The Top 100 Selling Graphic Novels for May 2006

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 Nobel or Borders.

1 FAMILY GUY VOL 1 GN (Of 3) $6.95 DDP 15,845

Our number one book this month is one of those books that irritates me. No, not because of it's content, it's a decent enough spin-off of the TV series, and retains enough of the humor that if you like “Family Guy”, you'll really like this. No, it's the fact that because it is an expensive comic book from a smaller company, it gets put on the graphic novel listing.

Why? Because if it were listed as a comic, it would have ranked in the low 100's, but as a “trade paperback”, they can claim it's the best seller of the month! It isn't a trade paperback, it's an overpriced 48 page comic book, the first in a series of three.

2 Y THE LAST MAN VOL 7 PAPER DOLLS TP (MR) $14.99 DC 10,298

This series has been one that I like, but some of the individual books have not been as good as others. Thankfully, this is one of the good ones: Set after a biological disaster where all male mammals except Our Hero and his pet monkey have died, the series is a classic “quest” storyline. This book gets away from the “Y meets a bunch of crazy women living in a colony” and instead moves the story forward, gives nice insight into the past of the supporting characters and makes it so the reader wants to know what happens next. NO super-heroics, but a great comic, highly recommended.

3 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL 15 SILVER SABLE TP $15.99 MAR 7,424

One of the more confusing Ultimate Spider-Man stories, as Spidey gets caught up in the world of corporate espionage and deals with a bunch of different characters. It is not one of the better Ultimate Spider-Man arcs, and focuses too much on Silver Sable, who wasn't interesting in the main Marvel Universe. A rare misstep for what is usually a solid super-hero book.

4 CRISIS O/MULTIPLE EARTHS VOL 4 TP $14.99 DC 5,570

More reprints of the Justice League/Justice Society crossovers, and these are from the 70's. Each story in this book seems to be written as a way to introduce a bunch of new characters that DC had purchased at the time the story came out, so you get stories featuring over 20 super-heroes that were originally printed 30 years ago. As a nostalgia project, it's decent, but if you are a casual reader of comics, this is the quickest way to get a headache this month.

5 SAMURAI EXECUTIONER VOL 10 TP (MR) $9.95 DAR 4,829

I don't review a lot of the Japanese comics on the list, mostly because I don't read a lot of them. This is one that I did read because it is from the same creative team as “Lone Wolf and Cub”, probably my favorite manga series. This is set in the same “world”, is set in feudal Japan, and has the same cinematic art as “Lone Wolf and Cub”. Like the best of Japanese comics, this reads like a movie on the page, and feature short stories about a Samurai as he travels the countryside of Japan. A great action story that is well worth the price. Highly recommended.

6 SHOWCASE PRESENTS HAUNTED TANK VOL 1 TP $16.99 DC 4,342

As a kid, growing up in the 70's, I didn't read War comics. I preferred super-hero books, but now that DC is printing their work from the 60's in these inexpensive volumes, I'm trying comics I didn't read back then. The book gives the reader over 500 pages of story in black and white on newsprint, and reprints most of the stories featuring “The Haunted Tank” from the 60's. They are pretty standard War comics, with the gimmick of the Ghost of Jeb Stewart “watching over” the main characters. While the stories have great art, they are incredibly repetitive and gung-ho. For fans of war stories, it's a nice collection, but has very limited appeal to other readers.

7 ULTIMATE X-MEN FANTASTIC FOUR TP $12.99 MAR 4,149

A team up between the two groups in the Ultimate Universe Marvel has created so that readers can pick up stories that don't have 40 years of history behind them. Many of the “Ultimate” comics are very good, but this isn't one of them. The story is bland to the point of boring and if anyone wants to read about the teams, they'd do better to pick up “Ultimate Extinction” which teams up the two teams in a MUCH more interesting story.

8 JLA VOL 19 WORLD WITHOUT JUSTICE LEAGUE TP $12.99 DC 4,087

Ending the current run of the Justice League. This series started in the mid 90's with an incredible 40 issue run that made the Justice League interesting again, but after the original creative team left, the comic slowly ground to a standstill, until this final story. This book is almost unreadable, with poor characterization, obscure characters tossed in with no explanation and gimmick-y plot twists. A must-avoid.

