Friday 6 November 2009

Amazon Top 50

Here are the Top 50 Graphic Novels on Amazon this morning. All the previous caveats apply.


1 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
2 (-). The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb
3 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
4 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
5 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid
6 (-). The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks
7 (+1). Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth
8 (+1). Watchmen
9 (+3). Bloom County Complete Library Volume 1
10 (+20). Stitches: A Memoir
11 (-). Dilbert: 2010 Day-to-Day Calendar
12 (-5). Tales from the Crypt #8: Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid *
13 (-3). Predators and Prey (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Vol. 5)
14 (+12). V for Vendetta
15 (+10). Batman: The Killing Joke
16 (+6). Asterios Polyp
17 (+1). The Complete Peanuts 1971-1974 Box Set
18 (-3). The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
19 (R). The Best American Comics 2009
20 (-6). Masterpiece Comics
21 (N). The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook
22 (+6). R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz, & Country
23 (-6). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
24 (R). The Arrival
25 (R). Batman: Year One
26 (-10). Vampire Knight, Vol. 8
27 (R). The Complete Far Side 1980-1994
28 (-9). Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition)
29 (R). The Complete Persepolis
30 (N). Wolverine: Old Man Logan *
31 (R). The Stonekeeper's Curse (Amulet, Book 2)
32 (N). Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic Volume 7 - Dueling Ambitions
33 (-20). Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds HC
34 (+10). Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
35 (R). Serenity, Vol. 2: Better Days *
36 (+1). Fables Vol. 12: The Dark Ages
37 (N). Criminal (Deluxe Edition) *
38 (R). The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
39 (-8). The TOON Treasury of Classic Children's Comics
40 (R). Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink': A Calvin and Hobbes Collection
41 (-20). Simon's Cat
42 (R). Dark Tower: Treachery
43 (-4). Mercy Thompson Homecoming
44 (N). Warriors: Ravenpaw's Path #1: Shattered Peace *
45 (N). Bone Volume 1: Out From Boneville
46 (-26). Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
47 (+2). Time of Your Life (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 4)
48 (-12). Tumor Chapter 1 (kindle)
49 (R). Bone: The Complete Cartoon Epic in One Volume
50 (-23). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art

Items with asterisks (*) are pre-order items.

N = New listing appearing on list for first time
R = Item returning to the list after having been off for 1 or more weeks


Commentary:

* It's relatively quiet at the top of the chart, with the exception of Stitches leaping back up into the top 10 after last week's momentary blip.

* The highest debut belongs to Eleanor Davis's The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook, a graphic novel I wager very few of us were even aware of. It's a good reminder of the secret comic book economy...

* Marvel have a relatively good week, with Wolverine: Old Man Logan debuting at #30, Criminal (Deluxe Edition) debuting at #37, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Dark Tower: Treachery returning to the list.

* The only manga title to chart is Vampire Knight, Vol. 8.

Halloween Redux

Bizarro is brought to you today by Belated Holidays.

Since I post my cartoons about a week after they appear, these cartoons from Halloween weekend seem conspicuously tardy. So just pretend you're reading them a week ago and you're putting the finishing touches on your Shrek costume in today's blog.

I love love love the Sleepy Hollow gag and wish I'd written it. But, alas, it came from my good friend Richard Cabeza (funniest spanglish name ever). He can be a real genius sometimes, and at this very moment his wife is expecting a baby or some reasonable facsimile. Thanks for the gag, Dick, and good luck to all involved with that baby business.


The Frankenstein gag is okay, I guess. I'm not crazy about it, but it's a good picture and has a monster theme. I've done some better Frankenstein gags in the past, which if I had any kind of reasonable filing system I'd be able to show you a few now. I hate myself sometimes.

In case you didn't know, Sleepy Hollow is a real town beside the Hudson River just north of New York City. Washington Irving wrote a lot about New York City and the surrounding areas, he popularized usage of the term "Knickerbocker" for New Yorkers and is also responsible for the myths about Manhattan being bought from the Indians for twenty-something dollars and a handful of trinkets, as well as the one about Christopher Columbus trying to prove the world was round. Both appeared in Washington's works of fiction but eventually were incorporated into elementary school history classes.

Scary.