The Top Shelf side has a pretty wide variety of cartoonists, some of whom I am quite familiar with, like James Kochalka, Jeffrey Brown and Scott Morse, and several others I don't think I've ever read other, future works from, at least not that I can remember off the top of my head.
That side of the shelf includes Craig Thompson's signature work and masterpiece (No, not Blankets; Goodbye, Chunky Rice, one of the saddest comics I've ever cried over), as well as the short, sorta weird Beach Safari by a Mawil, which I really enjoyed the art of.
Looking closely for the purposes of this post, I see there are a few books that aren't Top Shelf ones mixed in. There are two Faith Erin Hicks books, apparently together by they were both by Hicks, although I don't know why they are on this particular shelf, The War at Ellsmere (from Slave Labor Graphics) and Brain Camp (from First Second and written by a Susan Kim and Lawrence Klavan). Brian Chippendale's If 'N Oof from Picture Box is there too; I suspect that's there due to its size, and because it was sturdy enough to act as a book end and hold the rest of the books to the left of it up.
The Image side includes a similar variety, and most of them seem to have been purchased due to the creators involved: Bo Hampton (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow), Matt Wagner (some Mage), Adam Warren (Gen 13 Bootleg: Grunge: The Movie), Andi Watson (Glister, Princess at Midnight) and Garth Ennis with Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti (The Pro) and Kevin Smith with Michael Oeming and Mike Allred (Bluntman and Chonic). Some of the others I bought for their high concept, like Tales from The Bully Pulpit (The time-travelling adventures of President Theodore Roosevelt) or The Five Fists of Science (Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla vs. a cabal of evil scientists, some of whose names are as familiar as those of the heroes). That last one was written by a promising young man named Matt Fraction; gee, I wonder what ever became of him...?
Furthest of the right, you'll see six volumes of The Walking Dead. Volumes 1-3 are standing upright, while volumes 5, 6 and 8 are upside down. What's going on there? Well, I started reading the series in trade paperback way back when, and, at some point at a con, I found a bunch of volumes 50% off at a con, so I bought those, even though I didn't yet have volume 4 (or 7). I figured I would pick volume 4 up at some point soon and then continue on with the series in trade and, well, I never did. Volume 3 is as far as I ever got and, like some manga series, The Walking Dead just got away from me, eventually going on so long that I was intimidated to jump back in.
I did like those first few volumes I read, and I suppose I will get around to reading this series eventually, but, well, when I do, I assume it will be via giant omnibuses or compendiums, rather than these slimmer trades, which I assume Image stopped publishing a while ago.
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