Once again, Publishers Weekly Comics Week hasn’t come up with anything to say about the manga entries on its monthly Comics Bestsellers list, and since I don’t have anything better to do…
1. Bleach, Volume 17. Tite Kubo. Viz Media, $7.99 ISBN 978-1421510415. The “Cartoon Network Effect” reasserts itself, placing this supernatural adventure series at the top of the list. Bleach was well into its run and had built a solid audience by the time its anime adaptation debuted on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim programming block, but the extra exposure has given it an extra bump.
2. Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Volume 2. Shiro Amano. Tokyopop, $9.99 ISBN 978-1598166385. With tie-ins to both Disney characters and a popular video game franchise on its side, it’s not surprising to see Kingdom Hearts properties moving extremely well.
3. Absolute Boyfriend, vol. 3. Yuu Watase. Viz Media, $8.99 ISBN 978-1421510033. Watase has earned reader (and retailer) loyalty with hits like Ceres: Celestial Legend and Fushigi Yûgi. While she hasn’t scaled the sales heights of Natsuki (Fruits Basket) Takaya, Watase is right near the top of the list of commercially successful shôjo manga-ka.
4. Tsubasa, Volume 12. CLAMP. Del Rey, $10.95 ISBN 978-0345485328. Along the same lines, there’s generally little risk in licensing a CLAMP title, particularly when it’s a sequel to a perennially popular work like Cardcaptor Sakura.
6. Loveless, Volume 4. Yun Kouga. Tokyopop, $9.99 ISBN 978-1598162240. The highest-ranked boys’ love title for March is also one of the bestselling boys’ love titles period. While the branding a boys’-love or yaoi imprint generally results in strong comic-shop sales, Loveless has succeeded without any marker, both in comic shops and bookstores.
8. Buso Renkin!, Volume 4. Nobuhiro Watsuki. Viz Media, $7.99 ISBN 978-1421508405. The recent conclusion of Watsuki’s Rurouni Kenshin apparently hasn’t quelled appetites for Watsuki’s work.
9. Full Metal Alchemist, Volume 11. Hiromu Arakawa. Viz Media, $9.99 978-1421508382. The placement of this mega-hit manga initially seems surprisingly low until you realize that it ranked second among last month’s bestsellers. The sales powerhouse is cited as one of the chief agents in the demise of Monthly Shonen Jump, having driven sales of Square Enix’s rival anthology, and it promises to be an evergreen seller here.
