An Interview with Top Shelf Publisher Chris Staros
One of the most honored and prolific small press houses, Top Shelf Productions has created an award-winning library of great comics and graphic novels, something that makes publisher Chris Staros very proud. Staros took a few moments out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions about Top Shelf, comics, and the independent spirit.
How did you become interested in comics and graphic novels?
Chris Staros: While I never read comics as a kid, as an adult I stumbled upon Alan Moore’s V For Vendetta and had the same epiphany that I had when I heard my first Black Sabbath album when I much younger: “I could do that!” Thus, my second great obsession after music was born: comics!
What are the origins of Top Shelf?
Staros: My business partner, Brett Warnock, and I both got our start in ‘94. He started with mini-comics and an anthology called Top Shelf, and I got my start writing and publishing a fanzine called The Staros Report. We met on the circuit shortly thereafter, realized we had the same goals, and decided to partner up in the newly formed Top Shelf Productions, Inc. in ‘97.
Top Shelf has been home to some huge indie successes. What are some of the keys to that success, and what role does promotion play in bringing an indie graphic novel to a larger audience?
Staros: For us, it’s always been about putting art before commerce. If we had had a real “CFO” all these years, they’d have probably killed every single project before we ever published it. But our philosophy is to publish things that we believe in, and then go work our asses off to find an audience for them. And that has led to a lot of ground-breaking projects like Alan Moore & Melinda Gebbie's Lost Girls, Craig Thompson’s Blankets, Jeff Lemire’s Essex County, Nate Powell’s Swallow Me Whole, Matt Kindt’s Super Spy, and Robert Venditti & Brett Weldele's The Surrogates; as well as all-ages titles through our Top Shelf Kids Club line like Andy Runton's Owly, James Kochalka's Johnny Boo & Dragon Puncher, and Christian Slade’s Korgi.
Are there any creators that you’d like to work with?
Staros: Each year we try to find that perfect balance between publishing works from our established talent with our never-ending desire to break new talent. And in 2011 there are several new creators that we’re really excited to be working with. Within our mature line, there’s Jess Fink, and her erotic masterpiece, Chester 5000; Eric Skillman’s crime noir debut, Liar's Kiss; Kagan McLeod’s epic martial-arts masterpiece, Infinite Kung Fu; Jennifer Hayden’s personal and touching, Underwire; and Ludovic Debeurme’s French masterpiece, Lucille (coming to an English-speaking audience for the first time). And via our Top Shelf Kids Club line, we’re also excited about our new all-ages series such as Chris Eliopoulos’ Okie Dokie Donuts, Ray Friesen’s Pirate Penguin vs Ninja Chicken, and Jess Smart Smiley’s Upside Down: A Vampire Tale – all really fun and engaging debuts.
How do you typically connect with a new creator or project? Do you actively seek new material, or do creators tend to come to you?
Staros: Top Shelf sets up at over 20 conventions a year, so we have a great opportunity to not only see people’s work, but to get to know them as well. We probably get over 1,000 submissions a year via conventions, our PO Box, and the web, so projects come to us in many different ways. We love to look at new projects and our submission guidelines can be found online at www.topshelfcomix.com/submissions.
Describe the Top Shelf catalog with three adjectives.
Staros: Subtextual, Heartfelt & Unique.
Can you recommend some titles for our readers to get acquainted with Top Shelf?
Staros: Any of the mature or all-ages titles mentioned above would be a good place to start, but often people dive in via one of three ways: our Alan Moore titles (like From Hell, Lost Girls, or League III); our literary touchstones like Blankets, Essex County, or Swallow Me Whole; or our all-ages titles like Owly, Korgi, or Johnny Boo. Comics fans can check out our mature-reader perennials and key Top Shelf Kids Club all-ages titles at www.topshelfcomix.com/perennials and www.topshelfcomics.com/kidsclub, respectively.
What is some of your favorite feedback you've received at shows?
Staros: The best compliments are often delivered directly to our creators, which is fine by us. We’re here to help them look good. But when the compliments are directed at us, it’s often from fans telling us how much they trust our line. And while we do our best to create buzz around each title we put out, it’s always nice to hear from a fan that hasn’t heard much about a particular title, but picked it up anyway when they turned it over and saw the Top Shelf logo on it – as they’ve grown to trust our editorial judgment and view the logo as a sign of quality.
Does fan response to a project ever surprise you?
