Alan Moore and Dave Lloyd's V for Vendetta graphic novel topped the BookScan list of graphic novels sold in bookstores for the week ending March 19th.  The movie adaptation of V for Vendetta opened on March 17th, with a box office total nearly identical to that of  the Sin City movie, and the performance of the V for Vendetta graphic novel is similar to that of Frank Miller's Sin City graphic novels in the run-up to the opening of the Sin City movie in April of last year (see 'Sin City Trades Take Off'). Of course there are seven Sin City graphic novels and they demonstrated considerable staying power, so it remains to be seen if V can have the same sort of 'legs,' but don't bet against Alan Moore.  His Watchmen is the ultimate graphic novel perennial -- it came in at #23 on the BookScan list this week, the only other non-manga title among the Top 45 sellers.

As for the manga releases -- Naruto continues its domination unabated with five volumes in the Top Ten and all nine volumes ranked among the first 17.  Naruto Vol. 9, the best-selling graphic novel of 2006 by far, was #2 after spending a month in the top spot.  Full Metal Alchemist Vol. 6 was third and Negima Vol. 9 came in fourth.  The only other non-Naruto titles in the Top Ten were Tokyopop's highly successful OEL title Warcraft Vol. 2 at #9 and Viz's up-and-coming Death Note Vol. 4 in the tenth spot.

Several new manga series are doing very well led by Tokyopop's shonen ai saga Loveless Vol. 1 by Yun Kouga (Earthian) at #13, and Viz's Black Cat Vol. 1 (#15), Absolute Boyfriend Vol. 1 (#18) and Read or Die Vol. 1 (at #20).

Overall manga continues to dominate the list with 47 out of the Top 50 titles -- only the two Alan Moore titles already mentioned and Brian Michael Bendis' House of M (at #46) managed to crack the Top 50.