SHQ Publishing Presents: Cherry on Top

We are very excited to announce the preorder for our latest release:
Cherry On Top, a novella by Carson Mell (Silicon Valley, Tarantula, Eastbound & Down). 

Cherry On Top is the hilarious, heartfelt follow up to Carson Mell’s cult novella, Saguaro, which chronicled rock legend's Bobby Bird's entire life, save for the period when the rock star was at the peak of his fame, a period that caused Bobby too much shame and embarrassment to illuminate. In Cherry On Top, Bobby Bird shines a light on one of those hilarious and harrowing years when the world was Bobby's oyster and he was absolutely out of control.

After an affair with a taken woman leads to a blood-drenched and thoroughly incriminating evening, Bobby is whisked away by the all-powerful Colony Records to their "Safe House Seven" in the middle of the Mojave Desert. As he struggles to meet the record label's demands to record a new album and a hit single, he is thrown into a life or death battle with a homicidal record producer, giant lizards, and, perhaps most of all, himself.

 The Cherry On Top preorder begins today. ALL PREORDERED COPIES WILL SIGNED BY CARSON! There is also a special edition of 100 copies that will be signed, numbered, and sketched. 

Besides our online store, you can also pick up a copy of Cherry On Top at our LA Art Book Fair table from August 11-13th! Carson will be joining us on Friday, August 11th to sign books.

Have a penchant for beers, pinball, and soft pretzels? Join SHQ and Carson at our favorite spot, Walt's Bar in Eagle Rock, on Wednesday, August 16th! Carson will be reading some unpublished material and we'll have books for you to snag. 

About The Author

Arizona native Carson Mell moved to Los Angeles in the early 2000’s. With no media connections, he spent his first eight years there working odd jobs, making movies, and writing until he garnered the attention of HBO. While writing for their comedy-shows, he continued making work of his own. He has several new novels in the works and publishes as often as possible to his Substack.

SHQ Is Coming To Atwater Village!

We are beyond excited to announce our future home: 3137 Glendale Blvd in Atwater Village! 

Opening Spring 2023, the new flagship Secret Headquarters will be a destination for comics, graphic novels, art books,  zines, monthlies, all-ages goodies, apparel, art, events, and more.

We can't wait to share it with you all (especially the incredible Atwater Village community!)


We've made a new shirt (with art by the great Andrew Brandou) to commemorate our move to Atwater. Celebrate our current storefront limbo by picking one up!

In the meantime: we are still rolling at Dungeon Dungeon, we're adding crazy good stuff to our online shop every day.

Visit Us At The Warehouse!

With Top Secret Headquarters still in limbo and the new Secret Headquarters still under construction in Atwater Village, we’ll continue to work out of our Silver Lake warehouse for the next couple of months.

Want to check it out? Come visit! We have some recent single issues, staff picks/modern classic graphic novels, apparel, and rarities/out of print stuff. We’re also happy to special order anything that you’re interested in if it’s not already on our shelves.

SHQ Distro

2516 1/2 W Sunset Blvd, LA CA 90026

BEHIND Sunset Blvd, through the back alley parking lot between Rampart and Coronado.

Open Monday - Friday, 9a - 5p

Top Secret Headquarters Closed (For Now!)

Due to “circumstances beyond our control” we have to close the Top Secret Headquarters location in Silver Lake until further notice. Keep an eye on social media and we’ll update asap. We’re open at Dungeon Dungeon inside The Last Bookstore every day11-8. Cross your fingers for us!

If you feel like shopping while we're closed, we will be adding new items to our online shop every day (including rarities and out of print goodness!) https://thesecretheadquarters.bigcartel.com

SHQ Holiday Recs Part Three: Chris Picks

New York Ninja Super Special by Charles Forsman

Floating World Comics/Vinegar Syndrome

$12

Do you even sequels, bro? No sequel is more vital and important than this Forsman ripper.You don't need to have watched the cult classic original film from 1984 to immerse yourself into this gem. Just remember that crime in NYC in the 1980s was very bad and we all should thank New York Ninja, not Spidey, Heroes For Hire, or Daredevil, for keeping those streets clean.

Detention No. 2 / Sir Alfred No. 3 by Tim Hensley

Fantagraphics

$20/each

Local boy done good, your cartoonist's favorite cartoonist, Tim Hensley is back baby! Oversized, gloriously illustrated and colored, and packed with the language and minutiae of turn of the century NYC ("loosely" based on Stephen Crane's novella Maggie: A Girl of the Streets). And since there's no such thing as too much of a good thing, Fantagraphics have reissued Sir Alfred, for those who need to scratch their Hitch itch!

