IFC.com, the Internet arm of The Independent Film Channel, has announced that it will premiere a 5-part animated Web series in late November in conjunction with the release of Dash Shaw’s graphic novel, The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century, which will be published in mid-November by Fantagraphics Books.  Each short episode of the animated Web series chronicles the adventures of Rebel X-6, who works for an anti-droid organization and goes undercover as a “model-droid” at an art school to subvert the school’s ban on drawing real humans.  The exploits of Rebel X-6 also form the core of Fantagraphics’ The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century.

Dash Shaw is one of the hottest young talents to emerge in the world of comics.  His debut graphic novel, Bottomless Belly Button, was named Publishers Weekly’s “Graphic Novel of the Year for 2008,” and he has been nominated for an Eisner in 2009 for Best Digital Comic (see “Eisner Nominations Revealed”).  The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century collects Shaw’s futuristic short stories that have appeared in Fantagraphics’ MOME anthologies of works by top young cartoonists.  Shaw’s next graphic novel, BodyWorld, will be published by Pantheon in 2010.