The Top 100 Selling Grahpic Novels for July 2006

Thanks for checking out this column which is a look at sales of Graphic Novels where I comment on their sales, if they are any good or whatever other snarky remarks come to mind as I look over the sales figures.

So, what is this list? Every month, Diamond Comics (the company that ships comic books to comic book shops) list the sales figures of the previous month so that they can list actual sales through the entire month, but they list it in the form of “average number of copies sold to each comic shop”. Then, the site www.ICV2.com goes through the numbers they post and attempts to turn it into an approximation of the actual number of books sold. This doesn't doesn't list the graphic novels sold in bookstores, just comic book shops which is where the big publishers like Marvel, DC and Image sell most of their books, but Manga publishers sell far more in stores like Barnes and Noble or Borders.

1 FABLES VOL 7 ARABIAN NIGHTS & DAYS TP (MR) $14.99 DC 10,732

Fables is a simple idea: What if the characters from Fairy Tales really existed and lived in our world? This idea could be very cutesy and cloying, or it could be overwhelmingly dark and goth-y, but Bill Willingham is a good enough writer that he makes it more than I expected. This is the 7th volume of the series, and while it's possible to figure out who's who and what is going on, it doesn't have the same impact as if the reader knows the back story that fills in the gaps. Mildly recommended for new readers.

2 HALO GRAPHIC NOVEL HC (MR) $24.99 MAR 10,528

It sold 10K in comic shops, but announced that they had sold out of the first printing, which came in at a little over 100,000 copies. As a fan of the video game, the art is a bit too abstract for me, but the stories fill in back story on the highly complicated Science Fiction story that the video games tell. If you are a person who played Halo, this is a must-buy, but it's not written for people who don't know the world the stories are set in.

3 NEW AVENGERS VOL 2 SENTRY TP $14.99 MAR 7,053

The Avengers has been a huge seller for Marvel since it was relaunched a couple of years ago, but they've been much slower than other Marvel books at putting out collections. This story has the Biggest Heroes in the Marvel universe dealing with the return of Sentry, which was a very powerful, but very obscure character from about five years ago. The story doesn't rely on history, but instead is a great introduction to all of the characters, has crisp, well-written dialog and great art. Highly recommended for people who want to read about super-heroes.

4 TWISTED TOYFARE THEATRE VOL 7 TP $12.99 WIZ 6,371

My favorite book of the month, this series is a lot like “Robot Chicken”, using action figures for short (5 – 10 page) humor stories. It's pure silliness, mixing anyone who has ever had an action figure with juvenile jokes. If you like Cartoon Network's “Robot Chicken”, this is where they got their inspiration for that series. Highly recommended.

5 TEEN TITANS VOL 5 LIFE & DEATH TP $14.99 DC 5,837

Teen Titans is one of those books that I don't understand why it's as popular as it is. It's pretty much a mediocre super-hero team comic, with characters that keep me interested enough to keep reading, but not interested enough to recommend. And no, it's not like that cartoon in any way, so if you have kids who want to read about that, you should look for the “Teen Titans Go” books.

6 SUPERMAN BATMAN VOL 4 VENGEANCE HC $19.99 DC 5,724

This book is a complete mess from start to finish. It's a story that has a lot of different versions of Batman and Superman, assumes you've been reading about the two characters for the last 30 years, and on top of that, jumps around in time like Pulp Fiction. I've been reading comics since the 70's and I couldn't make heads or tails out of the middle of the story.

7 SUPERMAN INFINITE CRISIS TP $12.99 DC 5,338

As the “Infinite Crisis” story was being printed, Superman's three comics crossed over into it, telling parts of the story that there wasn't enough space in that 7 issue story. This is a great companion to the Infinite Crisis story, but since that hasn't been printed as a trade paperback yet.

8 FRUITS BASKET VOL 14 GN (Of 19) $9.99 TKP 4,463

The best selling translated Japanese comic, a story aimed at teen aged girls. Since I'm not a teen aged girl, I don't know how good it is.

