The Top 25 Graphic Novels for Sept 2001

1 15,620 DELICATE CREATURES HC

The new $10 hardcover by J. Michael Strazinsky. His other comic work has been very very good, and $10 for a 96 page hardcover is a very good deal. Don't know anything about the darn thing though, since Top Cow gives really bad info. But I'm buying it and will review it once it comes out.

2 14,690 LONE WOLF & CUB VOL 14 DAY O/T DEMONS TP

If you read this every month, you're prolly getting sick of me saying it, but I will most likely say it until the final volume comes out late next year. This is the best thing being published today, and I recommend it to people who don't even like comics. The story of a wandering samuri, his young son and feudal Japan is timeless and cuts across all cultures. Possibly the greatest comic story ever.

3 8,860 TELLOS SONS AND MOONS GN

The strength of this series kind of shocks me. With this and "Battle Chasers" doing so well, it shows that there is a market for Fantasy in comics that is largely going untapped. I like this series as well, and mildly recommend it for most and highly recommend it for people who read fantasy novels.

4 5,990 BATMAN DARK VICTORY HC

Not the best selling graphic novel but the one that made the most money. Ever since the groundbreaking Arkham Asylum (which was about 10 years ahead of its time) Batman gets a lot of hardcovers that should just be annuals. This is another one. Not worth $24.95,m but I might buy it in softcover next year.

5 4,300 BATMAN CRIMSON MIST SC

Like this one, which was $24.95 last year. And I LIKE the Batman/Dracula GNs by Kelly Jones. They just aren't worth $25.

6 3,580 STAR TREK NEXT GENERATION FORGIVENESS HC

Prolly sells much better in bookstores. You know, I thought Wildstorm would do some really nifty Star Trek stuff, but it's been pretty damn bland. Maybe it's time to step back and give it a rest, like they did Star Wars, until people are hungry for it again.

7 3,580 CRIMSON REDEMPTION TP

The last trade reprinting the entire series. I'm to the point where I won't even BUY Wildstorm books anymore. Even the ones that sell for shit get collected into trades. This one was good though, if a bit empty. A decent vampire story with nice, anime style art, but nothing to go out of your way for.

8 3,190 OH MY GODDESS THE FOURTH GODDESS TP

Manga, manga, manga. You either like this series or you don't. It's pretty typical.

9 3,090 STRANGERS IN PARADISE VOL 10 TP

*snores* Although it DID outsell all the Marvel trade paperbacks.

10 3,060 X-FORCE NEW BEGININGS TP

OK, they have just printed the last of the 5 stories that went INTO this book. They'd sell a little better if they weren't still on the shelves...I know Marvel wants to push its trade paperbacks, but geez, slow down a bit or try and print some stuff that's a bit harder to find.

11 2,920 GUNSMITH CATS MISTER V TP

Another manga collection. This one is a police action story. You either like manga or you haven't found the right manga to read yet, if you ask me.

12 2,860 SPIDER-MAN VISIONARIES TODD MCFARLANE TP

OK, there isn't a book of the best of Steve Ditko, but there's one for Todd McFarlane? Anyone want to explain this to me without me having to beat them with a sledge hammer?

13 2,800 NEON GENESIS EVANGELION BOOK 5 TP*

Manga, manga, manga. Lots of it this month...don't know why there is so much of it over last month. Weird.

14 2,770 SENTRY TP

A Marvel series featuring a "forgotten" hero from the same time as the Fantastic Four. While DC has now done a few stories like this, and Marvel did a crappy mini-series of a whole bunch of "forgotten" heroes that were to bridge the gap between WWII and the modern Marvel Universe, this is the only one I've heard good things about. So, I guess I'll give it a try. Besides, I'm not going to even bother buying Marvel mini-series, since they are all geared at being trade paperbacks.

15 2,770 BLACKHAWK ARCHIVES VOL 1 HC

The Blackhawks are one of the very very few comic series that lasted from the start of WWII until the late 60's. It's been revived a few times, but I've never been a big fan of it. So it will be interesting to see what the early issues were like. Well, other than horribly racist with "Chop-Chop" the Chinese cook.

16 2,760 AMERICAN CENTURY SCARS & STRIPES TP

Howard Chaykin's best comics work since The Shadow, but I think it's a bit soon to be putting together a trade of the first 4 issue story arc. And it's a bit too complex to work in single issues OR 4 issue chunks. I wish they'd wait and do two to three 4 issue arcs per trade. But I'm not in charge, am I?

17 2,740 X-MEN POPTOPIA TP

YOW! An X-men trade that sells less than 3000 copies? AND it's for a story arc that isn't done yet. I know the new revamp was to eye toward grabbing the movie audience, so I hope this sells a lot better outside comic stores, or Marvel's Trade Paperback experiment may come to a grinding halt.

18 2,480 FUSHIGI YUGI VOL 5 RIVAL TP
19 2,370 DRAGONBALL VOL 6 TP

The number one show on Cartoon Network sells this poorly. Do comic store dealers know how to sell anything but X-Men?

20 2,350 STAR WARS UNDERWORLD YAVIN VASSILIKA TP
21 2,310 POWERS SCRIPTBOOK

I find it amazing that a book of the scripts of Powers is printed, let alone sells this well. To me, this is more of a novelty than a purchase, but I guess the market is hungry for anything Powers related.

22 2,300 SUPERMAN VS PREDATOR TP
23 2,180 SUPERMAN GEN 13 TP

Looks like Big Blue can't get along with anyone, can he?

24 2,120 ALIENS/PREDATOR/WITCHBLADE/DARKNESS TP

Jesus God! This crap didn't sell as a mini-series, so I guess it still won't sell as a trade. With this many characters, is there even a point to having a story, or just a mob scene?

25 2,060 I PAPARAZZI HC

A Vertigo hardcover that sounded just damn weird when I read about it. DC is doing nothing to get people interested in what might be a decent book. But who knows...I have yet to see any articles, creators, art or a reason to buy the damn thing. So I guess we'll all just wait until they reprint it as a soft cover so we can at least look through it.

Back to the main page