The Top 30 Graphic Novels in Canada, courtesy of BookManager. The full list by BookManager is available, with some work, 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) Naruto 33, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
3. (3) Garfield Spills the Beans, Jim Davis (Random House)
4. (4) Marvel Chronicle, Tom DeFalco (DK)
5. (5) Home Sweat Home, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
6. (6) Fruits Basket 21, Takaya Natsuki (Tokyopop)
7. (7) Simpsons Treehouse Horror, Groening et al (HarperCollins)
8. (8) Complete Persepolis, Satrapi (Knopf)
9. (24) What It Is, Lynda Barry (D+Q)
10. (9) Naruto 32, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
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11. (10) Che, Spain (Verso)
12. (17) Skim, Mariko Tamaki/Jillian Tamaki (Groundwood)
13. (11) Bleach 25, Tite Kubo (VIZ)
14. (12) DC Comics Encyclopedia, Rbt Greenburger (DK)
15. (13) Senior’s Discount, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
16. (14) Death Note 1, Ohba/Obata (VIZ)
17. (15) Naruto 1, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
18. (16) Naruto 31, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
19. (20) Negima! 20, Ken Akamatsu (Random House)
20. (18) Vampire Knight 1, Matsuri Hino (VIZ)
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21. (19) Simpsons/Dollars To Donuts, Groening et al (Harpercollins)
22. (-) Black Cat 18, Yabuki Kentaro (VIZ)
23. (21) Persepolis 1, Satrapi (Pantheon)
24. (23) Marvel Encyclopedia, Tom Defalco (DK)
25. (22) 30 Years of Laughs & Lasagna, Jim Davis (Random House)
26. (25) Daniel X Alien Hunter, Patterson et al (Little, Brown)
27. (26) Louis Riel, Brown (D+Q)
28. (-) Vampire Knight 2, Matsuri Hino (VIZ)
29. (27) Asterix the Gaul, Goscinny/Uderzo (Orion)
30. (-) Shugo Chara! 5, Peach-Pit (Random House)
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: 2 new volums of popular manga series are released: Shuga Chara! continues the adventures of the kids’ comic about a alienated little girl with magical guardians; Black Cat continues the adventures of the titular bounty hunter with a heart of gold.
In total, BookManager lists over 4000 graphic novels, trades, and strip collections. It is a wondrous, scary place, where everything from Jack Kirby’s The Demon to Jason’s The Living and the Dead 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 the battleground 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. (5) Senior’s Discount, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
4. (3) Louis Riel, Chester Brown (D+Q)
5. (6) Big Foot, Graham Roumieu (Plume)
6. (6) The Burma Chronicles, Guy Delisle (D+Q)
7. (7) Ojingogo, Matt Forsythe (D+Q)
8. (8) I Never Liked You, Chester Brown (D+Q)
9. (12) Milk Teeth, Julie Morstad (D+Q)
10. (15) Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea, Guy Delisle (D+Q)
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11. (10) Spirit 1, Darwyn Cooke (DC)
12. (9) It’s a Good Life, If You Don’t Weaken, Seth (D+Q)
13. (16) The Big 5-0, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
14. (22) Just One More Hug, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
15. (11) The Plain Janes, Cecil Castellucci et al, (DC/Minx)
16. (25) Batman: Ego and other tales, Darwyn Cooke/Paul Grist (DC)
17. (14) Essex County 1: Tales from the Farm, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
18. (17) Paul Goes Fishing, Michel Rabagliati (D+Q)
19. (18) Scott Pilgrim 2, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
20. (19) Strange and Stranger, Blake Bell (Fantagraphics)
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21. (20) Scott Pilgrim 4, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
22. (21) Scott Pilgrim 3, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
23. (-) Scott Pilgrim 1, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
24. (23) Last Straw, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
25. (24) Essex County 2: Ghost Stories, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
26. (26) Never Wink at a Worried Woman, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
27. (27) Drop-In, Dave Lapp (Conundrum)
28. (28) Keep The Home Fries Burning, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
29. (30) It’s the Thought That Counts, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
30. (-) Dramacon Ultimate Edition, Svetlana Chmakova (Tokyopop)
Until I read the interview with Brian K. Vaughan in the most recent Comics Journal, I was disinclined to include Y: The Last Man in our All-Canadian List. While the book was conceived and written by Vaughan, the much-lauded art for the book is by Canadian Pia Guerra, who Vaughan credits with several plot points and story ideas, not to mention the obvious character designs and actual cartooning of the book. Traditionally, for the purposes of this list, my definition of “Canadian” means “created by a Canadian.” I simply ask myself, “Would this book exist in some form without the involvement of a creator from the Frozen North?” The answer, especially for collaborative works, and especially for works published by U.S. publishers like Marvel and Warners/DC/Vertigo, is usually yes. Thus, Pride of Baghdad, Y, and Nextwave: Agents of HATE don’t make the cut, whereas books by Darwyn Cooke, who is more often than not writer/artist these days, do. That being said, if Y: The Last Man were actually considered for this list, volume 2 would currently sit at #7. Other volumes would occupy several more spaces.
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