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 (+3). Watchmen (Absolute Edition)
7 (-1). Watchmen (hardcover)
8 (-). V for Vendetta
9 (+4). Batman: The Killing Joke
10 (+31). Star Trek: Countdown *
11 (+12). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1
12 (-2). All Star Superman, Vol. 2
13 (+6). The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes
14 (+34). From Hell
15 (-8). Batman: R.I.P.
16 (+1). Batman: Year One
17 (-6). Scott Pilgrim Volume 5: Scott Pilgrim vs The Universe
18 (-6). The Joker
19 (+5). The Starman Omnibus, Vol. 2
20 (+20). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 2
21 (N). The Complete Peanuts 1971-1972 *
22 (-7). The Walking Dead, Vol. 9: Here We Remain
23 (-9). Serenity, Vol. 2: Better Days
24 (+6). Watching the Watchmen: The Definitive Companion to the Ultimate Graphic Novel
25 (-7). Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition)
26 (-10). Naruto, Volume 38
27 (+18). The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll's House
28 (-7). Naruto, Volume 39
29 (N). Blueberry Girl *
30 (-10). Naruto, Volume 40
31 (+1). Vampire Knight, Vol. 6 *
32 (-5). Wolves at the Gate (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 3)
33 (-5). Crown Of Horns (Bone)
34 (N). The Arrival
35 (-9). Naruto, Volume 41
36 (N). Ultimate Spider-Man, Vol. 21: War of the Symbiotes
37 (N). Bone: One Volume Edition
38 (N). Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life
39 (+11). The Adventures of Johnny Bunko (Kindle edition)
40 (N). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
41 (-4). Secret Invasion
42 (+2). The Hidden Temple (Star Wars: Legacy, Vol. 5) *
43 (N). What It Is
44 (-9). No Future For You (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 2)
45 (N). Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
46 (-13). Time of Your Life (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 4) *
47 (N). Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 2: Scott Pilgrim Versus The World
48 (-19). The Complete Calvin and Hobbes (Calvin & Hobbes) (v. 1, 2, 3)
49 (N). Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 3: Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness
50 (N). All Star Superman, Vol. 1


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


Commentary:

* Watchmen continues its domination, with the trade paperback staying at #1 on the graphic novel charts and moving up to #2 on the overall Amazon bestsellers list. Also of note is that the more expensive Absolute Edition edged up past the regular hardcover.

* The Watchmen Halo Effect also continues, with many Alan Moore properties remaining high on the list, and the two volumes of LXG taking sizable leaps up the chart.

* Scott Pilgrim Watch: While the latest volume slips again, earlier volumes percolate back up onto the chart near the end.

* All Naruto volumes slip this week; there seem to be a core set of Naruto fans who buy the books when they first come out.

* A huge jump on the chart for Star Trek: Countdown, the prequel comic to the upcoming Trek reimagining. Ain't It Cool News has been touting it as important and good, and providing copious links to purchasing it on Amazon.

* The highest debut of the week belongs to the second hardcover compilation of James Robinson's Starman. Kind of surprising for a book which I would not have thought would have much mainstream appeal, but then the 37% discount is rather sizable on a $50 book. (I also see that this book has made the top of the New York Times' new hardcover Graphic Books Best Seller List.)

Master Disguise Kit

Bizarro is brought to you today by impractically large beaches.

I haven't been thrilled with all my cartoons from this particular week, but I really like this one. It isn't for everyone and won't end up on a best-selling T-shirt (come to think of it, none of my cartoons have ever been best-selling T-shirts) but it has that certain combo of dry surreal humor and social commentary that I find amusing.

If you don't live in a celebrity soaked environment like NY or LA, you may not know that virtually ALL celebrities who do not want to be noticed in public wear sunglasses and a ball cap. I'm not criticizing, just observing. For all I know there is a Screen Actors Guild bylaw about this that I am unaware of.

I suppose it makes sense in the context of our current fashion mores. If you want to cover the part of your body that most people will recognize, which for celebrities other than J-Lo is the face, you'll need either a brimmed hat or a veil. Veils attract a lot of attention, the opposite of what you're trying to do, and brimmed hats other than ball caps are not common enough in our society to go unnoticed.

Sunglasses hide the eyes, so that's an obvious choice.