9 SUPERMAN FOR TOMORROW VOL 1 TP $14.99 DC 4,025

Jim Lee's art is incredibly popular, but I've never been a fan of it, as it does a poor job of letting the reader know what is going on in the story so that he can draw pages that look like posters. The first half of his stint on Superman is reprinted here, and it's set after millions of people have vanished, and Superman has to find out why. Don't expect the answer in this volume, and the story is so poorly told that I lost interested after three issues when it was printed as a comic series. For fans of Jim Lee's art only.

10 PUNISHER MAX VOL 5 SLAVERS TP (MR) $15.99 MAR 3,925

OK, I gotta be honest. The Punisher is review proof. The series under Garth Ennis is pretty much what you'd expect: Punisher discovers people doing bad things and kills them in an inventive way. The ONLY difference between the stories is the bad guys, and as long as they are interesting, the book is worth reading, because the Punisher himself isn't a character, he's written as a force of nature. The bad guys in this are interesting, and the story is well drawn, so read it if you like that sort of thing.

11 LOVELESS VOL 1 KIN OF HOMECOMING TP (MR) $9.99 DC 3,801

Comic seem to be trying out new genres lately with both Marvel and DC trying out Western series. This western is by the writer of the crime comic 100 Bullets, and while this is a cheap way to try the book (it reprints the first 5 issues for $10), it didn't impress me. I'm not a fan of Westerns, even though I enjoy Deadwood and the Spaghetti Western sub genre, so I would imagine that this would appeal to fans of the genre more than me.

12 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST VOL 7 TP $9.99 VIZ 3,716
13 ESSENTIAL OFF HANDBK MARVEL UNIVERSE DLX ED VOL 2 TP $16.99 MAR 3,677

And with this, Marvel has reprinted the Handbook they published as a mini-series in the 80's. This isn't so much a comic as it is a listing of super-heroes, their back story and their powers as of 1984, so it's pretty much for fans only.

14 WOLVERINE ORIGINS & ENDINGS PREM HC $19.99 MAR 3,670

Wolverine has been a character who can't remember his past since he was introduced back in 1974. Now, he does remember it, and this story deals with the ramifications of that. As the first part of a new direction for the character, it's a very good story. If you left the X-Men movie wanting more Wolverine, this is a good start on the character: Mildly recommended.

15 NYX VOLUME 1 WANNABE TP $19.99 MAR 3,654

This comic was introduced with a HUGE promotional push, and got big sales for the first few issues. Then, it suffered delays. Not just missing a month here or there, but actually having a YEAR pass between issues, and in that gap, it lost most of its readership. Now that it's collected, it's easy to tell that the delay hurt the book in other ways, as there is a HUGE shift in the story halfway through that doesn't work, and while it has an interesting beginning, the story falls apart at the halfway point.

16 ESSENTIAL CLASSIC X-MEN VOL 2 TP $16.99 MAR 3,577

Reprinting about 25 or so issues of the X-Men from the 60's, in black and white on cheap paper. The X-Men was kind of an also-ran back in the 60's, and suffered from pretty pedestrian stories. The “hip” dialogged is terribly dated, and most of the art is second rate Marvel, but it's decent enough for what it was: A super-hero soap opera aimed at young teen readers. It's good for the nostalgia fans and Marvel completists, but they years have not been kind to these stories, and they don't resemble the X-Men that people know today.

17 CARL BARKS GREATEST DUCKTALES STORIES VOL 1 TP $10.95 GEM 3,577

Carl Barks was probably one of the best cartoonists to ever work in comics. His “Duck” stories are filled with humor, adventure and really are fun to read for ALL ages. He worked on Disney comics for most of his life, and I'm glad to see they are getting back in print in a trade paperback format. I know that when most people think of Disney, they think “annoying cut” or kiddie fare, but Barks was the rare creator whose work appeals to kids, but is well done enough for adults to enjoy it, much like an Indiana Jones story. Great fun and highly recommended.

18 GOTHAM CENTRAL VOL 3 UNRESOLVED TARGETS TP $14.99 DC 3,407

I LOVED this comic, based on the cops in Gotham City, dealing with the crimes that Batman didn't. It won a number of well-deserved awards, and is as good as the best TV cop drama. Highly recommended.

