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 (+1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
3 (-1). The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb
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 (+36). Warriors: Ravenpaw's Path #1: Shattered Peace *
9 (+39). Tumor Chapter 1 (kindle)
10 (+1). Dilbert: 2010 Day-to-Day Calendar
11 (-3). Watchmen
12 (+6). The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
13 (-4). Bloom County Complete Library Volume 1
14 (-1). Predators and Prey (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Vol. 5)
15 (+2). The Complete Peanuts 1971-1974 Box Set
16 (-6). Stitches: A Memoir
17 (+29). Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
18 (+23). Simon's Cat
19 (R). The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes
20 (-6). V for Vendetta
21 (-9). Tales from the Crypt #8: Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid
22 (N). Green Lantern: Agent Orange *
23 (-). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
24 (+25). Bone: The Complete Cartoon Epic in One Volume
25 (-10). Batman: The Killing Joke
26 (R). Marvel Encyclopedia
27 (-3). The Arrival
28 (R). The Walking Dead, Vol. 10: What We Become
29 (-1). Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition)
30 (R). Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
31 (-11). Masterpiece Comics
32 (+8). Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink': A Calvin and Hobbes Collection
33 (+17). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
34 (-4). Wolverine: Old Man Logan *
35 (-2). Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds HC
36 (N). The Walking Dead Volume 11: Fear The Hunters *
37 (N). Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons
38 (N). Celebrating Peanuts: 60 Years *
39 (N). Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 21 *
40 (-8). Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic Volume 7 - Dueling Ambitions
41 (N). Popeye Volume 4
42 (-5). Criminal (Deluxe Edition) *
43 (R). 14 Years of Loyal Service in a Fabric-Covered Box: A Dilbert Book
44 (R). Bone Volume 4: The Dragonslayer
45 (R). Dilbert 2.0: 20 Years of Dilbert
46 (-20). Vampire Knight, Vol. 8
47 (R). Halo: Uprising
48 (-10). The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
49 (N). Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness
50 (-5). Bone Volume 1: Out From Boneville

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:

* Two comics leap way up into the top ten this week: Warriors: Ravenpaw's Path #1: Shattered Peace, because it's part of the secret comic book economy; and Tumor Chapter 1 on the Kindle, I think maybe because the Tumor graphic novel is now available for pre-order and people may have been trying out the free sampler.

* Several debuts this week, led by Green Lantern: Agent Orange at #22. The GL books always seem to make a splash, but don't stick around as long as their Batman counterparts.

* I have no idea of the reason for the sudden surge of interest in Calvin & Hobbes. You know, other than it's an awesome comic strip; but why now?

CONTEST #11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Click on the cartoon contest image below to enlarge and play!

RULES, ETC:
As usual, the upper image is the original cartoon, the warped image beneath it has been changed. Your mission, if you are a groovy dude, chick, both or undecided is to find those differences.

1. There are 15 differences between the two cartoons.
2. NONE of the differences have to do with the warped nature of the second image.
3. ALL of the differences are something missing, added, or moved, not just "bent" from the distortion. The differences will not be too subtle, so once you spot one you should be relatively certain you've found it. (As opposed to something like, "I think that guy has one extra whisker. Hmmm.")
4. FIRST PERSON to correctly list the 15 differences in the comments section of the contest post wins 5 packs of Bizarro Trading Cards, mailed by me personally from Bizarro International Headquarters in Brooklyn. I'll even lick the stamp, unless it's self adhesive. SECOND AND THIRD persons with correct answers will each get 2 packs of Bizarro Trading Cards!
5. Put your email address on your comment so I can contact you if you win. I won't post it or keep it or file it or sell it or mount a Broadway musical about it.

Enjoy, good luck, and eat sensibly! Click on the image to enlarge...

'Tater Tension

Bizarro to you is brought today by Human Ingenuity.

If you are looking for something cool and gnarly to do, put a potato in the closet and wait for a few months. Then look at it again and be amazed by the cool and gnarly tentacles growing off of it. You'll be all like, "Whoa. What's going on here?"

So Mr. & Ms. Potato Head are dealing with that same topic, except her parents are coming over! Time for a shave, Mr. Potato Head. It's the least you can do for the in-laws!

All kidding aside, the Potato Heads are good friends and great sports. Special thanks to them both for helping me out with today's gag. : )

CONTEST TODAY AT 4PM NYC TIME!!!!

IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO STOP IT, SO JUST GET USED TO IT!

Stuffed Lion

Bizarro is brought to you today by Working Class Heroes.

Today is my birthday, happy birthday to me.

It isn't actually the same day of the calendar that I was born, but my "actual" birthday was nothing more than an arbitrary day out of 365, so what difference does it really make? Let's just say it was November 11th and celebrate like it's 1999.

