It is great to see the comics community come thru for each other like
this. Though the LPC thing put a major crimp in the cash flow of some of
your favorite comic book publishers, it looks like we are not going to let
it pull anyone under.
That said, if you have always been thinking about picking up a book for
yourself or for a friend, but haven't gotten around to it yet, this would
be a great time to go ahead and order that book from Image, Dark Horse,
Top Shelf, or any of the other quality comic book publishers out there.
Thanks for all the help in keeping quality publishers alive.
: TOP SHELF SAVED BY COMICS COMMUNITY IN RECORD 12 HOURS
: Dear Comics Fans,
: What a difference a day makes. On Tuesday morning at
: 8:00AM,
April 3rd,
: Top Shelf was effectively put out of business, and on
: Tuesday evening by
: 8:00PM, April 3rd, Top Shelf was remarkably
back in
: business. There are
: not words suitable to express how
honored and thankful we
: are that
: within 12 hours this amazing
comics community took it
: upon itself to
: bring us back to life.
And in this case, it might also be
: said that the
: power of the
internet was fully realized.
: On Tuesday, after we made the announcement of our book
: trade
distributor
: filing for Chapter 11 (and the subsequent fatal impact
: that this had on
: our own operation), we received over 200
phone orders and
: 850 on-line
: and email orders to boot. This
staggering 1000 orders has
: not only made
: us operational again
(and put several thousand copies of
: our graphic
: novels into
circulation), but has also reaffirmed to us
: that the comics
:
industry is back, revitalized, and ready to take on the
: world. We're
: even estimating that over 100,000 people received the
: news or
were
: personally involved in the discussion of this on-line
:
event on that day.
: With this overwhelming support, combined with the (now
:
contradictory)
: fact that Top Shelf has always prided itself that
every
: order would ship
: out the very next day, we ask for your
patience in
: letting us get all of
: these graphic novels,
comics, and CDs to you. We hope to
: have everything
: shipped out
within the next few weeks. In the meantime,
: if all this
:
activity has made you curious about our books, we would
: encourage
you to
: ask for them at your local retailer, so that everyone
:
along the chain,
: retailers and distributors alike, can also benefit
from
: this spur of
: interest. And while this interest in
diversity is at the
: forefront of
: everyone's mind, we encourage
you to continue in the
: exploration and
: discussion of comics
from all the publishers doing
: quality work these
: days: DC
Comics, Marvel, Dark Horse, Image, CrossGen,
: Viz,
:
Fantagraphics, Slave Labor, Oni Press, NBM, Drawn &
: Quarterly,
Cartoon
: Books, Alternative Comics, Highwater Books, the
:
publishers we represent
: (like Eddie Campbell Comics, etc.), and all
the rest
: (that we apologize
: for not having the space to
mention by name today).
: If we've learned anything over these last seven years -
: and
witnessed it
: absolutely this week - we're all in this together. And
: the growth and
: development of this amazing medium is in the
most capable
: hands
: possible: the fans of this industry.
: We'd also like to take a moment to give a special thank
: you to
a few
: extraordinary people and organizations: -- Warren Ellis
:
and the Warren Ellis Forum. We've always known that
: the
: Warren
Ellis Forum was a formidable entity, dedicated to
: the discussion
: and support of quality comics all over the industry, but
: their
: mobilization in this instance was unprecedented. We can't
:
absolutely
: determine what percentage of all the orders were from
: this distinguished
: group, but our estimation is that it was
significant. We
: cannot thank
: Warren or the supporters of his
forum enough
: (http://www.warrenellis.com
: & http://forums.delphiforums.com/ellis
&
: http://www.artbomb.net/
).
: -- CrossGen Comics. Mark Alessi and the CrossGen staff
:
collectively
: bought $5,000.00 worth of graphic novels and will
donate
: them to the
: public library system. This completely
novel and generous
: gesture not
: only helped to keep us going
(in a big way), but also
: promises to expose
: hundreds of people
and libraries to what comics can bring
: to the world
: of art and
literature. This stunned us, and is a
: testament to CrossGen's
:
contribution to our industry (http://www.crossgen.com).
: -- Rick Veitch and Matt Brady of comiccon.com's Spash and
:
Newsarama
: pages. Their amazing coverage, on-line discussions, and
: links for this
: event spurred on an uncountable array of
support from the
: industry
: (http://www.comiccon.com).
: -- Neil Gaiman. Neil took it upon himself to discuss our
:
situation
: within his daily on-line journal, which just happens to
: be the most
: visited daily journal on the web. And since he's
been
: known to have a
: fan or two (including us), we've been
getting a nice bit
: of support from
: there as well
:
(http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/journal.asp).
: -- And no less amazing than that of the above, the
: collective
efforts of
: the crews at http://www.artbomb.net/ ,
: http://www.sequentialtart.com/ ,
: http://www.comicbookresources.com/
,
: http://www.comicbookgalaxy.com/
,
: http://www.icv2.com/ , http://www.grayhavenmagazine.com/
: ,
: http://www.popimage.com/ , http://www.shotgunreviews.com/
: , etc., whom all
: rallied their subscribers, who in turn
proudly stated
: that they had come
: from one of these very
active sites.
: -- And lastly, but never least, the comics retailing and
:
distributing
: community. They are the front line of our industry, and
: behind the
: scenes they have always been the ones that have
kept the
: independent
: publisher alive. The show of support from
this community
: has not only
: been amazing on this particular
day, but has ALWAYS been
: there from the
: first moment we
entered the business. They have been the
: group that has
:
supported us the most.
: Again, we want to thank everyone from the bottom of our
: hearts
-- we
: could not have done it without you. Top Shelp will
:
continue to try and
: put out the best books possible, and we look
forward to
: not only
: thanking each an every one of you
personally at the Cons
: this summer,
: but also being able to now
make some rather cool
: announcements in the
: coming weeks that
should be fun and beneficial for the
: entire industry
: as well.
: On behalf of Brett Warnock and myself…
: Truly, your friend thru comics,
: Chris Staros
: Top Shelf Productions
: PO Box 1282
:
Marietta, GA 30061-1282
: USA
: (770) 425-0551
: (770) 427-6395 (fax)
: staros@bellsouth.net
: http://www.topshelfcomix.com/
: http://www.topshelfcomix.com/