9 SUPERMAN RETURNS MOVIE & MORE TALES OF THE MAN OF STEEL $12.99 DC 4,429

Most comics adaptations are a waste of time, in my mind. They tell the story of the movie in comics form, and I'd rather just wait for the DVD if I want to see the story again. In this book, they reprint a few other stories that have a tangential connection to the movie, but it still ends up being the story of the movie with some old random Superman comics. There are better Superman trades out there.

10 SHOWCASE PRESENTS ELONGATED MAN VOL 1 TP $16.99 DC 4,350

The “Showcase” line is a series of thick (over 500 pages) trade paperbacks reprinting older comics in black and white. DC has been putting them out at a fast pace this year, and while they are doing ones for Batman and Superman, the ones that have been more interesting are the ones like this, focusing on minor characters that I know little about. Elongated Man could have been a Plastic Man ripoff, but instead it used a character with the same powers and put him in a series of Domestic Mystery stories. This isn't a book you'd sit down at read all at once, but more like a story here and there, and they are quick mysteries. Mildly recommended, as long as the reader remembers they were backup stories in old Batman comics in the 60's, so they will be dated.

11 X-MEN DEADLY GENESIS PREM HC $24.99 MAR 4,259

This six part mini-series was $3.50 a pop when it came out as a comic, so a nice hardcover is only about $3 more. Anyway, the mini-series was the set up for the new direction of the main X-Men book by writer Ed Brubaker, and it was a good, strong story that both asks the reader to KNOW a lot about X-Men history and brushes a large part of it away. As an introduction to a new series of X-Men stories, it works well, and as a stand-alone story it feels more like a first chapter than a complete book, which is annoying when it's a mini-series or a hardcover book.

12 LUCIFER VOL 10 MORNINGSTAR TP (MR) $14.99 DC 4,202

This series has just ended, but the trades are a story arc behind. This book reads like a pale shadow of the Neil Gaiman Sandman series, and really doesn't lend itself well to people jumping into the middle (or in this case, near the end) of the story. If you're interested, get the first book and see if you want to read more of this dark fantasy series set in the Sandman “Universe”.

13 STAR WARS CLONE WARS VOL 9 TP $17.95 DAR 4,191

Yeah, by this point there isn't anyone involved in these stories that someone who watched the movies can recognize. For Hard Core Star Wars fanboys only.

14 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST VOL 8 TP $9.99 VIZ 4,077
15 CAPTAIN AMERICA RED MENACE VOL 1 TP $11.99 MAR 3,952

This is the kind of packaging that drives me up a wall! This story is going to run about 7 – 9 comics, so rather than wait and collect the whole thing in a thicker book, we'll get TWO overpriced, thin volumes. It's a shame, since the new Captain America series by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting has been the best the character has seen in years, and each story is instantly accessible to new readers. This one, which has the outer plot of a super-hero story, but plays it more like an espionage novel, s exciting, well done and highly recommended...except for the fact that it's the first half of a story.

16 BERSERK VOL 12 TP (MR) $13.95 DAR 3,941
17 ESSENTIAL OFF HANDBOOK MARVEL UNIVERSE DLX ED VOL 3 TP $16.99 MAR 3,895

That's right, a Handbook. That means it's a listing of super-heroes and an explanation of their powers with a single picture to let you know what they look like. And it's not just the big names, but pretty much every character they have used over the last 10 years or so. I'm kind of shocked it sells this well, since it is probably the most boring reading connected to comics. For people who are desperate to know how Cyclops's power blasts work.

18 WALT DISNEY TREASURES VOL 1 75 YEARS OF DISNEY COMICS TP $12.99 GEM 3,884

Again, the Disney comics are cutting their own throat with price points. This reprint book would be a great deal if it were around $8, but it's way too thin for $14, and comes off as horribly overpriced. The Dark Horse reprints of classic Little Lulu stories is able to give a little over 200 pages for $10, and this book looks anemic next to it. For Disney collectors, it might be worth it, but for the kids the book is aimed it, it's just at too high a price point.

19 BATMAN CITY OF CRIME TP $19.99 DC 3,873

David Lapham is the cartoonist behind the series “Stray Bullets”, one few the best crime comics on the market, and an amazing creator. When I heard he was taking over a Batman book for a year, I was very excited, and hoped it would be as good as his work on Stray Bullets. In the end, it was good, but not great, which stinks when you are expecting great. Still, it's a solid Batman story that goes in some interesting directions and is mildly recommended.

