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. (-) Naruto 34, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
3. (-) Naruto 35, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
4. (2) Naruto 33, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
5. (-) Tsubasa 20: Reservoir Chronicle, Clamp (Random House)
6. (3) Garfield Spills the Beans, Jim Davis (Random House)
7. (4) Marvel Chronicle, Tom DeFalco (DK)
8. (7) Fruits Basket 21, Takaya Natsuki (Tokyopop)
9. (6) Maximum Ride 1, James Patterson/NaRae Lee (Yen)
10. (8) Skim, Mariko Tamaki/Jillian Tamaki (Groundwood)
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11. (13) Death Note 1, Ohba/Obata (VIZ)
12. (15) Bleach 25, Tite Kubo (VIZ)
13. (5) Home Sweat Home, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
14. (12) Naruto 2, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
15. (9) Simpsons Treehouse Horror, Groening et al (HarperCollins)
16. (-) Rosario+Vampire 5, Akihisa Ikeda (VIZ)
17. (-) Pokemon: Diamond and Pearl Adventure! 2, Ihara Shigekatsu (VIZ)
18. (17) Negima! 20, Ken Akamatsu (Random House)
19. (10) Naruto 32, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
20. (14) Naruto 31, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
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21. (11) Complete Persepolis, Satrapi (Knopf)
22. (30) Death Note 2, Ohba/Obata (VIZ)
23. (21) Naruto 1, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
24. (16) Che, Spain (Verso)
25. (-) Vampire Knight 4, Matsuri Hino (VIZ)
26. (-) The Walking Dead 9, Robert Kirkman et al (Image)
27. (-) Death Note 3, Ohba/Obata (VIZ)
28. (-) Death Note 5, Ohba/Obata (VIZ)
29. (-) Maus II, Spiegelman (Knopf)
30. (19) Black Cat 18, Yabuki Kentaro (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: A ton of new manga titles, including the 500-pound gorilla Naruto.
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. (2) Skim, Mariko Tamaki/Jillian Tamaki (Groundwood)
2. (1) Home Sweat Home, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
3. (3) Louis Riel, Chester Brown (D+Q)
4. (6) The Burma Chronicles, Guy Delisle (D+Q)
5. (4) Senior’s Discount, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
6. (5) Big Foot, Graham Roumieu (Plume)
7. (17) Essex County 1: Tales from the Farm, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
8. (8) Spirit 1, Darwyn Cooke (DC)
9. (7) The Plain Janes, Cecil Castellucci et al, (DC/Minx)
10. (-) Essex County 3, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
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11. (10) Milk Teeth, Julie Morstad (D+Q)
12. (13) Drop-In, Dave Lapp (Conundrum)
13. (23) In Me Own Words: Bigfoot, Graham Roumieu (Plume)
14. (-) Scott Pilgrim 1, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
15. (-) Middle Age Spread, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
16. (-) Essex County 2, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
17. (30) Dramacon Ultimate Edition, Svetlana Chmakova (Tokyopop)
18. (-) Hall Of Best Knowledge, Ray Fenwick (Fanta)
19. (9) Ojingogo, Matt Forsythe (D+Q)
20. (11) Scott Pilgrim 4, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
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21. (12) the great hopeful someday, Elizabeth Belleveau (Condundrum)
22. (14) Keep The Home Fries Burning, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
23. (15) It’s a Good Life, If You Don’t Weaken, Seth (D+Q)
24. (-) Lillian the Legend, Kerry Byrne (Conundrum)
25. (20) The Big 5-0, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
26. (19) I Never Liked You, Chester Brown (D+Q)
27. (21) Just One More Hug, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
28. (22) Batman: Ego and other tales, Darwyn Cooke/Paul Grist (DC)
29. (24) Paul Goes Fishing, Michel Rabagliati (D+Q)
30. (-) Scott Pilgrim 2, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
After a long time, Skim by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki knocks Lynn Johnston off the #1 spot. A strong debut for Lillian the Legend –the story of a woman who walks across Canada– at #24.
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