19 SUPERMAN SHAZAM FIRST THUNDER TP $12.99 DC 3,392

This reprints the recent mini-series telling the story of the first time Superman met Captain Marvel. To be blunt, I couldn't force myself through the first issue as it was filled with endless exposition and overly complicated plot points. For a story that could have been entertaining, it was dull and plodding.

20 SPIDER-MAN BLACK CAT EVIL THAT MEN DO MARVEL PREM HC $19.99 MAR 3,384

OK, this is the miniseries written by Kevin Smith. Yeah, you know, Silent Bob. He took TWO YEARS between issues, and in the end, the story was pretty bland. It has incredibly good art by Terry Dodson, and the story isn't bad, it just isn't all that good. If you're interested in reading Kevin Smith comics, his runs on Daredevil and Green Arrow are much better, and this one would be a good buy when it comes out as a $13 paperback.

21 WOLVERINE ENEMY OF THE STATE VOL 2 TP $16.99 MAR 3,361

The second half of the “Enemy of the State” story, featuring Wolverine verses pretty much every Marvel character you can think of. Combined with the first volume, this is as fun to read as a big action blockbuster movie is to watch, but on its own, you'll be scratching your head and wondering what the hell is going on.

22 CAPTAIN AMERICA WINTER SOLDIER VOL 2 PREM HC $19.99 MAR 3,245

Another book that isn't all that good unless you have the first volume. In it, everything is set up, and this volume is that payoff. Taken together, it's the best Captain America story in years, but on it own, it's like reading the last half of a novel without knowing what happened in the first part.

23 NEGIMA VOL 10 GN (MR) $10.95 RAN 3,222
24 SEVEN SOLDIERS OF VICTORY VOL 3 TP $14.99 DC 3,052

The “Seven Soldiers” project is a series of seven four issue mini-series that are connected, but you don't HAVE to read any of the rest of them for each individual mini-series to work. However, that's not how they are being reprinted, and instead, they are printed in trade paperbacks in the order they came out. Grant Morrison does a masterful job of making these seven characters interesting, and each artist is doing great work on each series, but you'll have to buy all four to get the whole story.

25 NGE ANGELIC DAYS MANGA VOL 1 TP $9.99 ADV 2,967
26 TSUBASA VOL 9 GN (Of 10) $10.95 RAN 2,959
27 STAR WARS HONOR & DUTY TP $12.95 DAR 2,951

Reprinting the last few issues of the most recent Star Wars comics. It tells the story of the fall of the Republic and the first mission of Darth Vader. It feels thin (only 96 pages) and focuses on a characters created for the comic book, so there is a “fan fiction” feel to it. Hard core Star Wars fans may like it, but most casual fans should pass.

28 LEGION OF SUPER HEROES VOL 2 DEATH OF DREAM TP $14.99 DC 2,874

The Legion of Super Heroes is one of DC's more interesting ideas, a team of super-heroes set 1000 years in the future. In the past, the sheer number of characters has been daunting enough to keep away casual fans, but with the most recent re-launch, writer Mark Waid has done a good job of putting together a story that uses the number of characters to an advantage. It's one of the better super-hero comics on the stands, and tells stories that have more going on that just fight scenes. Highly recommended.

29 GIRLS VOL 2 EMERGENCE TP (MR) $14.99 IMA 2,866

The Luna Brothers are the writer/artists on this book, and their art is simply amazing to look at. Simple, yet eye catching, and probably one of the few art teams I'd buy a comic from no matter who was writing it. Thankfully, they are also great writers. This series is a horror comic set in a small town as the town is attacked by what appear to be insane, naked women...but all is not as it appears. This book is hard to follow with the first volume, but the series is a must buy for horror fans. Highly recommended.

30 FIVE FISTS OF SCIENCE GN (RES) $12.99 IMA 2,843
31 LOVELESS VOL 2 GN (Of 5) $9.99 TKP 2,681
32 SKRULL KILL KREW TP $16.99 MAR 2,673

A very strange and wonderful mini-series from Marvel about a group of people who were subjected to alien experiments, and now hunt those aliens down to exact revenge and protect an Earth that has no idea it has been invaded.