20 X-MEN BLOOD OF APOCALYPSE TP $17.99 MAR 3,850

The last story arc by writer Peter Milligan, who never seems to be able to pull off mainstream super-hero stories, while I do like his work on more of the off-beat, strange and creator-owned stuff he does. I have never been a big fan of the character Apocalypse, but his story here makes the villain interesting for the first time, and has some pretty good twists in the story...and oddly enough, for a final story arc, he makes some major changes to the X-Men team and does not undo them at the end of the story. For X-Men fans, this is probably highly recommended, but for other readers it's mildly recommended.

21 SUPREME POWER HYPERION TP $14.99 MAR 3,634

The new version of the Squadron Supreme has REALLY fallen apart in sales since it started. The characters are just thinly veiled versions of the DC heroes, with Hyperion being yet another version of Superman. I read the main series, and was uninterested in this spin-off mini-series, and flipping through it, it isn't a stand-alone story, but bridges the gap between the first Squadron Supreme series and the new one, so it's for fans of that series only.

22 WONDER WOMAN MISSIONS END TP $19.99 DC 3,577

Wonder Woman is a character that has been around for a LONG time, but most people are pretty hard pressed to come up with any good stories that have been told featuring her. While a lot of people will mock Aquaman, I'd rather read about Aquaman than Wonder Woman any day of the week. This is the last story arc of her comic before it was “reset” in DC's big crossover last year, so there is a lot of plot thread wrapping up and tie ins with Infinite Crisis events. There's nothing here that made me care about Wonder Woman as a character, and by the end, slogging my way through this was almost a chore. Avoid.

23 ESSENTIAL MARVEL TEAM-UP VOL 2 TP $16.99 MAR 3,498

You know how you can watch those TV shows from the 70's, and while they were cool at the time, now they come off as painfully bad, with acting worse than in most high school plays, and stories that seem like the same script over and over again? That's Marvel Team-Up. For the first half of this book, the stories in this thick (over 500 page) black and white reprint book are so bad you wonder if anyone at Marvel read through them before they were sent to the printer. Then, around the halfway mark, writer Bill Mantlo took over, and while it was his first major assignment, he was good at putting together an average Marvel comic that was a decent enough read. He closes the book with a story that involves time travel so that Spider-Man can meet all of Marvel's Science Fiction heroes...Thrill to the far flung future of 1985!

If you are looking for the kind of weird goofy crap that the 70's were known for, you're going to get it here, and the second half of the book is passable by today's standards. Still, over 25 issues of Spider-Man comics from the 70's for $17? It's mildly recommended just for the silliness factor of someone stealing Manhattan and dragging it out to sea.

24 WALKING DEAD VOL 1 HC (MR) $29.99 IMA 3,475

Here it is again, the best horror comic being printed, and quite possibly the most successful Indy book on the stands currently. I review this book every month, and it usually sells around 2000 copies, but this month it's up almost 1500 copies, and that's AFTER being in the top 100 for the last two and a half years. No, this isn't the trade paperback, but a new printing of the first 12 issues in a hardcover, but you'd think that people would already have this thing. Highly recommended.

25 SLOTH HC (MR) $19.99 DC 3,452
26 TRIGUN MAXIMUM VOL 9 TP $9.95 DAR 3,316
27 CARL BARKS GREATEST DUCKTALES STORIES VOL 2 TP $10.95 GEM 3,259

Carl Barks is pretty much the only reason anyone knows Uncle Scrooge, and is probably the only reason the Disney comics did so well, since his stories of Donald Duck and his relatives are classics in every sense of the word. This trade reprints the stories that “inspired” the Duck Tales cartoon of the early 90's, but ignore all of that. These are great stories that have humor, action and can be read by all ages. Highly recommended.

