Leigh Walton and Brett Warnock remind us that Top Shelf Productions’ online comics venture, Top Shelf 2.0, has been online for a full year now.
To celebrate the anniversary, they’ve been unrolling some new stories. Among the goodies up now or coming soon, they have rare comics work from Veeps artist Wayne Shellabarger, new Incredible Change-Bots gags by Jeffrey Brown, and a never-before-seen short story by Japanese comics legend Yoshihiro Tatsumi (excerpted from Top Shelf’s upcoming A X: A Collection Of Alternative Manga)!
Another aspect of the celebration is the introduction of two unconventional projects by creators with very unique voices. Adrian English has been creating comics for several years from his cell inside a Georgia prison – and he’s been featured in a National Geographic TV special titled Hard Time. This week, they begin serializing his semi-autobiographical graphic novel Inside: Green Season, which provides a compelling look at the dangers of the world behind bars. In addition, they present a stunningly honest story by a long-time friend of Top Shelf, Craig “Chip” Carmichael. See What I Can Do is a minicomic created by Craig reflecting on his life with Friedreich’s ataxia, a degenerative nerve disease, and it’s incredibly moving.
“Many of you will know Chip from the convention circuit – particularly Comic-Con – where he’s been supporting indy publishers and brightening everyone’s day for years,” says Top Shelf publisher Chris Staros. “Every year, in addition to supporting our line, he always hands me something he’s working on. And when I read See What I Can Do, I was so moved by his honesty and eloquence, I asked Chip if he would allow us serialize it at 2.0. And I’ve been corresponding with Adrian English in prison for over two years, discussing the many aspects of becoming a comics creator, and offering advice and support whenever I can. And when he mailed me his first full-length graphic novel project Green Season, it was so visceral and compelling that we decided to feature it as well. Both of these projects deserve to be widely read, and if anyone’s as impressed by them as I am, feel free to forward any correspondence for Chip or Adrian to me, and I’ll make sure they receive it.”