33 DRAGONLANCE CHRONICLES VOL 1 DRAGONS OF AUTUMN TWILIGHT TP $17.95 DDP 2,634
34 DONALD DUCK ADVS VOL 18 TP $7.95 GEM 2,588
35 RANMA 1/2 VOL 34 TP $9.99 VIZ 2,542
36 AI YORI AOSHI VOL 13 GN (Of 15) $9.99 TKP 2,410
37 NARUTO VOL 10 TP $7.95 VIZ 2,403
38 SCOTT PILGRIM VOL 3 INFINITE SADNESS GN (MR) $11.95 ONI 2,349
39 SUPERMAN BATMAN VOL 1 PUBLIC ENEMIES TP $12.99 DC 2,333

These are reorders for the first story arc from the on-going series. It's a good super-hero story, and a lot of people are entranced by the Michael Turner art. Not the best story featuring the two characters, but it's a fun read, and does a good job of using a lot of the DC Universe without feeling like you've been dropped into the middle of a soap opera.

40 MICKEY MOUSE ADVS VOL 9 TP $7.95 GEM 2,271
41 SUPERMAN STRANGE ATTRACTORS TP $14.99 DC 2,264

Reprinting about six months worth of Superman stories. In the comic, they felt like place holders, but as a trade paperback, it works much better as a collection of solid Superman stories. Gail Simone makes each villain interesting, and John Byrne turns in his best art in years. A good sampler of the kind of stories being done in the Superman comics now, and a great volume for casual readers. Mildly recommended.

42 SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE VOL 4 SCORPION TP (MR) $12.99 DC 2,240

Sandman Mystery Theater was one of my favorite comics while it was coming out. It is a mystery/crime series using the 40's character with stories set in the 40's. Unlike most comic series set in the 40's, it's not a nostalgia-fest, but a series aimed at adult readers using the events of the time. It used artists from the independent scene and evokes a feeling of finding old magazines from that time. A very well done series, finally getting collected. It also is a series that readers don't HAVE to have read everything, but each story does build on the past. Highly recommended

43 SAMURAI HEAVEN & EARTH TP $14.95 DAR 2,210
44 AUTHORITY MAGNIFICENT KEVIN TP $14.99 DC 2,171

The “Kevin” stories are where writer Garth Ennis seems to show that he's a wonderfully sick human being, and enjoys putting super-heroes into twisted situations. Kevin is an unlikeable agent for the British government who keeps getting thrown into situations with the super-hero team “The Authority”, but trust me, you don't need to know anything about that series or group to love this book. Completely self-contained, and almost as good as Ennis's classic “Preacher” series, I look forward to more books with this character. There is no way anyone under the age of 18 should be allowed to read these, but if you are over 18, this is highly recommended.

45 SUPERMAN COVER TO COVER HC $39.99 DC 2,125

A coffee table book that reprints Superman comic book covers through the ages. I'm not a fan of things like this, since I buy books to READ, not just look through, but it's designed nice enough. If you're interested, wait for a month or two and you'll see it on the remainder tables at your local Huge Bookstore like all of the other books like this.

46 XXXHOLIC VOL 7 GN $10.95 RAN 2,125
47 HULK VISIONARIES PETER DAVID VOL 3 TP $19.99 MAR 2,101

Peter David's run on the Hulk saved the comic. When he came on the book, sales were so low that they were close to canceling the comic, but his approach got people interested for the first time since the TV series of the 70's. The stories haven't aged as well as I would have hoped, but they stand as some of the better super-hero comics of the 80's. It reads like a few episodes of a soap opera rather than a complete story. It's a strong book for Hulk fans, but it won't win over anyone who isn't already a fan.

48 HAWKMAN VOL 4 GOLDEN EAGLE TP $17.99 DC 2,063
49 BIZARRO WORLD SC $19.99 DC 1,970

This is the second “Bizarro” book from DC, which has alternative creators doing short stories featuring DC super-hero characters. The book is one of the better things DC has put out, and even though the art doesn't look like average comic book art, even if a story isn't great, it's usually only a few pages long and the next one will be one that appeals to you. The other great thing about this book is that it's $20, but gives more reading than books that cost more. Highly recommended and a great book for casual comics readers.

50 BLACK PANTHER BAD MUTHA TP $10.99 MAR 1,962

The new Black Panther series has been written by Reginald Hudlin, who is probably best known as being the President of the BET network and for writing the “House Party” movies. Is there anyone on the planet who watched the “House Party” movies and said, “This is GREAT writing!”? This comic doesn't change that opinion.

