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 over 400 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 (at the bottom) the top 25 by Canadian creators.
Top 50 Comics and Graphic Novels in Canada
1. (-) Tsubasa 16: Reservoir Chronicle (Paperback), Clamp (Random House)
2. (6) Naruto Vol. 27, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
3. (1) Senior’s Discount, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
4. (2) Bleach, Vol. 22, Tite Kubo (VIZ)
5. (5) Death Note, Volume 1, Tsugumi Ohba Takeshi Obata (VIZ)
6. (4) Naruto Vol. 26, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
7. (3) Garfield Goes Bananas, Jim Davis (Random House)
8. (7) The Far Side 2008 Desk Calendar, Gary Larson (Andrews McMeel)
9. (10) Absolute Boyfriend, Vol. 5, Yuu Watase (VIZ)
10. (8) Naruto Vol. 25, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
11. (9) Naruto Vol. 24, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
12. (11) Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (Pantheon)
13. (-) Godchild, Vol. 8, Kaori Yuki (VIZ)
14. (12) Dark Tower:The Gunslinger Born, Peter David/Robin Furth (Marvel)
15. (24) Naruto Vol. 1, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
16. (14) Death Note, Volume 2, Tsugumi Ohba Takeshi Obata (VIZ)
17. (13) Naruto Vol. 23, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
18. (15) Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 15, Hiromu Arakawa (VIZ)
19. (25) Bleach, Vol. 1, Tite Kubo (VIZ)
20. (21) Hell Girl 1, Miyuki Eto (Random House)
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21. (-) Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown, Charles M Schulz (Perseus Books)
22. (29) Negima! 16: Magister Negi Magi, Ken Akamatsu (Random House)
23. (36) The Best of Pokemon Adventures: Red:Red, Hidenori Kusaka Mato (VIZ)
24. (38) Naruto Vol. 4, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
25. (41) Naruto, Volume 3: Vol. 3, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
26. (18) Bleach, Vol. 21, Tite Kubo (VIZ)
27. (33) Dilbert: Cubes and Punishment, Scott Adams (Andrews McMeel)
28. (17) Death Note, Volume 3, Tsugumi Ohba Takeshi Obata (VIZ)
29. (19) Naruto Vol. 22, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
30. (22) Vampire Knight Vol. 1, Matsuri Hino (VIZ)
31. (16) Fruits Basket 18, Natsuki Takaya (Tokyopop)
32. (20) Vampire Knight Vol. 3, Matsuri Hino (VIZ)
33. (42) Persepolis 2, Marjane Satrapi (Knopf)
34. (34) Naruto Vol. 17, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
35. (26) Naruto Vol. 19, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
36. (32) Vampire Knight Vol. 2, Matsuri Hino (VIZ)
37. (28) Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography, Chester Brown (D+Q)
38. (35) Death Note, Vol 4, Tsugumi Ohba Takeshi Obata (VIZ)
39. (-) Fruits Basket 12, Natsuki Takaya (Tokyopop)
40. (37) Hobbit Graphic Novel, Tolkien et al (Harpercollins)
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41. (31) Death Note, Vol 7, Tsugumi Ohba Takeshi Obata (VIZ)
42. (27) Death Note, Vol 8, Tsugumi Ohba Takeshi Obata (VIZ)
43. (30) Naruto, Vol. 2:2 Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
44. (23) Herman: Living With Animals, Jim Unger (ECW Press)
45. (-) Naruto, Vol. 14, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
46. (44) The Best of Pokemon Adventures: Yellow:Yellow, Hidenori Kusaka Mato (VIZ)
47. (39) Naruto Vol. 16, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
48. (40) The Authoritative Calvin And Hobbes, Watterson (Andrews McMeel)
49. (48) Bleach, Vol. 20, Tite Kubo (VIZ)
50. (-) The Complete Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (Knopf)
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 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. This week, Lynn Johnston is bumped out of the top spot for the first time since Sequential started keeping these lists last year.
The BookManager List is a wondrous, scary place, where everyone from Todd Hignite to Charles Schulz to Dan DeCarlo 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 25 comes from:
Sequential’s All-Canadian Top 25
from BookManager
1. (1) Senior’s Discount, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
2. (2) Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography, Chester Brown (D+Q)
3. (-) Jellaby, Kean Soo (Hyperion)
4. (-) Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea, Guy Delisle (D+Q)
5. (4) Essex County 1: Tales From the Farm, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
6. (6) White Rapids, Pascal Blanchet (D+Q)
7. (3) Teaching is a Learning Experience!, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
8. (7) Dramacon 3, Svetlana Chmakova (Tokyopop)
9. (11) Dramacon 2, Svetlana Chmakova (Tokyopop)
10. (5) The Plain Janes, Cecil Castellucci et al (DC/Minx)
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11. (16) Middle Age Spread, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
12. (-) Essex County 2: Ghost Stories, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
13. (-) Just One More Hug, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
14. (8) She’s Turning into One of Them!, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
15. (9) Graphic Witness: 4 Wordless Graphic Novels, George A Walker (Firefly)
16. (10) Therefore Repent! Jim Munroe Salgood Sam (insomniac)
17. (18) Never Wink at a Worried Woman, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
18. (19) Dramacon 1, Svetlana Chmakova (Tokyopop)
19. (22) The Big 5-0, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
20. (25) Northwest Passage: Annotated Collection, Scott Chantler (Oni)
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21. (-) The Spirit (Hardcover), Darwyn Cooke Jeph Loeb J Bone (DC)
22. (-) Last Straw, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
23. (12) 365 Days: A Diary by Julie Doucet (D+Q)
24. (13) Wimbledon Green, Seth (D+Q)
25. (-) Keep The Home Fries Burning, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
This week, the newly-released Jellaby rockets to the #3 spot, Pyonyang & The Spirit return to the top 25, and “the Lynn Johnston assortment” is shuffled with a book from 1984 (!) ranking fairly high.