compiled/edited by B. Munn
Running a little late (again) this week…
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. Last week’s rankings are in parentheses.
Top 30 Comics and Graphic Novels in Canada
1. (1) Watchmen, Moore/Gibbons (DC)
2. (4) Naruto 44, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
3. (8) Naruto 42, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
4. (7) Naruto 43, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
5. (2) Fruits Basket 22, Takaya Natsuki (Tokyopop)
6. (3) Vampire Knight 6, Matsuri Hino (VIZ)
7. (6) Naruto 41, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
8. (5) Negima! 21, Ken Akamatsu (Random House)
9. (9) Naruto 40, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
10. (-) Manga Metamorphosis, Kozumi Shinozawa (Tyndale)
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11. (13) Naruto 36, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
12. (12) Naruto 39, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
13. (10) Naruto 38, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
14. (11) Naruto 37, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
15. (26) V for Vendetta, Moore/Lloyd (DC)
16. (-) Naruto 2, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
17. (14) Naruto 34, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
18. (15) Naruto 35, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
19. (-) Naruto 1, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
20. (-) Naruto 33, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
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21. (16) Rosario+Vampire 6, Akihisa Ikeda (VIZ)
22. (24) Pokemon: Diamond and Pearl Adventure! 2, Ihara Shigekatsu (VIZ)
23. (17) Killing Joke, Moore/Bolland (DC)
24. (23) Kitchen Princess 9, Natsumi Ando Miyuki Kobayashi (Random House)
25. (18) Bleach 26, Tite Kubo (VIZ)
26. (19) What It Is, Lynda Barry (D+Q)
27. (20) Louis Riel, Chester Brown (D+Q)
28. (-) NORA 4, Kazunari Kakei (VIZ)
29. (21) Naruto 7, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
30. (-) Naruto 31, Masashi Kishimoto (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: The big puzzler is number 10, the Christian comic Manga Metamorphis. Published last August, it has never been on the list before and makes me doubt the veracity of Bookmanager’s system. Did someone just buy 20 copies of this? (The prequel, Manga Messiah, is at #67 or thereabouts, so maybe this is the case.)
Canadian Content: You have to wade through an awful lot of translated Japanes manga, U.S. superhero fantasies, and collected editions of Sherman’s Lagoon to come up with a list of 30 bestselling books created by Canadians. In total, BookManager lists over 4000 graphic novels, trades, and strip collections, the vast majority of which are not by Canadians.
Sequential’s All-Canadian Top 30 from BookManager
1. (1) Louis Riel, Chester Brown (D+Q)
2. (2) Skim, Mariko Tamaki/Jillian Tamaki (Groundwood)
3. (3) Home Sweat Home, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
4. (30) Baloney, Pascal Blanchet (D+Q)
5. (5) Scott Pilgrim 5, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
6. (4) Big Foot, Graham Roumieu (Plume)
7. (6) Plain Janes, Castelucci/Rugg (Minx/DC)
8. (8) Pyongyang, Guy Delisle (D+Q)
9. (-) Doug Wright: Canada’s Master Cartoonist, Doug Wright (D+Q)
10. (-) I Never Liked You, Chester Brown (D+Q)
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11. (7) The Burma Chronicles, Guy Delisle (D+Q)
12. (10) Scott Pilgrim 1, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
13. (12) Senior’s Discount, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
14. (20) Adventures of Rabbit and Bear Paws: The Voyageurs, Chad Solomon (Little Spirit Bear)
15. (-) Kaspar, Diane Obomsawin (D+Q)
16. (17) Essex County 2, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
17. (19) In Me Own Words (Bigfoot), Graham Roumieu (Plume)
18. (21) Scott Pilgrim 2, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
19. (23) Ojingogo, Matt Forsythe (D+Q)
20. (-) Witness My Shame, Shary Boyle (Conundrum)
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21. (9) Essex County 1, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
22. (11) Dramacon Ultimate Edition, Svetlana Chmakova (Tokyopop)
23. (13) Paul Goes Fishing, Rabagliati (D+Q)
24. (15) Spirit 1, Darwyn Cooke (DC)
25. (14) Scott Pilgrim 3, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
26. (16) It’s a Good Life…, Seth (D+Q)
27. (18) Scott Pilgrim 4, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
28. (-) Adventures of Rabbit and Bear Paws: The Voyageurs, Chad Solomon (Little Spirit Bear)
29. (22) Essex County 3, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
30. (24) Drop-In, Dave Lapp (Conundrum)
Analysis: Pascal Blanchett was interviewed on the same episode of CBC’s Q radio program as the now-infamous Billy Bob Thronton rant, which may account for the book suddenly shooting up the charts. A strong debut for the translation of Kaspar and for the Doug Wright collection, my vote of ‘book of the year’.
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