June/July Top Shelf Goodness

So many good things seem to come out of Top Shelf Productions over the next two months. I am trying very hard not to drool (and overspend).

I love the title Things Are Meaning Less by Al Burian. I've seen this on the shelves and I've read through it. I didn't fall in love with the story, but I thought it was sweet. This is one that I'd like to add to my collection if I have an extra ten bucks to spare.

Alan Moore's latest work, made in collaboration with José Villarrubia, is The Mirror of Love and "is a passionate love letter that beautifully recounts the history of same-sex love". Very interesting! I've seen some of the illustrations in the book and they are beautiful, what one would expect from an elegant coffee-table book for an adult ("mature", not "pornographic") comic book fan.

Derek K. Kim self-published Same Difference and Other Stories, which I own. I think his comedy is great (asian-bent and hilarious to a first generation immigrant like myself) and his stories are touching. I'm so happy to see Top Shelf Productions take him on; I need to check to see if this publication is the same as my copy.

I must remember that July 3rd is Free Comic Book Day, so that I can pick up the fantastic Top Shelf issue, featuring my sweetheart writer/artist Jeffrey Brown.

My Craig Thompson love is mostly isolated to Blankets, one of the most touching autobiographical pieces I've ever read. Goodbye, Chunky Rice didn't make an impact on me, for reasons I can't verbalize. It's just not as engaging. Perhaps, it is because the former is non-fiction and the latter is fiction. Carnet de Voyage is mostly non-fiction, about his travels in Europe and Morocco, so I have high hopes for it.

Two in one month from Craig Thompson? Yum! Conversation is a non-fiction conversation between Thompson and James Kochalka, an artist I admire and respect, but I'm not hopelessly in love with. This is listed as #1, so if this is good, I'm sure there will be more! It sounds like this one focuses on art and religion, which will be interesting considering Thompson's religious history (detailed in the aforementioned Blankets)... and speaking of Blankets, Top Shelf Productions is releasing an official soundtrack to it. How awesome is that?! I wonder what would be on the soundtrack for Jeffrey Brown's works. Ella and Kim suggest it would be heavy with Death Cab for Cutie. I would agree.

All those in the next two months. I think my head will explode.

Images from Top Shelf Productions, used without permission