28 RUROUNI KENSHIN VOL 28 TP $7.95 VIZ 3,259
29 INU YASHA VOL 26 TP $8.95 VIZ 3,112
30 IRON MAN EXTREMIS PREM HC $19.99 MAR 2,998

This reprints the first 6 issues of the new Iron Man series where writer Warren Ellis updated the character to fit in more with modern technology. It's got amazing art, and is a good read. And now that it's in a book, you don't' have to be upset about the fact that it took a little over a year for them to put out 6 issues of a monthly comic book. Mildly recommended as a hardcover, highly recommended when it become as a trade.

31 DEATH NOTE VOL 6 TP $7.99 VIZ 2,953
32 TESTAMENT AKEDAH TP (MR) $9.99 DC 2,953

I read this book about two weeks ago, and while I think it's brilliant and amazing, I'm still not sure if I LIKE it, and that's a good thing. What do I mean? This is a very complex comic that shifts between scenes from the Bible and scenes from the near future where people must register with the Government for use in a never-ending war. There are a lot of ideas thrown out here, and it deserves re-readings so that more of the story becomes clear. The one problem I am having with the story is that so much of it is up in the air after reading the book, that it really feels more like a first chapter than a book. This is one to buy if you war in it for the long haul, and if so, this is highly recommended.

33 HELLBLAZER ALL HIS ENGINES SC (MR) $14.99 DC 2,816

The Hellblazer stuff (which was used in the movie Constantine, although it's not a very accurate version of the character) has settled into a rut, in my mind. The first run by Jamie Delano was a nasty look at the dark side of magick in a Thatcher-ized England, and Garth Ennis continued with the darker side but made Constantine a bastard who was just a bit smarter and nastier than the evil he fought. Since then, the comic has been coasting, doing mediocre occult stories that work as horror, but not much else. This is no exception.

34 BPRD BLACK FLAME TP $17.95 DAR 2,714
35 TOP 10 BEYOND FARTHEST PRECINCT TP $14.99 DC 2,692

Top 10 was a 12 issue comic written by Alan Moore about the police force in a city that was nothing but super-heroes and super villains. Like most of Alan Moore's work, it was brilliant, fun to read, and showed that Moore hadn't lost his creativity or sense of humor, and the two trades that reprint those issues are highly recommended. This book reprints a mini-series that Moore didn't write using the idea, and it falls flat compared to the two books by Moore. This book might be all right if it wasn't a follow up to a much better work, but since it uses Moore's ideas, it comes off as a bland, less interesting version of that book. Buy the first two and skip this one.

36 INVINCIBLE VOL 2 ULTIMATE COLL HC $34.99 IMA 2,669
37 NEW EXCALIBUR VOL 1 DEFENDERS OF THE REALM TP $17.99 MAR 2,612

Chris Claremont is a writer who is pretty much review proof. His early work on the X-Men in the 70's and 80's is groundbreaking, and turned a lot of people into comic book fans. However, his writing hasn't evolved much, and reading one of his books now is like picking up one of his lesser comics in the mid 80's. Excalibur, when he first did it with Alan Davis in the late 80's, was filled with action and humor. This THIRD version of the team is just the same old stuff as a bunch of random X-Men characters who aren't being used anywhere else fight yet another evil version of the X-Men from a parallel universe. It's all been done before, better and by Claremont himself. Still, his hard core fans will buy this.

38 NGE ANGELIC DAYS MANGA VOL 2 TP $9.99 ADV 2,555
39 USAGI YOJIMBO VOL 20 GLIMPSES OF DEATH TP $15.95 DAR 2,510
40 METAL MEN ARCHIVES VOL 1 HC $49.99 DC 2,430

I know that there are quite a few people who like this second tier comic series from the 60's about a group of robots, all of which have “quirky” personalities and the properties of whatever metal they are made out of. I'm not one of them. These stories would be fun in a $17 black and white Showcase book, but in a $50 archive, they come off as silly, gimmick laden and aimed squarely at kids.

41 ULTIMATES VOL 2 HOMELAND SECURITY TP $17.99 MAR 2,396

The Ultimates is the “Ultimate Universe” version of the Avengers, and is a serious, adult-aimed super-hero comic. Just glancing through the book, you'll see that the art is striking, and the story lends itself well to the trade paperback format. It's a great story, but not for kids as the violence is shown unflinchingly, and these versions of characters are much darker than the ones in the mainstream Marvel books. However, you can pay $18 and get the second half of the first story arc, or buy the much nicer hardcover that reprints the entire first arc for $30 (or $20 on Amazon and other websites).

