Here are the top-selling manga in the Direct Market, pulled out of the top 100 graphic novels, via Newsarama.
1 (2) NARUTO VOL 13 (Viz)
2 (7) DEATH NOTE VOL 10 (Viz)
3 (10) WARCRAFT VOL 3 (Tokyopop)
4 (17) BERSERK VOL 16 (Dark Horse)
5 (50) BATTLE CLUB VOL 4 (Tokyopop)
6 (51) TRINITY BLOOD VOL 2 (Tokyopop)
7 (53) FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST VOL 12 (Viz)
8 (62) GUNSMITH CATS OMNIBUS VOL 1 (Dark Horse)
9 (68) CRYING FREEMAN VOL 5 (Dark Horse)
10 (69) ALCOHOL SHIRT & KISS VOL 1 (Digital Manga)
11 (71) DAY WHICH I BECAME BUTTERFLY (Digital Manga)
12 (73) SOLFEGE (Digital Manga)
13 (74) BLACK CAT VOL 7 (Viz)
14 (79) PRIEST VOL 16 (Tokyopop)
15 (86) INNOCENT BIRD VOL 1 (Tokyopop – Blu)
16 (88) IS VOL 12 (Viz)
17 (91) KASHIMASHI MANGA VOL 2 (Seven Seas)
18 (93) TSUKUYOMI MOON PHASE VOL 6 (Tokyopop)
19 (95) ROSE HIP ZERO VOL 2 (Tokyopop)
20 (96) READ OR DREAM VOL 3 (Viz)
21 (97) MABURAHO MANGA VOL 2 (ADV)
22 (100) KUROSAGI CORPSE DELIVERY SERVICE VOL 3 (Dark Horse)
Nothing tremendously surprising here, with the sprinking of perennial sellers up top, a healthy handful of boys’ love and yaoi, and a strong performance for Dark Horse, which always seems to earn solid numbers in comic shops. Most of the manga action is confined to the bottom half of the top 100, but three books cracked the top 10. That’s an unusually weak performance for Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 12, but it did ship towards the end of the month.
Dark Horse had a terrific month overall, taking the top graphic novel spot with the hardcover of 300 and solid showings for books like Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser and Empowered. The first issue of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 cracked the top ten in floppies, which is quite an accomplishment for a publisher that isn’t Marvel or DC. And while coming in at the very bottom of the graphic novel list might not seem like a huge accomplishment, I’ll trumpet any traction gained by The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service.
