It's annual list time again! I'm not sure when it normally starts, but it's time to get started apparently, and the premiere online bookseller has their own list of the best Comics and Graphic Novels of 2010.
It's a good list, with a larger mix of non-superhero books than most of the readers of this site would probably have. The choices are good, with a mix of familiar names from the indie world, never going too deep. There are only two superhero books, both from DC, and both excellent. It's interesting that a good deal of books you'd expect to be on here, like Scott Pilgrim or Walking Dead, are nowhere to be seen. It's a list clearly aimed at mainstream readers who know a bit about comics, and are familiar with names like Chris Ware, James Sturm, and Charles Burns. The most mainstream of the bunch is Hellboy and Batwoman, but I can't argue with anything on here.
Then again, I'm too dense to understand about 87% of anything in Doonesbury, so there's that.
Here's the lineup:
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10.
Their list.
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someone hit submit button too fast
I would agree with Wednesday Comics…but that’s about it…
I’ve only heard of a couple of these, and have purchased none (though I do most of my shopping through IST)…
It’s nice to see Wednesday Comics on that list.
Great list. really glad they looked beyond what’s popular with us at what might be popular with people who don’t currently read comics.
@ChrisSnell – let me ask you this: have you read any of them other than Wednesday Comics?
I had no idea that X’ed Out even was released. Got some wishlist adding to do.
I assumed this would simply be a list of the 10 best sellers, but that clearly isn’t the case.
The Wild Hunt was excellent. I’m glad to see it on the list. Batwoman and Wednesday Comics are also awesome. Unfortunately, I haven’t read (and didn’t even know about) the rest of these books. Time for some interlibrary loan requests.
@josh – Nope. I would agree with Wednesday Comics being on that list because I have read it.
That’s a really good price for Wednesday Comics. That is A LOT of comic book for 30 bucks.
odd that there were no Scotty P books on there. Guess it was a niche thing over a short period of time.
I recognize 4 of the 10. Do I win anything?
Are these best selling or just highly recommended?
Anyone who recognizes less than 4 should be ashamed of themselves.
Here in Canada, this is some pretty big news today:
CBC (Canada Reads) is trying to determing the Top 10 Canadian Novels of the decade. A list of 40 has just been narrowed down to 10. And guess who made it? …Yep.
Our Top 40 is now a Top 10. We asked you to vote for the books you most wanted to see on Canada Reads — the Essential Top 10 Canadian Novels of the Decade, if you will. What you gave us, from the original 40 (which was a fabulous list, by the way, and should keep book clubs across the country rich in options for years to come), is 10 titles that represent the richness and diversity this entire campaign has offered. There are former Canada Reads contenders, an originally self-published novel, a graphic novel, some titles from big publishers and others from smaller presses. There’s a humorous book and a heartbreaking one, and everything in between. We think this list represents what Canada is reading and what Canada wants to read. So without further ado, Canada, meet your Top 10!
The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis
The Birth House by Ami McKay
The Bone Cage by Angie Abdou
The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill
Bottle Rocket Hearts by Zoe Whittall
Essex County by Jeff Lemire
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Pattern Recognition by William Gibson
Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden
Unless by Carol Shields
This’ll be incredible news for Jeff!
@gobo – Let’s tone down the holier than thou, shall we?
Compare it to the Bestsellers list.
Amazon’s 2010 Bestsellers (through October)
I’m mostly joking in response to the guy (also jokingly) asking for a prize.
But to be fair, Hellboy, Batwoman, Wednesday Comics and Doonesbury are all pretty damn well known.
Regardless, I don’t want anyone feeling bad for not knowing about something, and sarcasm is a dangerous bitch on the internet. Anything that makes people less likely to try new comics is a bad thing in my book. Let us be inviting.
Interesting list. I haven’t actually read the vast majority of it but good to see Batwoman and Wednesday Comics on there and I’m sure much of the rest of it is good too. My biggest problem isn’t the lack of superhero comics, more the exclusion of brilliant stuff like Parker: The Outfit, Scalped Vol. 6, Scott Pilgrim Vol. 6, The Unwritten, Chew, Powers: The 25 Coolest Dead Superheroes, Empowered and more that I’m sure I’m forgetting. And yeah, I do realise I just included 2 more superhero comics but they’re still pretty different from most.
I guess I have some catching up to do.
This list is a great way to challenge yourself as a reader if you aren’t aware of some of the selections.
I always try and pick at least one I haven’t heard of to try out. King of the Flies… Here I come!
@RolandofGilead – Good for Mr. Lemire. I’m glad to see Essex county getting that kind of attention.
@Lucien21 – It’s interesting to compare the lists. There is no overlap that I can see.
My wife actually enjoyed that Troublemaker book quite a bit.
I’m a little surprised the Dark Tower trade made the top 10. It’s pretty bad (and that’s coming from someone who reads Transformers comics).
I think I might blind purchase a couple of these, because why not?
….but before I do, what do people suggest? Except Wednesday Comics, Batwoman and Hellboy.
I do want to say that Market Day is absolutely incredible and I seriously recommend that.
All sarcasm aside, I’ve added Picture This and X’ed Out to my wishlist, and the Chris Ware pick reminded me I wanted to add Jimmy Corrigan too.
King of Flies was tempting, but I saw it was only 64 pages… waiting to read some more reviews before picking it up.
Thanks for posting … I usually add anything I haven’t read to my Wish List … the same goes for annual Eisner nominations … now whether I actually ever read it all is another story … keeping up with the massive annual output of comic books and graphic novels is about as daunting as reading for an advanced degree in the humanities!
