Anthony Bregman and John S. Johnson have purchased a 33% interest in graphic novel publisher Top Shelf Productions.  Bregman owns New York-based production company Likely Story and Johnson is a “new media entrepreneur” (whatever that is).

The deal states that Johnson will join the board of Top Shelf and Likely Story will get a first-look deal for all new Top Shelf publications.  Alex Robinson’s Too Cool To Be Forgotten is the first property to be developed by Likely Story.  Amazon named it one of the top ten graphic novels of the year.

Likely Story produced the upcoming Sundance premieres Please Give and The Extra Man.  Johnson was introduced 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 it’s founding.

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.