One quick comment -- YALSA is actually working on adding the artist names to all the listings. I know they were working on it last night, and the powers that be said it should be up that way this morning (Chicago time, so a bit later for us here on the East Coast.)

Also, I would actually love to hear what people think! Reactions to the list are one of the fun parts of participating, even when it's criticism. And Eva and I can always step in and explain procedure or some of the internal list logic that may seem mystifying. (For example, this year as with the previous years, a number of titles didn't make the list not because we didn't think they were great, but because they were outside the age range of teen, targeting either a younger or older audience.)

I love this list! I look forward to it every year. :) My picks on the Top Ten are definitely Sand Chronicles and Umbrella Academy. I read those two voraciously, and I think that they're shining examples of what manga and comics COULD be. And to answer some of the questions you posed, Brigid:

Vol. 28-31 of Naruto? Well, I think it's just a tribute to the power of that series. I don't know how long that particular fad is going to last, but it's been going strong for over a year now. And the crazy thing is that it actually deserves some of the hype! The plot gets better as you go on, and the characterization is perfect.

I'm glad Rapunzel's Revenge, Invincible, Slam Dunk, and other not-quite-so mainstream titles weren't lost in the mix. They deserve the recognition.

Also, Minx, in my mind, was just a bit of a failure. They didn't have a continuous stream of good/decent quality books, and their advertising work wasn't great. Spending all their time and effort trying to get the books shelved with mainstream fiction was not a great idea. They could have gotten that done eventually.

That's all I have for now! It looks like a great list!

Hey Brigid... I don't know what's happening with the SLJ site, but every time I've attempted to post a response to this thread, I encounter an error message suggesting that my comment includes HTML, expletives, or common spam email language. I've re-written the comment four times, but no dice! Any ideas?

I love the list. There are a lot of great titles. My favorite, I think, is the graphic adaptation of the Constitution. It really made a difficult topic accessible. I was surprised that Life Sucks made it as a top ten. It wasn't my favorite, but I also know how everyone can start out hating a title and the discussion can make it a favorite!
Great job GGNT committee.

Take two... let's hope the filter doesn't reject my comments again!!!! I have to agree with Sabrina about Minx: most of the books were lackluster, the graphic novel equivalents of an Afterschool Special, complete with stereotypical characters and Very Important Social Messages. Small wonder teenage girls largely ignored the books.

While I'm delighted to see CMX get some love from YALSA, I'd quibble with the inclusion of Venus in Love, one of my least-favorite shojo titles in the CMX catalog. My votes: Apothecarius Argentum, Gon, Kiichi and the Magic Books, Shirley, and Swan.

Total agreement with Katherine, especially about Swan. Now THERE'S an underloved manga. It doesn't receive a lot of recognition, and even gets shoved behind other classic 70s manga. It deserves a second glance for people who just brush it off because of its subject matter (ballet).

One thing just to let folks know -- one of the hardest things about creating these lists is finding a "way in" to the series that are ongoing. Naruto had an obvious starting point with volume 28. Fruits Basket was a lot tougher, as it wasn't really easy to get into in midstream for new readers. So with something like Swan or the others, I would suggest two things for future years: One, if you think we should read it, nominate it! Try as we might, the committee members just cannot read all of the titles out there, but anyone (ANYONE!) can nominate a title. Two, if it's in the middle of a series, try to find a sequence of volumes or story arc that holds together, so we can look at a chunk of the story.

Incredible site!