51 NEW ONIMUSHA NIGHT OF GENESIS VOL 1 GN $12.95 UDO 1,916
52 WOLVERINE CLASSIC VOL 3 TP $14.99 MAR 1,862

This reprints one of the better Wolverine story arcs from the late 80's, with Peter David writing the story, and Legendary John Buscema as artist. A solid action story that uses other Marvel characters, but doesn't require the reader to know their history to know what is going on in the story. A good book for someone who liked the X-Men movie to pick up and get an idea of how the character is used in the comics. Mildly recommended.

53 GTO EARLY YEARS SHONAN JUNAI GUMI VOL 1 GN (Of 15) $12.99 TKP 1,839
54 AEON FLUX TP $12.95 DAR 1,839
55 ORIGIN TP $14.99 MAR 1,831

This is the trade paperback that reprints the recent mini-series giving the origin of Wolverine. Wolverine went without an origin for over 25 years, so almost any story that Marvel came up with wouldn't live up to the wait, but it's as good as any story could be trying to pull together all of the hints and plot threads from the last 25 years. Believe it or not, it reads like a western, and serves as a good introduction to the character for new readers. Mildly recommended.

56 NEW THUNDERBOLTS VOL 3 RIGHT OF POWER TP $17.99 MAR 1,800

The first Thunderbolts series was a great idea: a group of super-villains disguises themselves as super-heroes as part of a larger plan, but some of them slowly become heroes. One of the great things about the book was that every few issues, the writers would pull the rug out from under the reader with a twist that would change the direction and focus of the comic. The new series (which is where this trade paperback is from) follows the characters, but doesn't have the same careful planning and reads more like a standard Marvel super-hero team book. While it has great art by Tom Grummett, it relies too much on knowing about Marvel comics history for casual readers.

57 CONAN VOL 3 TOWER OF THE ELEPHANT & STORIES HC $24.95 DAR 1,761

At one point in the 70's, Conan was the best-selling comic book on the market. This new series from Dark Horse has amazing art, and solid heroic fantasy stories that read just like the old short stories by Robert E. Howard. Dark Horse is doing a great job on the character, and this is one of the best looking comics on the stands. Highly recommended, and if all you know about Conan is the movies, you'll be surprised at just how good these stories are.

58 PHANTOM LEGACY GN $12.95 MOO 1,754
59 SAM & TWITCH BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS COLL VOL 1 TP (MR) $24.95 IMA 1,754

This is the book that brought Brian Michael Bendis to the attention of Marvel, along with “Powers”, however, I picked it up because I loved “Jinx” and “Torso”. Bendis was still in “crime” mode when he started working on this book, and even thought it was a spin-off from “Spawn”, it doesn't read anything like that comic. A GREAT crime comic with a dark art style, this isn't for everyone, but for fans of crime fiction or Bendis's rich dialogged, this is a must-buy.

60 BLACK WIDOW THINGS THEY SAY ABOUT HER TP $15.99 MAR 1,715

Marvel keeps trying to make the Black Widow into one of their top-line female characters, but they keep putting her in non-descript mini-series like this one. An amazingly bland and mediocre story that would made for a decent TV movie, but really won't appeal to anyone but the character's hard-core fans.

61 SUPERMAN FOR ALL SEASONS TP $17.99 DC 1,684

This book is getting a promotional push because of the upcoming Superman movie, and that is a good thing. This book is from the same creative team as “Batman: The Long Halloween” and “Spider-Man: Blue”, and uses the same approach of going back to the early days of the hero to define who they are and what they stand for. Loeb and Sale shine in this book and give one of the very few GREAT Superman stories and highly recommended.

62 CASTLE WAITING HC $29.95 FAN 1,653
63 SAIYUKI RELOAD VOL 4 GN (Of 6) (MR) $9.99 TKP 1,653
64 RUROUNI KENSHIN VOL 26 TP $7.95 VIZ 1,638
65 WALKING DEAD VOL 1 DAYS GONE BYE TP (MR) $9.95 IMA 1,630

Again on the list, and selling another 1600 copies, making it the best-selling graphic novel of the year, long term. The best horror comic on the stands, and good enough that it appeals to people who aren't hard core horror fans. A great comic that is getting the attention it deserves.

