New York Times Graphic Bestseller List, May 23

I really tried to give updates of the New York Times Graphic Books Bestseller List. But, you know, from week to week, it gets a little boring. But I’ll make another try. Follow along with last week’s list:

Marvel uses the might of Stephen King to take the top and bottom of the hardcover Top 10 list, with Dark Tower: Treachery and Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born. Both titles are written by Peter David, with art by Robin Furth. Unlike the lists I looked at in April, Marvel also managed to get some of its superheroes into the Top 10 — Civil War at #7 and Hulk: Red and Green at #9. Marvel also places Marvel Zombies (the list doesn’t specify which volume — I’m going to assume it’s v. 3 by Fred Van Lente and Kev Walker) at #5.

If DC is miffed they’ve lost their stranglehold on the hardcover list, they can console themselves with holding onto most of the top spots while also keeping five titles on the list. The new Superman: New Krypton, v. 1, is #2, the evergreen Batman: The Killing Joke is #3, Batman: RIP is #4, Joker surprisingly remains on the list at #6, and Y: The Last Man: Deluxe Edition, v. 2, checks in at #8.

The paperback list is a different and more egalitarian affair. DC is the nominal winner of the list, with Watchmen at #1, V for Vendetta at #5, Sandman, v. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes at #6, and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns at #8. Still, none of these titles were created in the last decade; can DC hold onto this list with evergreen titles only?

Film is a big influence on the rest of the trade paperbacks. Marvel’s only title on the list, Wolverine: Origin at #4, obviously benefits from the Wolverine movie. IDW similarly benefits from Star Trek (Star Trek: Countdown, the prequel to the movie, at #3) and Terminator: Salvation (Terminator: Salvation Movie Prequel, the … uh, movie prequel, at #10). Image keeps putting Robert Kirkman’s Walking Dead on the list — or maybe Kirkman keeps putting Image’s Walking Dead on the list. Either way, v. 1 checks in at #7 and v. 9 at #9. Dark Horse is the final publisher in the top 10 with Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8, v. 4, at #2.

Manga? Well, there’s Naruto. There’s always Naruto. Volumes 40-44 are #3-7, although not exactly in that order. Neigma!, v. 22, is #1 … I know nothing about Neigma!, really, so I can’t tell you much about it, but the protagonist’s name is Negi Springfield. There’s something so perfectly manga / anime about that name. Full Metal Alchemist, v. 18, is #2, Otomen 2, which appears to be a gender-role comedy, is #8, the popular Fruits Basket, v. 18, is #9, and Vampire Knight, v. 6, is #10.

New York Times Graphic Books Best Seller List, April 18

The New York Times Graphic Books Best Seller List for the week of April 18 contains few surprises.

DC has a lock on the hardcover list again. Watchmen moves up two slots to the top spot, while Batman: RIP slips to second. Batman: The Killing Joke and Joker move up one spot apiece to #3 and #4. Batman: Heart of Hush drops three spots to #5. All-Star Superman, v. 2 drops two slots to #9. The Saga of Swamp Thing keeps the #10 slot. Superman: Brainiac falls out of the top 10.

Marvel manages to get two titles into the hardcover list: Marvel Zombies 3 and Civil War at #7 and 8, respectively. Good for them. Maybe they’ll set their sights on the top five next time. Random House’s lone representative, The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle, moves up three spots to #6. IDW’s Angel: After the Fall, v. 3, drops out of the top 10.

Much more instability on the trade paperback list, with five new titles. This time, there’s only four DC titles on the list: Watchmen hanging on to #1, V for Vendetta slipping two slots to #5, and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns slipping one to #7. Batman: The Long Halloween enters the chart at #9. The first volumes of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Y: The Last Man drop from the list. For Marvel, Wolverine: Origin drops to #4 from #2, but they also get Barry Windsor-Smith’s Wolverine: Weapon X in at #10. Hooray, Wolverine movie!

Among other publishers, the big winner is IDW, which puts Star Trek: Countdown, nominally by J.J. Abrams and others, in at #2. Image’s Walking Dead, v. 9, moves up one to #6, but v. 1 drops off the list. Rounding out the list is Drawn & Quarterly’s A Drifting Life (an interesting qualifier — “this 840-page memoir chronicles family troubles and the evolution of manga from 1945 to 1960”) and Oni’s latest Scott Pilgrim, Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe. Falling off the list are The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, v. 3.

Naruto takes the top 6 manga spots and seven of the top 10; the only mystery, really, is why v. 31 makes the list when the other Narutos are v. 39-44.

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.