Move over, Finn. Jack Krak is on his way.

Over at the Cartoon Hangover blog, this image of James Kochalka’s Superf***ckers has appeared with the headline “Too Wild For T.V.” If you’ve read the debauched adventures of Kochalka’s NSFW teen superheroes—imagine Beavis and Butthead without the intelligence and restraint—you know that any such cartoon WOULD be too wild for T.V. Frederator Studios, which runs the blog and produced such cartoon classics as Adventure Time and The Fairly Odd Parents, has had Superf***ers in development for a while now—and now it’s going to be seen as part of the massive new influx of programming on YouTube. Kochalka has already written 8 of the 12 episodes.

SUPERF***ERS the comic is published by Top Shelf. Kchalka produced four “issues” in the square picture book format which was then collected into a trade.
Two thoughts: #1 as streaming TV becomes the norm, having a series on YouTube isn’t going to mean anything much different than appearing on TV

and

#2 this IS going to be wild. Here’s a theme song Kochalka already wrote:

.

If you click on only one link on this page, make it THIS ONE!  WOW!  What a line-up!  Lots of great stuff coming out next year!

But those titles haven’t been scheduled yet, so while you’re waiting, try some of the titles below!  Something for everyone!  Some of the kids titles were previewed in Top Shelf’s 2011 Free Comic Book Day sampler.
___________________________________________________________________________

Okie Dokie Donuts: Open for Business! [digital editions available]

We Can Fix It: A Time Travel Memoir

The Marshal Law Omnibus [cancelled?]

Any Empire [digital editions available]

Underwire [digital editions available]

Infinite Kung Fu [digital editions available]

Top Shelf has just announced a team-up with comiXology that includes their own iOS app, and a separate app for the Kids Club line. Books from LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN to O

WLY will be available across various platforms.

Interestingly, Top Shelf is the first “alt.comix” type publisher to go whole hog with digital. D&Q and Fantagraphics and most of the smaller indies have remained remained aloof to the ecomics world. Although most art comics are best suited to the paper medium — and are, indeed the very type of objects that will keep print books alive for quite some time — a lot of indie cartoonists read just fine on the screen — we’ve found some of the “panel grid layout” types even look great on an iPhone. It seems like only a matter of time before everyone has their own app and storefront…but how long?

Top Shelf Productions, the publisher of critically acclaimed and popularly beloved graphic novels, and comiXology, the leading distributor of digital comics, are proud to announce the launch of the official Top Shelf Productions iOS App and Top Shelf Kids Club iOS App today. Purchases on these apps will sync across the Comics by comiXology platform — iOS, Android and the Web!

To celebrate, Top Shelf and comiXology are offering five keystone graphic novels at reduced prices for the next week. Fans will now be able to own all of these classic books for only $9.95:

$1.99 for League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1910 by Alan Moore & Kevin O’Neill
$1.99 for Owly book 1 by Andy Runton
$0.99 for Johnny Boo book 1 by James Kochalka
$1.99 for Clumsy by Jeffrey Brown
$2.99 for The Surrogates by Robert Venditti & Brett Weldele

Additionally, Wednesday will see the comiXology debut of the newly remastered Top Shelf edition of Lost Dogs, the Xeric-award-winning first graphic novel by Jeff Lemire (Essex County, Sweet Tooth, Animal Man).

“I’ve long been a personal fan of Top Shelf’s catalog, so it’s very gratifying that comiXology can help bring Top Shelf’s great graphic novels to a larger audience through the Top Shelf Productions iOS App, the Top Shelf Kids Club App, and our own Comics by comiXology platform,” said comiXology co-founder and CEO David Steinberger. “And really, who’s going to pass up getting League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1910 for only $1.99?”

“We at Top Shelf are very excited to partner with comiXology to launch this pair of apps,” said Top Shelf Productions publisher Chris Staros. “We’ve all worked hard to create a digital reading experience that’s a worthy companion to the high-quality physical books we’re known for, and that suits the sophisticated comics that our artists create. With these new apps, we’re offering a really easy and affordable way for people to read Top Shelf books – both hardcore fans and casual folks who just enjoy creative stories with depth and richness.”

