heck! This underworld quest is a thrill-ride to be sure, but packed with moral quandaries and unforgettable imagery in the rich tradition of Dante. You'll want to read it more than once, to unravel the layers of story and marvel at how the art says so much with so little. Go to Heck! [also available in a deluxe signed & numbered bundle!]

Finally, after phenomenal smash success with the Star Wars parenting comedies Darth Vader and Son and Vader's Little Princess, Jeffrey Brown is "bringing it all back home" with a personal take on fatherhood, full of touching slices of life that quietly add up to a powerful statement about family and faith. It's A Matter of Life, his first full-color work of autobiography, available now in a lovely hardcover from any retailer. If you've ever been a parent, or a child, there's a lot for you here.

BookExpo America, held last weekend in New York, is the American book industry's biggest trade show -- and also happened to be the first event in our long promotional tour with Congressman John Lewis for his graphic novel with Andrew Aydin & Nate Powell, March: Book One! And judging from the reaction, we're off to a fantastic start.

You may remember our earlier announcement of March, the graphic novel trilogy by US Congressman and legendary civil rights icon John Lewis, co-written by Andrew Aydin and drawn by Nate Powell. Now, after many months of preparation, March: Book One is officially ready for pre-order to comic shops through this month's Diamond Previews -- and to celebrate, we have some incredible news to share!

President Bill Clinton on MARCH!

We are pleased to announce that March: Book One will feature a back cover blurb from none other than the 42nd President of the United States! To the best of our knowledge, this is the first graphic novel ever endorsed by an American president:

"Congressman John Lewis has been a resounding moral voice in the quest for equality for more than 50 years, and I'm so pleased that he is sharing his memories of the Civil Rights Movement with America's young leaders. In March, he brings a whole new generation with him across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, from a past of clenched fists into a future of outstretched hands."
— President Bill Clinton

MARCH on TV!

We are also delighted to announce that Congressman Lewis will appear on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report to promote March on its release day, August 13th! Not long thereafter, he'll head to CNN for State of the Union with Candy Crowley!

Comics luminaries such as Joe Quesada, Neil Gaiman, Garry Trudeau, and Marjane Satrapi have appeared on The Colbert Report, but this is the first time a guest has been invited specifically to promote a graphic novel on this hippest of late-night shows.

Plus: catch him streaming live at 5 PM this Friday, May 31, on Huffington Post Live... and stay tuned for more media updates!

MARCH in the classroom!

One of Congressman Lewis' chief goals for the March trilogy is to engage the next generation of readers, in order to keep the lessons of the civil rights movement alive. So Top Shelf is proud to present an 11-page Teacher's Guide to March: Book One, developed by comics/education expert Peter Gutierrez, packed full of resources for using this graphic novel in the grade 6-12 classroom and beyond. It even includes correlations to national & state standards for English and Social Studies! Teachers and librarians can download this guide today, absolutely free, and get ready to teach March: Book One in the fall.

MARCH on the road!

We have an amazing coast-to-coast presentation tour lined up for Rep. Lewis. Even before the book comes out, he and his co-creators will be spreading the message of March with feature presentations at:

• BookExpo America in New York (speaker at VIP author breakfast with Chris Matthews, Diana Gabaldon, and Helen Fielding, Saturday June 1)
• American Library Association Annual Conference in Chicago (featured auditorium speaker, Saturday June 29)
• Comic-Con International in San Diego (special guest, July 20-21)
• National Conference of African American Librarians near Cincinnati (closing keynote speaker, August 11)

Many more appearances, including festivals and in-store signings, will be announced shortly!

MARCH in your hands!

March: Book One comes out in less than three months -- which means you can now pre-order it from your favorite retailer! So let your bookseller know how important this book is to you, and help us launch this landmark graphic novel with as big a splash as possible.

March: Book One, a deluxe softcover graphic novel with french flaps and black & white interiors, 6.5" x 9.5", 128 pages.
-- ISBN 978-1-60309-300-2
-- $14.95 (US)
-- Release Date: August 13, 2013.

For more information and a 14-page preview, visit http://www.topshelfcomix.com/march.

At long last! After ten years of labor to produce the original From Hell graphic novel, followed by nearly fifteen years of international success and critical adulation, British comic-book geniuses Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell have returned to revisit their masterpiece of Victorian murder and madness.

Behold: The FROM HELL Companion.

