Amazon Top 50

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

1 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
2 (+3). Final Crisis
3 (+1). Watchmen
4 (-1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid
5 (-3). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
6 (-). Time of Your Life (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 4)
7 (+17). The Photographer: Into war-torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders
8 (+4). Mercy Thompson Homecoming *
9 (+1). Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
10 (-3). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 3: Century, No. 1: 1910
11 (+3). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
12 (N). Star Trek: Countdown TPB
13 (-4). Batman: The Killing Joke
14 (-1). Stephen King's Dark Tower: Treachery
15 (N). The Adventures of Johnny Bunko (kindle)
16 (+3). V for Vendetta
17 (+10). The Complete Persepolis
18 (-7). Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
19 (+3). Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition)
20 (+24). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
21 (N). Maximum Ride, Vol. 1 Manga (kindle)
22 (-14). Warriors: Tigerstar and Sasha #3: Return to the Clans
23 (+20). Batman: Year One
24 (N). The Arrival
25 (+1). The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes
26 (N). American Born Chinese
27 (N). Final Crisis Companion
28 (+7). The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll's House
29 (-). Wolves at the Gate (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 3)
30 (+11). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1
31 (N). The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country
32 (-11). The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
33 (-16). Wrapped-Up FoxTrot: A Treasury with the Final Daily Strips
34 (N). Starman Omnibus Vol. 3 *
35 (-10). Batman: R.I.P.
36 (-20). Serenity, Vol. 2: Better Days
37 (N). The Joker
38 (-15). Halo: Uprising
39 (-21). Bone: One Volume Edition
40 (-2). The Long Way Home (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 1)
41 (+9). Green Lantern Corps: Sins of the Star Sapphire
42 (-9). The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 1
43 (-30). The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb *
44 (N). Batman: The Long Halloween
45 (+2). Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
46 (N). The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack
47 (-11). The Adventures of Tintin: Tintin in America / Cigars of the Pharaoh / The Blue Lotus
48 (+1). Serenity, Vol. 1: Those Left Behind
49 (N). The Gunslinger Born (The Dark Tower Graphic Novels, Book 1)
50 (N). Wallace & Gromit: Catch of the Day


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


Commentary:


* Surprisingly, Final Crisis moves ahead of Watchmen and up into the #2 slot (still can't beat the power of The Wimpy Kid!)

* Last week's biggest gainer, Crumb's Genesis, is this week's biggest loser, as it falls back 30 places. Conversely, The Photographer, which dropped 17 places last week, is up 17 places this week to return to the top ten.

* Star Trek: Countdown, mysteriously absent last week, comes popping back in at #12.

* The highest debut on the list is the kindle edition of Maximum Ride, Vol. 1 Manga. The only 'true' manga on the list this week is also a kindle edition, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko.

Muggers

Bizarro is brought to you today by Mug Shots.

I've never been mugged, but I'm sure it's a harrowing experience that would bother me for a long time. I've been in a couple of impromptu street scuffles in the past five years, just because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it's pretty awful. I didn't get anything more than a fat lip and a few bruises, fortunately, but it is not the sort of activity I'm anxious to get into again. Even though the stories are fun to tell later.

One was when my wife and I were freezing cold and looking for a cab late at night in NYC. We finally got one to stop and a drunk guy jumped into the cab ahead of us after I opened the door. The driver said, "No, I stopped for them." I said, "That's our cab." The drunk guy said, "I don't think so!" and continued to climb in. The only thing left outside the cab was his shin, so I gave it a good hard kick. I was wearing dress shoes, so it must have hurt a lot. He jumped out and came after me, shouting something like, "Did you just kick me, you motherf*cker?!" I took it as a rhetorical question and did not answer. In his inebriated state, I was able to dodge him as he pursued me around in circles. Meanwhile, CHNW jumped into the cab, I followed, and we took off. All's well that ends well.

The other time was in Rome when we were walking with another American couple down a busy shopping street on a sunny, Sunday afternoon. All of us are animal rights folks, so when we passed a fur store, CHNW and the female half of the other couple both spat on the sidewalk in front of it. We didn't know until we had walked another 25 feet down the street that the family that owns the store had seen us. Apparently, spitting in Italy is more serious than here.

Four people rushed out of the store – a couple in their 40s and a couple in their 70s – and we turned to confront them. With words, or so we thought. For a few seconds, the womenfolk were content to shout at each other in their native languages. But suddenly, up to the forefront rushed the 70-year-old man. Think Robert Deniro in Raging Bull, with white hair. Without warning, he punched our friend's wife right in the jaw and knocked her down. Unpleasantness ensued, including punching, kicking, scratching and screaming.

Fortunately, passersby pulled us apart after a couple of minutes and we all went our separate ways. None of our attackers spoke English, none of us spoke Italian, so we can only assume we were fighting about the same thing.

Before we spit on the sidewalk in front of any more Italian-owned fur stores, CHNW and I are going to take one of these self defense courses.

These are completely unexaggerated, true stories, by the way.