I do wonder why more celebs don't opt for a false mustache, however. That can really change your look and, if it is obviously a fake, makes other people uncomfortable and less likely to stare. Wax lips do the same thing. People would either think, that person is wearing wax lips, eek, look away, or that poor person has shiny, plastic-looking deformed lips, I shouldn't stare. This option would work for just about any celebrity other than Angelina Jolie.

Nose glasses are a classic disguise but people now associate those with humor so you'd likely get one of those overly-friendly goobers on a chartered casino trip start kidding around with you. Then your cover is blown and you have to listen to their yammering about how much they enjoyed Tony Orlando in Branson last month. I get this from time to time from people who just think I'm wearing nose glasses. Welcome to my hell.

Shameless Friend Promotion: JimO Interview at The Pulse

Pal Jim Ottaviani has once again been interviewed about his forthcoming book T-Minus: The Race to the Moon, this time by Jen Cantino over at The Pulse: "Ottaviani's Race to the Moon."

All By Myself

Just came across this very short clip by London-based animator Michael Schlingmann and wanted to share it.

Surrealism

Bizarro is brought to you today by Hometown News.

Just got back from Tulsa a few hours ago and it's great to be home. A glance at my calendar induced euphoria when I saw that I am not scheduled to leave town again until the end of May. This may be the longest stretch of uninterrupted living in my own home in the past five years.

I'll be posting some photos and stories about my fabled trip to the near-middle of the country in a day or so, with tales of a visit to my old high school and the disturbing memories it conjured. We also had a very interesting time Tuesday in a little Oklahoma town called Guthrie.

Meanwhile, here is this cartoon from last week, which I'm not entirely sure about. I thought it might be fun to have a guy with a live web link on his face, instead of a mustache. But in color, if it's the proper bright blue it doesn't really look like a mustache, and if it's darker it doesn't really look like a link. Maybe it works anyway. Someone wrote to me who really liked it and wants to put it on his web page or in a newsletter or something, so at least one person liked it.

I'll be blogging regularly again now, but this one is short because I have to go watch Lost on ABC. I'm hooked on that show, perhaps because it is like a soap opera written by Salvador Dali. Or maybe it's just the crush I have on Evangeline Lilly.

New Library Comics: February 2009

Here's a list of the titles we added to the library's comics collection last month:


Alixopulos. The hot breath of war / Portland, Or. : Sparkplug Comic Books, c2008.

B., David, 1959- Nocturnal conspiracies : nineteen dreams, from December 1979 to September 1994 / New York : NBM/Comics Lit, c2008.

Bart Simpson's Treehouse of horror. no. 14 / Santa Monica, Calif. : Bongo Entertainment, 1995-

Bellamy, Frank, 1917-1976. King Arthur and his knights : the complete adventires ; together with The Swiss family Robinson / London : Book Palace Books, c2008.

The best of Tharg's future shocks / Oxford : Rebellion, 2008.

Blanchet, Pascal, 1980- Baloney : a tale in 3 symphonic acts / Montreal : Drawn & Quarterly, 2008.

Brown, Jeffrey, 1975- Bighead & friends / Marietta, Ga. : Top Shelf, 2008.

Brown, Jeffrey, 1975- Deadly awesome / Marietta, Ga. : Top Shelf, 2008.

Butzer, C. M. Gettysburg : the graphic novel / New York : Bowen Press/Collins, 2009.

Byrne, Kerry. Lillian the legend / Montreal : Conundrum Press, 2008.

C. F. Powr mastrs vol. 2 / [Brooklyn, N.Y.] : Picture Box Inc, c2007.

Chaykin, Howard V. American Flagg! vol. 1 / Berkeley, CA : Image Comics, c2008.

Conley, Steve. Astounding space thrills : Argosy Smith and the codex reckoning / San Diego, Calif. : IDW, 2008.

Espey, Eamon. Wormdye / by Eamon Espey. Jackson Heights, NY : Secret Acres, 2008

Forsythe, Matthew, 1976- Ojingogo / Montreal : Drawn & Quarterly, 2008.

From the shadow of the northern lights : an anthology of Swedish alternative comics / Stockholm, Sweden : Ordfront Galago, 2008.