288 pages of Alan Moore's original scripts and sketches, suffused with art and commentary by Eddie Campbell. As the critics say, it's "an essential complement to From Hell."

Grab yours today!

One of the hemisphere's finest comic shows, the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, is upon us -- or maybe we are upon it! The Top Shelf team is geared up for a massive show, with a bevy of cartoonists;

• Jess Fink debuting the irresistible time-travel memoir We Can Fix It!
• Kevin Cannon with a super-special early batch of Crater XV, the thrilling sequel to Far Arden!
• The ghost of Zander Cannon, absent but with a super-special early batch of the underworld epic Heck!
• Jeff Lemire (The Underwater Welder, Essex County, Lost Dogs)!
• Matt Kindt (Super Spy, 2 Sisters)!
• Kagan McLeod (Infinite Kung Fu)!
• Ed Piskor (Wizzywig)!
• Liz Prince (Will You Still Love Me If I Wet the Bed?, Delayed Replays)!
• Tim Sievert (That Salty Air)!

See you in Toronto!

Time-travelers and fans of kissing rejoice! The funny and fantastic Jess Fink (author of the sweet and sexy Chester 5000) returns to stores everywhere today with the utterly charming We Can Fix It!

WCFI! is a "time travel memoir" about futuristic jumpsuits, sexy self-smooches, and wrestling with regret. It's all the romance and drama and comedy of Chester 5000, applied to a much more personal story and filtered through the sci-fi trappings of time-travel fiction. But don't take our word for it -- click through for praise from Kate Beaton, Ryan North, Joey Comeau, Booklist, and Comics Bulletin!

(NOTE: While Chester 5000 is for adults only due to explicit content, We Can Fix It! is suitable for mature readers 16+.)

And that's not all: Jess will be launching We Can Fix It! in person at TCAF this weekend in Toronto, so come on out and get a signed copy!

Dear friends,

It's always a pleasure when we get to bring you something new. This month, we announce TWO special projects that we're especially proud of, bringing new faces -- and a lot of fun -- into the Top Shelf family!

Rob Harrell is a veteran of newspaper comic strips, but his first graphic novel -- MONSTER ON THE HILL -- is something truly amazing. The buzz is already fantastic, with praise rolling in from Neil Gaiman, Jeff Smith, Richard Thompson, and The AV Club's Noel Murray!

Meanwhile, Portland writer Mark Russell and renowned cartoonist Shannon Wheeler have created a book that must be seen to be believed. GOD IS DISAPPOINTED IN YOU is the "condensed" version of the Bible you never knew you needed -- witty, cynical, and surprisingly lucid -- published as a deluxe Bible-style hardcover with all the trimmings!

PLUS: Matt Kindt fans rejoice -- SUPER SPY returns with a new printing!

You can pre-order all these titles now from your favorite store, for release in July. And as always, click through for beautiful preview pages!

Once again the Top Shelf team hits the road this weekend, setting up to meet YOU at two great conventions thousands of miles apart.

In Portland, Oregon, come out to the Stumptown Comics Festival to meet special guest James Kochalka, returning to Portland for the first time in many years! He'll be discussing comics for kids (like Johnny Boo and the award-winning Dragon Puncher series), sharing secrets of his boundary-pushing animated series SuperF*ckers, and much more. Plus all our latest & greatest books are yours for the buying!

At the same time, those of you near Chicago, Illinois, can meet hometown hero Jeffrey Brown at C2E2, debuting not one but TWO new books! Fans of his bestselling Star Wars comedy Darth Vader and Son rejoice, as we'll have copies of the brand-new sequel Vader's Little Princess courtesy of Chronicle Books. What's more, we'll also have a special advance debut of Jeffrey's next landmark of autobiography, A Matter of Life, a gorgeous full-color hardcover! See you in Chicago!

A hearty congratulations to Joseph Remnant on his TWO Eisner Award nominations for Harvey Pekar's Cleveland (Best Penciller/Inker and Best Lettering), and to Ed Piskor & Chris Ross on their nomination for Wizzywig (Best Publication Design)! That's a handsome pair of books, indeed.

Click here for the full list of nominees -- congratulations to all! We'll see you at San Diego Comic-Con for the award ceremony in July.