42 FANTASTIC FOUR BOOKS OF DOOM PREM HC $19.99 MAR 2,385
43 BLACK PANTHER BY JACK KIRBY VOL 2 TP $19.99 MAR 2,374

Jack Kirby is probably the best overall super-hero artist to work in comics. He could put together action stories that are still great fun to read to this day, and even a BAD Kirby story is better than 90% of the other comics you could buy. This book, reprinting the second half of his ill-fated Black Panther series, is full of non-stop action but if you aren't already a Kirby fan, his odd stories from that time period may put you off. For Kirby stuff that's more mainstream, the Fantastic Four Essentials have what most of us consider his best work, and this book is only mildly recommended.

44 ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR VOL 2 HC $29.99 MAR 2,339

Reprinting the second year of the title, this comic has been better than I thought it would be. Dealing with a younger, less experienced Fantastic Four and twisting the old concepts just a bit to make them fit the modern era works for me. A solidly entertaining comic, and a great read, this is highly recommended.

45 FLIGHT VOL 3 GN $24.95 RAN 2,305
46 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL 1 POWER & RESPONSIBILITY TP $14.95 MAR 2,192

Back on the list, and quite possibly the best on-going Marvel series. This book takes the old origin story of Spider-Man, updates and expands it, and hits all few the right notes. A great story, and anyone who reads it will come away wanting to read more, this is highly recommended.

47 ONE PIECE VOL 11 TP $7.95 VIZ 2,158
48 24 SEVEN GN $24.99 IMA 2,158
49 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL 2 LEARNING CURVE TP $12.99 MAR 1,965

I'm thinking that Marvel had a sale or something on their Ultimate books, since so many of them have shown up on the top 100 this month after being out for quite a long time. The Ultimate Spider-Man series is created for people who aren't hard-core comics fans who knows decades worth few stories, and while each book can be read completely on its own, they work together to make a great series of books as well. This trade is highly recommended, as are ALL of the Ultimate Spider-Man books.

50 AVENGERS ASSEMBLE VOL 3 HC $34.99 MAR 1,919

The last of three books reprinting George Perez's and Kurt Busiek's run on the Avengers from a few years ago. Perez is probably the best super-hero artist without the last name of Kirby, and Busiek walks the line between fanboy and great writer so that all of his super-hero stories appeal to long-time fans but are still accessible for casual readers. For $35, this book had better be good, and it is, with some amazing fight scenes, great stories tying them together, and breath-taking art by George Perez, this book is highly recommended.

51 TEEN TITANS GO VOL 4 READY FOR ACTION TP $6.99 DC 1,919
52 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL 11 CARNAGE TP $12.99 MAR 1,897

Out of all few the Ultimate Spider-Man stories, this is the one I expected to hate, since Carnage is a character in the Marvel Universe I have no use for. In this story, however, it's a great concept and owes more to horror than anything connected with Super-Heroes. This story is a straight our horror story with Spider-Man in it, and is much better than it has any right to be. Highly recommended.

53 SILENT DRAGON TP $19.99 DC 1,874
54 PATHFINDER TP $19.95 DAR 1,851
55 EXCALIBUR CLASSIC VOL 2 TWO EDGED SWORD TP $24.99 MAR 1,840

Excalibur Classic is probably the collection of the last really great Chris Claremont stuff. He was working with Alan Davis, and kept a lid on his writing quirks. This volume also has art by the criminally under-rated Rom Lim and Artur Adams. There;s a lot of alternate dimension hopping, and weird ideas that don't really make much sense, but it's all done in such a way that it is a fun read. A bit overpriced for what you get, but if you are a big X-Men fan and haven't read these, you'll want to. Mildly recommended due to price.

56 OLD BOY VOL 1 TP $12.95 DAR 1,828
57 ANTIQUE BAKERY VOL 4 GN $12.95 DIG 1,817
58 ULTIMATE X-MEN VOL 7 BLOCKBUSTER TP $12.99 MAR 1,772
59 BOMB QUEEN VOL 1 WOMAN OF MASS DESTRUCTION TP (MR) $12.99 IMA 1,760

Boobs, boobs, boobs, boobs, boobs, boobs, boobs, boobs. And explosions followed by more boobs.

