Top Shelf Productions is proud to announce It Rhymes With Takei — a new full-color graphic memoir from the team behind George Takei’s award-winning bestseller They Called Us Enemy,
telling the untold story of his journey from closeted actor to
international gay icon. Scheduled for publication in June 2025, It Rhymes With Takei
will offer an unprecedented view into the heart of this beloved star
and a celebration of the warp-speed changes he has witnessed in one
lifetime.
George Takei has shown the world many faces: actor, author, outspoken
activist, helmsman of the starship Enterprise, living witness to the
internment of Japanese Americans, and king of social media. But until
October 27, 2005, there was always one piece missing—one face he did not
show the world. There was one very intimate fact about George that he
never shared…and it rhymes with Takei.
Now, for the first time ever, George Takei shares the full story of his
life in the closet, his decision to come out as gay at the age of 68,
and the way that moment transformed everything. Following the phenomenal
success of his first graphic memoir, They Called Us Enemy,
Takei reunites with the team of Harmony Becker, Steven Scott, and Justin
Eisinger, now joined by the award-winning colorist José Villarrubia,
for a jaw-dropping new testament. From his earliest childhood crushes
and youthful experiments in the rigidly conformist 1950s, to global fame
as an actor and the paralyzing fear of exposure, to the watershed
moment of speaking his truth and becoming one of the most high-profile
gay men on the planet, It Rhymes With Takei presents a sweeping portrait of one iconic American navigating the tides of LGBTQ+ history.
Combining historical context with intimate subjectivity, It Rhymes With Takei
shows how the personal and the political have always been intertwined.
Its richly emotional words and images depict the terror of entrapment
even in gay community spaces, the anguish of speaking up for so many
issues while remaining silent on his most personal issue, the grief of
losing friends to AIDS, the joy of finding true love with Brad Altman,
and the determination to declare that love openly—and legally—before the
whole world.
Looking back on his astonishing life on both sides of the closet,
George Takei now presents a charismatic and candid witness to how far
America has come…and how precious that progress is.
It Rhymes With Takei
by George Takei, Harmony Becker, Steven Scott, Justin Eisinger, & José Villarrubia
ISBN 9781603095747 | $29.99 (US)
Full-color hardcover, 6.5” x 9” | 328 pages
Coming June 2025
Now available for pre-order!
Pre-orders are already live at:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million | Hudson Booksellers
or speak to your local comic shop or bookstore!
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