Top Shelf Productions

Top Shelf Productions is bursting with pride to announce that Nate Powell's graphic novel Swallow Me Whole has been nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize!

Swallow Me Whole is one of five official finalists in the category of Young Adult Fiction, making it the first graphic novel to be nominated for this prize, in any category, since Art Spiegelman's Maus won the Fiction category in 1992! "I'm honored just to be considered," says Powell, "and feel dizzy having my book even placed in the same sentence as Maus."

Although Swallow Me Whole was not created exclusively for young adult readers, it is fundamentally a story about the dark, quiet corners of adolescence. The book follows two teenage stepsiblings, Ruth and Perry, through the ups and downs of school, family, and suburban restlessness -- all complicated by the insect armies, swirling visions, and haunting voices that no one else can perceive.

"To be a young person is to be surrounded at all times by frightening transition and the terror of losing touch with a safe and familiar world," says Powell. "Sometimes the only salvation from that terror is in what a teenager can create for themselves."

Hey Surrogates fans, if you've already hit up the Virtual Self website, caught the first movie trailer at New York Comic-Con, re-read the graphic novel, and flipped your wig over set photos, you're probably dying for a look at the upcoming prequel graphic novel, The Surrogates: Flesh and Bone.

Well, thanks to the good folks at MTV Splash Page, that's exactly what we can give you! Click here for an 11-page look at the new book, which takes place 15 years before the first story and should be in stores this July.

Your agent in the field snapped this eyewitness view of the first Surrogates movie poster, which was unveiled at last weekend's New York Comic Con!

Fans were also treated to a screening of the sweet new trailer, as well as an army of real-life surrogates who wormed their way through the show floor, passing out business cards for a certain Virtual Self Inc. What's that about? And what's up with this www.ChooseYourSurrogate.com web site?

Only one way to find out...

The excellent video game blog Offworld (part of the Boing Boing empire) has teamed with Top Shelf superstar cartoonist James Kochalka to create the official James Kochalka's Monster Mii series!

If you have a Nintendo Wii, you know about Miis, the little avatars that you can create, import, and customize to add some personality to your games. Now James, always on the cutting edge of toy technology, has turned his creative juices to making the most monstrous Mii faces he can imagine! And you can download them yourself, using the codes provided! There are three so far, with more on the way: Kzorx, Zex, and Dorgie! Some of them even have their own theme song! So add a little Kochalka to your gaming life today!

Disney/Touchstone has released the first production still from the upcoming Surrogates movie, based on the Top Shelf graphic novel by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele! Here we see Bruce Willis as Agent Greer... or is it his surrogate?! More details are available at SuperHeroHype.com. Mark your calendars now for the September 25, 2009 release -- and pick up a copy of the Surrogates graphic novel for friends & family, so they can be in on this brilliant story before it hits the big screen! Last but not least, you can pre-order the prequel graphic novel The Surrogates: Flesh and Bone, which will be out in July! Sweet!

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran a great couple of articles on Top Shelf this week, including a wide-ranging profile of Chris Staros and the company as well as an in-depth article on Robert Venditti and The Surrogates! And speaking of Surrogates, MTV recently ran an interview with Elizabeth Banks (Zack & Miri Make a Porno, Spider-Man), who's an executive producer on the upcoming Surrogates movie! Check out the video clips from the interview as well, and mark your calendars for September 25!

Great news from our friends at Amazon.com: Alex Robinson's TOO COOL TO BE FORGOTTEN has been named one of the Best Books of 2008 in the Comics & Graphic Novels category! Alex's book landed at #7, edging out Dilbert -- quite an achievement!

Congratulations to Alex and all the other creators on the list. It's been a fine year for comics!

"Quirky, soulful, and surprising, James Kochalka's ten-year run on his diary comic is a remarkable and singular achievement. No wonder it has influenced countless cartoonists!" - James Sturm (award-winning cartoonist and director of the Center for Cartoon Studies)

Top Shelf is very proud to announce that October 26, 2008 marked the 10-year anniversary of James Kochalka's sketchbook diaries, AMERICAN ELF. Day after day for 10 years now, James has been capturing moments large and small, recording his life on paper and in pixels, and inviting the world to live it with him.

James Kochalka began his groundbreaking American Elf sketchbook diaries October 26, 1998 -- and he's kept it up every day for ten years now! Vermont's Seven Days newspaper has made this fantastic short documentary showing how life and art blend together in the Kochalka household - check it out!

Click here to check out the awesome Incredible Change-Bots trailer that's just been completed!

Blair Butler of G4TV's Attack of the Show has hyped another Top Shelf book on her "Fresh Ink" segment: Alex Robinson's Too Cool to be Forgotten! To see her take on Too Cool and some other great books, click here. Thanks, Blair! You rock.

Jeff Lemire's ESSEX COUNTY just won the DOUG WRIGHT AWARD for BEST EMERGING TALENT (CANADIAN CARTOONING). This is in addition to the slew of other awards Jeff has received this year for his amazing Trilogy of graphic novels: TALES FROM THE FARM, GHOST STORIES, and THE COUNTRY NURSE.



Jeff also won the American Library Association ALEX AWARD, the SHUSTER AWARD for OUTSTANDING CANADIAN COMIC BOOK CARTOONIST, and was nominated for a HARVEY and two EISNER AWARDS to boot!



The Trilogy is now in print, so if you haven't tried it yet, now is the time to pick it up:

Top Shelf just launched its all-new, free digital comics initiative, playfully titled Top Shelf 2.0. Updated 5 days a week, the new program will showcase a huge variety of talent both old and new, introducing creators to new fans and fans to new creators with a constant stream of new stories.



Updates to the site, posted every weekday, will take many forms, ranging from one-page gags to short stories to chapters in an ongoing series. With each day's new story, co-editors Brett Warnock and Leigh Walton will unveil another piece in a rolling assortment of previously-featured artists and new debuts. Check out the topshelf 2.0 tab on the left and see the updates already posted!

The relationship between the Swedish and American alternative comics scenes got a lot stronger a few weeks ago at the 10th Annual Swedish Small Press Expo (SPX) held at the famous and opulent KULTURHUSET -- Sweden's "House of Culture" in the heart of gorgeous downtown Stockholm.



I was lucky to be invited as a guest of both the convention and the publishing house ORDFRONT/GALAGO, as this September Top Shelf will be distributing FROM THE SHADOW OF THE NORTHERN LIGHTS, the first ever all-English anthology of Swedish alternative comics.

Jeff Lemire not only won the American Library Association's "ALEX AWARD" for his phenomenal graphic novel, ESSEX COUNTY (VOL 1): TALES FROM THE FARM, but TALES FROM THE FARM and ESSEX COUNTY (VOL 2): GHOST STORIES have both just been nominated for the 2008 JOE SHUSTER AWARD for Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist (Writer/Artist), and also two EISNER AWARDS for both Best New Graphic Album and Best Writer/Artist.



Congrats also to Matt Kindt for his Eisner Nomination for Best Graphic Album (Reprint) for SUPER SPY.



If you haven't picked up these three amazing graphic novels yet, you should. They are amazing!