Top Shelf will release a collection of Corey Barba’s YAM comics, both new and previously published in Nickelodeon Magazine, in July.  The 88-page 6-1/2” x 9” trade paperback, with a full color section, will retail for $10.00.

We asked Barba about the history of the property in Nickelodeon Magazine, which exposes the strip to over 900,000 readers.  “YAM has been appearing on and off in Nick Mag since 2003,” he said. “I originally pitched the idea to editor Chris Duffy at Nick- who at first turned it down, thinking the character looked too much like a baby for older kids in the Nick demographic to relate. He got back with me a few days later though, saying he'd reconsidered and wanted to run the one-pager I'd sent him.  Since then, YAM has been appearing somewhat (ir)regularly, and those color-comics are all reprinted in the soon-to-be released YAM… graphic novel….YAM is usually one and two page comics. A new one-pager will run in the August Nick Mag, and I have plans to pitch lots more!”

The graphic novel will include the color pages originally published in Nickelodeon Magazine, previously unpublished b/w comics, material from the first YAM mini-comic, and a new 38-page story, “Toy with My Dreams,” in which Yam begins communicating through his dreams with an older girl on whom he has a crush.