While researching the previous item, I cam across this every other month chart of graphic novel bestsellers in indie bookstores, via the ABA. It’s about what you’d expect, with Raina Telegemeier and Allie Brosh, Noelle Stevenson, Kate Beaton and Saga reigning supreme. In other words, the unstoppable forces of mainstream comics acceptance. A little surprised that no Walking Dead on there, but the new season hadn’t debuted when this chart was made.
Apparently the chart is released every other month, so I’ll try to check back on the next one.
One book I wasn’t familiar with is Thunder & Lightning: Weather Past, Present, Future by Lauren Redniss (above). It seems to be as much an illustrated book as a ‘graphic novel’, but, hey, everyone talks about the weather. IN a profile of Redniss and the book, it’s interesting to see how it’s played as both a graphic narrative and a coffee table book.
1. Drama
Raina Telgemeier, Graphix, $10.99, 97805453269952. Sisters
Raina Telgemeier, Graphix, $10.99, 97805455406053. Smile
Raina Telgemeier, Graphix, $10.99, 97805451320604. Hyperbole and a Half
Allie Brosh, Touchstone, $19.99, 97814516661755. Nimona
Noelle Stevenson, HarperTeen, $12.99, 97800622782276. Amazing Fantastic Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir
Stan Lee, Peter David, Colleen Doran (Illus.), Touchstone, $30, 97815011077267. The Sandman: Overture
Neil Gaiman, J.H. Williams III (Illus.), Vertigo, $24.99, 97814012489638. How About Never — Is Never Good for You?: My Life in Cartoons
Bob Mankoff, Picador USA, $22, 97812500624209. Thunder & Lightning: Weather Past, Present, Future
Lauren Redniss, Random House, $35, 978081299317210. Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?
Roz Chast, Bloomsbury, $28, 978160819806111. Step Aside, Pops: A Hark! A Vagrant Collection
Kate Beaton, Drawn & Quarterly, $19.95, 978177046208312. Only What’s Necessary: Charles M. Schulz and the Art of Peanuts
Chip Kidd, Abrams Comicarts, $40, 978141971639313. The Last Kids on Earth
Max Brallier, Doug Holgate (Illus.), Viking, $13.99, 978067001661714. Lumberjanes, Volume 2
Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, Brooke Allen, Boom! Box, $14.99, 978160886737015. Saga, Volume 1
Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples, Image Comics, $9.99, 978160706601916. The Best American Comics 2015
Jonathan Lethem (Ed.), Houghton Mifflin, $25, 978054410770017. Saga, Volume 5
Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples, Image Comics, $14.99, 978163215438518. Killing and Dying
Adrian Tomine, Drawn & Quarterly, $22.95, 978177046209019. The Comic Book Story of Beer: The World’s Favorite Beverage From 7000 BC to Today’s Craft Brewing Revolution
Jonathan Hennessey, Mike Smith, Aaron McConnell (Illus.), Ten Speed Press, $18.99, 978160774635520. Watchmen
Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons (Illus.), DC Comics, $19.99, 978140124525221. The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978–1984: A Graphic Memoir
Riad Sattouf, Metropolitan Books, $26, 978162779344522. 101 Artists to Listen to Before You Die
Ricardo Cavolo, Nobrow Press, $22.99, 978191062000723. Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama
Alison Bechdel, Mariner, $15.95, 978054400223424. Bitch Planet, Volume 1: Extraordinary Machine
Kelly Sue DeConnick, Valentine De Landro, Image Comics, $9.99, 978163215366125. Here
Richard McGuire, Pantheon, $35, 9780375406508
