Once again Watchmen remained in the top spot in the Nielsen BookScan Top 20 Graphic Novel chart, its ninth straight month at the top of the list.  The Watchmen movie with its estimated $220 million cost for production and promotion may be something of a disappointment for Warner Brothers because it has only earned $171 million worldwide so far, but that kind of exposure (more than 20 million ticket buyers) has led to unprecedented sales of the Watchmen graphic novel.  In fact for the third straight month there are two volumes of Watchmen on the list (the hardcover is at #7) along with Moore’s V for Vendetta, which likely owes its spot on the list at #15 to the Watchmen hoopla.

But all the news about Watchmen’s domination shouldn’t obscure the effect of Viz Media’s second “Naruto Nation” event (see “Free Naruto Anime”), which is now in full swing and has resulted in no fewer than nine volumes of Naruto in the Top 20.  The surge in Naruto sales pushed the number of manga titles on the list, which had fallen to 13 in February, back up to 15. 

The 22nd and penultimate volume in Tokyopop’s Fruits Basket series, the most popular shojo manga series in North America, rose to #6, closely pursued by the sixth volume of its likely successor as the top shojo title, Viz Media’s Vampire Knight.  Two other manga in the Top 20 represent well-established top tier properties, Viz Media’s Bleach (at #8), and Del Rey’s Negima (at #19).  Newer properties that are flexing their muscles include Viz Media’s Rosario+Vampire at #13, and especially Yen Press’ adaptation of James Patterson’s Maximum Ride, which remained on the list for the third straight month.

Aside from the 3 previously mentioned titles authored by Alan Moore, the only non-manga titles to make the Top 20 in March were Grant Morrison’s Batman R.I.P., which fell from #8 in February to #16 in March, and another Batman book, Frank Miller’s perennial The Dark Knight Returns, which crawled back on to the list at #17.

Once again Viz Media dominated the list with twelve titles, followed by DC with five, and Tokyopop, Del Rey, and Yen Press with one each.

For past charts, see the "BookScan Top 20 GNs Index."