66 MARVEL MASTERWORKS FANTASTIC FOUR VOL 10 HC NEW ED $49.99 MAR 1,630

With this, Marvel has now reprinted the entire Stan Lee/Jack Kirby run on the Fantastic Four, quite possibly the best run of any creators on any comic book. When Lee and Kirby worked on the FF, it was the most influential comic series, spawning tons of imitators, and kick starting the entire Marvel Comics Super-hero line. The last few stories by them were not the peak of the run, but even a poor Lee/Kirby comic is better than most other comics could hope to be. This is a high class package, with a series of essays from comics creators about how the FF influenced them, unpublished covers and art, and the best printing these stories have ever seen. If you are new to the Lee/Kirby FF, it's best to pick up the “Essentials” so as to get the entire run for a little more than the cost of this book, but as a fan of Kirby and someone who has read these stories before, this is a great way to have them as a permanent bookshelf item.

67 TROUBLE WITH IGOR GN $3.95 SLG 1,630
68 LITTLE BUTTERFLY GN (MR) $12.95 DIG 1,615
69 CONCRETE VOL 5 THINK LIKE MOUNTAIN TP $12.95 DAR 1,599

Concrete is a series unlike most other comic books. Featuring a character who is a man whose mind has been put into a body made of stone, instead of making Concrete a super-hero, creator Paul Chadwick tells stories that deal more with the human aspect of the premise. “Think Like A Mountain” deals with overpopulation, as Concrete is hired as a population control advocate, and one of his friends has to deal with an unwanted pregnancy. Chadwick's art is expressive and does a good job in making the fantastic elements fit with the mundane and human aspects of the story, and this book like all of the Concrete trade paperbacks is Highly Recommended.

70 KINGDOM HEARTS VOL 2 GN (Of 4) $5.99 TKP 1,584
71 BLEACH VOL 13 TP $7.95 VIZ 1,537
72 FULL METAL PANIC OVERLOAD MANGA VOL 5 TP $9.99 ADV 1,530
73 DEVIL MAY CRY VOL 1 NVL $7.99 TKP 1,514
74 RUROUNI KENSHIN VOL 27 TP $7.95 VIZ 1,499
75 SERENITY TP $9.95 DAR 1,499

This book is another one that has been out for a while, and tells the stories that happen between the “Firefly” TV series and the “Serenity” movie, and is written by Joss Whedon, who was the creator of both. If you are a fan of the TV series or movie, this is a must-read, but if you haven't seen either, they don't do a good job of introducing the characters and situation as well as the movie did.

76 SIMPSONS VOL 5 BIG BOUNCY BK OF BART SIMPSON TP $13.95 BON 1,491

Normally, I recommend the Simpsons books, as they are just as good, if not better, that the TV series. However, the weak link in the Simpsons comics have been the comics about Bart, usually having art that isn't as good, and stories that feel like they are stock stories that Simpsons characters were shoehorned into instead of stories that seem written as Simpsons stories. It's a decent enough book for kids who are big fans of the TV show, but older readers will feel like they are reading one of those bland 60's TV comics.

77 ULTIMATE X-MEN VOL 1 TOMORROW PEOPLE TP $14.95 MAR 1,491

Marvel started the Ultimate line to have versions of their characters that aren't bogged down with 40 years worth of back story This is a good introduction to the X-Men if you know them from the movies, although there are minor differences. I'm not a big fan of the direction the series has taken over the years, but this first book is a solid read and is mildly recommended.

78 MARVEL MASTERWORKS FANTASTIC FOUR VOL 10 HC VAR ED $54.99 MAR 1,476

The same as the one above, only with a cover like the Masterworks books that Marvel put out in the early 90's. And they charge and extra $5 for that. Meaning around 1500 people are willing to pay $5 for a slightly different cover. I call them “fools”.

79 READ OR DIE VOL 2 GN $9.99 VIZ 1,460
80 YOU & HARUJON GN (MR) $12.95 DIG 1,460
81 X-MEN FIRESTAR DIGEST TP $7.99 MAR 1,452
82 GORGEOUS CARAT VOL 2 GN (Of 4) (MR) $9.99 TKP 1,452
83 100 BULLETS VOL 9 STRYCHNINE LIVES TP (MR) $14.99 DC 1,445

The Vertigo crime series with a simple premise: A character is given an untraceable gun and 100 untraceable bullets to do whatever they want to with. A well done book that a casual reader can read any book in the series of, but if you read the whole thing, there is a deeper story arc going on that gives the series a depth that a good book series should have. Probably the best crime fiction in comics, and highly recommended.

