Return of the Dapper Men and its planned sequels have found a new home at Top Shelf Productions. Announced at the New York Comic-Con this past weekend, the IDW imprint will release a deluxe edition of the book next summer.
Return of the Dapper Men, by Jim McCann and Janet Lee, was originally published by Archaia in 2010, and McCann and Lee acquired the rights from them to the book in 2014. The whimsical story of a boy, a robot girl and the Dapper Man known as 41 won the Eisner Award for “Best Graphic Album: New” (tying with Daniel Clowes’ Wilson) in 2011.
“After seeing three disparate pieces of Janet’s art one Christmas I couldn’t get them out of my head,” McCann said in a press release. “In my mind they fit into a story, and that tale became the Dapper Men saga. I’m so lucky Janet said yes to taking this journey together, and now, thanks to Top Shelf/IDW, our characters get to continue their journeys in the trilogy we envisioned.”
The sequel, Time of the Dapper Men, will be released in summer 2018. “From the very first, Jim and I dreamed that the adventures of Ayden, Zoe, and the inhabitants of Anorev would be told in a trilogy of books,” Lee said in the release. “I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to be working with the folks at Top Shelf to make that happen. Top Shelf is the home of comics that changed my life. Now my beloved characters have a home there too.”
The release included some hints from McCann on the sequel: “We will see more whimsy, more choices to be made, more challenges to overcome, lessons to learn, and of course more new characters for Janet to draw in Time of the Dapper Men. I’d tell you about the final book, but let’s just say the ending of Time will have you guessing and gasping for more. And you’ll get it. Finally.”
