Top Shelf Productions
Parent company IDW Publishing (since 2015) | | |
Predecessor | Primal Groove Press | |
---|---|---|
Founded | 1997 | |
Founder | Chris Staros and Brett Warnock | |
Country of origin | United States | |
Headquarters location | Marietta, Georgia | |
Key people | Chris Staros, Leigh Walton | |
Publication types | Comics | |
Official website | www |
Top Shelf Productions is an American publishing company founded in 1997, originally owned and operated by Chris Staros and Brett Warnock and a small staff. Now an imprint of IDW Publishing, Top Shelf is based in Marietta, Georgia.
Top Shelf publishes
.History
The company was founded by Chris Staros and Brett Warnock after discussions between the pair at the 1997
The first title to be published by the new imprint was
Staros and Warnock have aimed to give their imprint a style "that is quite hip, but also quite endearing", and Staros regularly signs correspondence with the
In April 2002 the collapse of the bookstore distributor LPC caused severe financial problems for the company. A $20,000 check the distributor had issued bounced. Investigation by Top Shelf revealed an LPC filing for
Top Shelf were unprepared for the response, with a volunteer drafted to help pack the orders. A second communication was issued a day later, declaring "Top Shelf Saved by Comics Community Record 12 Hours." The move was greeted with envy by rival publishers, Tom Devlin of Highwater told The Comics Journal that although he viewed the move initially as maybe "a little pathetic", he later realized it as "the most remarkable marketing scheme", although qualifying that he didn't feel "there was a cynical moment" in Top Shelf's actions.[8]
Top Shelf have slowly expanded their line and typically aim to launch works at conventions in order to generate a buzz.
On January 6, 2015, IDW Publishing announced that it had acquired Top Shelf Publishing. Top Shelf co-founder Warnock announced his retirement from comics publishing, while Staros stayed on as Top Shelf's editor-in-chief.[17]
Titles
Pete Sickman-Garner
Titles by
Alan Moore
Titles by Alan Moore include:
- Lost Girls (with Melinda Gebbie, 2006)
- From Hell (with Eddie Campbell, 1999)
- Voice of the Fire (1996)
- Jose Villarrubia)
- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume III: Century (with Kevin O'Neill, 2009)
- ISBN 978-1-60309-001-8) [1]
Craig Thompson
Titles by Craig Thompson include:
Andy Runton
Titles by Andy Runton include:
- Owly
- The Way Home
- Just A Little Blue
- Flying Lessons
- A Time To Be Brave
Jeffrey Brown
Titles by
- Clumsy
- Unlikely
- Aeiou
- Every Girl Is The End Of The World For Me
- I Am Going To Be Small
- Be a Man
- Minisulk
- Bighead
- Feeble Attempts
- Incredible Change-Bots
James Kochalka
Titles by James Kochalka include:
- SuperF*ckers
- Monkey vs. Robot
- American Elf
- Pinky & Stinky
- Conversation
- Magic Boy and the Robot Elf
- The Perfect Planet
- The Johnny Boo series
- Glork Patrol
Alex Robinson
Titles by Alex Robinson include:
- Tricked
- Box Office Poison
- Bop! - More Box Office Poison
- Too Cool To Be Forgotten
- Alex Robinson's Lower Regions
Nate Powell
Titles by Nate Powell include:
Renée French
Titles by Renée French include:
- The Ticking
- The Soap Lady
- Micrographica
Jason Hall
Titles by Jason Hall include:
- Pistolwhip (with Matt Kindt):
- Pistolwhip
- The Yellow Menace
- Mephisto & The Empty Box
Matt Kindt
Titles by Matt Kindt include:
- 2 Sisters
- Pistolwhip (with Jason Hall):
- Pistolwhip
- The Yellow Menace
- Mephisto & The Empty Box
- Super Spy
Jeff Lemire
Titles by Jeff Lemire include:
- Essex County Trilogy:
- Tales From The Farm (Top Shelf Productions, 2008)
- Ghost Stories (Top Shelf Productions, 2008)
- The Country Nurse (Top Shelf Productions, 2009)
- The Collected Essex County (Top Shelf Productions, 2009)
- Contains the three main stories "Tales From The Farm", "Ghost Stories" and "The Country Nurse"
- Added short stories "The Essex County Boxing Club" and "The Sad and Lonely Life of Eddie Elephant Ears."
- Bonus materials, such as: unused promotion art, a deleted scene, character designs and so on.
