Run by a graphic designer who used to tend bar, and a computer guy who wrote about comics in his spare time, Top Shelf has established itself as an independent publisher where story and design work hand in hand. Offering such critically acclaimed titles as From Hell, Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell's vivid retelling of the Jack the Ripper saga, and Alex Robinson's acclaimed contemporary comic novel Box Office Poison, Top Shelf has a reputation for intelligent, non-superhero content.

The company is the brainchild of designer Brett Warnock, who is a former barkeep—hence the publisher's name. In 1995, inspired by the creativity of the self-published comics scene, he decided to put together his own comics anthology. In 1997, he teamed with Chris Staros, who had been an artists' agent (Campbell was a client) and also put out The Staros Report, a yearly look at the best in comics. Today, they run the company together.

At first, Top Shelf was noted for its innovative design. Although the books had a small but devoted following, the audience for non-superhero comics material in comics specialty shops was still very small.

In 1999, Warnock and Staros published the two books that would boost the company's fortunes: the American edition of From Hell. Almost 600 pages long, this meticulously researched and fiendishly clever story covered everything from royal madness and the Elephant Man to a vast Masonic conspiracy. The From Hell movie spurred even more attention, and now the graphic novel has some 130,000 copies in print.

Their next book was startlingly different: Goodbye, Chunky Rice by Craig Thompson, a simple story about a turtle named Chunky Rice who leaves his best friend, a mouse named Dandel, to travel the world. A parable of friendship and the importance of taking chances even at personal sacrifice, Chunky Rice was a certified indie hit and has about 15,000 copies in print.

Both books continue to be steady sellers for Top Shelf and, this year, they were joined by Alex Robinson's Box Office Poison; James Kochalka's lighthearted anthropomorphic Tin-Tin pastiche, Pinky and Stinky; and Matt Kindt and Jason Hall's crime noir Pistolwhip. In addition, branching out to more mainstream fare with a smart spin has yielded another potential media hit: Doug TenNapel's Creature Tech has already touched off a Hollywood bidding war.

And 2003 is shaping up to be another strong year, with a collection of Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie's erotic fantasy Lost Girls, and the first American edition of Moore's novel Voice of the Fire, illustrated by José Villarubia, on the way.

Warnock attributes much of the house's publishing success to instinct. "We look for a unique voice or an interesting vision, and above all, a desire to tell a story."

"Our graphic novels have an engaging art style and are complemented by a thought-provoking subtext full of social realism, humor and heart," added Staros. "That kind of sums it up."