MUMBAI: New York-based production company Likely Story and media entrepreneur John S Johnson have purchased a 33 per cent interest in graphic novel publisher Top Shelf Productions.

Under the terms of the investment deal, Johnson will join the board of Top Shelf and Likely Story will get a first-look deal of all new Top Shelf publications.

The first project due for development through Likely Story is Alex Robinson's Too Cool To Be Forgotten that was named one of Amazon.com's top ten graphic novels of the year.

Too Cool To Be Forgotten tells of a 40-something father of two who undergoes hypnotherapy to quit smoking, only to be transported back to his teenage existence in 1985.

Forced to relive his high school life, the man must discover whether he can make amends for his past life or will be condmened to repeat prior mistakes.

Bregman introduced Johnson to Top Shelf partner Chris Staros several years ago and the relationship grew from there.
Staros joined Top Shelf founder as a partner in 1997, two years after Brett Warnock founded the company. The stable of more than 200 titles includes Alan Moore's From Hell and The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Craig Thompson's Blankets and Jeffrey Brown's Clumsy & Unlikely.

Among other initiatives Johnson founded the philanthropic Pacific Foundation that funds innovation in the arts, environment and social justice.