Watchmen slipped to #3, behind both Naruto and Fruits Basket, in the Top 20 Graphic Novels in bookstores in July, according to information provided by Nielsen BookScan.  

Watchmen dropped to #2 last month (see “Watchmen Dethroned!”), the first time in the last year that it was not #1. 

With the blitz of Naruto releases ending, only six Naruto volumes were in the Top 20 this month, down from seven in June.  Manga had a smaller share of the top titles over-all, with only 12 of the top 20 slots occupied by manga in July, vs. 17 in June.  Viz had Bleach and Fullmetal Alchemist in addition to its Naruto volumes, Tokyopop had Fruits Basket, and Del Rey had three: Negima!, Tsubasa, and Kitchen Princess.

DC had five titles in all, adding two new ones, Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert’s Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? Special Edition HC and Geoff Johns, Shane Davis, and Mike McKone’s Green lantern: Rage of the Red Lanterns joining Watchmen, Final Crisis, and V for Vendetta in the Top 20. 

Three publishers had one title each:  Marvel had Brian Michael Bendis’ Halo: Uprising; Pantheon had David Mazzucchelli Asterios Polyp; and St. Martin’s had Sherrilyln Kenyon’s  The Dark-Hunters.

The rankings, provided by Nielsen BookScan, track the bestselling U.S. graphic novels in major book chains, mass merchants, online retailers, and some independent retailers using POS data from June 29th to August 2nd.  Titles racked in the Kids or YA sections do not appear in this list.

For charts from other months, see the "BookScan Top 20 GNs Index."