Amazon Top 50

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


1 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
2 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
3 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
4 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid
5 (+1). The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb
6 (-1). Dilbert: 2010 Day-to-Day Calendar
7 (+2). The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks
8 (-). Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth
9 (-2). The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
10 (+1). Marvel Encyclopedia
11 (+4). Asterios Polyp
12 (+1). Bloom County Complete Library Volume 1
13 (-1). Watchmen
14 (+4). Celebrating Peanuts: 60 Years
15 (-1). The Complete Peanuts 1971-1974 (Box Set) (Vol. 11-12)
16 (+6). Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink': A Calvin and Hobbes Collection
17 (+3). Stitches: A Memoir
18 (+1). Simon's Cat
19 (+9). Bone: The Complete Cartoon Epic in One Volume
20 (-4). Warriors: Ravenpaw's Path #1: Shattered Peace
21 (+4). The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes
22 (+9). The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book
23 (-13). Dilbert 2.0: 20 Years of Dilbert
24 (R). Tales from the Crypt #8: Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid
25 (-1). V for Vendetta
26 (+7). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
27 (R). Wrapped-Up FoxTrot: A Treasury with the Final Daily Strips
28 (+17). The Indispensable Calvin And Hobbes
29 (-8). Predators and Prey (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Vol. 5)
30 (R). Masterpiece Comics
31 (+7). 14 Years of Loyal Service in a Fabric-Covered Box: A Dilbert Book
32 (+18). My Bad: A Zits Treasury
33 (+1). Batman: The Killing Joke
34 (+7). Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition)
35 (-18). The Complete Far Side 1980-1994
36 (+13). The TOON Treasury of Classic Children's Comics
37 (-7). The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
38 (-3). The DC Comics Encyclopedia, Updated and Expanded Edition
39 (+8). It's A Magical World: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection
40 (+2). Garfield Will Eat for Food: His 48th Book
41 (N). The Calvin and Hobbes Lazy Sunday Book
42 (-5). Batman: Year One
43 (R). Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species: A Graphic Adaptation
44 (R). The Arrival
45 (R). R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz, & Country
46 (R). The Best American Comics 2009
47 (R). Dilbert: 2010 Wall Calendar
48 (-22). Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons
49 (R). The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 1
50 (R). Maximum Ride: The Manga, Vol. 2


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:

* Comic strip collections continue to dominate for the holiday season.

* Only one new title on the list this week, and that's actually a C&H strip collectino that is many years old.

* For those who like to keep track of such things: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days is at #6 on the overall bestsellers list, with the other WK volumes at 14, 27 & 32. Crumb's Genesis is at #63

The God Box

Bizarro is brought to you today by Circular Thinking.

I recently saw Julia Sweeney's ("Pat" on SNL years ago) one-woman show "Letting Go of God," and was very impressed. Like me, she was raised Catholic in a pretty seriously Catholic family. Being indoctrinated from infancy into any religion is a powerful thing and can affect the rest of your life. Julia's show is about how seriously she takes matters of spirituality and her journey to discover the meaning of it all. I recommend it if the subject interests you. It got rave reviews, which are well deserved.

I met Julia once in the greenroom of a small theater in NYC in which we were both performing in the same variety/comedy show. I think we are about the same age and I now know that our spiritual journeys have been remarkably similar. We both were raised to take religion seriously, which we did, then spent years of our adulthood educating ourselves in an attempt to make sense of it all.

This cartoon has nothing to do with her show or that journey, I just wanted to mention it. This cartoon is simply a humorous take on confessional booths, which, for those unfamiliar with the peculiarities of Catholicism, are small wooden booths in which you speak to a priest through a tiny window. The idea is that you tell him your sins and he gets god to forgive you.

My first trip to one of these booths was in the first grade. We were taught what to say and do and led into the booth to kneel before a screened window and tell a stranger (the priest on the other side of the wall) our "sins." Most six-year-olds have very few sins, of course, so the exercise is primarily meant to teach you submission and instill in you a deep-seated sense of guilt and self loathing. This sort of ritualistic Big Brother mentality can screw up a person for life. And it does, as I can attest and Julia explains so articulately in her show.