Staros: Always – ha! We believe in everything we put out, but you can never really know when something is going to take off. So, whenever it does, we’re always grateful. And even though we’re an “art before commerce” type of publisher, whenever something does hit, we’re very happy to see something we built from the ground up take off – and art meet commerce. Over the last fifteen years we’ve had several hits, and I think we’ve struck an excellent balance there.
How is Top Shelf unique from other comic book and graphic novel publishers?
Staros: There are a lot of great indie publishers out there, and each has its own “house style.” In the simplest terms, Top Shelf’s house style is the intersection of Brett Warnock’s and my personal tastes in comics. And we both love graphic novels that have a unique and engaging cartoony art style, with stories full of subtext and heart. Stories that grab you and don’t let go; whether they’re for mature readers or all-ages.
What suggestions can you give retailers wishing to increase sales of indie comics and graphic novels and grow that portion of their business?
Staros: Firstly, embrace them, and know that they are intrinsically good. Work with the publishers to figure out the best set of titles to start with, and grow that segment of the business from there. Also, it doesn’t hurt to have an indie staffer who can keep up with the titles, champion them, and help kick start a fan base for indie material within the store’s community. Because once the snowball gets rolling, comics fans become extremely loyal to both the mainstream and indie material, and a store’s business and customer base can multiply.
Top Shelf publishes quite a few "all ages" books. How important do you feel it is to have graphic novels for kids?
Staros: Extremely important. Top Shelf was part of the wave in the '90s that helped redeem comics as a literary art form, but at the same time – once that was achieved – the whole industry realized that we had forgotten about the kids. So, Top Shelf established four strong kids series (Owly, Korgi, Johnny Boo, & Dragon Puncher) and is introducing four more titles to the Kids Club this year (Okie Dokie Donuts, Pirate Penguin Vs. Ninja Chicken, Upside Down: A Vampire Tale, and Scene But Not Heard).
What do you look for in these kinds of books?
Staros: Again, books that have an engaging and unique art style, with stories that are full of subtext and heart. And much like A Charlie Brown Christmas, we strive to have all of our Top Shelf Kids Club titles truly appeal to people of all-ages. And almost all of them appeal equally to kids and adults – and that’s the way we like it.
Are there any upcoming projects at Top Shelf that you’d care to share with our readers?
Staros: In addition to the above mentioned titles, we have some really cool projects coming in 2011 from our established creators: The League Of Extraordinary Gentleman (Vol. III): Century #2 (Of 3) by Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill (co-published with Knockabout), Incredible Change-Bots 2 by Jeffrey Brown, Any Empire by Nate Powell, The Homeland Directive by Robert Venditti & Mike Huddleston, Gingerbread Girl by Colleen Coover & Paul Tobin, Hutch Owen (Vol. 3): Let’s Get Furious! by Tom Hart, and Ax (Vol.2): A Collection of Alternative Manga, edited by Sean Michael Wilson. These will all be key additions to our line.
What would you like to imagine Top Shelf’s legacy will be, long-term? Is that something you think about?
Staros: Even though time isn’t really that kind to any of us, I would hope that years from now, people will remember Top Shelf as being a publishing house that did its part to help redeem comics as a literary art form, and who brought a handful of projects to the world that really made an impact on people’s lives. Viva comics!
