Amazon Top 50

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


1 (-). Watchmen
2 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
3 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid
4 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
5 (-). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
6 (+1). V for Vendetta
7 (-1). Watchmen (Absolute Edition)
8 (+1). Batman: The Killing Joke
9 (+3). Blueberry Girl
10 (+10). Fruits Basket, Vol. 22
11 (N). Batman: Year One
12 (N). Angel: After the Fall, Vol. 3 *
13 (-3). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1
14 (-3). The Joker
15 (-). Batman: R.I.P.
16 (+1). Star Trek: Countdown TPB *
17 (-9). Watchmen (hardcover)
18 (+9). Time of Your Life (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 4) *
19 (-6). Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition)
20 (+3). Wolves at the Gate (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 3)
21 (+3). The Complete Peanuts 1971-1972 *
22 (-6). The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes
23 (+3). Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
24 (-10). From Hell
25 (+19). Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
26 (N). No Future For You (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 2)
27 (-8). All Star Superman, Vol. 2
28 (+8). Batman: The Long Halloween
29 (-11). Serenity, Vol. 2: Better Days
30 (N). Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life
31 (-2). The Walking Dead, Vol. 9: Here We Remain
32 (-1). Scott Pilgrim Volume 5: Scott Pilgrim vs The Universe
33 (N). Spike: After The Fall HC
34 (-12). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 2
35 (N). The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack *
36 (+10). Eerie Archives Volume 1
37 (N). The Long Way Home (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Vol. 1)
38 (-8). Jack of Fables Vol. 5: Turning Pages
39 (-7). The Arrival
40 (+5). The Starman Omnibus, Vol. 2
41 (N). Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
42 (N). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
43 (N). The Complete Persepolis
44 (-16). The Vast Spread of the Seas (The Twelve Kingdoms)
45 (-11). Serenity, Vol. 1: Those Left Behind
46 (N). Bone: One Volume Edition
47 (N). Unmanned (Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1)
48 (N). The Hidden Temple (Star Wars: Legacy, Vol. 5)
49 (+1). The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll's House
50 (-29). Watching the Watchmen: The Definitive Companion to the Ultimate Graphic Novel

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


Commentary:

* Watchmen finally starts to show slight signs of weakness; while it remains #1 on the comics charts, it slips a bit to #6 on the overall book chart. The hardcover falls nine places, and quite surprisingly Dave Gibbons' Watching the Watchmen falls 29 slots to anchor the bottom of the list at #50. We also see drops in other Alan Moore items like LXG & From Hell, although V for Vendetta is doing fine.

* A surprisingly high resurgence for Batman: Year One, which comes in at #11 after being absent form the chart previously. I wonder if this is where the Watchmen Halo is moving to?

* A strong showing this week for the Buffyverse: the third Angel After the Fall hardcover debuts way up at #12 as a pre-order; the Spike: After the Fall hardcover debuts at #33, and all the Buffy volumes show growth. On the other hand, the two volumes of Serenity both have steep drop-offs.

* In manga-watch: Fruits Basket moves up to the #10 slot as it moves from pre-order to shipping; the only other manga on the chart is The Vast Spread of the Seas, with Naruto being conspiculously absent.

Fighting For Fun

Today's Bizarro is brought to you by A Useless Degree in Marketing.

I am a fan of air hockey, regular hockey, and fighting, so this cartoon appeals to me in many ways. I like the general concept that since hockey leads to fights, if you're playing air hockey your fight would logically consist of trying to blow each other down. (The last word in that sentence is the most important.)

People who are not fans of hockey often question why there is so much fighting. It is not gratuitous, as is often surmised, it actually serves an important purpose. A good friend of mine some years ago came up with a theory about this that I've adhered to ever since: Hockey is arguably the most difficult sport in the world to play as it requires very high levels of disparate skills.

1. You must change direction quickly and constantly while standing on ice
2. You have knife blades strapped to your shoes
3. You must control a rock-hard disk moving at lightening speed on a slippery surface with a bent stick
4. You are being pushed and slammed into by other knife-shoe-wearers covered in armor traveling at very high speeds

It's sort of like combining surgery with dodge 'em cars. Just when you're about to suture that aorta closed, somebody slams into you from behind and ruins the whole thing. Again.

Doing all of this at once is very difficult and, by definition, very frustrating. Every now and then you have to blow off some steam. So the refs let the surgeons swing away at each other for a few seconds before they break them up. Then they send them each to a little room (penalty box) to think about what they've done or take a short nap.

Leaving the topic of hockey fights behind, I just noticed a grievous error in the art of this cartoon. The perspective on the hockey table is way off. The brown outside border of the table is more or less in line with itself, but the three black lines in the middle of the table are hideously askew. That's very unlike me to not notice and fix such a visual faux pas, but perhaps I was in a hurry or drunk. Or maybe one of my hockey pals was slamming me against the boards while I tried to work. Anything is possible at Bizarro International Headquarters.