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. (6) Home Sweat Home, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
6. (5) Maximum Ride 1, James Patterson/NaRae Lee (Yen)
7. (7) Fruits Basket 21, Takaya Natsuki (Tokyopop)
8. (8) Skim, Mariko Tamaki/Jillian Tamaki (Groundwood)
9. (10) Simpsons Treehouse Horror, Groening et al (HarperCollins)
10. (11) Naruto 32, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
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11. (9) Complete Persepolis, Satrapi (Knopf)
12. (18) Naruto 2, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
13. (12) Death Note 1, Ohba/Obata (VIZ)
14. (15) Naruto 31, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
15. (13) Bleach 25, Tite Kubo (VIZ)
16. (14) Che, Spain (Verso)
17. (17) Negima! 20, Ken Akamatsu (Random House)
18. (16) What It Is, Lynda Barry (D+Q)
19. (21) Black Cat 18, Yabuki Kentaro (VIZ)
20. (-) Vampire Knight 5, Matsuri Hino (VIZ)
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21. (28) Naruto 1, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
22. (-) Bleach 1, Tite Kubo (VIZ)
23. (25) Vampire Knight 3, Matsuri Hino (VIZ)
24. (-) Daniel X: Alien Hunter, James Patterson et al (Little, Brown)
25. (27) Vampire Knight 1, Matsuri Hino (VIZ)
26. (29) Louis Riel, Brown (D+Q)
27. (26) DC Comics Encyclopedia, Rbt Greenburger (DK)
28. (27) Senior’s Discount, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
29. (28) Death Note 13, Ohba/Obata (VIZ)
30. (-) Death Note 2, Ohba/Obata (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: No first-time titles.
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 Jim Woodring’s Complete Frank 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. (4) Louis Riel, Chester Brown (D+Q)
4. (3) Senior’s Discount, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
5. (5) Big Foot, Graham Roumieu (Plume)
6. (6) The Burma Chronicles, Guy Delisle (D+Q)
7. (7) The Plain Janes, Cecil Castellucci et al, (DC/Minx)
8. (8) Spirit 1, Darwyn Cooke (DC)
9. (9) Ojingogo, Matt Forsythe (D+Q)
10. (10) Milk Teeth, Julie Morstad (D+Q)
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11. (11) Scott Pilgrim 4, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
12. (13) the great hopeful someday, Elizabeth Belleveau (Condundrum)
13. (12) Drop-In, Dave Lapp (Conundrum)
14. (14) Keep The Home Fries Burning, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
15. (15) It’s a Good Life, If You Don’t Weaken, Seth (D+Q)
16. (16) Striking a Cord, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
17. (17) Essex County 1: Tales from the Farm, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
18. (22) Scott Pilgrim 3, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
19. (19) I Never Liked You, Chester Brown (D+Q)
20. (20) The Big 5-0, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
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21. (21) Just One More Hug, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
22. (22) Batman: Ego and other tales, Darwyn Cooke/Paul Grist (DC)
23. (-) In Me Own Words: Bigfoot, Graham Roumieu (Plume)
24. (23) Paul Goes Fishing, Michel Rabagliati (D+Q)
25. (24) Strange and Stranger, Blake Bell (Fantagraphics)
26. (25) Scott Pilgrim 2, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
27. (26) Last Straw, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
28. (27) Never Wink at a Worried Woman, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
29. (28) It’s the Thought That Counts, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
30. (20) Dramacon Ultimate Edition, Svetlana Chmakova (Tokyopop)
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