The advance copies of Alex Robinson’s Too Cool to be Forgotten have arrived from the printer, and boy do they look good!

If you’re going to MoCCA this weekend, don’t fail to pick one up from him/us. Well, not me, as I’ll still be here in Portland. But the Top Shelf table!

Anyway, check out that design job by (Eisner nominee) Matt Kindt.

This is what I get for Googling “Killed by my EYES! My cursed, mutant, energy-blasting EYES!”

The “Swarthmore Warders of Imaginative Literature” of 1986 present: “The Rocky Horror Mutant Show.”

Highlights:

         Scott:            The X-Men make a wonderful team, Jean
                           So why can't I just say what I mean, Jean?
                           I think that you're pretty keen, Jean.
                           If I weren't such a coward I'd scream, Jean,
         (aside)           I love you.

         (aloud)           I'm less confident than I seem, Jean.
                           My courage just runs out of steam, Jean.
                           You're all that I ever could dream, Jean.
                           I'm trying so hard to come clean, Jean,
                           And tell you.
                                 [...]
         Jean:             I really like the way that you fought, Scott,
                           If it weren’t for you I’d have been caught, Scott.
                           But Magneto’s plans came to naught, Scott.
                           Now Warren’s asked me to lunch–but
                           Hey, Scott! why not?
                           Come eat too!

And then:

Jean:                      It's astounding--
                           I'm still breathing!
                           I thought I'd lost it all.
                           I feel it in me,
                           The power's growing--
                           I've got to keep control.

                           I remember
                           I was dying--
                           I knew it was the end.
                           Then it hit me
                           The power came flooding--
                           I'll be an X-Man again!
                           I'll be an X-Man again!

                           I just rose from the dead
                           To a new incarnation.
                           Now I'm a god
                           Of my own creation.
                           Marvel Girl is gone,
                           But the Phoenix power lives on.
                           I'll be an X-Man again!
                           I'll be an X-Man again!

And of course:

         Dark Phoenix:     I used to be so frail
                           Wan and pale. (--bleah!)
                           I'd only been Marvel Girl before.

         Galactus:         You mean she's--?

         (Watcher nods.)

         Galactus:         Oh SHIT!

         Dark Phoenix:     But now the Phoenix power
                           Just grows by the hour,
                           Now it desires to soar...and devour.

                           I already know
                           Just where to go,
                           I've tasted blood but I need more.

         Watcher:          More, more, more!

         Dark Phoenix:     I don't need assistence,
                           Just some real subsistance,
                           I think perhaps I'll eat
                           That star, for instance!

                           Fear, oh fear, oh fear, oh fear me!
                           Don't dare to come near me!
                           I am no longer your Jeannie--
                           I am incarnate power!

Friday, May 16, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TOP SHELF 2.0 GOES LIVE!

American indie-comics publisher Top Shelf Productions launches today its 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. As a special bonus for the site’s launch, the initial offering features ten stories by twelve creators, demonstrating the vast diversity of comics and cartoonists involved. According to the editors’ welcome message, “that’s just the tip of the iceberg!”

Among those currently or soon to be featured on Top Shelf 2.0 are:

• the haunting avant-garde imagery of Bart Johnson and Ben Constantine…
• the globe-spanning high-kicking funkadelic fury of Kagan McCloud, serializing his indie classic Infinite Kung Fu in preparation for the collected edition to be published by Top Shelf in 2009…
• a stunning painted fable by John C. Ralston…
• Jed McGowan working his color wizardry with a beautifully limited palette…
• the freewheelin’ mythic imagination of the inimitable Bernie McGovern…
• a pair of young artists whose energy and charm practically shines from every panel of their cartoony adventures: Chris “Elio” Eliopoulos and Michael DeForge…
• the monumental TENTH 24-hour comic by the master of the form, David Chelsea (whose new book, 24×2, is on sale now from Top Shelf)…
• an inky poetic parable from young Slovenian prodigy Domen Finžgar, and a Japan-flavored short from Belgian brush-master Stedho…
• the brilliant wit and charm of notable webcomickers Jessica McLeod and Edward J Grug III…
• the Ignatz-nominated architectural hijinks of Jeff Zwirek…
• plus Aaron Navrady, Steve Lafler, Lizz Lunney, Sean T. Collins, Matt Wiegle, Matt Rota, Nik Daum, Will Dinski, Willow Dawson, Emily Block, and many more to be revealed as we keep rolling!

