Top Shelf Comix

Top Shelf Productions is an American publishing company founded in 1997, originally owned and operated by Chris Staros and Brett Warnock with a small staff. Currently an imprint of IDW Publishing, Top Shelf is based in Marietta, Georgia.

Top Shelf publishes comics and graphic novels by authors such as Alan Moore, Craig Thompson, James Kochalka, Andy Runton, Jeffrey Brown, Nate Powell, Eddie Campbell, Alex Robinson, Jeff Lemire, and Matt Kindt.

History

The company was founded by Chris Staros and Brett Warnock after discussions between the pair at the 1997 Small Press Expo. Previously, Warnock had used the Top Shelf name as the title for a self-published anthology, while Staros had worked in the industry representing Eddie Campbell in the United States and self-published a number of comics-based zines. The partnership evolved from combining Warnock's design skills and marketing abilities with Staros' talents for editing and book-keeping. The duo started publishing under the name Primal Groove Press, but soon changed it to Top Shelf.

The first title to be published by the new imprint was Pete Sickman-Garner's ''Hey, Mister: After School Special'', a collection of Garner's previously self-published comic books along with two new tales. Works by James Kochalka followed, and then in 1999 the company published ''Good-bye, Chunky Rice'', a work which saw its creator, Craig Thompson, win a Harvey Award and which helped establish Top Shelf's reputation for publishing works of merit, with it being chosen as a book of the year by ''The Comics Journal'' (#220) alongside the Top Shelf-distributed ''From Hell''.

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 tagline "Your friend thru comics". The company launched at a recessional period for comics, and saw themselves as, together with Fantagraphics, Drawn & Quarterly, and the now-defunct Highwater Books, attempting to "change the public perception and face of comics altogether". In 2000 Staros delivered the keynote speech at the Ignatz Awards, and argued that the industry must focus more on content, and that more works of the merit of ''From Hell'' and '' Jimmy Corrigan'' would help the public re-evaluate their perceptions of the medium.

In April 2002, the collapse of the bookstore distributor LPC caused severe financial problems for the company. A $20,000 issued by the distributor bounced. Investigation by Top Shelf revealed an LPC filing for Chapter 11, a move which left Top Shelf in a perilous state: The company had issued checks based on the LPC check clearing. The company called upon the goodwill it had previously established in the comics market and issued a communication asking for help. They appealed to former customers to "find it in your hearts to each spend around fifty bucks ... this would literally pull us through". The communication swiftly spread across the internet, with both Neil Gaiman and Warren Ellis amplifying the appeal through their online presences. The move created such an atmosphere that rival publisher and fellow LPC client Dark Horse felt moved to issue a statement to the effect that they were "in a profitable position."

Top Shelf was unprepared for the response, drafting 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.

Top Shelf have slowly expanded their line and typically aim to launch works at conventions in order to generate a buzz. The 2004 San Diego Comic-Con saw the company launch eight books, of which two were immediate sell-outs. This has at times caused unrest with retailers, particularly when ''Blankets'' was launched at the 2003 San Diego Comic-Con. The company also followed this route with Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie's ''Lost Girls'', launching it at the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con. The work had long been on the schedules of Top Shelf, initially intended as a three-volume affair scheduled for a 2002 release. The eventual publication proved controversial, with Moore himself describing the work as "pornography" and Chris Staros admitting that publication was "putting the whole company on the line". Before publication, fears were raised that the book would prove hard to sell given its nature, and that there may be legal implications. However, the work received good reviews and the initial print run sold out in one day. The work has yet to be distributed in the United Kingdom, as the Great Ormond Street Hospital currently owns the copyright to ''Peter Pan''. Top Shelf agreed not to distribute the work in the UK until after that copyright expired at the end of 2007. They do, however, refute that the work breaches the copyrights held.

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.

Titles

Pete Sickman-Garner

Titles by Pete Sickman-Garner are:

*'' Hey Mister- Afterschool special''
*'' Hey Mister- Celebrity Roast''
*'' Hey Mister- The Fall Collection''

Alan Moore

Titles by Alan Moore include:

*''Lost Girls'' (with Melinda Gebbie, 2006)
*''From Hell'' (with Eddie Campbell, 1999)
*'' Voice of the Fire'' (1996)
*'' The Mirror of Love'' (with Jose Villarrubia)
*'' The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume III: Century'' (with Kevin O'Neill, 2009)
* '' The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic'' (with co-writer Steve Moore and artists including Kevin O'Neill, Melinda Gebbie, John Coulthart, and José Villarrubia, 320 pages, hardcover, 2009,

Craig Thompson

Titles by Craig Thompson include:

*''Blankets''
*''Good-bye, Chunky Rice''
*'' Carnet de Voyage''

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 Jeffrey Brown include:

*'' 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:

*'' Please Release''
*'' Swallow Me Whole''
*'' Any Empire''

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:

*'' Lone Racer''
*'' Van Helsing's Night Off''

Tom Hart

Titles by Tom Hart include:

*'' Hutch Owen'':
** ''The Collected''
** ''Unmarketable''

Rich Koslowski

Titles by Rich Koslowski include:

*'' The King''
*'' Three Fingers''

Tony Consiglio

Titles by Tony Consiglio include:

*''110 Per¢''
*'' Doublecross''

Dan James

Titles by Dan James include:

*''Mosquito''
*'' The Octopi & The Ocean''

Max Estes

Titles by Max Estes include:

*'' Coffee & Donuts''
*'' Hello, Again''

David Yurkovich

Titles by David Yurkovich include:

*'' Less Than Heroes''
*'' Death By Chocolate: Redux''

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
*''Comic Book Artist magazine'' edited by 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 ProgramGoing Inside SCAD's ''Discovered''
Newsarama, April 2, 2008
*'' Grampa & Julie: Shark Hunters'' by Jef Czekaj
* ''Keyhole'' by Dean Haspiel and Josh Neufeld
*'' Korgi'' by Christian Slade
*'' March: Book One'' by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, illustrated by Nate Powell
*'' 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
*'' Strong Female Protagonist'' by Brennan Lee Mulligan and Molly Ostertag
*''The Surrogates'' by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele
*'' Tales From The Farm'' by Jeff Lemire
*'' Tales Of Woodsman Pete'' by 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

External links

*
Brett Warnock's Blog
*
Podcast Interview with Chris StarosInterview with Brett Warnock
at The Wright Opinion, from January 21, 2008
*

{{Authority control

Publishers of adult comics
IDW Publishing
Comic book publishing companies of the United States
Publishing companies established in 1997
Companies based in Cobb County, Georgia
Marietta, Georgia
2015 mergers and acquisitions