Our relationship with Jeffrey Brown dates back almost as far as the company itself -- from his stunning debut CLUMSY through the full Girlfriend Trilogy (UNLIKELY and AEIOU), the comedy of BIGHEAD and I AM GOING TO BE SMALL, the all-ages adventure of INCREDIBLE CHANGE-BOTS and much more, Jeffrey has continued to grow and develop just as Top Shelf has. This month, it's a great pleasure to announce a new landmark together: his first autobiographical book in full color, venturing into the unexplored worlds of family and faith!

PRE-ORDER NOW FROM YOUR FAVORITE RETAILER!

A MATTER OF LIFE
by Jeffrey Brown
-- Full-color hardcover graphic novel, 5.25" x 8"
-- 96 pages
-- ISBN 978-1-60309-266-1
-- $14.95 (US)
-- Audience: Mature readers (16+)
-- In the current DIAMOND PREVIEWS (for books shipping in June)

"[A] characteristically heartfelt memoir." -- Booklist

After the acclaimed indie film Save the Date and the bestselling all-ages humor book Darth Vader and Son, graphic novelist Jeffrey Brown (Clumsy, Unlikely) returns to the autobiographical work that first made his reputation -- with an all-new full-color hardcover!

In A Matter of Life, Jeffrey Brown draws upon memories of three generations of Brown men: himself, his minister father, and his preschooler son Oscar. Weaving through time, passing through the quiet suburbs and colorful cities of the midwest, their stories slowly assemble into a kaleidoscopic answer to the big questions: matters of life and death, family and faith, and the search for something beyond oneself.

Every year, in partnership with the Faith & Politics Institute, Congressman John Lewis leads a bipartisan group of representatives & senators to Alabama for a "Civil Rights Pilgrimage," visiting key sites in the history of the civil rights movement. This year, during the 50th anniversary of major events in the watershed year of 1963, the delegation surpassed 250 people, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III, and Vice President Joe Biden.

Also in attendance were the two young men collaborating with John Lewis on his upcoming graphic novel memoir March (Book One): Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell! Above is a photo of the three graphic novelists during the ceremonial crossing of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, commemorating the 1965 march across that bridge, known as "Bloody Sunday," in which protesters were gassed and beaten by state and local police -- an event depicted in the opening pages of March.

Perhaps the most powerful event of the pilgrimage occurred in the state capital of Montgomery, during a reconciliation & remembrance service at First Baptist Church, where Montgomery Police Chief Kevin Murphy officially apologized to Lewis for the police's inaction while Lewis and other Freedom Riders were beaten by a violent mob in 1961. As a gesture of reconciliation, Murphy gave his own badge to Lewis and said, “we are truly grateful to you.”

Stay tuned for more news on Mr. Lewis and March, building up to its release on August 13!

In this month's Diamond Previews (for pre-order), we explore the past with two incredible books of the future: Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell reveal the secrets of their creative partnership on the legendary FROM HELL, and Jess Fink brings her erotic whimsy to bear on a hilarious and thoughtful sci-fi memoir.

Celebrate Valentine's Day this year by curling up with a beautiful graphic novel... digitally!

Whether you're sharing comics with your sweetie, or simply falling in love with a new book, Top Shelf is here for you. We've selected a lovely lineup of thematically appropriate digital comics and put them on sale for a limited time! Jeffrey Brown's intimately observed relationship memoirs, Alan Moore & Jose Villarrubia's celebration of same-sex love through the ages, Liz Prince's young-love comedy, Paul Tobin & Colleen Coover's whimsical romantic mystery, award-winning dramas from Ludovic Debeurme and Alex Robinson, and more!

As if that weren't enough, Jess Fink's delightful Chester 5000 makes its digital debut today! The beloved webcomic-turned-graphic-novel, about the special feelings that blossom between a young lady and her Victorian sex robot, is now available for your digital comics reader. This wordless romp is funny, romantic, and very steamy -- so adults only, please!

This year, try something new for V-Day with Top Shelf digital comics -- and don't hesitate to share the love!

(Sale ends FEBRUARY 17TH, 2013.)

Congressman John Lewis (GA-5) is an American icon, a man who has witnessed history in the making and helped make history himself as one of the key figures of the civil rights movement. His commitment to justice and nonviolence has taken him from an Alabama sharecropper’s farm to the halls of Congress, from a segregated schoolroom to the 1963 March on Washington, and from receiving beatings from state troopers to receiving the Medal of Freedom from the first African-American president.

