The Top 50 Graphic Novels in Canada, courtesy of BookManager. 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. This list has two parts, the top 50 overall and the top 25 by Canadian creators.

Top 50 Comics and Graphic Novels in Canada

1. (1) Senior’s Discount, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
2. (2) Garfield Goes Bananas, Jim Davis (Random House)
3. (3) The Far Side 2008 Desk Calendar, Gary Larson (Andrews McMeel)
4. (12) Death Note, Volume 1, Tsugumi Ohba Takeshi Obata (VIZ)
5. (5) Naruto Vol. 26, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
6. (4) Naruto Vol. 27, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
7. (9) Naruto Vol. 25, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
8. (7) Naruto Vol. 24, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
9. (6) Dark Tower:The Gunslinger Born, Peter David/Robin Furth (Marvel)
10. (25) Fruits Basket 18, Natsuki Takaya (Tokyopop)
11. (11) Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 15, Hiromu Arakawa (VIZ)
12. (8) Herman: Living With Animals, Jim Unger (ECW Press)
13. (34) Vampire Knight Vol. 3, Matsuri Hino (VIZ)
14. (-) Vampire Knight Vol. 1, Matsuri Hino (VIZ)
15. (28) Naruto Vol. 22, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
16. (10) Dilbert: Cubes and Punishment, Scott Adams (Andrews McMeel)
17. (13) Naruto Vol. 23, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
18. (-) Naruto, Vol. 2:2 Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
19. (15) Death Note, Volume 2, Tsugumi Ohba Takeshi Obata (VIZ)
20. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (Pantheon)

21. (32) Vampire Knight Vol. 2, Matsuri Hino (VIZ)
22. (-) Negima! 16: Magister Negi Magi, Ken Akamatsu (Random House)
23. (-) Naruto Vol. 4, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
24. (14) The Authoritative Calvin And Hobbes, Bill Watterson (Andrews McMeel)
25. (-) Hobbit Graphic Novel, Tolkien et al (Harpercollins)
26. (-) Persepolis 2, Marjane Satrapi (Knopf)
27. (-) Death Note, Volume 4, Tsugumi Ohba Takeshi Obata (VIZ)
28. (36) Naruto, Volume 3: Vol. 3, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
29. (-) Death Note, Volume 7, Tsugumi Ohba Takeshi Obata (VIZ)
30. (23) Naruto Vol. 19, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
31. (22) Naruto Vol. 1, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
32. (35) Bleach, Vol. 1, Tite Kubo (VIZ)
33. (-) Death Note, Volume 8, Tsugumi Ohba Takeshi Obata (VIZ)
34. (-) High School Debut Vol. 1, Kazune Kawahara Beth Kawasaki (VIZ)
35. (45) Naruto Vol. 20, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
36. (30) Naruto Vol. 21, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
37. (20) Asterix and the Falling Sky, Albert Uderzo (Orion)
38. (8) Attack Of The Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons, Bill Watterson (Andrews McMeel)
39. (16) Alternative Zits, Jim Borgman Jerry Scott (Andrews McMeel)
40. (-) Buffy the Vampire Slayer 1: Season 8, Joss Whedon et al (Dark Horse)

41. (-) The Wallflower 14, Tomoko Hayakawa (Random House)
42. (-) Absolute Boyfriend, Vol. 5, Yuu Watase (VIZ)
43. (-) Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography, Chester Brown (D+Q)
44. (-) Death Note, Volume 9, Tsugumi Ohba Takeshi Obata (VIZ)
45. (17) Bumper Book of Bunny Suicides, Andy Riley (Hodder)
46. (-) Black Cat Vol. 12, Kentaro Yabuki (VIZ)
47. (-) Fruits Basket 1, Natsuki Takaya (Tokyopop)
48. (-) I’m Ready for My Movie Contract: A Get Fuzzy Collection, Darby Conley (Andrews McMeel Publishing)
49. (-) Asterix in Britain, Rene Goscinny Albert Uderzo (Orion)
50. (-) Watchmen, Alan Moore Dave Gibbons (DC)

See here for the previous 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 period 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. The last list was a pre-Christmas but not much has changed.

The BookManager List is a wondrous, scary place, where everyone from Todd Hignite to Charles Schulz to the Transformers to Jerry Siegel to Linda Medley 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 All-Canadian Top 25
from BookManager

1. (1) Senior’s Discount, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
2. (3) Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography, Chester Brown (D+Q)
3. (2) Teaching is a Learning Experience!, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
4. (11) The Plain Janes, Cecil Castellucci et al (DC/Minx)
5. (4) Dramacon 3, Svetlana Chmakova (Tokyopop)
6. (-) Essex County Vol. 1: Tales From the Farm, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
7. (5) She’s Turning into One of Them!, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
8. (-) Dramacon 2, Svetlana Chmakova (Tokyopop)
9. (-) 365 Days: A Diary by Julie Doucet (D+Q)
10. (6) White Rapids, Pascal Blanchet (D+Q)
11. (-) The BackBench Collection, Graham Harrop (Ronsdale Press)
12. (-) Middle Age Spread, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
13. (10) Graphic Witness: Four Wordless Graphic Novels, George A Walker (Firefly)
14. (8) Scott Pilgrim 4: Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
15. (7) Never Wink at a Worried Woman, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
16. (19) Dramacon 1, Svetlana Chmakova (Tokyopop)
17. (17) Family Business, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
18. (18) Remembering Farley, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
19. (15) The Big 5-0, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
20. (-) Scott Pilgrim 2: Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
21. (-) Therefore Repent! Jim Munroe Salgood Sam (insomniac)
22. (-) Sunshine and Shadow, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
23. (14) Northwest Passage: Annotated Collection, Scott Chantler (Oni)
24. (-) DC The New Frontier, Darwyn Cooke (DC)
25. (-) In Me Own Words, Graham Roumieu (MANIC D PRESS)