In addition to those titles listed above, the Top Shelf apps feature such contemporary classics as From Hell by Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell and Essex County by Jeff Lemire, new critical darlings like Infinite Kung Fu by Kagan McLeod and Lucille by Ludovic Debeurme, and stellar full-color kids’ books like Incredible Change-Bots by Jeffrey Brown and Okie Dokie Donuts by Chris “Elio” Eliopoulos, along with over a dozen more titles.

Andrew Drilon, a Filipino artist best known for Kare Kare Kamix, a daring experimental webcomic, is back with SUPERMAKER at Top Shelf 2.0. It’s an excellent metafictional play on the crisis era of comics. Even if you don’t like superheroes, keep clicking!

Want some great full-length comics for the price of a single comic? TopShelf is having a ginormous sale. The PR makes it clear that this is a “kickstarter” campaign for next year’s publishing schedule so let’s support this.


For the next two weeks — thru Friday September 23th — Top Shelf is having a giant $3 web sale.

When you visit the site, you’ll find 175 graphic novels and comics on sale — with over 100 titles marked down to just $3 & $1! To help us continue doing what we do, please participate in this sale. With the economy as it’s been, it’s getting harder and harder to keep publishing such quality material. But if enough people participate, we’ll be able to finish paying for this year’s amazing releases, and “kick start” a full rollout for next year. Thanks in advance for your support (as the comics community IS the best community)!

To go directly to the list of items on sale at the Top Shelf website, just click here:

But here are a few sample sale items:
– Slashed Prices: League 1910 & 1969, the new Blankets Hardcover, and more!
– Slashed Prices: Infinite Kung Fu, Any Empire, Lucille, and more!
– Slashed Prices: The Homeland Directive, Incredible Change-Bots, and more!
– Slashed Prices: Lost Girls, Chester 5000, From Hell, and more!
– Slashed Prices: Essex County, Alec, Tricked, Ax, and more!
– Slashed Prices: Owly, Korgi, Johnny Boo, Dragon Puncher, and more!
– $3 Titles: The Playwright, Fingerprints, Voice of the Fire, and more!
– $3 Titles: Dodgem Logic, Super Spy (V2), The Surrogates (V1&V2), and more!
– $3 Titles: Regards from Serbia, Comic Book Artist, The King, and more!
– $3 Titles: Will You Still Love Me If I Wet The Bed, Woodsman Pete, and more!
– $3 Titles: The 120 Days of Simon, Hey Princess, The Troll King, and more!
– $3 Titles: Pinky & Stinky, Yam, I Am Going To Be Small, and more!
– $1 Titles: Sulk (Vols 1, 2, & 3), SuperF*ckers #1-#4, and more!
– $1 Titles: The Surrogates #1-#5, The Sketchbook Diaries #1-#4, and more!
– $1 Titles: Lower Regions, Feeble Attempts, Conversations #1 & #2, and more!
– $1 Titles: Comic Diorama, The Man Who Loved Breasts, 24×2, and more!
– $1 Titles: Tales of the Great Unspoken, Black Ghost Apple Factory, Dang!, and more!
– $1 Titles: Mephisto & The Empty Box, Hey Mister, Yearbook Stores, and more!
***
Please note that Top Shelf accepts PayPal (as well as Visa, MasterCard, Amex, and Discover — all secure), and that this sale is good for retailers as well (and comic book shops will get their wholesale discount on top of these sale prices).

http://www.topshelfcomix.com/specialdeals

THE INFINITE KUNG-FU LAUNCH PARTY: FEATURING HOP-FU!
A Spectacular Graphic Novel Launch and Live Music/Film Event

@ Revival Bar, 783 College Street
Friday, September 2nd, 2011
9pm-2am (Doors at 8:30, Hop Fu @ 11pm)
Cost: $5 or Free with Purchase of Infinite Kung Fu

RSVP AT: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=157265297683859
Sponsored by The Beguiling, Top Shelf Books, and Revival Bar

TORONTO: AN EPIC MORE THAN 10 YEARS IN THE MAKING! 