- The Underwater Welder
Nicolas Mahler
Titles by Nicolas Mahler include:
Tom Hart
Titles by
- Hutch Owen:
- The Collected
- Unmarketable
Rich Koslowski
Titles by Rich Koslowski include:
Tony Consiglio
Titles by Tony Consiglio include:
Dan James
Titles by Dan James include:
Max Estes
Titles by Max Estes include:
David Yurkovich
Titles by David Yurkovich include:
Miscellanea
Other titles by various authors include:
- AX: alternative manga edited by Sean Michael Wilson
- Barefoot Serpent by Scott Morse
- Cigarette Girl by Masahiko Matsumoto
- Jon B. Cooke
- A Complete Lowlife by Ed Brubaker
- Creature Tech by Doug TenNapel
- Cry Yourself To Sleep by Jeremy Tinder
- Dang! by Martin Cendreda
- Discovered by Savannah College of Art and Design’s Sequential Art Program[18][19]
- Grampa & Julie: Shark Hunters by Jef Czekaj
- Keyhole by Dean Haspiel and Josh Neufeld
- Korgi by Christian Slade
- Moving Pictures by Kathryn and Stuart Immonen
- Regards From Serbia by Aleksandar Zograf
- Same Difference & Other Stories by Derek Kirk Kim
- Second Thoughts by Niklas Asker
- Speechless by Peter Kuper
- Spiral-Bound by Aaron Renier
- Molly Ostertag
- The Surrogates by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele
- Tales From The Farm by Jeff Lemire
- Lilli Carre
- That Salty Air by Tim Sievert
- Will You Still Love Me If I Wet The Bed? by Liz Prince
- World War 3 Illustrated by various
References
- ^ Contino, Jennifer M. (February 2002). "Take It From The Top". Interview with Chris Staros. Sequential Tart. Archived from the original on September 18, 2012. Retrieved September 2, 2007.
- ^ St-Louis, Hervé. "Interview With Chris Staros of Top Shelf Comix". Comic Book Bin. (January 6, 2008). Retrieved December 2, 2008.
- ^ von Busack, Richard (March 4–10, 1999). "Georgia's small publisher Top Shelf Comics delivers the graphic goods". Metro. Metro Publishing Inc. Retrieved February 9, 2007.
- ^ "Top Shelf Expands Its Relationship With Diamond" (Press release). Comic Book Resources. August 2, 2002. Retrieved February 9, 2007.
Top Shelf has risen to become one of the comics industry's most respected publishers
- ISSN 0194-7869.
- ^ a b Clough, Robert (October 5, 2000). "Interview: Chris Staros". Savant Issue 21. Savant. Archived from the original on October 20, 2006. Retrieved February 9, 2007.
- ^ Spurgeon, Tom (September 30, 2000). "News: Ignatz Awards 2000". The Comics Reporter. Tom Spurgeon. Retrieved February 9, 2007.
- ^ ISSN 0194-7869.
- ^ Warnock, Brett (January 24, 2006). "convention season is upon us". company blog. Top Shelf Publishing. Retrieved February 10, 2007.
we are obligated to launch certain books at conventions. This not only helps cover up-front costs, but i would posit that it ultimately helps retailers by building buzz around certain books. Buzz that might turn a one-time sale into a perennial seller.
- Time Magazine. Archived from the originalon January 4, 2007. Retrieved February 9, 2007.
- ^ Staff writer (July 31, 2003). "Innovative Graphic Novels Debut at San Diego". icv2.com. Milton Griepp. Retrieved February 9, 2007.
Sales of Blankets at the Top Shelf booth were strong enough to draw retailers' ire, since the title was so new that it hadn't been distributed to stores.
- Science Fiction Weekly. Archived from the originalon August 11, 2006. Retrieved August 8, 2006.
- ^ a b Wolk, Douglas (May 1, 2006). "Alan Moore's 'Literary' Pornography". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on October 16, 2007. Retrieved February 9, 2007.
- ^ a b Gravett, Paul (October 1, 2006). "Moore's aim is to 'create a work of sufficient sensitivity that it might begin to redefine pornography as a beautiful, safe arena'". The Independent on Sunday. p. 35. Archived from the original on November 8, 2006. Retrieved February 10, 2007.
- ^ "'Lost Girls' Sold Out". icv2.com. Milton Griepp. September 7, 2006. Retrieved February 9, 2007.
- ^ "Top Shelf Settles 'Pan' Copyright Issue". icv2.com. Milton Griepp. October 27, 2006. Retrieved February 10, 2007.
- ^ Melrose, Kevin. "IDW PUBLISHING ACQUIRES TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS," Comic Book Resources (January 6, 2015)
- ^ Scad's Sequential Art Program
- ^ Going Inside SCAD's Discovered[permanent dead link], Newsarama, April 2, 2008
External links
- Official website
- Brett Warnock's Blog
- Top Shelf Productions at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
- Podcast Interview with Chris Staros
- Interview with Brett Warnock at The Wright Opinion, from January 21, 2008
- "Independent Propaganda - INTERVIEW: Top Shelf's Chris Staros Part 1 of 2". Archived from the original on July 15, 2007. Retrieved March 7, 2009.