The Top 30 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 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 30 overall and (at the bottom) the top 30 by Canadian creators. See here for last week’s list.

Top 30 Comics and Graphic Novels in Canada

1. (1) Watchmen, Moore/Gibbons (DC)
2. (2) Fruits Basket 21, Takaya Natsuki (Tokyopop)
3. (3) Naruto 32, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
4. (6) Garfield Spills the Beans, Jim Davis (Random House)
5. (5) Naruto 31, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
6. (4) Home Sweat Home, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
7. (30) Marvel Chronicle, Tom DeFalco (DK)
8. (11) Skim, Mariko Tamaki/Jillian Tamaki (Groundwood)
9. (7) Simpsons Treehouse Horror, Groening et al (HarperCollins)
10. (-) Chibi Vampire 11, Yuna Kagesaki (Tokyopop)
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11. (14) Che, Rodriguez/Buhle (Verso)
12. (-) Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle 19, Clamp (Random House)
13. (16) Pokemon: Diamond and Pearl Adventure 2, Shigekatsu Ihara (VIZ)
14. (8) Fullmetal Alchemist 17, Hiromu Arakawa (VIZ)
15. (13) Death Note 1, Ohba/Obata (VIZ)
16. (9) It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Charles M Schulz (Perseus)
17. (27) Vampire Knight 5, Matsuri Hino (VIZ)
18. (23) Complete Persepolis, Satrapi (Knopf)
19. (-) V for Vendetta, Moore/Lloyd (DC)
20. (10) Bleach 24, Tite Kubo (VIZ)
—–
21. (29) Naruto 30, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
22. (12) Black Cat 17, Kentaro Yabuki (VIZ)
23. (19) The Joker (Hardcover), Azzarello/Bermejo (DC)
24. (-) Simpsons Comics Dollars To Donuts, Groening et al (Harpercollins)
25. (-) Scientific Progress Goes Boink, Watterson (Andrews McMeel)
26. (-) Death Note 13, Ohba/Obata (VIZ)
27. (17) 30 Years of Laughs & Lasagna, Jim Davis (Random House)
28. (-) Marvel Encyclopedia, wallace/Brevoort (DK)
29. (18) Vampire Knight 1, Matsuri Hino (VIZ)
30. (-) Asterix the Gaul, Goscinny/Uderzo (Orion)

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, Louis Riel is bumped down to #40 overall by Asterix, Lynda Barry, Stephen King, and some manga.

In total, BookManager lists over 4000 graphic novels, trades, and strip collections. It is a wondrous, scary place, where everyone from Popeye (#164) to Bat Manga! (#200) 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 our Canadian Top 30 comes from:

Sequential’s All-Canadian Top 30 from BookManager

1. (1) Home Sweat Home, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
2. (2) Skim, Mariko Tamaki/Jillian Tamaki (Groundwood)
3. (3) Louis Riel, Chester Brown (D+Q)
4. (4) The Burma Chronicles, Guy Delisle (D+Q)
5. (6) Senior’s Discount, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
6. (5) Big Foot, Graham Roumieu (Plume)
7. (10) It’s a Good Life, If You Don’t Weaken, Seth (D+Q)
8. (7) Scott Pilgrim 1, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
9. (27) Just One More Hug, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
10. (8) Dramacon Ultimate Edition, Svetlana Chmakova (Tokyopop)
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11. (9) Milk Teeth, Julie Morstad (D+Q)
12. (11) Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea, Guy Delisle (D+Q)
13. (12) Essex County 1: Tales from the Farm, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
14. (14) The Plain Janes, Cecil Castellucci et al, (DC/Minx)
15. (-) Scott Pilgrim 4, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
16. (17) Emiko Superstar, Mariko Tamaki/Steve Rolston (DC/Minx)
17. (13) Dramacon 3, Svetlana Chmakova (Tokyopop)
18. (15) Rex Libris: I, Librarian, James Turner (Slave Labor Graphics)
19. (16) Middle Age Spread, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
20. (18) Dramacon 1, Svetlana Chmakova (Tokyopop)
—–
21. (19) Essex County 2: Ghost Stories, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
22. (20) Graphic Witness: Four Wordless Graphic Novels, George A Walker ed (Firefly)
23. (21) Never Wink at a Worried Woman, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
24. (22) the great hopeful someday, Elisabeth Belliveau (Conundrum Press)
25. (23) The New Frontier 2, Darwyn Cooke (DC)
26. (24) The New Frontier 1, Darwyn Cooke (DC)
27. (25) Paul Goes Fishing, Michel Rabagliati (D+Q)
28. (26) She’s Turning into One of Them, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
29. (-) Ojingogo, Matt Forthythe (D+Q)
30. (-) Pohadky, Colek (D+Q)

You read it here first: For Better or For Worse is the Naruto of Canada.