Gantz, David. Jews in America : a cartoon history / Philadelphia, PA : Jewish Publication Society, 2006.

Girard, Pascal. Nicolas / Montréal : Drawn & Quarterly, c2008.

Hansen, Lance Christian. Hayseed / [Philadelphia, Pa.] : KettleDrummer Books, 2008-

Heatley, David. My brain is hanging upside down / New York : Pantheon Books, c2008.

Hergé, 1907-1983. L'étoile mystérieuse / [Tournai] : Casterman, c1974.

Hergé, 1907-1983. L'oreille cassée / [Paris] : Casterman, c1974.

Hergé, 1907-1983. Le tresor de Rackham le Rouge / [Paris] : Casterman, c1973.

Hergé, 1907-1983. Les 7 boules de cristal / [Paris] : Casterman, c1975.

Hernandez, Jaime. Love and rockets : new stories no. 1 / Seattle, WA : Fantagraphics Books, c2008-

Hicks, Faith Erin. The war at Ellsmere / San Jose, Calif. : SLG, 2008.

Hiramoto, Akira. Me and the devil blues : the unreal life of Robert Johnson vol. 2 / New York : Del Rey/Ballantine, c2008-

Ka, Olivier, 1967- Why I killed Peter / New York : Comics Lit, 2008.

Kramers ergot. no. 7 / Corte Madera, Calif. : Gingko Press, 1999-

Krell, Jeff. Jayson goes to Hollywood / Los Angeles, Calif. : Ignite! Entertainment, 2008

Kuwata, Jirō, 1935- Bat-manga! : the secret history of Batman in Japan / New York, N.Y. : Pantheon Books, 2008.

Lapham, David. Young liars vol. 1 / New York : DC Comics, 2008

Lemire, Jeff. The country nurse / Atlanta : Portland : Top Shelf, 2008.

Limits of the human / Minneapolis, Minn. : Univ of Minnesota Press, c2008.

Liquid city. Volume one / Berkeley, Calif. : Image Comics, c2008.

The mammoth book of best new manga. 3 / Philadelphia, PA : Running Press, 2008.

Marder, Larry. Beanworld holiday special / Milwaukie, Or. : Dark Horse Comics, 2008.

McCay, Winsor. Little Sammy Sneeze / Palo Alto, Calif. : Sunday Press, 2007

McKeever, Ted. Transit / Berkeley, Calif. : Image, 2008.

Miller, Frank, 1957- Daredevil vol. 1 / New York : Marvel, 2008-

Mome. vol. 13 : Winter 2009 / Seattle, Wash. : Fantagraphics, 2005-

Morse, Scott. Tiger! Tiger! Tiger! : a collection of scattered thoughts and moments that somehow equal a whole / Emeryville, CA : Red Window ; [Richomond, Va.] : Distributed by AdHouse Books, 2008-

Murphy, Justin S. Cleburne : a graphic novel / Jacksonville, FL : Rampart, 2008.

Niño, Alex. The art of Alex Niño / San Francisco [Calif.] : Auad Pub 2008.

No formula : stories from the chemistry set. Vol. 1 / Dallas, Ga. : Desperado Publishing, c2008.

Ōba, Tsugumi. Death note / San Francisco, CA : VIZ Media, 2008.

Paszkiewicz, Douglas. Arsenic lullaby : pulp edition no. 0 / [Milwaukee, Wis.] : Arsenic Lullaby Publishing, 2007-

Ploog, Michael, 1940- Mike Ploog / Raleigh, N.C. : TwoMorrows, 2008.

Rege, Ron. Against pain : 01986-02006 [sic], twenty years, seventy five cartoons / Montreal : Drawn and Quarterly, 2008.

Ristaino, Andy. The babysitter / San Jose, Calif. : Slave Labor Graphics, 2008.

Ryan, Johnny. Comics are for idiots / Seattle, WA : Fantagraphics Books, c2008.

Sickles, Noel. Scorchy Smith and the art of Noel Sickles / San Diego, Calif. : IDW Publishing, 2008.

Spiegelman, Art. Breakdowns : portrait of the artist as a young %@[squiggle][star]! / New York : Pantheon Books, 2008.