Author and Illustrator Kagan McLeod has created images and stories for top media around the world, everyone from Nike to Nintendo, The Wall Street Journal to Wired, GQ to Glamour to The New York Times to The National Post. And this September his magnum opus will finally be revealed, assembled as INFINITE KUNG FU, when a more than 450-page graphic novel of martial arts mayhem. Come celebrate its release at Revival Bar (783 College St.) with headline guests HOP FU, the American DJ team who will provide a live scratch/mix soundtrack to an epic Kung Fu Film!

Headline Guests: New York-based scratch champions DJ 1XL and DJ Excess perform as HOP FU, providing a live remixed score to a screening of a classic kung fu film! HOP FU is an absolute must-see event capping off the banginest book launch of the year. The pair will go on at 11pm sharp, don’t miss out. For a preview of their amazing show, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh4o2K22sfM (note: language NSFW).

big bad blue tidings

Not much happened for me personally at Comic Con on Sunday except for getting the frack out of there before getting quashed by a giant menacing smurf.

But other stuff did in fact happen on Sunday. Like, new Doctor Who clips, which the lovely Charlie Jane Anders of io9 has up, along with many other vital Who-vian tidbits.

Cowboys and Aliens is coming out of the Con with buzz stronger & bigger than a gi-normously towering big blue bad, which bodes well for the flick based on Scott Mitchell Rosenberg’s 2006 graphic novel opening next weekend (via Retuers)

Also coming out on Friday with solid, although somewhat softer but pleasant murmuring buzz is Attack the Block. Here’s the trailer for the Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim) produced film from the Comic Con panel that took place on Friday (via Geeks of Doom)

People were also talking about Rhys Ifan getting citizen’s arrested by a security guard! As pop culture savvy Beat reader @Cary Coatney pointed out, the upcoming Amazing Spiderman villian is a bad ass. While it might not beat last year’s pen face stabbing incident in Hall H, don’t you just love a good Comic Con celebrity arrest story? (via MSN)

Cartoonists Jeffrey Brown and Simon Gardenfors at the Top Shelf table

Here’s a little something people weren’t talking enough about: Did you know that critically acclaimed, top selling auto-biographical cartoonist Jeffrey Brown has written a screenplay and contributed art to a rom com called Save the Date to be released in 2012? The first I heard of it was from Eisner award winning cartoonist and all around suave lady person, Hope Larson’s twitter feed. Some of Larson’s artwork will be used as set pieces in the upcoming film, along with a lot of Jeffrey Brown’s art as well. I had the pleasure of speaking with Brown at the Top Shelf booth yesterday about it. Apparently he filled up a sketch book for the lady artiste main character that appears in the film (played by Party Down’s and True Blood’s Lizzie Caplan). He also had postcards on hand for a band logo Caplan’s character draws that figures into the reportedly (although not to me) loosely autobiographical plot.  The film also stars Alison Brie (of Community and Mad Men fame) and Martin Star (also of Party Down). Why aren’t more people talking about this!!?? Talk about classy and understated yet undeniably intriguing.. this film already is all those things.

As for some of the under-buzzed but over promoted yet intriguing items coming out of the con and onto the smaller screen in the near future, Ringer, the new series produced by and starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, will premiere on The CW on Tuesday, September 13 marks the return of Sarah Michelle Gellar to the network, the home of her iconic role as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and her legions of fans from Ballroom 20 on Friday sounded like they’ll be tuning in. Although the show was almost picked up by CBS, they ultimately passed on the “modern noir” thriller about a drug troubled, foxy fugitive who assumes the identity of her twin sister after a mysterious accident, only to find that her seemingly perfect and rich doppelganger has even more dangerous troubles of her own.  While Gellar gamely kept turning fan questions back from Buffy to Ringer, she did say that she often has to “remember that my character doesn’t have super slayer strength when fighting” and said (in answer to a fan question about whether or not viewer’s will see any Buffy in the twins she’s playing) that she “likes to think of myself as putting a little Sarah into all the characters I play.” You go, girl. BT-Dubbs, Ringer also features Richard from Lost (Nestor Carbonell) as an FBI agent.

