The upcoming release of Gigs (Graphic Novel) marks a significant moment for Top Shelf Productions, as creators Simon Smith (Si Smith) and Mark Mosedale deliver a hauntingly relevant look at a world where the traditional workforce has vanished. In this story, artificial intelligence has completely reshaped society, leaving regular people to navigate a fractured existence where jobs have been replaced by a never-ending cycle of “gigs.” Hailing from the North of England, Smith and Mosedale have managed to capture the grit and resilience of the human spirit through six interconnected chapters that feel less like fiction and more like a mirror held up to our current trajectory.
There is a raw, biting honesty in how this book handles the transition to Universal Basic Income and the total dominance of the gig economy. While many dystopian tales focus on flashy tech or robotic overlords, this narrative stays grounded in the “cracks” of society where humanity still manages to grow. The creators began this journey back in 2019, and the fact that their “future” now feels like our present gives the work an eerie, prophetic weight. It is an essential read for anyone trying to find meaning in an automated world.
What is the graphic novel Gigs about?
The narrative follows several distinct characters struggling to survive in a world where an app dictates their worth. You will meet an eighty-year-old punk rocker and a young laborer who both turn to music as their only means of escape from the digital grind. Other chapters introduce a street artist who creates and destroys his work daily, a detective hunting for answers in a forgotten corner of the world, and even a writer stranded on a crumbling space station. Through these diverse perspectives, the book explores how people maintain their identity when the structures of the old world have completely decayed.
Mark Mosedale reflects on the strange timing of the book’s release:
“When we started working on Gigs in 2019. We hoped that doing a book about AI taking jobs and necessitating a universal basic income wouldn’t become irrelevant in the time we spent making it. It turns out that that was the wrong thing to hope for. Still, there are all the right things left to hope for and, as Woody Guthrie wrote, you’ve got to keep the hoping machine running. For me, writing Gigs has been a big part of that.”
Si Smith adds that the inspiration for the book’s tone came from the transformative power of music, citing tracks from The Blue Nile, Cocteau Twins, and Talking Heads:
“When we started Gigs I was reaching for that feeling that great music gives me – hearing Tinseltown in the Rain for the first time, or Pearly-Dewdrops’ Drops, or Once In A Lifetime. When this stuff finds you, it’s proof that another, better world is possible, and an encouragement to look for it. Imagining a dystopia is relatively easy, especially right now, and the world that we’ve built in Gigs is quite bleak. But whilst hope and joy and revelation are definitely much harder to create, Mark and I have had a good go at it.”
Release Date and Pricing
You can find this full-color softcover edition in stores on June 16, 2026. Published by Top Shelf Productions, the book will retail for $24.99 and will also be available in a digital format for those who prefer reading on devices.