Please send monetary gifts to me via PayPal (I.D...piraro@earthlink.net) or post:
Dan Piraro
c/o King Features
300 W 57th St
15th floor
New York, NY 10019-5238

Thanks in advance to every one of you who sends a gift. My goal is to raise enough by the end of this year to pay off my credit card debt and discover a cure for shopping.

New Library Comics: August 2009

Here are the comics we added to our library collection in August:


Aldama, Frederick Luis, 1969- Your brain on Latino comics : from Gus Arriola to Los Bros Hernandez / Austin : University of Texas Press, 2009.

Azuma, Mayumi. Elemental gelade vol. 1 / by Mayumi Azuma. Los Angeles, Calif. : Tokyopop, c2006-

Briggs, Raymond. When the wind blows / New York : Schocken Books, 1982

CLAMP (Mangaka group) Tokyo Babylon : save Tokyo city story vol. 1 / Los Angeles, CA : Tokyopop, c2004.

Cohen, Michael, 1950- Strange attractors nos. 1-5, 7-8, 10, 13 / Bellingham, Wash. : RetroGrafix, 1993-1997

Dixon, Buzz. Serenity vol. 1. New bad girl in town / Uhrichsville, OH : Barbour Publishing ; Chatsworth, CA : Realbuzz Studios, c2005-

Fujita, Maki. Platinum garden vol. 1 / Los Angeles, [Calif.] : Tokyopop, 2006

Ingulsrud, John E. Reading Japan cool : patterns of manga literacy and discourse / Lanham : Lexington Books, c2009.

Izumi, Rei. Hibiki's magic vol. 1 / Los Angeles, CA : Tokyopop, 2007-

Kawashita, Mizuki. Strawberry 100%. vols. 1-6 / San Francisco, CA : VIZ Media, 2007-

Knaak, Richard A. Warcraft. The sunwell trilogy vol. 2. Shadows of ice / Los Angeles, CA : TokyoPop, c2005-2007.

Mukai, Natsumi. +Anima vol. 1 / Los Angeles, CA : Tokyopop, 2006-

Sakai, Stan. Usagi Yojimbo book 1 / Agoura, CA : Fantagraphics Books, 1987-<1992>

Samura, Hiroaki. Blade of the immortal = Mugen no jūnin vol. 1. Blood of a thousand / Milwaukie, OR : Dark Horse Comics, 1997-

Shimizu, Toshimitsu. Maico 2010 vols. 2-4 / Femont, Calif. : Comics One, 1997-

Tachibana, Yutaka. Gatcha gacha vol. 1 / Los Angeles, CA : Tokyopop, 2006-

Taro, Chiaki. Puri Puri vol. 1 / Fremont, Calif. : DrMaster, 2007-

Yamaguchi, Takayuki. Il destino di Kakugo vol. 3 / Bologna : Dynamic Italia, 1998-

Yen plus. v.1 nos. 1-3 / New York, N.Y. : Hachette Bookgroup USA, 2008-

Yo Yo, 1980- Laya, the witch of Red Pooh vol. 1 / Los Angeles, CA : Tokyopop, c2006-


As always, this listing is available as an RSS Feed.

Prison Fun for the Whole Family

Today's Bizarro is brought to you by Charming Garden Statuary.

I used to love zoos, but now I despise them. I know that the human brain is a unique product of evolution (or creation, if you're of that camp) and other animals are not as complex as we, but in emotional ways, other species are far more similar to us than they are dissimilar. It's easy to miss, but if you get to know a non-human animal it becomes apparent quickly. Anyone who has made friends with a dog knows in their gut that there are emotions behind that slobbering muzzle. Other species are no different.

I no longer think that imprisoning any animal for purposes of entertainment is morally defensible. If I were dictator of the world, I would ban zoos, SeaWorld, circuses with animals, etc. There are always ways to entertain oneself without victimizing someone else.

Some argue that zoos give the public face-to-face appreciation for animals that help them to protect them in the wild. Personally, I think that is a cop-out. I don't need to visit an Indonesian orphan behind bars in a zoo to know I shouldn't buy products made by ones being enslaved in Jakarta. If a person has a conscience, they don't need the personal experience to understand an injustice, if they do not, the visit to the zoo doesn't help anyway.

Modern, "nice" zoos are not much better than archaic ones. No matter how nice your house is, if you're not allowed to leave it for the rest of your life, you go nuts.

All this is just my radical opinion, take it for what it is worth. I like to think that other animals are here with us, not for us. Accordingly, I won't do (or subsidize being done) anything to a non-human animal that I wouldn't do to a human child. Surprisingly, I don't find that I'm missing a lot. Here's a page I wrote in 2003 about my relatively late-in-life conversion to this way of thinking, if you're interested.

Sorry for the lack of humor in today's posting. Here's something funny to make up for it.