Reggie Lee and Sash Roiz from the cast of GRIMM

GRIMM Producers, Jim Kouf and David Greenwalt (of Buffy/Angel)

I also got to attend a screening and press roundtable of NBC’s upcoming fairy tale police procedural GRIMM from another pair of Whedon-verse alums, Angel and Buffy writer/producers, David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf. The show (a joint production from Universal Studios and Hazy Mills) uses the premise that Grimm fairy tales (along with other mythological cautionary tales from around the world) are actually warnings from a long line of prophetic, crime fighting/monster hunters known as GRIMMS. Apparently each episode is a stand-alone police procedural but the storyline about the GRIMMS and their interactions with the monsters, myths and legends they come up against will be an on-going narrative. Show runner David Greenwalt (who the cast kept referring to as “Greeny”) said that “what I learned from the master, Joss Whedon, is that there’s tremendous emotional power in so-called genre stuff.” You tell ‘em, Greeny. While fellow producer Jim Kouf commented that, “just like Buffy and Angel, we hope to deliver the same great, very scary and horrific events, plus great comedy when you (don’t) expect it.” Apparently, another running theme of the show will be addiction, supporting character, Sgt. Wu (Reggie Lee), will have an as yet to be named addiction problem which will wreak some havoc in his life and on the show and may have some fairy tale roots. Another cast member, my boyfriend, Sasha Roiz (from the unfortunately short-lived Caprica) plays a police chief with a hidden agenda and says that, “we’re entering Jim and David’s world which gives us a fabulous foundation of imagination” in reference to a question about how the series seems to share some similarities with Angel. Both Sasha Roiz and Reggie were late additions to the supporting cast (and picked specifically by Greenwalt and Kouf for the on-screen juju) and were my personal favorites of the cast members to chat with. They were actually on their way to Portland the next day to begin shooting the remaining 12 episodes of the first season that NBC has ordered. All the cast members parroted the NBC party line that Portland will be it’s own character on the show. And I have to say that, after viewing the pilot, they do make what I think of as kind of podunk little town look quite lovely and storyb0okish. The pilot, btw, was pretty entertaining but I’ll need to see more of the clever humor and organic character development that Greenwalt and Kouf are famous for before I can advocate whole-heartedly for it. I think the odds are good they’ll achieve something interesting tho, so tune in when that shizz hits the air.

Party time with Jason Momoa

Last but in no f-ing way least, I got to sit down with Jason Momoa (aka Khal Drogo from Game of Thrones and Conan the Barbarian) on Friday night for a brief Q&A in the Time Warner Video on Demand Lounge. Man, he seems like he’d be fun to party with. I wish I could’ve gone out drinking with him afterwards. Except I might’ve died – dude was already three sheets to the wind and it was barely 6:00 PM! But then again Comic Con can have that kind of effect on people so who am I to judge. I asked him asked him what it was like to learn the made up Dothrakian language for Game of Thrones. Momoa replied, “Wow, it was…” then shook his head and shared how he was given CD’s to learn the Dothraki native tongue. I then asked if they were, like, Rosetta Stone CD’s or something and if he had to like practice verb tense and stuff. He answered that it was more like, “learning a melody.” Sounds like something you could do drunk! So, good for him. Another reporter asked him what it was like to be an APA actor getting so much work. Momoa response: “What’s APA mean?” The reporter enlightened him that it stood for Asian Pacific American. I didn’t know what that meant either! He seemed happy to have gotten that knowledge dropped on him.

I, on the other hand, am about to drop dead. Good night and see ya later this week at the regular Studio Coffee Run time of sometime on Friday!

The digital teaming up is coming fast and furious as Top Shelf has signed with iVerse for digital distro. The idea of reading Nate Powell, James Kochalka, and Renee French on a tablet sounds very tasty indeed.

One of the most diverse and highly-regarded publishers in the world of comics, Top Shelf Productions, is expanding into the digital market. iVerse Media is proud to announce the release of 70+ digital graphic novels from Top Shelf, available today for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch through the Comics+ app.

The first wave of titles includes work from top-selling and award-winning creators such as Andy Runton, Robert Venditti, Nate Powell, Jeff Lemire, Jeffrey Brown, James Kochalka, Renee French, Alex Robinson, Matt Kindt, and many more.

