It Rhymes With Takei, The Stainless Steel Rat, Tiny Hercules & Universe! #8
From Top Shelf, Rebellion, Afterlife Inc. and Panel Syndicate
New comics news and previews including:
A new graphic memoir from George Takei.
A new collection from Rebellion.
News on Afterlife Inc. and Tiny Hercules.
And a new issue from Panel Syndicate.
Check out the details of It Rhymes With Takei from Top Shelf Productions.
Top Shelf Productions has a new graphic memoir from the legendary George Takei - It Rhymes With Takei.
Award-winning team reunites to depict the astounding personal journey of a gay icon
Top Shelf Productions is proud to announce IT RHYMES WITH TAKEI — a new full-color graphic memoir from the team behind George Takei’s award-winning bestseller THEY CALLED US ENEMY, telling the untold story of his journey from closeted actor to international gay icon. Scheduled for publication in June 2025, IT RHYMES WITH TAKEI will offer an unprecedented view into the heart of this beloved star and a celebration of the warp-speed changes he has witnessed in one lifetime.
George Takei has shown the world many faces: actor, author, outspoken activist, helmsman of the starship Enterprise, living witness to the internment of Japanese Americans, and king of social media. But until October 27, 2005, there was always one piece missing — one face he did not show the world. There was one very intimate fact about George that he never shared… and it rhymes with Takei.
Now, for the first time ever, George Takei shares the full story of his life in the closet, his decision to come out as gay at the age of 68, and the way that moment transformed everything. Following the phenomenal success of his first graphic memoir, THEY CALLED US ENEMY, Takei reunites with the team of Harmony Becker, Steven Scott, and Justin Eisinger, now joined by the award-winning colorist José Villarrubia, for a jaw-dropping new testament. From his earliest childhood crushes and youthful experiments in the rigidly conformist 1950s, to global fame as an actor and the paralyzing fear of exposure, to the watershed moment of speaking his truth and becoming one of the most high-profile gay men on the planet, It Rhymes With Takei presents a sweeping portrait of one iconic American navigating the tides of LGBTQ+ history.
Combining historical context with intimate subjectivity, IT RHYMES WITH TAKEI shows how the personal and the political have always been intertwined. Its richly emotional words and images depict the terror of entrapment even in gay community spaces, the anguish of speaking up for so many issues while remaining silent on his most personal issue, the grief of losing friends to AIDS, the joy of finding true love with Brad Altman, and the determination to declare that love openly — and legally — before the whole world.
Looking back on his astonishing life on both sides of the closet, George Takei now presents a charismatic and candid witness to how far America has come…and how precious that progress is.
IT RHYMES WITH TAKEI
by George Takei, Harmony Becker, Steven Scott, Justin Eisinger, and José Villarrubia
ISBN 9781603095747 | $29.99 (US)
Full-color hardcover, 6.5” x 9” | 328 pages
Coming June 2025
Now available for pre-order
It is a classic collection from Rebellion with The Stainless Steel Rat.
From the pages of 2000 AD from Rebellion, there is a new collection to check out in December 2024 featuring The Stainless Steel Rat.
CREATIVE TEAM: Harry Harrison, Kelvin Gosnell (w) Carlos Ezquerra (a) Janet Landau (c) Jack Potter (l)
RELEASE DATE: December 17
PAPERBACK, 208 pages
PRICE: £24.99
ISBN: 9781837862733
The 2000 AD adaptation of Harry Harrison's classic science-fiction novels by Kelvin Gosnell and Carlos Ezquerra returns in a new full color omnibus!
James Bolivar DiGriz aka 'The Stainless Steel Rat' is many things - a con man, a thief, and a member of an elite law-enforcement agency known as the Special Corps. After escaping the corps, DiGriz crosses paths with the beautiful but deadly Angelina who, like Jim DiGriz, is also a master criminal, albeit a lot more ruthless. They must travel through time to stop a master criminal meddling with the past, and help to overthrow an evil President by having The Rat become a candidate for the job himself!
A classic from 2000 AD's first 'golden age', Stainless Steel Rat is a must-read for fans of Harrison or old school sci-fi action with bold characters and a wry twist of humour, complemented by Ezquerra's dynamic and inimitable artwork.
Available in print from: 2000 AD webshop, book stores, Amazon, and comic book stores via Diamond
Available in digital from: 2000 AD webshop, 2000 AD app for Apple & Android
The latest from Afterlife Inc. is out, plus a tiny hero coming soon!
Jon and Nich have some news, not only on the latest at Afterlife Inc. but also a new project coming up - Tiny Hercules.
Act 1 of volume 7 of Afterlife Inc. is now available to read.
Plus, in some exciting news is the upcoming Tiny Hercules.
Macmillan Children’s Books (MCB) has acquired four graphic novels from UK-based creative duo Jon Lock and Nich Angell.
Tiny Hercules is a middle-grade series that was commissioned by Macmillan Children’s Books editors who came across Lock and Angell at MCM Comic Con.
The novels will be illustrated in colour with the first title launching in spring 2026 and the following three publishing at 6-month intervals.
Cate Augustin, editorial director at Macmillan Children’s Books fiction and non-fiction, and Louisa Cusworth, assistant editor, bought world rights from Rachel Mann at CAA.
The series follows the adventures of Tiny Hercules, who has been banished from Tiny Olympus after ruining one too many of Tiny Zeus’s legendary parties.
Lock and Angell are a writer and artist team who have been making comics and tabletop games for more than 15 years, for publishers including Nickelodeon and 2000AD magazine. They are the creators of the comics Afterlife Inc. and Cat & Meringue.
Augustin said: “Tiny Hercules is pure joy—completely bonkers, fast-paced and laugh-yourself-silly funny. The children’s graphic novel market is such an exciting place to be publishing into at the moment, and Tiny Hercules is exactly what kids are looking for in this space. I can’t wait for readers around the world to experience the joy of the tiniest, mightiest, most hilarious god they’ve ever met.”
Lock and Angell said in a joint statement: “We’re so excited that Tiny Hercules has found a home with Macmillan. We’ve been making independent comics for years, and now, thanks to the amazing team at MCB, we have an incredible opportunity to bring our love and enthusiasm for this medium to a wider audience. We grew up living and breathing comics. These larger-than-life heroes and stories are what shaped us as creators.”
They added: “Tiny Hercules is the perfect fusion of everything we love about storytelling, wrapped up in a very silly package. It’s fun, daft and exciting and exactly the kind of book we would have loved to have read as kids.”
Hot on the heels of the last issue, there is more from Universe!
From Panel Syndicate, there is a new digital format of the excellent science fiction series, Universe! - with issue #8 out now.
Is it possible? A new issue of UNIVERSE! already out after just one month?! You’re damn right it’s possible!
Albert Monteys is back and ready to explore the boundaries of the mind and of capitalism in a silent tale that will leave you wordless. As a matter of fact, after reading it, our fearless editor Marcos Martín could only ask Albert: “Are you okay?”. Well, the only thing we know for sure is this is an awesome comic that will forever challenge your notion of mining in Jupiter’s moons.
This 52-page comic is available now at panelsyndicate.com in English, Spanish and Catalan for whatever price you want to pay, including 0 (zero).