Want to support Top Shelf's products in your store? See theTop Shelf's section of the May 2011 Sales Kit and check out this full list of the publisher's currently available comics and graphic novels:
|
DESCRIPTION |
PRICE |
ISBN |
|
110 PER CENT GN |
$12.95 |
9781891830754 |
|
120 DAYS OF SIMON GN (MR) |
$14.95 |
9781603090506 |
|
2 SISTERS GN |
$19.95 |
9781891830587 |
|
AEIOU GN |
$12.00 |
9781891830716 |
|
AFTER THE SNOOTER GN |
$14.95 |
9780957789661 |
|
ALEC HC YEARS HAVE PANTS LIFE SIZE OMNIBUS |
$49.95 |
9781603090476 |
|
ALEC SC YEARS HAVE PANTS LIFE SIZE OMNIBUS |
$35.00 |
9781603090254 |
|
AMERICAN ELF VOL 01 SKETCHBOOK DIARIES OF JAMES KOCHALKA |
$29.95 |
9781891830495 |
|
AMERICAN ELF VOL 02 SKETCHBOOK DIARIES OF JAMES KOCHALKA |
$19.95 |
9781891830853 |
|
AMERICAN ELF VOL 03 SKETCHBOOK DIARIES OF JAMES KOCHALKA |
$19.95 |
9781603090162 |
|
ARE WE FEELING SAFER YET A TH INK ANTHOLOGY TP |
$12.95 |
9780978805302 |
|
AWESOME 2 TP AWESOMER |
$14.95 |
9781603090391 |
|
AX TP VOL 01 COLLECTION OF ALTERNATIVE MANGA (A) |
$29.95 |
9781603090421 |
|
BB WOLF & 3 LPS HC (MR) |
$12.95 |
9781603090292 |
|
BLANKETS GN |
$29.95 |
9781891830433 |
|
BUGHOUSE VOL 3 SCALAWAG GN |
$12.95 |
9781891830679 |
|
CARNET DE VOYAGE |
$14.95 |
9781891830600 |
|
CLUMSY GN (NEW PTG) (MR) |
$10.00 |
9780971359765 |
|
COLLECTED HUTCH OWEN |
$14.95 |
9781891830174 |
|
COMPLETE ESSEX COUNTYHC |
$49.95 |
9781603090469 |
|
DEATH BY CHOCOLATE REDUX GN |
$14.95 |
9781891830921 |
|
DELAYED REPLAYS GN (MR) |
$7.00 |
9781603090124 |
|
DRAGON PUNCHER HC BOOK 01 |
$9.95 |
9781603090575 |
|
ELFWORLD VOL 1 TP (MR) |
$12.95 |
9780979417801 |
|
EVERY GIRL IS THE END OF THE WORLD FOR ME GN (MR) |
$8.00 |
9781891830778 |
|
FAR ARDEN HC (MR) |
$19.95 |
9781603090360 |
|
FINGERPRINTS GN |
$14.95 |
9781603090537 |
|
FOX BUNNY FUNNY TP |
$10.00 |
9781891830976 |
|
FROM SHADOW OF NORTHERN LIGHTS TP VOL 01 (MR) |
$19.95 |
9781603090117 |
|
FROM SHADOW OF NORTHERN LIGHTS TP VOL 02 (MR) |
$14.95 |
9781603090643 |
|
GREETINGS FROM CARTOONIA SC (MR) |
$20.00 |
9789616553346 |
|
HELLO AGAIN GN |
$10.00 |
9781891830631 |
|
HEY MISTER TP VOL 01 AFTER SCHOOL SPECIAL |
$7.95 |
9781891830020 |
|
HEY MISTER TP VOL 02 CELEBRITY ROAST |
$9.95 |
9781891830068 |
|
HEY MISTER TP VOL 03 THE FALL |
$12.95 |
9781891830259 |
|
HEY PRINCESS GN (MR) |
$14.95 |
9781603090513 |
|
HIERONYMUS B GN |
$14.95 |
9781603090087 |
|
HONEY TALKS STRIPBURGER COLLECTION |
$23.95 |
9789616553049 |
|
HUTCH OWEN UNMARKETABLE GN |
$14.95 |
9781891830556 |
|
I AM GOING TO BE SMALL GN |
$14.00 |
9781891830860 |
|
INCREDIBLE CHANGE BOTS ONE GN |
$15.00 |
9781891830914 |
|
JAMES KOCHALKAS MAGIC BOY & ROBOT ELF GN |
$9.95 |
9781891830334 |
|
JOHNNY BOO HC VOL 01 BEST LITTLE GHOST IN THE WORLD |
$9.95 |
9781603090131 |
|
JOHNNY BOO HC VOL 02 TWINKLE POWER |
$9.95 |
9781603090155 |
|
JOHNNY BOO HC VOL 03 HAPPY APPLES |
$9.95 |
9781603090414 |
|
JOHNNY BOO HC VOL 04 MEAN LITTLE BOY |
$9.95 |
9781603090599 |
|
