New York Times Graphic Books Best Seller List, April 11

The list is here.

Naruto’s domination is nothing new and certainly no surprise; you get the feeling it can take six of the top ten manga slots without a sweat. DC’s domination on the hardback and paperback lists is a bit of a surprise, though; Watchmen’s presence on both lists is unsurprising, but eight of the top 10 hardbacks? That’s dominance, although the titles on the list do make me a bit suspicious. (Superman: Brainiac is #8? Really? And The Joker #5? Hrmm.)

The paperback book list is also dominated by DC (five of the top 10) but makes more sense. You’ve got evergreen classics in Watchmen (#1), V for Vendetta (#3), and The Dark Knight Returns (#6); the first volumes of Alan Moore’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Brian Vaughan’s Y: The Last Man are at the bottom of the list. The only Marvel title is Wolverine: Origin (#2), mostly likely pushed there by publicity for the movie. (Which is a shame, as there are much better Wolverine books.) Marvel has to be a little embarrassed; only one book on the two lists, while Dark Horse places two on the paperback list (#4 and #5). Image also puts two on the list with v. 1 and 9 of Robert Kirkman’s Walking Dead.

Of course, as I admit, I’m a Marvel kind of guy. My bias is probably showing. It would be interesting to see how DC’s dominance of this mainstream list compensates for Marvel’s (lesser) control of the direct / hobby market.