Top Shelf Productions

The queer sci-fi action adventure is now a free webcomic at www.cosmoknights.space, where the entire book will be serialized before publication as a graphic novel this fall.

We've got a fantastic and diverse lineup in this month's Diamond Previews now for release in May and June: Penny Nichols (a hilarious love letter to indie/DIY culture), two delightful kids' books in Surfside Girls 2 and Box, and the final issue of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen!

Top Shelf Productions will publish the solo debut graphic novel by acclaimed cartoonist Hannah Templer (Jem and the Holograms, GLOW). Written, drawn, and colored by Templer, Cosmoknights is a thrilling galactic adventure set in a world where mech-suited warriors duel over the daughters of the aristocracy, and a fledgling resistance of lady knights aim to bring down the system from within.

Templer will serialize Cosmoknights on its own dedicated web site, www.cosmoknights.space, beginning in March 2019 (International Women's Month), leading to its print publication in Fall 2019. Many retailers are already taking online pre-orders, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Hudson Booksellers, and Penguin Random House — or you can speak to your local shop.

For more on Cosmoknights, including an exclusive Q&A with Hannah Templer, visit today's article in The Hollywood Reporter!

“A bewitching and fascinating roadtrip… with impeccable writing and narration.” — Planete BD

“Shadmi intrigues with his mysteries and his evocative skill, asking more questions than he answers.” — BoDoï

Israeli cartoonist Koren Shadmi (Love Addict, The Abaddon) turns to science fiction in a sprawling, ambitious journey across time and space.

Forever on the move, Highwayman travels through the vastness of North America searching for the source of his condition. He suffers from a strange, seemingly incurable disease: immortality. Bound to the road and at the mercy of whomever will give him a ride, he encounters people who reflect the rapidly changing world around him. Moving through centuries of change, he watches humanity’s precarious trajectory towards an unknown future.

Highwayman by Koren Shadmi

$19.99 (US) • ISBN 978-1-60309-441-2 • Diamond order code: JAN190855

160 pages • full color • softcover graphic novel w/ flaps • 7.15" x 9"

For mature readers (16+) • Read a 4-page preview

Coming in May 2019!

Pre-order from your favorite comic shop or anywhere books are sold.

Two Latinx kids battle supernatural threats to their working-class neighborhood with the power of science, magic, and some very special hoodies.

Red Panda and Moon Bear are the defenders of their community! Together, these brave siblings rescue lost cats, scold bullies, and solve mysteries, all before Mamá and Papá get home. But lately… the mysteries have been EXTRA mysterious. All of RP and MB’s powers may not be enough to handle spooks, supervillains, alien invaders, and time warps! It’ll take all their imagination — and some new friends — to uncover the secret cause behind all these events before the whole world goes crazy.

In his first book for young readers, Cuban-American cartoonist Jarod Roselló presents a whimsical and tender-hearted adventure, packed with Saturday-morning action and glowing with Caribbean sunshine.

Red Panda and Moon Bear by Jarod Roselló
ISBN 978-1-60309-444-3 • Diamond: DEC180805
$14.99 (US) • Full-color interiors • For young readers (8-12) and up
a 184-page softcover graphic novel with flaps • 6" x 9"

Coming in March 2019
Check out an interior preview.
Then pre-order from your favorite retailer!

Pictures at a revolution: acclaimed graphic novelist James Albon (Her Bark and Her Bite) explores the role of the artist in a frighteningly familiar near-future of tyrannical regimes and popular revolts.

Francesca Saxon, artist and loyal citizen of the nation, is thrilled when she receives a commission to design the central mural of an epic new swimming pool: the jewel in the crown for an insecure regime obsessed by propaganda. Leaving the comfort of her coastal hometown for the lap of luxury of the capital, she is swept up in the paranoia of a government threatened by underground revolutionaries, whose promise of a freer, happier future looks increasingly appealing. Torn between rival factions and her personal loyalties, she realizes that when ideology has a stranglehold on art, the picture is rarely pretty.

With its second volume landing in bookstores everywhere this week, The Jekyll Island Chronicles is an award-winning series of alternate-history graphic novels, featuring an unlikely band of World War I veterans who continue to serve their country by battling an anarchist cabal in a post-war era of invention.

On the centennial of the end of that war, the creators and publishers of the series have prepared a very special way for readers to join in honoring the heroes of “The Great War.”

This Sunday marks the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. In all that time, there has never been a national memorial in our capital dedicated to the millions who served and sacrificed. So as The Jekyll Island Chronicles brings new light to that era, the Top Shelf/IDW publishing family is proud to assist.

Through the end of 2018, a portion of every purchase of The Jekyll Island Chronicles, whether in print or digital, will go toward helping complete the National WWI Memorial in Washington, DC.

In March 2019—

The beloved young-reader series by Eisner Award winner James Kochalka returns

with a new adventure fit for a king!

Johnny Boo is wearing a crown on his head, so that means he's the king! Squiggle wants to be king too, so he puts a rock on his head. After a brief argument, they decide to share their new flying castle, and fly to the moon. Or are they just pretending? After a madcap encounter with the Ice Cream Monster, they finally get too sleepy to stay awake... making this silly story excellent for bedtime.

A few days ago, legendary actor, activist, and author George Takei visited New York to deliver the keynote address at School Library Journal's 14th annual Leadership Summit.

Speaking to a rapt audience of key figures from schools and libraries around the United States, Takei narrated his wrenching firsthand experience in childhood as one of 120,000 Japanese Americans forced into internment camps during World War II. Takei also explored the complex lessons of patriotism and civic engagement passed down by his father, the duty of all Americans to stand up for our ideals, and his hopes for They Called Us Enemy to both educate and inspire new generations with the lessons of the past.