“We are incredibly proud to be releasing this first wave of Top Shelf titles at Comic-Con this year,” said iVerse Media CEO Michael Murphey. “Top Shelf really showcases the art of comics, and we’re excited to be the first to take this journey with them into the digital space.”

The launch titles from Top Shelf include such hits as Owly, The Homeland Directive, Any Empire, Swallow Me Whole, Essex County, Incredible Change-Bots, Johnny Boo, and Too Cool to Be Forgotten. With books spanning every age group and every genre (comedy, drama, action, memoir, fantasy, science fiction, even art books), there’s sure to be something for every reader. Following this initial wave, many more titles from Top Shelf’s rich catalog will be released over the coming weeks and months.

“At Top Shelf, we’re dedicated to telling stories that people connect with; reader-friendly comics with subtext and heart, each presented with a distinctive visual style,” explained Top Shelf publisher Chris Staros. “Now with the iVerse digital launch, it’ll be easier than ever to discover the amazing work our authors are doing, and maybe even find yourself a new favorite.”

Top Shelf and iVerse are breaking new ground — of the major North American literary/art-comics publishers, Top Shelf is the first to offer its books for the iOS platform. And with prices ranging from $0.99 to $14.99, they hope to welcome plenty of new readers.

Titles are available now in the Comics+ Application for iOS.  For more information visit: http://comicspl.us

Kagen McLeod’s imminent INFINITE KUNG FU is a crazy-good 600 page fighting epic. Just order it already!

The Martial World is ruled by a mysterious emperor whose five armies are each headed by a cruel and highly skilled kung fu master. Lei Kung, a soldier in one of these armies, grows tired of his master’s evil ways and seeks enlightenment elsewhere. However, he soon finds that he’s been chosen as the one who will put an end to the emperor’s tyrannical rule, personally! Allegiances are blurred as techniques are perfected, and Lei Kung becomes less certain who’s friend and who’s foe in each chapter.

A few advance copies will be available at SDCC but they will go fast.

Top Shelf has shared their signings and book debuts with us and here’s the list:

Debuts/Signings:
– Craig Thompson (redesigned Blankets Hardcover & Softcover)
– Kagan McLeod (Infinite Kung Fu)
– Nate Powell (Any Empire)
– Robert Venditti/Mike Huddleston (The Homeland Directive)
– Ray Friesen (Pirate Penguin vs Ninja Chicken)
– plus the new Okie Dokie Donuts (Story 1)
– plus the new League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1969

Also Signing:
– Andy Runton (Owly)
– James Kochalka (Johnny Boo)
– Jeffrey Brown (Incredible Change Bots Two)
– Jeff Lemire (Essex County)
– JD Arnold & Rich Koslowski (BB Wolf & the 3 LPs)
– Eric Skillman (Liar’s Kiss) &
– Matt Kindt (Super Spy)

Ludovic Debeurme’sLUCILLE hits these shores this week, and it’s a stunner. In France this hefty (500+ page) graphic novel about two teenagers from troubled families coming of age together was a major literary event, crossing over even with non-comics readers, and Top Shelf’s English version is very faithful to the original.

Top Shelf has created two videos, a full length trailer with praise from fellow cartoonists like Charles Berberian, above, and a shorter version, below. Both feature music by Debeurme — he’s also in a band.

LUCILLE is definitely one of the most significant graphic novel releases of the year.

Tom Hart’s essential zeitgeist character Hutch Owen gets his third collection this fall,
Let’s Get Furious!, due from Top Shelf:

He’s outraged! He’s not going to take it anymore! He’s… not quite sure what to do next. Meet Hutch and his motley crew of lovable malcontents, struggling to make sense of an America that baffles, oppresses, and infuriates them. Collecting the five-year run of Tom Hart’s bitingly hilarious, bitterly optimistic comic strip! — a 368-page deluxe hardcover graphic novel, 8.25″ x 5.5″

After that, Hart takes over the writing on Warlord!

As promised, here are more photos of Stumptown: the comics festival and the parties that just won’t quit!

Annie Murphy and Virgina Paine of Sparkplug from Drink and Draw Like a Lady

Dark Horse’s Brendan Wright, The BEAT’s Jen Vaughn and Zack “draw it like you mean it” Soto

Top Shelf’s newest full-timer Chris Ross and his lady Leslie

Top Shelf’s Brett Warnock pounding ice before mixing the most delicious drinks!

