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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. (-) Naruto 33, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
3. (2) Fruits Basket 21, Takaya Natsuki (Tokyopop)
4. (4) Naruto 32, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
5. (3) Garfield Spills the Beans, Jim Davis (Random House)
6. (8) Home Sweat Home, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
7. (5) Bleach 25, Tite Kubo (VIZ)
8. (6) Marvel Chronicle, Tom DeFalco (DK)
9. (-) What It Is, Lynda Barry (D+Q)
10. (21) Simpsons Treehouse Horror, Groening et al (HarperCollins)
—–
11. (18) 30 Years of Laughs & Lasagna, Jim Davis (Random House)
12. (15) Skim, Mariko Tamaki/Jillian Tamaki (Groundwood)
13. (-) Naruto 2, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
14. (7) Naruto 31, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
15. (16) V for Vendetta, Moore/Lloyd (DC)
16. (29) Dilbert: This Is the Part Where You Pretend to Add Value, Adams (Andrews McMeel)
17. (12) Che, Rodriguez/Buhle (Verso)
18. (13) Death Note 1, Ohba/Obata (VIZ)
19. (-) Vampire Knight 4, Matsuri Hino (VIZ)
20. (9) Louis Riel, Brown (D+Q)
—–
21. (24) Naruto 1, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
22. (23) Persepolis 1, Satrapi (Pantheon)
23. (-) Rosario+Vampire, Volume 4, Akihisa Ikeda, (VIZ)
24. (-) Vampire Knight 5, Matsuri Hino (VIZ)
25. (10) Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle 19, Clamp (Random House)
26. (-) Asterix/Olmpic Games, Goscinny/Uderzo (Orion)
27. (-) Death Note 11, Ohba/Obata (VIZ)
28. (11) Simpsons Comics Dollars To Donuts, Groening et al (Harpercollins)
29. (-) Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes, Gaiman et al (DC)
30. (28) Vampire Knight 1, Matsuri Hino (VIZ)

Standard explanation: 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: Lots of activity the further down the list we go, barring a new Naruto volume or two. More (holiday gift) perennial faves like Asterix start taking up more space, and new annual collections of popular strip and cartoon show comics (Dilbert) 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 Chris Onstad to Mort Todd to Edward Gorey battle for supremacy, and where one sale in one tiny bookstore can move a book from #999 to #200 (and into the top 30). 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) Big Foot, Graham Roumieu (Plume)
5. (5) Senior’s Discount, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
6. (6) The Burma Chronicles, Guy Delisle (D+Q)
7. (7) Ojingogo, Matt Forsythe (D+Q)
8. (-) Milk Teeth, Julie Morstad (D+Q)
9. (16) Scott Pilgrim 1, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
10. (20) The Big 5-0, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
—–
11. (-) It’s the Thought That Counts, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
12. (24) Essex County 2: Ghost Stories, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
13. (9) Just One More Hug, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
14. (12) Essex County 1: Tales from the Farm, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
15. (13) The Plain Janes, Cecil Castellucci et al, (DC/Minx)
16. (17) Never Wink at a Worried Woman, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
17. (18) the great hopeful someday, Elizabeth Belliveau (Conundrum)
18. (19) Dramacon Ultimate Edition, Svetlana Chmakova (Tokyopop)
19. (9) It’s a Good Life, If You Don’t Weaken, Seth (D+Q)
20. (21) Last Straw, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
—–
21. (-) Paul Goes Fishing, Michel Rabagliati (D+Q)
22. (-) Graduation, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
23. (22) Rex Libris: I, Librarian, James Turner (Slave Labor Graphics)
24. (10) Hall of Best Knowledge, Ray Fenwick (Fantagraphics)
25. (11) The New Frontier 1, Darwyn Cooke (DC)
26. (14) Strange and Stranger, Blake Bell (Fanta)
27. (15) Scott Pilgrim 4, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
28. (-) Portfoolio 22, Guy Badeuax, ed (McArthur)
29. (-) Essex County 3, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
30. (26) Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea, Guy Delisle (D+Q)

The top 7 remain solid but lots of movement for this intense shopping season, despite the recession.