The Top 50 Graphic Novels in Canada, courtesy of BookManager. This list is accurate for the week ending November 17. The full list is available here. The list is compiled by BookManager based on sales through independent bookstores. Sales through comic shops and larger retailers like Chapters-Indigo and Walmart are not reflected in this list. For balance, you might want to try the Amazon.ca and Chapters-Indigo lists.

Top 50 Comics and Graphic Novels in Canada

1. (1) Senior’s Discount, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
2. (-) Fruits Basket 18, Natsuki Takaya (Tokyopop)
3. (6) Naruto Vol. 22, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
4. (12) The Far Side 2008 Desk Calendar, Gary Larson (Andrews McMeel)
5. (3) Naruto Vol. 24, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
6. (15) Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born, S. King/Peter David/Robin Furth
7. (21) Naruto Vol. 21, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
8. (5) Naruto Vol. 23, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
9. (8) Garfield Goes Bananas, Jim Davis (Random House)
10. (4) Naruto Vol. 19, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
11. (7) Schulz and Peanuts, David Michaelis (Harpercollins)
12. (13) Garfield Fat Cat 3-Pack, Jim Davis (Random House)
13. (9) Naruto Vol. 20, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
14. (19) Vampire Knight, Vol. 3, Matsuri Hino (VIZ)
15. (10) Tsubasa 15: Reservoir Chronicle, Clamp (Random House)
16. (11) Teaching: Is a Learning Experience!, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
17. (24) Death Note, Volume 1, Tsugumi Ohba/Takeshi Obata (VIZ)
18. (14) Herman: Living With Animals, Jim Unger (ECW)
19. (-) Bumper Book of Bunny Suicides, Andy Riley (Hodder)
20. (16) Naruto Vol. 17, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
21. (-) Black Cat Vol. 11, Kentaro Yabuki (VIZ)
22. (18) Naruto, Volume 1: Vol. 1, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
23. (28) Naruto, Volume 2: Vol. 2, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
24. (17) Naruto Vol 15, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
25. (-) Simpsons 2008 Fun Calendar, Matt Groening (Harpercollins)
26. (19) Vampire Knight, Volume 2, Matsuri Hino (VIZ)
27. (-) The Far Side 2008 Wall Calendar, Gary Larson (Andrews McMeel)
28. (27) Buffy 1: The Long Way Home/Season Eight, Whedon er al (DH)
29. (26) The Best of Pokemon Adventures: Red:Red, Hidenori Kusaka Mato (VIZ)
30. (25) Naruto Vol. 16, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
31. (31) Garfield Blots Out the Sun, Jim Davis (Random House)
32. (23) Naruto Vol. 18, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
33. (37) Bleach, Volume 1, Tite Kubo (VIZ)
34. (50) One Piece Vol. 16, Eiichiro Oda (VIZ)
35. (48) Naruto, Volume 13, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
36. (20) Bleach Vol. 21, Tite Kubo (VIZ)
37. (-) Chibi Vampire 6, Yuna Kagesaki (Tokyopop)
38. (-) Kitchen Princess 4, Natsumi Ando/Miyuki Kobayashi (Random House)
39. (-) The Essential Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson (Andrews McMeel)
40. (-) Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson (Andrews McMeel)
41. (-) Naruto, Volume 12, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
42. (38) Alternative Zits, Jim Borgman Jerry Scott (Andrews McMeel)
43. (-) Fullmetal Alchemist, Volume 1, Hiromu Arakawa (VIZ)
44. (32) Fruits Basket 17, Natsuki Takaya (Tokyopop)
45. (45) Asterix and the Falling Sky, Albert Uderzo Anthea Bell(Orion)
46. (30) Tsubasa 14: Reservoir Chronicle, Clamp (Random House)
47. (33) Fall In Love Like a Comic Vol. 1, Chitose Yagami (VIZ)
48. (34) The Far Side 2008 Mini Wall Calendar, Gary Larson (Andrews McMeel)
49. (36) Dilbert: 2008 Day-to-Day Calendar, Scott Adams (Andrews McMeel)
50. (41) Naruto Vol 14, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)

Once again, an almost all-manga and comic strip collection list, of which the most mind-boggling to me is the presence of 4 (!) different calendars reprinting Gary Larson’s long-gone Far Side panels. See here for last week’s list. I’ve added last week’s ranking in parentheses, with a (-) indicating an absence from the top 50 last week –although books that were not in the top 50 last week were most likely in the top 100, with the possible exception of a few newly published hits like the eagerly-awaited 18th volume of Natsuki Takaya’s Fruits Basket manga series. Of the 2 U.S. graphic novels on the list, both crossover from other media, Stephen King’s Dark Tower has surged quite a few spaces, while the Buffy GN has tumbled one.

The Top 1000 is a wondrous, scary place, where everyone from Douglas Wolk to Charles Schulz to the Transformers to Jerry Siegel to Nana duke it out and where one sale in one tiny bookstore can move a book from #999 to #200. This is also the place where you find books by Canadian creators and where the Canadian Top 20 comes from:

Canadian Top 20
from BookManagers Top 1000

1. (1) Senior’s Discount, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
2. (2) Teaching is a Learning Experience!, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
3. (4) The Plain Janes, Cecil Castellucci et al (DC/Minx)
4. (3) For Better or For Worse: 2008 Calendar, Lynn Johnston
5. (5) Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography, Chester Brown (D+Q)
6. (12) White Rapids, Pascal Blanchet (D+Q)
7. (16) Dramacon 1, Svetlana Chmakova (Tokyopop)
8. (21) Dramacon 2, Svetlana Chmakova (Tokyopop)
9. (6) She’s Turning into One of Them!, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
10. (10) The Big 5-0, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
11. (11) Never Wink at a Worried Woman, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
12. (7) I Love My Grandpa, Lynn Johnston/Andie Parton (Andrews McMeel)
13. (8) Graphic Witness: Four Wordless Graphic Novels, George A Walker (Firefly)
14. (-) Last Straw, Lynn Johnston/Velda Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
15. (-) Keep The Home Fries Burning, Lynn Johnston/Velda Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
16. (15) Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China, Guy Delisle (D+Q)
17. (-) Remembering Farley, Lynn Johnston/Velda Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
18. (-) The Spirit (Hardcover), Darwyn Cooke/Jeph Loeb/J Bone (DC)
19. (-) It’s The Thought That Counts, Lynn Johnston/Velda Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
20. (-) Therefore Repent! Jim Munroe/Salgood Sam (Insomniac)

Congrats are due to Sequential’s own Salgood Sam for that #20 ranking. Last week’s #13, Essex County 2: Ghost Stories by Jeff Lemire, is this week’s #21. Guy Delisle’s Pyongyang and Scott Chantler’s Northwest Passage hardcover (#s 14 and 17 last week) are #22 and #23 this week, probably done in by a Lynn Johnston buying spree or two.