Dynamic Duo Joelle Jones and Jamie S. Rich signing at the Oni table

Studio JFish’s Robin Bougart and Jason Fischer

Graham Annable sketching in a con book

Jon Lewis

Box Brown and Robin McConnell

Unicronomicon’s Catherine Peach and majestic unicorn.

Karaoke tri-force: Douglas Wolk, Kel McDonald of Sorcery 101, Miles Stokes of Dark Horse

The seedy underbelly of Portland: Kitty Glitter video poker. Robin McConnell is in its grasp.

IPRC Membership Coordinator and animator Lori D.

Christopher Green’s watercolor pouches o’ doom!

Sweeping Katie Shanahan off her feet!

Stumptown awards emcee “Fatboy” Roberts really pleased a young die-hard Sonic fan who had never touched a Sega Genesis before!

—

Jen Vaughn thinks everyone in Portland is part-rainbow. She also writes for a library situated in the mountains of Vermont.

Even our congressmen are getting bitten by the graphic novel bug, as Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) is signed with Top Shelf to co-write March, the story of his involvement in the civil rights movement of the ’60s.

Lweis will author the book with Andrew Aydin, who works in his office. While an artist has yet to be chosen, this will be the first graphic novel to be written by a standing member of Congress.

Lewis, an advocate of non-violence, led many marches and protests during the ’60s as civil rights advocates fought to overturn segregation and establish free voting rights for all citizens.

PR below.

Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Top Shelf Productions have signed a publishing agreement.  Top Shelf Productions has agreed to publish the graphic novel March, coauthored by Rep. John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, tentatively scheduled for release in 2012.

“I am very pleased to be participating in this effort,” said Congressman John Lewis.  “This is something I really wanted to do some years ago and there is no better time to do it than now.  It is not just a story of struggle; it is a story of involvement.  It shows the ups, the downs, the ins and the outs of a movement.

“It is my hope,” said Congressman Lewis, “that this work will be meaningful and helpful to future generations to give many people here in America and around the world the urge, the desire, to seek, to build, their own world, their own future.”

A meditation in the modern age on the distance traveled, both as a nation and as a people, since the days of Jim Crow and segregation, March tells the first hand account of John Lewis’ lifelong struggle for civil and human rights.  

The publishing agreement is an historic first, both for the U.S. Congress and graphic novel publishing as a whole, marking the first time a sitting Member of Congress has authored a graphic novel.  Top Shelf Productions is the first and only graphic novel publisher to be certified by the House Committee on Standards.

“As a proud resident of Georgia, and a long-time fan of the honorable Congressman,” adds publisher Chris Staros, “this is truly a deep honor. To bring, not only his life’s story, but that of the Civil Rights Movement to the comics medium is truly exciting. This will make this historical and timeless message accessible to an entirely new generation of readers.”

An artist has yet to be named for the project though candidates are being actively considered. 

JOHN LEWIS, is Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District Representative and an American icon widely known for his role in the Civil Rights Movement.

As a student at American Baptist Theological Seminary in 1959, John Lewis organized sit-in demonstrations at segregated lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee.  In 1961, he volunteered to participate in the Freedom Rides, which challenged segregation at interstate bus terminals across the South.  He was beaten severely by angry mobs and arrested by police for challenging the injustice of Jim Crow segregation in the South.

From 1963 to 1966, Lewis was Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).   As Chairman, John Lewis became a nationally recognized leader.  Lewis was dubbed one of the Big Six leaders of the Civil Rights Movement and at the age of 23, he was an architect of and a keynote speaker at the historic March on Washington in August 1963.

