compiled/edited by BK Munn

This semi-regular feature of Sequential presents a snapshot of comics sales in Canada.
Part 1 .
Intro: The bestselling graphic novels and comics collections 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, including several comic book stores and the D+Q store. Sales through most 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. (As this list is being compiled, Essex County and the Scott Pilgrim boxed set are #1 and #3 on the Amazon.ca comics list.) See here for our previous Sequential list from last week.

Sequential’s Over-All Top 30
from BookManager

1. (1) Bone: Quest for the Spark, Jeff Smith/Tom Sniegoski
2. (2) Essex County, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
3. (4) Bone 11: Tall Tales, Jeff Smith (Scholastic)
4. (3) Out from Boneville: Bone #1, Jeff Smith (Scholastic)
5. (5) Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Riordan/Venditti/Attila Futaki (Hyperion)
6. (7) Naruto 50, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
7. (6) Scott Pilgrim 1, Bryan Lee O’Malley (ONI)
8. (8) Bone 4: Dragonslayer, Jeff Smith (Scholastic)
9. (9) Bone 9: Crown of Horns, Jeff Smith (Scholastic)
10. (10) Bone 2: The Great Cow Race, Jeff Smith (Scholastic)
—–
11. (11) Bone 5: Rockjaw, Jeff Smith (Scholastic)
12. (14) Zita the Spacegirl, Ben Hatke (First Second)
13. (15) Bone 7: Ghost Circles, Jeff Smith (Scholastic)
14. (18) Scott Pilgrim 3, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
15. (16) Bone Prequel: Rose, Jeff Smith and Charles Vess (Scholastic)
16. (13) Scott Pilgrim 4, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
17. (19) Scott Pilgrim 5, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
18. (21) Black Bird 7, Kanoko Sakurakoji (VIZ)
19. (12) Bone 3: Eyes of the Storm, Jeff Smith (Scholastic)
20. (17) Bone 8: Treasure Hunters, Jeff Smith (Scholastic)
—–
21. (20) Bone 6: Old Man’s Cave, Jeff Smith (Scholastic)
22. (22) Scott Pilgrim 6, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
23. (23) Scott Pilgrim 2, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
24. (24) Bone the Adventure Begin HC, Smith (Scholastic)
25. (25) The Amulet of Samarkand (A Bartimaeus Graphic Novel), Jonathan Stroud/Andrew Donkin/Lee Sullivan (Hyperion)
26. (-) Maus, Spiegelman (Knopf)
27. (-) Archie Marries, Uslan/Goldberg (Abrams)
28. (-) Harvey, Herve Bouchard/Janice Nadeau (Groundwood)
29. (-) Vampire Knight 11, Matsuri Hino (VIZ)
30. (27) Walking Dead 1, Robert Kirkman/Tony Moore (Image)
Bone: Quest for the Spark and Essex County are #5 and #29 on Bookmanager’s overall list of books. Terry Fallis’s The Best Laid Plans, the book that won the Canada Reads competition against Essex County, is #1 overall.
Part 2. Canadian Content:
You have to wade through an awful lot of translated Japanese 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. On this list, a single sale in a single tiny bookstore can make all the difference. This list does not include books that are only illustrated but not written/created-by Canadians.

Sequential’s All-Canadian Top 30
from BookManager

1. (1) Essex County, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
2. (2) Scott Pilgrim 1, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
3. (4) Scott Pilgrim 3, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
4. (3) Scott Pilgrim 4, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
5. (5) Scott Pilgrim 5, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
6. (6) Scott Pilgrim 6, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
8. (7) Scott Pilgrim 2, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni)
9. (24) Harvey, Herve Bouchard/Janice Nadeau (Groundwood)
10. (9) Tangles, Sarah Leavitt (Freehand Books)
—–
11. (10) 500 Years of Resistance, Gord Hill (Arsenal Pulp)
12. (8) Louis Riel, Chester Brown (D+Q)
13. (25) Something Old, Something New, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
14. (13) Milk Teeth, Julie Morstad (D+Q)
15. (11) Red A Haida Manga, Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas (Douglas & McIntyre)
16. (12) The Native Trees of Canada, Leanne Shapton (D+Q)
17. (-) Richard Stark’s Parker The Hunted, Darwyn Cooke (IDW)
18. (-) Indoor Voice, Jillian Tamaki (D+Q)
19. (-) Nightschool 1, Svetlana Chmakova (Yen/Orbit)
20. (14) Rabbit and Bear Paws 3, Chad Solomon (Little Spirit Bear)
—–
21. (15) Two Generals, Scott Chantler (McClelland and Stewart)
22. (18) Kill Shakespeare 1, Conor Mccreery/Anthony Del Col/Andy Belanger (IDW)
23. (19) Skim sc, Mariko Tamaki/Jillian Tamaki (Groundwood)
24. (22) Big Foot, Graham Roumieu (Plume)
25. (27) The Great Hopeful Sunday, Elizabeth Belliveau (Conundrum)
26. (30) Bigfoot, Pascal Girard (D+Q)
27. (16) Essex County Hardcover, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
28. (-) The Hipless Boy, Sully (Conundrum)
29. (29) Palookaville 20, Seth (D+Q)
30. (17) The Nobody, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
Some old faces return to the list from their positions hovering just outside of the top 30. To give an indication of how far down it is necessary to go to compile this list, The Hipless Boy is ranked 14,487 on Bookmanager’s overall list (only about #250 in the comics list, just between Asterix and the Black Gold and the fourth volume of Andy Runton’s Owly series). It has been off and on the top 30 list essentially since its publication in June 2009, not bad for the debut graphic novel by a young artist, published by a small Montreal press.