60 ULTIMATE X-MEN VOL 12 HARD LESSONS TP $12.99 MAR 1,749
61 GORGEOUS CARAT GALAXY GN $12.95 DIG 1,738
62 30 DAYS OF NIGHT THREE TALES TP $19.99 IDW 1,715

The 30 Days Of Night story has now officially gone on too long. What was a great story that gave a solid twist on the vampire idea (they move to Alaska because the nights are so much longer) has sprawled out to include a bunch of mini-series, one-shots and related books, all of which get away from the simple, core idea. For vampire fans it's a solid, if unremarkable, read, and for everyone else it's too many times back to the well.

63 ULTIMATE X-MEN VOL 10 CRY WOLF TP $8.99 MAR 1,715
64 IRON WEST GN $14.99 IMA 1,704
65 SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE VOL 1 SUPER CRUSH DIGEST TP $7.99 MAR 1,704

Super Crush Digest sounds like a weird Japanese title that was translated poorly, but it works for this book. Why? It's drawn in a Japanese manga style, and tells the story of Mary Jane, a girl with a crush on Spider-Man. It is a good comic for the girls who like the Shojo manga or young adult romance stories, but since I'm not one of those, it didn't work for me. I can see how it would appeal to a different reader though, and is recommended for them, but if you aren't a teenage girl, you'll probably want to pass on it.

66 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL 8 CATS & KINGS TP $17.99 MAR 1,658
67 POLLY & PIRATES VOL 1 TP (MR) $11.95 ONI 1,624
68 FUTURAMA VOL 3 TIME BENDER TP $14.95 BON 1,613

With the show currently canceled (but coming back sometime next year) this is the only place to get new Futurama stories. Thankfully, these are just as good as the TV show, and are a must read for any fans of that show. Highly recommended.

69 KARE KANO VOL 20 GN (Of 21) $9.99 TKP 1,601
70 TIME LAG GN $12.95 DIG 1,590
71 MUSEUM OF TERROR VOL 1 TP (MR) $13.95 DAR 1,579
72 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL 4 LEGACY TP $14.99 MAR 1,567
73 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL 3 DOUBLE TROUBLE TP $17.95 MAR 1,556

OK, there had to have been a sale on the Ultimate trades with so many in the countdown. ALL of the Ultimate Spider-Man trades are highly recommended, and while they read better when read in order, it's not necessary.

74 KURO NO KISHI BLACK KNIGHT VOL 1 GN (MR) $9.99 TKP 1,556
75 EIGHTBALL PUSSEY TP $9.95 FAN 1,545

Here's where I disagree with a lot of my fellow comics reviewers. I KNOW that Dan Clowes is a good cartoonist. His stories are made into movies, and he gets glowing reviews. I think his work is Technically good. However, I don't like it. Why? He fills his books with unlikable characters, and then proceeds to have the story SHOW how unlikable they are. This book also uses one of the “indy comics” cliches that annoys me as well: How comics fans and comics creators are emotionally retarded and need to be mocked. If it were funnier or more innovative, it might be something that I'd like, but it's more like going to a comic shop and getting mocked by the clerk who thinks he's cooler than you. I hate it when people who work in a medium or genre make fun of their readers, and this is no exception

76 MARVEL MASTERWORKS CAPTAIN AMERICA VOL 3 HC VAR ED $54.99 MAR 1,533

That's right, the special cover, more expensive version of this book made it onto the list and the cheaper, non-variant cover didn't. If the variant is more popular, doesn't that make the it the main cover? Anyway, this collection finishes up Kirby's run on Captain America and reprints the classic Sternanko drawn issues from the late 60's. Those three issues are still AMAZING in terms of design and storytelling, and while the story they tell is a major continuity wank (Captain American gets his secret identity back), it doesn't read like one. Mix in Kirby's stories at his peak and you get one of the best Masterworks reprinting Marvel's 60's output and it's highly recommended.