In 1964, John Lewis coordinated SNCC efforts to organize voter registration drives and community action programs during the Mississippi Freedom Summer. The following year, Lewis helped spearhead one of the most seminal moments of the Civil Rights Movement.   Hosea Williams, another notable Civil Rights leader, and John Lewis led over 600 peaceful, orderly protestors across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965.  They intended to march from Selma to Montgomery to demonstrate the need for voting rights in the state.  The marchers were attacked by Alabama state troopers in a brutal confrontation that became known as “Bloody Sunday.”   News broadcasts and photographs revealing the senseless cruelty of the segregated South helped hasten the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Despite more than 40 arrests, physical attacks and serious injuries, John Lewis remained a devoted advocate of the philosophy of nonviolence.  After leaving SNCC in 1966, he continued his commitment to the Civil Rights Movement as Associate Director of the Field Foundation and his participation in the Southern Regional Council’s voter registration programs. Lewis went on to become the Director of the Voter Education Project (VEP).  In 1977, John Lewis was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to direct more than 250,000 volunteers of ACTION, the federal volunteer agency.

In 1981, he was elected to the Atlanta City Council.   He was elected to Congress in November 1986 and has served as U.S. Representative of Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District since then.

ANDREW AYDIN, an Atlanta native, currently serves in Rep. John Lewis’ Washington, D.C. office handling Telecommunications and Technology policy as well as New Media.  Previously, Andrew served as Communications Director and Press Secretary during Rep. Lewis’ 2008 and 2010 re-election campaigns.  Andrew is a graduate of the Lovett School in Atlanta and Trinity College in Hartford, and is currently pursuing a master’s degree at Georgetown University.  

TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS is the literary graphic novel and comics publisher best known for its ability to discover and showcase the vanguard of the comics scene. Founded by Co-Publisher Brett Warnock in 1995, and partnered by Co-Publisher Chris Staros in 1997, Top Shelf has produced over two hundred graphic novels and comics that have helped to revitalize interest in comics as a literary art form. Most notably, Alan Moore’s FROM HELL, LOST GIRLS, and THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN; Craig Thompson’s BLANKETS; Andy Runton’s OWLY; Robert Venditti & Brett Weldele’s THE SURROGATES, Jeff Lemire’s ESSEX COUNTY, and Jeffrey Brown’s CLUMSY & UNLIKELY, all of which have garnered critical accolades from the likes of Time Magazine, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, People Magazine, Publishers Weekly, The New Yorker, and the New York Times Book Review.

By Jen Vaughn
What do you do with a man with a wild mind of his own and a pair of drawing hands that just won’t quit?

You make him KING.

James Kochalka is the one of forerunners of autobiographical diary comics with his syndicated comic, American Elf, which is also available online and began way back in October, 1998. He is also the creator of other excellent comics like irreverent SuperF*ckers and children’s books like the Johnny Boo series and most recently, Dragon Puncher. His comics are published by Portland-based comics publisher, Top Shelf. Brett Warnock of Top Shelf had this to say about his new Laureate: “James Kochalka mines the depths of the comics medium in ways that most aspiring cartoonists can only hope to achieve. Simply put, he “gets” comics… the narrative flow, panel and page compositions, line quality and color palette. Of course, all would be for naught without his charming, funny, and engaging content. And he makes it all seem so damn effortless. The world is a much better place for Kochalka’s impressive body of work.”

All over the state of Vermont, Kochalka has spread his love of comics and drawing. He is a regular visiting artist/faculty member at the Center for Cartoon Studies, a renowned cartooning school also based in Vermont. The Center for Cartoon Studies appointed Kochalka after a selection process. CCS Director James Sturm believes, “Whether they are funny, philosophical, or naughty, James Kochalka brings a childlike intensity to all of his work. With his diary comic he has influenced countless cartoonists and has forever altered the landscape of cartooning.”

Kochalka is also known for giving back to his own Vermont town, Burlington. Once a year, Kochalka and a rag-tag group of fledgling cartoonists (usually from CCS) take over the 4th and 5th grade classes to teach youngsters the joy of comics, sequential art and panel play.

When not inspiring the minds of children and cartoonists world-wide, Kochalka occasionally sings in his band, James Kochalka Superstar or creates 8-bit digi-tunes (my favorite track from Digital Elf was The Golden Eagle). The coronation of James Kochalka , the first Vermont Cartoonist Laureate, will take place all over Vermont in a day long-celebration. So mark your calendars for March 10, 2011 and take a trip up to Vermont for the celebration! Visit the official decree of coronation at the Center for Cartoon Studies site, where more details will pop up the closer the day approaches and the snow melts.