With its unique one-story-per-day format, Top Shelf 2.0 is a hybrid between a webcomics portal’s stable of ongoing strips and a print anthology’s stand-alone short stories. As Walton puts it, “We’re somewhere in between Keenspot and MOME.

Similarly, Walton’s web-savvy youth, combined with Warnock’s decade of experience editing the Eisner- and Harvey-Award-nominated anthology Top Shelf, makes for a killer curatorial combo.

Of course, the new program is no replacement for Top Shelf’s primary business: the print publication of critically-acclaimed and popularly treasured graphic novels. “People will never stop wanting books,” says Walton, “especially when the books are as lovingly crafted as ours (and those of other alt-comix publishers). Rather, Top Shelf 2.0 is like a little online spin-off of the big Top Shelf brand, like MTV2 or BBC Two. To a certain extent, we see Top Shelf 2.0 as a laboratory for new ideas and new creators — any webcomic that gets an outstanding response will naturally suggest that we consider it for print publication, but in the meantime we’re happy to give these creators and fans an opportunity to discover each other. Throughout the process, I should add, creators fully own their work — it’s an experiment for them as well as for us. We’re all excited to see where it goes!”

Top Shelf 2.0 is live at http://www.topshelfcomix.com/ts2.0 and updates Monday through Friday.

http://www.topshelfcomix.com/ts2.0
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/ts2.0
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/ts2.0

This particular cat has been clawing at the bag for some time, and I’m happy to finally be able to let it out.

Laura Hudson of PWCW has broken the story of the new project that Brett and I have been working on:

The most gratifying thing for me has been seeing the excitement that some of our (amazing, awesome, patient) cartoonists have been showing on their livejournals:
Elio
DeForge
Grug
Jessica

I’m so lucky to be a part of this.

HOW AMAZING IS THIS?!?

Good as Lily artist Jesse Hamm earned his bandannaed self a fan for life when he revealed — after a weekend spent sitting across from us sketching — what he’d been working on.

Check it:

Left to right, that’s intern Sam Alden, former intern Carlos Hernandez Fisher, cartoonist Tim Sievert, publisher Brett Warnock, and publicity ninja Leigh Walton.

Makes me want to get a haircut, but he totally nailed us all! Thanks, Jesse!

Tim Sievert comes through with proof. That’s David Bowie’s “Absolute Beginners,” by the way — I was so surprised to see it in the book that I couldn’t pass it up.

Charles in charge.
Originally uploaded by slieber234

Well, that was a fantastic weekend for your humble correspondent — shown here at the feet of industry wise men Charles Brownstein and (off screen) Larry Marder. Thanks to Steve Lieber for the photo. for Not much time to recover (and bask in the glory of Sunday night’s karaoke tour de force, featuring Carolyn Main and a duet between myself and Tim Sievert), as there’s piles of exciting work to be done ahead.

Including — hey, what’s this exciting announcement?

More photos:

• Tim in his Clark Kently studness
• Brett looking surprised to be awake
• Nick Gurewitch, probably the star of the show
• Panorama! (Top Shelf is unfortunately out of sight on the other side of the hall)
• Corey Lewis, who totally could have brought the commissioned piece he drew for me months ago BUT DID NOT
• The impossibly photogenic Erika Moen, triply a winner this weekend
• Actually, just check out this fantastic set of photos by Lori Matsumoto
• It’s true. Everyone in Portland is beautiful.

Note to self: for future shows, schedule time in the mornings to, like, shower and stuff.

Just look at that guest list! This might be the best Stumptown yet.

Douglas Rushkoff and Scott McCloud are both great thinkers and I’d love to have been in New York this morning listening to the panel discussion between them.

But when Heidi MacDonald posted these pictures of the two of them:

I found myself unable to think of anything but: