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. (-) Bleach 24, Tite Kubo (VIZ)
6. (5) Naruto 31, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
7. (6) Home Sweat Home, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
8. (24) Simpsons Comics Dollars To Donuts, Groening et al (Harpercollins)
9. (12) Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle 19, Clamp (Random House)
10. (7) Marvel Chronicle, Tom DeFalco (DK)
—–
11. (11) Che, Rodriguez/Buhle (Verso)
12. (19) V for Vendetta, Moore/Lloyd (DC)
13. (13) Pokemon: Diamond and Pearl Adventure 2, Shigekatsu Ihara (VIZ)
14. (9) Simpsons Treehouse Horror, Groening et al (HarperCollins)
15. (8) Skim, Mariko Tamaki/Jillian Tamaki (Groundwood)
16. (-) Naruto 1, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
17. (-) Asterix/Falling Sky, Uderzo (Orion)
18. (10) Chibi Vampire 11, Yuna Kagesaki (Tokyopop)
19. (27) 30 Years of Laughs & Lasagna, Jim Davis (Random House)
20. (23) The Joker (Hardcover), Azzarello/Bermejo (DC)
—–
21. (17) Vampire Knight 5, Matsuri Hino (VIZ)
22. (14) Fullmetal Alchemist 17, Hiromu Arakawa (VIZ)
23. (-) Louis Riel, Brown (D+Q)
24. (-) The Potpourrific Great Big Grab Bag of Get Fuzzy, Darby Conley (Andrews McMeel)
25. (-) Bionicle 2: Challenge of the Rahkshi! Elliott/Farshtey (St. Martin’s)
26. (-) Death Note 4, Ohba/Obata (VIZ)
27. (15) Death Note 1, Ohba/Obata (VIZ)
28. (-) Asterix in Britain, Goscinny/Uderzo (Orion)
29. (-) Naruto 2, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
30. (18) Complete Persepolis, Satrapi (Knopf)
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, the latest Bleach installment debuts at #5, perennial faves like Asterix start taking up more space, and new annual collections of popular strip and cartoon show comics (The Simpsons) start showing up on more people’s radar.
In total, BookManager lists over 4000 graphic novels, trades, and strip collections. It is a wondrous, scary place, where everyone from Maus (#46) to Lynda Barry (#50) to Moomin (#150) 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. (6) Big Foot, Graham Roumieu (Plume)
5. (5) Senior’s Discount, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
6. (4) The Burma Chronicles, Guy Delisle (D+Q)
7. (9) Just One More Hug, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
8. (7) It’s a Good Life, If You Don’t Weaken, Seth (D+Q)
9. (8) Scott Pilgrim 1, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
10. (10) Dramacon Ultimate Edition, Svetlana Chmakova (Tokyopop)
—–
11. (11) Milk Teeth, Julie Morstad (D+Q)
12. (-) Last Straw, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
13. (-) The Big 5-0, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
14. (-) Hall of Best Knowledge, Ray Fenwick (Fantagraphics)
15. (26) The New Frontier 1, Darwyn Cooke (DC)
16. (27) Paul Goes Fishing, Michel Rabagliati (D+Q)
17. (12) Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea, Guy Delisle (D+Q)
18. (13) Essex County 1: Tales from the Farm, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
19. (14) The Plain Janes, Cecil Castellucci et al, (DC/Minx)
20. (16) Emiko Superstar, Mariko Tamaki/Steve Rolston (DC/Minx)
—–
21. (15) Scott Pilgrim 4, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
22. (-) Strange and Stranger, Blake Bell (Fanta)
24. (17) Dramacon 3, Svetlana Chmakova (Tokyopop)
25. (18) Rex Libris: I, Librarian, James Turner (Slave Labor Graphics)
26. (19) Middle Age Spread, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
27. (20) Dramacon 1, Svetlana Chmakova (Tokyopop)
28. (21) Essex County 2: Ghost Stories, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
29. (22) Graphic Witness: Four Wordless Graphic Novels, George A Walker ed (Firefly)
30. (23) Never Wink at a Worried Woman, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
Not seen: Drop-In by Dave Lapp (Conundrum) debuts at #33 on the Canadian list. As well, I haven’t been including KRAZY! on this list. It’s the book of the exhibit from the Vancouver Art Gallery (edited by Bruce Grenville, published by Douglas & McIntyre) and would rank somewhere around #7 on the all-Canadian list (#205 overall) if it wasn’t essentially an art book (or, at best, an international anthology with some essays). The book’s overall sales rank puts it just above How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way.