The Top 50 Graphic Novels in Canada, courtesy of BookManager (copyright TBM BookManager). This list is accurate for the week ending November 24. The full list is available here. The list is compiled by BookManager based on sales through independent bookstores (although it includes at least one comics shop). Sales through the majority of 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. (2) Fruits Basket 18, Natsuki Takaya (Tokyopop)
3. (4) The Far Side 2008 Desk Calendar, Gary Larson (Andrews McMeel)
4. (5) Naruto Vol. 24, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
5. (3) Naruto Vol. 22, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
6. (9) Garfield Goes Bananas, Jim Davis (Random House)
7. (27) The Far Side 2008 Wall Calendar, Gary Larson (Andrews McMeel)
8. (8) Naruto Vol. 23, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
9. (6) Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born, David & Furth
10. (12) Garfield Fat Cat 3-Pack, Jim Davis (Random House)
11. (7) Naruto Vol. 21, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
12. (14) Vampire Knight Vol. 3, Matsuri Hino (VIZ)
13. (11) Schulz and Peanuts, David Michaelis (Harpercollins)
14. (10) Naruto Vol. 19, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
15. (18) Herman: Living With Animals, Jim Unger (ECW Press)
16. (16) Teaching Is a Learning Experience!, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
17. (15) Tsubasa 15: Reservoir Chronicle, Clamp (Random House)
18. (48) The Far Side 2008 Mini Wall Calendar, Gary Larson (Andrews McMeel)
19. (37) Chibi Vampire 6, Yuna Kagesaki (Tokyopop)
20. (13) Naruto Vol. 20, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
21. (17) Death Note, Volume 1, Tsugumi Ohba Takeshi Obata (VIZ)
22. (19) Bumper Book of Bunny Suicides, Andy Riley (Hodder)
23. (31) Garfield Blots Out the Sun, Jim Davis (Random House)
24. (-) Vampire Knight, Volume 1, Matsuri Hino (VIZ)
25. (49) Dilbert: 2008 Day-to-Day Calendar, Scott Adams (Andrews McMeel)
26. (-) Loveless 7, Yun Kouga (Tokyopop)
27. (-) Cartoons From The New Yorker: 2008 Day-to-Day Calendar (Andrews McMeel)
28. (-) Death Note, Volume 2, Tsugumi Ohba Takeshi Obata (VIZ)
29. (39) The Essential Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson (Andrews McMeel)
30. (22) Naruto, Volume 1: Vol. 1, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
31. (23) Naruto, Volume 2: Vol. 2, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
32. (33) Bleach, Volume 1, Tite Kubo (VIZ)
33. (20) Naruto Vol. 17, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
34. (21) Black Cat Vol. 11, Kentaro Yabuki (VIZ)
35. (-) Fruits Basket 1, Natsuki Takaya (Tokyopop)
36. (-) Positive Attitude, Scott Adams (Andrews McMeel)
37. (-) The Authoritative Calvin And Hobbes, Bill Watterson (Andrews McMeel)
38. (30) Naruto Vol. 16, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
39. (-) Death Note, Volume 7, Tsugumi Ohba Takeshi Obata (VIZ)
40. (32) Naruto Vol. 18, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
41. (-) Bleach Vol 19, Tite Kubo (VIZ)
42. (-) Death Note, Volume 3, Tsugumi Ohba Takeshi Obata (VIZ)
43. (-) Spy vs. Spy 2: The Joke and Dagger Files, Shayne & Abrams (Watson-Guptill)
44. (24) Naruto Vol 15, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
45. (-) Death Note, Volume 4, Tsugumi Ohba Takeshi Obata (VIZ)
46. (25) Simpsons 2008 Fun Calendar, Matt Groening (Harpercollins)
47. (50) Naruto Vol 14 , Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
48. (43) Fullmetal Alchemist, Volume 1, Hiromu Arakawa (VIZ)
49. (-) Bleach Vol. 21, Tite Kubo (VIZ)
50. (28) Buffy 1: The Long Way Home/Season Eight, Joss Whedon et al (Dark Horse)


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. The pattern that emerges from looking at these lists over a perod of weeks is that certain books, especially manga series, continuously jostle with each other, sliding up and down the longer list on the strength of a new volume or a spate of purchases for the kiddies (it is Xmas, after all). Of the 2 U.S. graphic novels on the list, both crossover from other media, Stephen King’s Dark Tower has dropped a few spaces, while the Buffy GN has almost been pushed off the list.

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:

Sequential’s Canadian Top 20
from BookManager’s Top 1000

1. (1) Senior’s Discount, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
2. (2) Teaching is a Learning Experience!, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
3. (5) Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography, Chester Brown (D+Q)
4. (18) The Spirit (Hardcover), Darwyn Cooke/Jeph Loeb/J Bone (DC)
5. (3) The Plain Janes, Cecil Castellucci et al (DC/Minx)
6. (7) Dramacon 1, Svetlana Chmakova (Tokyopop)
7. (8) Dramacon 2, Svetlana Chmakova (Tokyopop)
8. (6) White Rapids, Pascal Blanchet (D+Q)
9. (10) The Big 5-0, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
10. (-) Middle Age Spread, Lynn Johnston/Velda Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
11. (11) Never Wink at a Worried Woman, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
12. (-) Suddenly Silver, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
13. (17) Remembering Farley, Lynn Johnston/Velda Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
14. (15) Keep The Home Fries Burning, Lynn Johnston/Velda Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
15. (21) Essex County 2: Ghost Stories, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
16. (13) Graphic Witness: Four Wordless Graphic Novels, George A Walker (Firefly)
17. (24) Essex County 1: Tales From the Farm, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
18. (-) What Next, Aislin (MacArthur & Co.)
19. (16) Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China, Guy Delisle (D+Q)
20. (19) It’s The Thought That Counts, Lynn Johnston/Velda Johnston (Andrews McMeel)

Last week’s #20, Therefore Repent by Jim Munroe and Salgood Sam is #21 this week; Pyongyang by Guy Delisle is #22 (22 last week). Various titles that contain work by Canuck artists (Nextwave and Y: The Last Man, for instance) are quite highly ranked in the top 1000, as are the Flight anthologies and various books published by D+Q featuring foreign creators (Moomin, Adrian Tomine).