Takahashi, Rumiko, 1957- One-pound gospel vol. 4 / San Francisco, CA : Viz Media, 2008-

Taniguchi, Jirō. The quest for the missing girl / Wisbech, England : Fanfare ; [Rasquera, Spain] : Ponent Mon, 2008

Tezuka, Osamu, 1928-1989. Black Jack vol. 2 / New York : Vertical, c2008-

Tezuka, Osamu, 1928-1989. Black Jack vols. 1-2 / New York : Vertical, c2008-

Usui, Yoshito, 1958- Crayon Shinchan vol. 6 / La Jolla, CA : CMX, c2008-

Vernon, Ursula. Digger vol. 1 / Saint Paul, MN : Sofawolf Press, c2005-

Ward, Barnaby. Sixteen miles to Merricks and other works / Lynnwood, Wa : Frogchildren Studios, c2008.

Ware, Chris, 1967- The Acme novelty library. Fall/winter 2008, number 19 / Oak Park, Ill. : ACME Novelty Library ; Distributed in the United States by Drawn & Quarterly Books, c2008.

Wood, Brian, 1972- Local / Portland, Or. : Oni, 2008.

Wood, Brian, 1972- Supermarket / San Diego, Calif. : IDW, 2009.

Yokoyama, Yuichi. Travel / Brooklyn, NY : PictureBox, c2008.

Zahler, Thomas F. Love and capes vol. 1 / San Diego, Calif. : IDW, c2008-




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

Homeland Security

Bizarro has been brang to you today by Hometown News.

Sorry I have been remiss in my posting duties for the past few days, I have been visiting the home front in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Had a ding dang devil of a time getting here, we made the mistake of booking our flight on Delta through Atlanta, something we had sworn we would never do again about five years ago when stranded there for 7 hours. Our flight was late leaving NYC because of weather in Atlanta, but we were assured our connecting flight to the Indian Territory would also be delayed and we would have no trouble making it.

Like the serpent in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they lied. Our flight arrived in Atlanta one hour later than scheduled, our connecting flight to Tulsa actually left five minutes before scheduled. Lo and behold, there were no more flights that night, so we had the pleasure of spending the night at an airport hotel without any luggage. Did Delta pay for this inconvenience? Certainly not. They don't pay for delays caused by weather. How do we know our delay was actually caused by weather and not some ineptitude on their part? They assured us it was so.

Next morning, we arose at dawn to grab an early flight to T-Town, I was scheduled to perform at a fund raiser brunch that very morning. We arrived on time and rushed to the baggage claim area. As the bags began to be shat out of the bowels of the airport, we and our fellow passengers could not help but notice they were accompanied by an unusual amount of moisture. All the bags were soaked through, completely, as though submerged in a tank at Sea World overnight. Nearest anyone could tell, the rocket scientists at Delta's Atlanta baggage handling unit had left our luggage out in the rain all night long.

CHNW and I arrived at the brunch not wearing the clothes we had brought for the occasion, as it was dripping wet, but in the crumbled comfy crap we had worn for the flight. Joy.

Our troubles ended here, fortunately. The fund raiser was wonderful, everyone was nice as cherry pie, the audience was happy and tweaked on mimosas, and the show went great. After, we went to my parents house and dumped all out clothes into the dryer. Thankfully, we didn't have any "dry clean only" clothing in our suitcases or Delta would be buying us some new clothes. (Yes, I'm sure it's real easy file that claim and receive compensation.)

I began the show Saturday morning with the story of my travel woes, accompanied by a huge graphic project on the wall, "DELTA SUCKS!"

Today I visited my old high school and spoke to a few hundred kids in the auditorium. I mostly passed on wisdom such as, "it's true, you will never need algebra," and "the planet will no longer be suitable for human inhabitation in the very near future, so don't worry about those grades." They're good kids and I have no doubt that many will manage to stay out of jail for a good long time.

From there, I swung by my niece's elementary school on the other end of town to tell the first and second grade classes to "just say no to drugs." Many seemed to take my advice to heart, others looked a little too glassy-eyed to understand what I was saying.

I will likely not post again until Thursday morning. Thanks for your readership, see you then.
Reporting live from The Coffee House on Cherry Street, Tulsa, Oklahoma, this is
Danny "Chuckwagon" Piraro