77 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL 5 PUBLIC SCRUTINY TP $11.99 MAR 1,522
78 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL 9 ULTIMATE SIX TP $17.99 MAR 1,522
79 CAFE KICHIJOUJI DE VOL 3 GN $12.95 DIG 1,510
80 FUSHIGI YUGI GENBU KAIDEN VOL 4 TP $8.99 VIZ 1,510
81 WATCHMEN TP $19.99 DC 1,499

Here it is, still. Have you read this yet? You should. You really should. I'm telling you to read it. Now go, buy a copy already and if you are going to ask me what you should read if you haven't read a comic before, this is the one I'll tell you to read. Highly recommended.

82 READ OR DIE VOL 3 GN $9.99 VIZ 1,499

Guess I'm gonna die, then, since I haven't read it.

83 ULTIMATE GALACTUS BK 2 SECRET TP $12.99 MAR 1,476

The “Ultimate Universe” version of Galactus is MUCH different from the mainline Marvel version of a big guy in short pants who eats planets. It's a great re-invention of the idea, and the only problem I have with the book is that this is the middle of the story. All three trades are needed to get the whole thing, so while this really can't be read on it's own, all three together are highly recommended and a GREAT introduction if you want to read the Ultimate line of Marvel books.

84 LE PORTRAIT DE PETITE COSSETTE VOL 1 GN (MR) $9.99 TKP 1,442
85 ONLY RING FINGER KNOWS VOL 2 NOVEL (MR) $8.95 DIG 1,420
86 WALKING DEAD VOL 1 DAYS GONE BYE TP (MR) $9.95 IMA 1,420

As stated above, all few the Walking Dead books are highly recommended for horror fans, and anyone who wants to see what kind of stories can be done withotu super-heroes. A great comic that relies on story and character instead of fight scenes and gore.

87 PATH OF THE ASSASSIN VOL 1 SERVING I/T DARK TP (MR) $9.95 DAR 1,408

The first book of the last series done by the creators of “Lone Wolf and Cub”, which I maintain is the greatest manga series of all time. Unline their other series “Samuri Executioner”, this one is not connected the the Lone Wolf and Cub series, and is instead a ninja story set in a similar time persiod of early Japan where a ninja is assigned to guard a child who will someday be the leader of Japan. Much like their other work, it is told mostly through art and reads like a novel. A truly excellent comic and highly recommended.

88 Y THE LAST MAN VOL 7 PAPER DOLLS TP (MR) $14.99 DC 1,397

The latest in this series that makes the list almost every month as well. This series, set after all men other than Our Hero have died because of some strange illness, is a return to form after a couple few trades that seemed as if the writer was just stretching the story out. A great mix of action and character work, this trade is highly recommended, and I see that they first trade is also on the list, and should be read first to get a good grasp of the premise of the series.

89 ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR VOL 2 DOOM TP $12.99 MAR 1,386

In this book, writer Warren Ellis created a new version of Dr. Doom that is almost as interesting as the one in the Marvel Universe. Almost. A good story, but not great, and it's mildly recommended.

90 SPIKE TP $19.99 IDW 1,363

If you are a HUGE fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this trade gives more of the vampire Spike's backstory. It's not horrible, but it's also not going to bring in any new fans. For Buffy fans only.

91 WALKING DEAD VOL 4 HEARTS DESIRE TP (MR) $12.99 IMA 1,317
92 DEARS VOL 7 GN (Of 7) $9.99 TKP 1,317
93 SAMURAI DEEPER KYO VOL 19 GN (Of 31) (MR) $9.99 TKP 1,317
94 Y THE LAST MAN VOL 1 UNMANNED TP $12.99 DC 1,306
95 COBBLERS MONSTER GN $14.99 IMA 1,306
96 LEFT BANK GANG GN (MR) $12.95 FAN 1,306
97 IS VOL 8 GN $7.99 VIZ 1,306
98 WALKING DEAD VOL 3 SAFETY BEHIND BARS TP (MR) $12.95 IMA 1,295
99 WALLFLOWER VOL 8 GN (MR) $10.95 RAN 1,283
100 HIKARU NO GO VOL 7 TP $7.95 VIZ 1,283

And that's it for another month! Thanks for reading!

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