With the focus in December turning from new releases to selling through the most popular titles for the holiday season, only one new volume, Tokyo Ghoul Vol. 4, entered the Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels for December, according to the list provided exclusively to ICv2 by Nielsen BookScan.  That brought the number of volumes from the series in the Top 20 to four, joining three One-Punch Man volumes as the two hottest new manga titles of 2015, both from VIZ Media.

Three Marvel Star Wars titles appeared in the Top 20 during the month the new film was released, joining Civil War and two of DK Publishing’s Marvel related Encyclopedias for a total of six Marvel-ish titles.

Gift-givers preferred the compendium format for The Walking Dead, putting all three 1000-page volumes in the Top 20.  The latest Saga volume made it four Image Comics titles in the Top 20 for December.

Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman: Overture Deluxe Edition HC, which debuted last month, remained in the top five, and along with a collection of 40s Batman stories by Chartwell Books and Batman: The Killing Joke Dlx. Ed. HC, made up three DC-ish titles in the Top 20.

BookScan Top 20 Graphic Novels in December 2015

Rank

Title

Author

Publisher

1

THE WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM VOL. 3

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

2

THE WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM VOL. 1

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

3

ONE-PUNCH MAN VOL. 1

ONE

VIZ MEDIA

4

THE SANDMAN: OVERTURE DLX ED HC

NEIL GAIMAN

VERTIGO

5

MARVEL ENCYCLOPEDIA UPDATED AND EXPANDED HC

MATT FORBECK

DK PUBLISHING

6

TOKYO GHOUL VOL. 1

SUI ISHIDA

VIZ MEDIA

7

THE WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM VOL. 2

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

8

BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE DLX ED

ALAN MOORE

DC COMICS

9

TOKYO GHOUL VOL. 4

SUI ISHIDA

VIZ MEDIA

10

STAR WARS: JOURNEY TO STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS--SHATTERED EMPIRE

GREG RUCKA

MARVEL COMICS

11

CIVIL WAR

MARK MILLAR

MARVEL COMICS

12

ONE-PUNCH MAN VOL. 2

ONE

VIZ MEDIA

13

TOKYO GHOUL VOL. 3

SUI ISHIDA

VIZ MEDIA

14

STAR WARS: DARTH VADER  VOL. 1

KIERON GILLEN

MARVEL COMICS

15

ONE-PUNCH MAN VOL. 3

ONE

VIZ MEDIA

16

STAR WARS VOL. 1: SKYWALKER STRIKES

JASON AARON

MARVEL COMICS

17

TOKYO GHOUL VOL. 2

SUI ISHIDA

VIZ MEDIA

18

MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS ENCYCLOPEDIA HC

MATT FORBECK

DK PUBLISHING

19

SAGA VOL. 5

BRIAN K. VAUGHAN

IMAGE COMICS

20

BATMAN: THE WAR YEARS 1939-1945 HC

ROY THOMAS

CHARTWELL BOOKS

For past BookScan Top 20 Graphic Novel lists, see the "BookScan Top 20 GN Index."