The good news is that you can find release from these ghosts if you work at it. Eventually, you can get out of the box.

Christmas Covers - December 11

Santa's elves go on strike on Will Eisner's cover to P.S. Magazine: The Preventive Maintenance Monthly #157 (1965).

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Holiday-related comic book cover. (Click on the image to get a larger version.)

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 14 more 'get-ups' until Santa!

(2008: More Fun Comics #39)
(2007: The Tick: Big Red-N-Green Christmas Spectacle #1)
(2006: The Best of DC #58)
(2005: Batman #27)
(2004: The Brave and the Bold #148)

(Polite Dissent's 2009 Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar)
(2009 Comics Should Be Good Advent Calendar)
(Brendan McKillip's Comic Advent Calendar 2009)

WINNER of the BLENDER and MORE!

Thanks to everyone for playing this week. Our grand prize winner of the Bizarro Blender (formerly known as Cuisinart) is Andrew D.

Second place is Megan, who will soon be the proud owner of a couple of packs of Bizarro Trading Cards. (settle down, Megan, catch your breath)
Third place this week is a dude named Rex, who did not give me his email address. If you know who you are, leave it in the comments section and mention your last name so I'll know you're not a FRAUD just trying to snag some free trading cards!

I'll be emailing each winner soon to get your mailing addresses for your treasure delivery.

Please come back tomorrow for more fun, cartoons, shenanigans, monkey shines, and folderol. (The spell check on Blogger does not recognize "folderol." Curious.)

Here's the winning list:

contest #14

This week is a little harder, I think, because I flipped one of the images. But, THE REVERSAL OF THE ENTIRE IMAGE IS NOT ONE OF THE DIFFERENCES! (UNLESS one individual thing is NOT reversed as it should be. hint hint)

RULES, ETC:
As usual, two images are posted below, one is the original cartoon, the warped image beneath it has been changed in subtle ways. Your mission, if you have the right stuff, find them first and post the list in the comments.

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 OR THE REVERSAL OF IT.
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 this fabulous Cuisinart blender! of , 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.
6. If you live outside the U.S./Canada, I may not be able to send you a prize. Depends. Canada is probably fine, Antarctica, probably not.

Click on the image below to ENLARGE and PLAY!

Christmas Covers - December 10

'Santa' has a bit of a slip and fall on Frode Øverli's cover to Pondus - Julen 2003.

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Holiday-related comic book cover. (Click on the image to get a larger version.)

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 15 more 'get-ups' until Santa!

(2008: Battle Vixens vol. 9)
(2007: The Bakers Meet Jingle Belle)
(2006: A Distant Soil #26)
(2005: Classics Illustrated #15)
(2004: Action Comics #93)

(Polite Dissent's 2009 Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar)
(2009 Comics Should Be Good Advent Calendar)
(Brendan McKillip's Comic Advent Calendar 2009)

Seeing Things

Bizarro is brought to you today by Hallucinating 101.

Hallucinating can be fun as long as it isn't dangerous. There are many recreational drugs that will cause hallucinations, some are safer than others, of course. As a matter of legality, I'm not recommending any of them. Hallucinating during a fever is no fun, mostly because a fever that high is quite painful and can kill you. Sleep deprivation can also cause you to see things, as any parent of a newborn will tell you.

Turns out it's fairly easy to cause a person to hallucinate. I'm not going to get all grammatically literal about it, but some optical illusions can reach the level of a sort of hallucination. If you've ever been in those fun house places that are built with everything all catawampus, and balls appear to roll uphill and water pours sideways, that's pretty close for my money.

Our brains are actually geared toward this sort of thing. We (and most other creatures) have evolved to spot patterns and make some version of sense of them, which helps us survive. For instance, it is much safer to see a shadow and think it is an intruder than to see an intruder and assume it is a only a shadow. This is one reason people so regularly see faces in random shapes, like the image of the Virgin Mary in your toast or the bark of a tree. One of my favorite examples of this is this image of Jesus in a dog's behind. Wow.

Here's a good one that has nothing to do with religion.