Shuna's Journey by Hayao Miyazaki

First Second

$28

At this point, there is nothing that Miyazaki-san can do that won't be short of absolutely amazing. He can draw a dot on a post-it, and it'll probably end world suffering for a blissful moment. Shuna's Journey, originally from 1983 and translated into English for the first time, is based on an old Tibetan folktale and features many visual ideas that would form Nausicaa, Mononoke, etc. RIYL Studio Ghibli, coming of age journeys, nature and anti-colonial anti-slavery sentiment.

Acting Class by Nick Drnaso

Drawn & Quarterly

$30

Y'all, this is a goddamn masterpiece. Take something that is inherently awkward (an acting class), magnify it by a million, mess with the perception of reality, then die inside forever. Drnaso already has "Booker Prize longlist" distinction, what's next? Pulitzer? Nobel Prize? Purple Heart? Grammy? Better jump on the wagon now, so you can tell kids 20 years from now that you were there before he was doing VR hologram New Yorker covers in 2042.

The Human Target Volume One by Tom King and Greg Smallwood

DC Black Label

$30

Tom King's extremely good at his thing. Some folks wanna get all snobby and say they don't like it anymore, but really they still do because, like I wrote earlier, he's extremely good at his thing. Another reinvention of a B-list DC character, in a stylish noir mystery, elevated to bonkers status by Smallwood's impeccable art which lies in the center of a Venn Diagram of Norman Rockwell's style and Darwyn Cooke's vibe.

A Frog in the Fall (and Later On) by Linnea Sterte

Peow Studio

$35

Brew your genmaicha and put on your favorite Japanese ambient records, because Linnea Sterte's new one is here and it's so incredibly chill. With her zen minimal linework and the jaw-dropping PEOW packaging, Frog's journey is so epic, it might actually get you to leave your electric blanket and go outside for a change.

SHQ Holiday Recs Part One: Dave's Picks

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM SECRET HEADQUARTERS

It's that time of year again! Already! Somehow! Never fear, we are here to help you pick out the best gifts for everyone on your list. Part one: picks from Dave, your friendly neighborhood comic shop owner.

Smoke Signal #39

Desert Island

$10

A full issue of forty oversized James Jean images printed on newsprint. I have my issues with newsprint (basically hate it), but I gotta give it to the stuff. It makes for a more involved experience when you're turning the pages. The smell, the way it changes color and texture over time, how it feels like you're reaching back to an earlier time in printing. Either either, it's all JJ and his stuff is gorgeous no matter what it's on.

Anti-Drug Propaganda Zine

Desert Island

$22

This zine is so incredible. It's one hundred pages full of people telling you what not to do by showing you how to do it in the coolest way. I gotta believe every artist was way into getting high and taking money from the man to make the art. Meanwhile, do people really sniff glue? I know there's songs and books, and probably stuff in movies I'm not remembering, but it just seems so crazy. Drugs are bad.

Le Moyne Tarot - Major Arcana

Heavy Manners

$38

Ok. If you know me, you know I'm about as spiritual as an Apple IIe. When I read Jesse's tarot explanations I feel like I'm totally nuts. However, I love things that are way beyond me, and I think Jesse is one of the best writer/artists out there today. Not sure how this sells this box, but years ago we worked with a guy that carried his tarot set in a leather sheath on his belt.

Complete Eightball

Fantagraphics

$50

There's a perfect time in a person's life for certain comics (music, movies, etc). Eightball happens to be one of a handful of things that it's always the right time for. Never read it? Get ready for this! Read it a long time ago? It's like a visit from your funniest, craziest old friend that doesn't give a fuck about "off limits".

Mononoke

Editions Cornelius

$60

When Shigeru Mizuki finishes a drawing, he must be so satisfied, like "Yup, that's exactly what I see in my mind, nailed it again." Imagine doing that over two hundred times just for this book? Meanwhile, I'd buy it for the backgrounds alone.

Moebius - Alla Ricerca del Tempo (In Search Of Time)

Moebius Productions / Comicon Edizioni

$95

I almost feel silly about writing a description of a beautifully printed book of Moebius illustrations. It's a catalog of an Italian show of his work. Beauty on beauty! I mean, what more could you possibly say? You're either in or you're out. My way or the highway. It's flippin' Moebius, my dude.