"Next year, we will put it in your hands, you librarians, to build the future of America, to inform the young people who will become the leaders of our future that we have a glorious history... but we should also be mindful of some of the horrible mistakes that we made," he said. "As Americans, we all have a responsibility to build a better America."

They Called Us Enemy is currently in preparation for release in Summer 2019, but some retailers are already beginning to offer pre-orders — including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Hudson Booksellers, and the IndieBound network of independent bookstores.

For the full story on Takei's address to the SLJ Leadership Summit, see this article.

Calvin & Hobbes meets Call of Cthulhu as the sensationally popular heavy metal webcomic BELZEBUBS comes to your bookshelf in a grim, goofy, and gorgeous hardcover.

Belzebubs is a “trve kvlt mockumentary” focusing on the everyday challenges of family life: raising kids, running a small business, and making time for worship. Except the kids are named Lilith and Leviathan, the business is a black-metal band, and the worship… isn’t exactly aimed upstairs.

In a few short years, what started out as improvised social-media doodles has now become a wildly successful webcomic with hundreds of thousands of fans. The irresistible cartooning of JP Ahonen (Sing No Evil) combines relatable slice-of-life humor with over-the-top occult antics and references from metal music to Lovecraftian horror, making Belzebubs a devil of a good time.

See what Belzebubs' quarter-million frenzied Facebook fans have been raving about!

PLUS: watch for the official Belzebubs soundtrack album, coming in early 2019 from the world’s largest heavy metal record label, Century Media!

“A story whose pleasure lies not only in appreciating the beauty of its artwork, but in deciphering what lies hidden in its metaphors.” — Nerd Geek Feelings

“Beautiful and unique… Ye delicately portrays how difficult it is to find oneself in the world and, more importantly, how to control our insecurities.” — Conexão Comix

“Here are Eastern European cultures, medieval myths, works of fantasy, the Sandman stories of Neil Gaiman, and the drawings of Hayao Miyazaki… It’s one of the year’s most interesting works.” — O Grito

Two Latinx kids battle supernatural threats to their working-class neighborhood with the power of science, magic, and a pair of very special hoodies.

Red Panda and Moon Bear are the defenders of their community! Together, these brave siblings rescue lost cats, scold bullies, and solve mysteries, all before Mamá and Papá get home. But lately... the mysteries have been EXTRA mysterious. All of RP and MB's powers may not be enough to handle spooks, supervillains, alien invaders, and time warps! It'll take all their imagination — and some new friends — to uncover the secret cause behind all these events before the whole world goes crazy.

In his first book for young readers, Cuban-American cartoonist Jarod Roselló presents a whimsical and tender-hearted adventure, packed with Saturday-morning adventure and glowing with Caribbean sunshine.

Hispanic/Latinx kids make up about 25% of US students and growing, yet almost no comics or graphic novels focus on their experience. We are thrilled to introduce Jarod Roselló's exuberant young heroes to readers everywhere!

It's a banner week for Top Shelf new releases — available in all fine comic shops today!

Girl Town by Carolyn Nowak

$19.99 (US) • ISBN 978-1-60309-438-2 • Diamond: JUN180750

160 pages • full color • softcover graphic novel w/ flaps • 6.5” x 9”

For older teens & adults (16+) • Read an 11-page preview

You'll never want to leave these richly emotional tales of female friendship, desire, and healing.

"Spellbinding... a cerebral, spirited work of art." — Foreword Reviews (starred review

From Hell: Master Edition #1 (of 10) by Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell

$7.99 (US) • Diamond order code: JUL180935

72 pages • full-color prestige-format comic book (with spine)

For adults (18+) • Read a 5-page preview

Experience Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell's Victorian murder masterpiece as never before: fully revised and colorized for the first time by the hand of Eddie Campbell himself!

The Jekyll Island Chronicles (Book 2): A Devil's Reach

by Steve Nedvidek, Ed Crowell, Jack Lowe, Moses Nester, and S. J. Miller

$19.99 (US) • ISBN 978-1-60309-426-9 - Diamond: FEB180481

168 pages • full color • softcover graphic novel w/ flaps • 6.875” x 10.435”

For young adults & adults (13+) • Read a 4-page preview

The surprise hit diesel-powered action-thriller Jekyll Island Chronicles roar back with an even more exciting sequel, packed with mechanical adventure and fascinating historical truths!

Plus: meet Nate Powell, Liz Prince, Erin Nations, Maria Hoey, Molly Ostertag, Jennifer Hayden, Jess Fink, and more!

Brave the hurricane and join Top Shelf at Small Press Expo this weekend in Bethesda, MD! We're honored to host Carolyn Nowak and Nate Powell as Special Guests of the festival, and thrilled that Carolyn's much-anticipated Girl Town will make its world debut at the show. (Following SPX, Girl Town will reach comic shops in October and mainstream booksellers in November.)

The Top Shelf booth will also feature Liz Prince (Look Back & Laugh) and Erin Nations (Gumballs), and you won't have to look far to find Maria Hoey (Coin-Op), Molly Ostertag (Strong Female Protagonist), Jennifer Hayden (The Story of My Tits), Jess Fink (Chester 5000)...

It's a Top Shelf Two-in-One! Issue #1 of Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill's final project (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Tempest) sold out immediately upon release, but reprints are now back in stock… along with the brand-new issue #2! Call your favorite comic shop now to grab 'em.