Now, to share his remarkable story with new generations, Lewis is turning to the graphic novel format, in collaboration with co-writer Andrew Aydin and artist Nate Powell (winner of the Eisner Award and LA Times Book Prize finalist for Swallow Me Whole, NY Times Bestseller for The Silence of Our Friends). The resulting graphic novel trilogy, entitled March, will be released by Georgia-based publisher Top Shelf Productions, known for the thoughtful and award-winning works of Alan Moore, Craig Thompson, and Jeff Lemire.

March is a vivid first-hand account of John Lewis’ lifelong struggle for civil and human rights (including his key roles in the historic 1963 March on Washington and the 1965 Selma-Montgomery March), meditating in the modern age on the distance traveled since the days of Jim Crow and segregation. Rooted in Lewis' personal story, it also reflects on the highs and lows of the broader civil rights movement.

The first volume, March (Book One), will appear in stores everywhere on August 13, 2013. Two weeks later, America will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs & Freedom.

Throughout the year, Lewis and his co-creators will travel across the country to promote the book, including featured keynote appearances at BookExpo America in New York, the American Library Association’s Annual Conference in Chicago, and Comic-Con International in San Diego.

March is a historic first, both for the U.S. Congress and for comics publishing as a whole, marking the first time a sitting member of Congress has authored a graphic novel. Top Shelf Productions is the first and only graphic novel publisher to be certified by the House Committee on Standards.

In March, a true American icon joins with one of America’s most acclaimed graphic novelists. Together, they bring to life one of our nation’s most historic moments, a period both shameful and inspiring, and a movement whose echoes will be heard for generations.

March (Book One), a deluxe softcover graphic novel with french flaps and black & white interiors, 6.5" x 9.5", 128 pages, ISBN 978-1-60309-300-2, $14.95 US. August 13, 2013.

For more information and a 14-page preview, visit http://www.topshelfcomix.com/march.

For publicity inquiries, contact Leigh Walton (leigh@topshelfcomix.com, 919-610-2481).

From the pages of the hit digital magazine DOUBLE BARREL come a magnificent pair of actual, physical books! Pre-order now from your favorite retailer, or grab the exclusive signed & numbered bundles direct from Top Shelf, and get ready for adventure in the spring!

HECK by Zander Cannon
-- A 284-page hardcover graphic novel
-- 8.5" x 5.5" (landscape format)
-- ISBN 978-1-60309-301-9, $19.95 (US)
-- Audience: Mature readers (16+)

It's his own personal Hell. After the funeral of his estranged father, faded hometown hero Hector "Heck" Hammarskjöld finds himself the new owner of the old man's house... and inside it, a portal to the underworld! Award-winning cartoonist Zander Cannon (The Replacement God, Top 10, Smax, The Stuff of Life) presents his long-awaited first graphic novel: a story of memory, friendship, and regret, where the past is dead and buried... but not out of reach.

Also available: a special deluxe package of HECK, for true heroes of the underworld!

HECK (Signed & Numbered) by Zander Cannon
This Heck hardcover comes with a limited-edition bookplate signed by Zander Cannon, plus a few bonuses:
-- "True Tales of Jin" mini-comic
-- "Master of Feng Shui" mini-comic
-- A Double Barrel sticker
-- And Heck postcard cut-out action figures!
Available exclusively from Top Shelf for $29.95 and limited to 150 copies!

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CRATER XV by Kevin Cannon
-- A 496-page hardcover graphic novel, 5" x 6.5"
-- ISBN 978-1-60309-100-8, $19.95 (US)
-- Audience: Mature readers (16+)

You've never seen a Cold War like this. In CRATER XV, the follow-up to 2009's Eisner-nominated FAR ARDEN, Kevin Cannon weaves together an intoxicating tale of swashbuckling adventure, abandoned moon bases, bloodthirsty walruses, rogue astronauts, two-faced femme fatales, sailboat chases, Siberian pirates, international Arctic politics, and a gaggle of horny orphans. For mystery, thrills, and Arctic chills, set a course for CRATER XV!

Also available: a special deluxe package of CRATER XV for Army Shanks' biggest fans!

CRATER XV (Signed & Numbered) by Kevin Cannon
This CRATER XV hardcover comes with a limited-edition bookplate signed by Kevin Cannon, plus a few bonuses:
-- Exclusive new Army Shanks mini-comic
-- "The Horse Head Killer" mini-comic
-- A Double Barrel sticker
-- And Crater XV postcard cut-out action figures!
Available exclusively from Top Shelf for $29.95 and limited to 150 copies!