BOOKS
Top Shelf works to upgrade — and defend — the comic genre
For the Journal-Constitution
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Twenty years ago, Chris Staros of Marietta was at a crossroads.
He had just come off a decade of rocking heavy metal and cans of Aqua Net as a professional musician. But the thunderous soundtrack had taken a toll on his ears, and he was ready for a new pursuit. That’s when he wandered into a comic book shop and picked up his first graphic novel, “V for Vendetta” by Alan Moore.
JOHNNY CRAWFORD/jcrawford@ajc.com
Chris Staros first made a name in comic books by producing ‘The Staros Report,’ identifying the most intelligent work in the field. Later, he and Brett Warnock formed Top Shelf Productions.
Today Staros publishes Moore, along with a stable of other comic creators, under the banner of Top Shelf Productions, a small imprint that has helped elevate the graphic novel art form.
After that fateful encounter with Moore’s futuristic political thriller, Staros began to immerse himself in comics, analyzing their literary merits and chalking up hours of research. For the next four years, he took notes and studied all forms of comics from the Smithsonian archives to contemporary indie books.
The result of his research was first published in 1994 in “The Staros Report,” an annual compendium of what he deemed the most innovative and intelligent comics in the business. The publication gave Staros industry cred, and he began representing comic book creators including Eddie Campbell, illustrator for “From Hell.”
Three years later, he partnered with fellow comics enthusiast Brett Warnock and formed Top Shelf Productions.
“We were one of the first comic book publishing companies to go exclusively graphic novel and … format our graphic novels so they appeared to be high-quality books,” Staros said. “Comics as a medium, with the combination of words and picture, is akin to literature, film and anything else. So we wanted everyone to know that literary comics could be fun, accessible, exciting and really for the masses.”
The small press industry brings with it challenges. Staros says it’s tough to remain in the black when you’re only printing 5,000 to 7,000 copies of a book.
“A lot of the books that we do, we tend to lose money on up front,” he said. “And then it’s our giant catalog of books that sell as backlist items [that] … keeps us rolling forward.”
Significant critical acclaim has also helped “keep the lights on and pay the bills,” he said.
Top Shelf’s first big hit was Craig Thompson’s “Blankets,” a black-and-white illustrated tale of first love told amid a snow-covered Wisconsin winter. Published in 2003, it is considered a milestone for graphic novels not only for its length — 600 pages — but for its critical acclaim. It snagged several graphic novel and cartoonist awards, including the coveted Eisner.
Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s popular Jack the Ripper tale, “From Hell,” is also part of the Top Shelf catalog, as well as Moore and Melinda Gebbie’s erotic “Lost Girls,” the story of the relationship between Alice from “Alice in Wonderland,” Wendy from “Peter Pan” and Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz.” It is currently sold out, with a new edition to hit shelves in the spring. And Moore’s latest installment of “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” is due next year from Top Shelf, too.
Top Shelf’s success stories don’t always involve the kind of flash found in Moore’s projects or breakout hits such as Robert Venditti’s “The Surrogates.” The child-friendly “Owly” series, which conveys the story of a lonely bird’s search for friendship without the use of words, has become a sensation in its own right. Educators cite “Owly” as a great way to introduce new readers to the world of books. And its author-illustrator, Atlantan Andy Runton, provides lesson plans for teachers to help them incorporate the “Owly” books into the classroom. Top Shelf and Runton recently signed a two-book deal with Simon & Schuster to publish full-color “Owly” picture books.
“What attracted me to Top Shelf in the first place was that I loved their books,” Runton said. “I could tell they really cared about what they did. When you spend all day, every day working on your books like I do, you want to make sure that the person you’re working with is doing the same thing. And that’s what they do.”
The passion Staros shows for Top Shelf translates into his work with the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a nonprofit organization that helps protect the First Amendment and free speech rights of the comic book professional community.
As president of the board of directors, Staros oversees the activity of the organization, including its most recent court case in Rome. During a free giveaway at a comic book store, a minor received a comic that depicted Pablo Picasso painting in the nude. An angry parent spotted the illustration and sought legal action.
“What should have been a simple apology, a pat on the head and a couple of free comic books turned into a major ordeal where the Rome, Georgia, prosecution filed a couple of felony and a couple of misdemeanor charges at him,” Staros said.
The case spanned two years and cost the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund more than $120,000 to defend. With the aid of the fund and its industry experts and legal counsel, the store survived.
“The key is to not only defend these cases,” Staros said, “but to keep people from being financially ruined by these kinds of scenarios.”
In the meantime, Top Shelf continues to attempt to bolster the reputation of comics and put them in the same league as other written work.
“We saw the future of graphic novels bridging the gap between the dedicated comic book store and the bookstore,” Staros said. “And we wanted to be one of the publishers to start adding a literary legitimacy to comics.”
WHAT’S ON THE SHELF?
“Owly” by Andy Runton
“Owly” stars a squatty owl Runton first drew in college. While attending Georgia Tech and living at home, he would leave his mother notes to let her know if he had been working late. She began calling Runton a night owl, so he started including illustrations of an industrious owl on each note. The popular series is now on its fifth volume. Devoid of words, “Owly” tells its stories with pictures, which makes it popular with budding readers.
“Lost Girls” by Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie
Moore and Gebbie’s erotic look at the feminine heroines from “Alice in Wonderland,” “Peter Pan” and “The Wizard of Oz” received bundles of critical praise upon release. It was originally available as three 112-page hardcover books. It is now sold out, but Top Shelf will be reprinting it in the spring.
“Blankets” by Craig Thompson
The massive 600-page tome is a coming-of-age tale of two young lovers in the chilly Wisconsin winter. According to Staros, “Blankets” and its struggle of faith and love “kind of took the literary world by storm and helped open up the gates for literary graphic novels in mainstream bookstores and libraries.”
“Too Cool to be Forgotten” by Alex Robinson
Robinson’s latest follows a chain-smoker who can’t kick the habit, so he resorts to hypnosis. But things go awry when he’s sent back in time to 1985 as a goofy teen. The recently released, 128-page graphic novel comes bound as a hardcover and designed to look like a pack of cigarettes.
“Swallow Me Whole” by Nate Powell
Powell explores those murky adolescent years through the eyes of two stepsiblings who deal with constant drama. His sweeping use of black across the pages accentuates the darkness. It’s scheduled to hit shelves this month.