Er, is it just me or is X’ed Out $20 for a whopping 54 pages?!?! And I thought Marvel was insane with their pricing!
@llash I’ve only heard great things about X’ed Out, you can definitely fit $20 of quality into 56 pages, sounds like Burns pulled that off. Also it’s only $13.57 on Amazon.
@llash Also also, TPBs can be cheaper because they’re partially subsidized by the initial sales of the singles. That’s not the case with X’ed Out.
@Ilash: $15-$20 is par for the course for hardcover books these days. You’re right that it is only 56 pages, it is a graphic novel, which means production costs are usually higher anyway, yes?
E.G. Consider, for example, the New York Times bestseller hardcover list:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/feature/-/239332/ref=ed_nytbs_nf?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=browse&pf_rd_r=0PNYKRNSVMN55GX3NNP3&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=484548911&pf_rd_i=549028
Surprised at home much indie books are on this. I mean Charles Burns is a great creator; but he’s that high on the list? Pretty impressive.
I’ve read BATWOMAN, X’ED OUT, HELLBOY vol.9, and WEDNESDAY COMICS but not the rest. Need to add more to my ever growing wishlist.
Sure, I understand that things are expensive for Indies but it’s hard to justify spending that much money on that short a book – even if it utterly brilliant.
Surprised that "Blacksad" didn’t make it on the list…or maybe they’re not counting reprints.
@TNC – Really not that surprising. In film and comics, indie and art house titles own these kinds of lists.
Liked but didn’t love Market Day. Been very interested in X’ed Out and King of the Flies.
@Ilash: You might add it to your wish list and keep checking back every few months or so. I find that I can obtain items for pennies on the dollar (quite literally) if I’m willing to buy used. If you are persistent, then I’m sure you’ll find it at a price you feel more comfortable with at some point.
@cahubble
Oh sure, that’s definitely a plan. That said, I’ve never been as big a fan of Black Hole as most people seem to be. It’s good, to be sure, but I was hardly bowled over.
I spotted "Black Hole" browsing the shelf at Borders actually and it is on my wish list, but I have two short boxes full of unread comics and graphic novels ATM, plus a drive folder loaded with .PDFs of Silver Age Marvel that I want to work through. Never enough time in one life to do everything we want.
Xed Out makes me think of Tintin for some reason…is it meant to?
Yes.
Yes. It’s supposed to be Tintin.
I bought Market Day from Paul and…yeah…feel about the same. It was odd and good and I’m not entirely sure I got the end of it.
Great list, and great mix of books. Amazon is really knocking it out of the park with their editorially-curated "Best of 2010" lists.
@gobo: You’ll like X’ed Out. It’s bizarre and very good looking; like most of Burn’s work.
But it is. apparently, a first in a series of books. Not really spoiling it mind you; just that I was surprised that it suddenly ended and the back of the book says ‘Stay tuned’.
That actually might prevent me from reading it right away. Black Hole took FOREVER to be finished. Like ten years.
That’s so great to see Batwoman up there.
no Siege hardcover? that’s a shame
yeah, but these items are the sort of thing that would be more commonly brought online because of the discount, right?
It’s nice to see Amazon promoting some non-mainstream comics. It’s interesting how that list compares to the top 10 sellers (Thanks, Lucien21!).
My only bone of contention is that The Art of Jaime Hernandez isn’t a graphic novel at all. That’s quite misleading. It’s like me selling you tickets to a Picasso exhibition, then I tell you to come over to my house and flip through a book called The Art of Pablo Picasso which has more text about Picasso than actual paintings even. There are a couple of stories in there, but for the most part it’s a biography/art book, not a true comic book. I’m just making the point so no one get’s it thinking it’ll be a "Best of Love & Rockets" thing and they get something else entirely.
i wonder who compiled this list? Sounds like a lot of the titles are new to a lot of us. I like how its very different from the top sellers list. Very impressive coming from Amazon.
Anything by Chris Ware is worth taking a look at in my opinion. I think i want to investigate some of those other titles.
While we are discussing Amazon (sort of) any news on adding amazon.uk so that us Brits can push iFanboy those pennies? And what happens with wish lists, if we wish list through the store link do you still get the money?
Never heard of them.
I kid. I kid. Batwoman was nice.
But wtf is Wednesday Comics? =|
#sarcasm (Seriously though. I Haven’t Tried The Other Stuff Yet)
$20 list on a 56-page book is ridiculous. I’ll wait for a con or nick & dent sale to get X’ed Out.
@oddsbodkins–its not like its a typical floppy comic printed on junk mail paper with staples in it. Its a hardcover book that has much better production…costs about as much as a mass market paperback that will turn yellow in 8 months. No one said indie’s with low print runs and high production value is cheap. $13 on Amazon isn’t too bad for quality.
I actually am a little curious about that Doonesbury book.
You see there was a time when my paper, The Houston Chronicle, had the most comic strips of any paper in the country. I am 90% that this fact is true but I am sure someone will let me know if I am wrong.
Anyways, being a fan of comics strips. I made myself read every single oneof them every day. Even the soap opera ones which I ended up enjoying. Doonesbury however would always leave me scratching my head. Still I forced myself to read it everytime! I was like I WILL UNDERSTAND THIS ADULT POLITICAL COMIC! Of course I never did because I was in the third grade. But I have always been curious in going a looking at some of the early to when it got really good days.
Also, comic strips rule.