84 ASTONISHING X-MEN VOL 1 GIFTED TP $14.99 MAR 1,445

Marvel gave Joss Whedon (creator/writer of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Serenity) the keys to the X-Men about three years ago, and each of the six issue story arcs he has done have been incredibly good. This first one is by far the best, building on the X-Men's past without forcing readers to remember stories from 30 years ago. Whedon makes each character interesting and tells a tight, action oriented story at the same time. The Best X-Men story since Grant Morrison left the book in 2003, and highly recommended.

85 WATCHMEN TP $19.99 DC 1,437

This book first came out in 1989, and is still selling. Doesn't that tell you something? If you are looking to see what all the fuss about comics for grown-ups is all about, this is the best place to start. Oh, and it's highly recommended.

86 ABADAZAD BK 1 ROAD TO INCONCEIVABLE $9.99 WAR 1,429

This really isn't a graphic novel. It's a Young Adult novel with a few comics sequences. However, it's a GOOD young adult novel, reading like a well-done fairy tale with really good illustrations by long time comics artist Mike Ploog. It's available at places like Target, next to he Harry Potter books, and I think it's just as good as that book series.

87 SUPERMAN GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD TP $19.99 DC 1,406

I've written about this before: It's not the GREATEST Superman stories, but a nice collection of Superman stories from the history of Superman, showing how the character has changed over the years. A nice introductary volume to the character, and mildly recommended.

88 V FOR VENDETTA TP $19.99 DC 1,398

Still selling because of the movie, and well deserved. The movie is a simplified “happy ending” version of the book, but the book works on a much deeper and more resonant level, as well as having amazingly good art by David Lloyd. Highly recommended.

89 RISING STARS VOL 4 TP $19.99 IMA 1,398

The final part of a much longer story by the creator of “Babylon 5”. IN other words, it's like walking in to the last 20 minutes of a movie – it make look cool and have a lot of stuff blowing up, but you won't quite figure out what is going on unless you'd read the first three books.

90 ABADAZAD BK 2 DREAM THIEF $9.99 WAR 1,391
91 HOUSE OF M TP $24.99 MAR 1,383

Last summer's big Marvel crossover is still selling, but if you aren't already a fan following Marvel comics, you're going to be lost as you read this comic. Not for casual readers.

92 GENSHIKEN VOL 5 GN (MR) $10.95 RAN 1,383
93 BLUE GRIND ONE SHOT (A) $4.95 ANT 1,383
94 STAR TREK KEY COLL VOL 5 TP $22.95 CHE 1,375

This reprints more of the Star Trek comics from Gold Key in the 1970's where both the writer and the artist has only a passing knowledge of the series. As nostalgia, it's decent, but really, the only people this would be interesting to would be people who have to own everything connected to Star Trek.

95 WALKING DEAD VOL 4 HEARTS DESIRE TP (MR) $12.99 IMA 1,367

As I said with Volume , hands down the best horror series in comics, and highly recommended.

96 MANS BEST FRIEND INU MO ARUKE BA FALL I/LOVE GN (MR) $9.99 TKP 1,337
97 TENJHO TENGE VOL 7 $9.99 DC 1,329
98 OUR GANG VOL 1 SC $12.95 FAN 1,329

Reprinting the early issues of the 40's comic based on the “Little Rascals” film series. Normally, this would just be a pure nostalgia product, but since the early stories were written and drawn by “Pogo “ Creator Walt Kelly, this was put out for comic art afficianados. A book with limited appeal, so if you are either a big Pogo fan or a Little Rascals fan, it's a must-buy, and if you aren't, this book holds no interest for you.

99 DEATH NOTE VOL 5 TP $7.99 VIZ 1,306
100 COMPLETE PEANUTS VOL 5 1959-1960 HC $28.95 FAN 1,275

Fantagraphics continues the reprinting of the Peanuts comic strip, quite possibly the greatest comic strip of all time. The early years of Peanuts were incredible, and changed how comic strips were done from then on. Most of these strips haven't been reprinted within the last 20 years and the book will provide hours of reading. Highly recommended.

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