K CHRONICLES TP WHAT A LONG STRANGE STRIP |
$12.95 |
9781891830303 |
|
KORGI GN VOL 01 SPROUTING WINGS CURR PTG |
$10.00 |
9781891830907 |
|
KORGI GN VOL 02 COSMIC COLLECTOR |
$10.00 |
9781603090100 |
|
LESS THAN HEROES GN |
$14.95 |
9781891830518 |
|
LOEG III CENTURY #1 1910 (MR) |
$7.95 |
9781603090001 |
|
LONE RACER GN |
$12.95 |
9781891830693 |
|
LOST GIRLS HC (MR) |
$45.00 |
9781603090445 |
|
LOWER REGIONS GN (MR) |
$6.95 |
9781603090094 |
|
MICROGRAPHICA GN (MR) |
$10.00 |
9781891830938 |
|
MINISULK GN |
$8.00 |
9781891830662 |
|
MIRROR OF LOVE HC (MR) |
$24.95 |
9781891830457 |
|
MONKEY VS ROBOT AND CRYSTAL OF POWER GN |
$14.95 |
9781891830365 |
|
MOVING PICTURES GN |
$14.95 |
9781603090490 |
|
OWLY GN VOL 01 WAY HOME |
$10.00 |
9781891830624 |
|
OWLY GN VOL 02 JUST A LITTLE BLUE CURR PRINTING |
$10.00 |
9781891830648 |
|
OWLY GN VOL 03 FLYING LESSONS CURR PTG |
$10.00 |
9781891830761 |
|
OWLY GN VOL 04 TIME TO BE BRAVE |
$10.00 |
9781891830891 |
|
OWLY GN VOL 05 TINY TALES |
$10.00 |
9781603090193 |
|
PANTOMIME TP SCAD SEQUENTIAL ART ANTHOLOGY (MR) |
$9.95 |
9781603090346 |
|
PERFECT PLANET & OTHER STORIES |
$14.95 |
9781891830082 |
|
PINKY & STINKY GN |
$15.00 |
9781891830297 |
|
PISTOLWHIP GN |
$14.95 |
9781891830235 |
|
PISTOLWHIP GN YELLOW MENACE |
$14.95 |
9781891830358 |
|
PLAYWRIGHT HC (MR) |
$14.95 |
9781603090568 |
|
REGARDS FROM SERBIA GN (MR) |
$19.95 |
9781891830426 |
|
SECOND THOUGHTS GN (MR) |
$9.95 |
9781603090377 |
|
SHUCK UNMASKED TP |
$14.95 |
9781891830471 |
|
SULK GN VOL 01 BIGHEAD & FRIENDS (MR) |
$7.00 |
9781603090209 |
|
SULK GN VOL 02 DEADLY AWESOME (MR) |
$10.00 |
9781603090315 |
|
SULK GN VOL 03 KIND OF STRENGTH COMES FROM MADNESS (MR) |
$6.00 |
9781603090551 |
|
SUPER F$$$$$S TP (MR) |
$14.95 |
9781603090520 |
|
SUPER SPY GN VOL 01 |
$19.95 |
9781891830969 |
|
SUPER SPY LOST DOSSIERS GN |
$12.95 |
9781603090438 |
|
SURROGATES TP VOL 01 |
$19.95 |
9781891830877 |
|
SURROGATES TP VOL 02 FLESH & BONE |
$14.95 |
9781603090186 |
|
SWALLOW ME WHOLE HC |
$19.95 |
9781603090339 |
|
SWEDISH COMICS HISTORY SC (MR) |
$19.95 |
9789185161775 |
|
TALES OF WOODSMAN PETE GN |
$7.00 |
9781891830846 |
|
THAT SALTY AIR GN |
$10.00 |
9781603090056 |
|
THE KING GN |
$19.95 |
9781891830655 |
|
THREE FINGERS GN |
$14.95 |
9781891830310 |
|
TICKING HC (MR) |
$19.95 |
9781891830709 |
|
TONOHARU GN PART 2 (MR) |
$19.95 |
9780980102338 |
|
TOO COOL TO BE FORGOTTEN HC |
$14.95 |
9781891830983 |
|
TROLL KING GN (MR) |
$14.95 |
9781603090612 |
|
TROUBLETOWN VOL 1 AXIS OF TROUBLE TP |
$10.95 |
9780972354400 |
|
UNDELETED SCENES TP (MR) |
$15.00 |
9781603090582 |
|
UNLIKELY GN |
$14.95 |
9781891830419 |
|
VAN HELSING'S NIGHT OFF |
$12.95 |
9781891830389 |
|
VEEPS HC (MR) |
$19.95 |
9781603090032 |
|
VOICE OF THE FIRE SC NOVEL (MR) |
$14.95 |
9781603090353 |
|
WELCOME TO FOREST ISLAND HC (MR) |
$30.00 |
9781603090407 |
|
WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME IF I WET THE BED GN |
$7.00 |
9781891830723 |
|
YAM TP |
$10.00 |
9781603090148 |
