February Comics Bestsellers
This story originally appeared in PW Comics Week on February 3, 2009 Sign up now!
By Calvin Reid -- Publishers Weekly, 2/2/2009 3:37:00 PM
1. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Last Straw.
Jeff Kinney.
Abrams/Amulet, $12.95 ISBN 978-0-810-97068-7.
After holding the #1 spot on the comics list for most of 2008, Wimpy Kid author/illustrator Jeff Kinney handed the spot over to—himself. The Last Straw, the newest volume in Kinney’s extraordinary Diary of a Wimpy Kid series published by Abrams, is #1 by a large margin. Easily the publishing phenomenon of the last 2 years, the third volume of the kids comics and prose work from Abrams/Amulet sold more than 300,000 copies the first week of its release and like the other two volumes in the series now has more than a million copies in print.
2. Naruto, Volume 33.
Mashashi Kishimoto.
Viz Media, $7.95 ISBN 978-1-421-52001-8
3. Joker.
Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo.
DC Comics, $19.99 ISBN 978-1-401-215811.
“We actually had it finished before the film, but DC decided to sit on it. At the time, I sort of questioned that decision, but now I don’t at all.” Brian Azzarello on his original graphic novel, Joker
4. Naruto, Volume 32.
Mashashi Kishimoto.
Viz Media, $7.95 ISBN 978-1-421-519449
5. Fruits Basket, Volume 21.
Natsuki Takaya.
Tokyopop, $9.99 ISBN 978-1-427-80682-6
6. Bleach, Volume 25.
Tite Kubo.
Viz Media, $7.99 ISBN 978-1-421-51796-4
7. Negima!: Magister Negi Magi, Volume 20.
Ken Akamatsu.
Del Rey, $10.99 ISBN 978-0-345-50527-9
8. Batman: The Killing Joke.
Alan Moore and Brian Bolland.
DC Comics, $17.99 ISBN 978-1-401-21667-2
9. Star Wars Legacy: Alliance, Volume 4
John Ostrander and Omar Francia.
Dark Horse, $15.95 ISBN 978-1-595-82223-9
10. Chibi Vampire, Volume 12.
Kagesaki Yuna.
Tokyopop, $9.99 ISBN 978-1-427-81140-0
Take Note: Already a perennial backlist bestseller, Alan Moore’s superhero epic Watchmen (in both paperback and a new hardcover edition) sold phenomenal numbers after the release of the trailer for the forthcoming film adaptation, slated for theaters in March. The acclaimed graphic novel has more than a million copies in print. But that wasn’t all. DC could also crow about the success of the hit film Dark Knight which seemed spur sales in an extended Batman backlist that includes Batman Year One; The Long Halloween, The Dark Knight Returns and the special hardcover edition of Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke that spent most of the year on the comics besteller list.t
2008: Here’s a selective list of some of the best selling graphic novels of the past year. 40,000 copies or more: Naruto vols. 28-32 (Viz), Bone vol. 6 and 7 (Graphix), Fruits Basket vol. 19-21 (Tokyopop) and The Killing Joke (DC). 20,000 to 40,000 copies: Joker (DC), In Odd We Trust (Del Rey), Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle (Del Rey), The Adventures of Johnny Bunko (Riverhead), Bleach vol. 22-24 (Viz), Warriors: Tigerstar and Sasha, Rise of the Scourge and Warriors Return (Tokyopop/Harper). 10,000 to 20,000 copies: Negima vol. 17-20 (Del Rey), Y the Last Man: Whys and Wherefores (DC), What It Is (D&Q), Fables: The Good Prince (DC) and Anita Blake: The First Death and Guilty Pleasures vol. 2 (Marvel)
