The Cartoon Network's influence on the sales of graphic novels in bookstores was very much in evidence during the first two weeks in October as the BookScan list was dominated by manga versions of two popular Cartoon Network series, Full Metal Alchemist and Naruto.  Viz's Full Metal Alchemist Vol. #1 is far and away the best-selling graphic novel of the year so far and the third volume of the series has topped the list for the first two weeks of the month, while all seven volumes of Viz's Naruto remained in the top 17.  Viz's Rurouni Kenshin Vol. #19 took second for the week ending October 16th, while the first volume of Death Note (also Viz), which has sold over 8.2 million copies of just five volumes in Japan, landed in fourth place.

 

Tokyopop looks like it has a winner in the video game-based Kingdom Hearts manga, which came in a strong third.  Viz's Bleach Vol.#9 took the sixth spot, but all the other places in the top 12 were filled by various volumes of Naruto, except for the ninth position, which was occupied by Del Rey's Negima Vol. #7.  Dark Horse's Hellsing Vol. #7 vaulted to 15th place and should move higher in the coming weeks, while Viz's first Full Metal Alchemist novel remained strong at #13, demonstrating once again that manga-based novels sell. 

 

Manga continued its domination of the list of graphic novels sold in bookstores, taking 24 out of the first 25 places and 47 out of the top 50.  Two Simpsons titles (at #21 and #35) and DC's Identity Crisis (at #30) were the only non-manga volumes in the top 50.