The White Donkey: Terminal Lance, the first graphic novel about the war in Iraq by a veteran, was the #17 bestselling graphic novel in the book channel in April, according to the Top 20 Adult Fiction Graphic Novel chart provided exclusively to ICv2 by Nielsen BookScan.  The 288-page hardcover, released in April, is collected from a webcomic written and drawn by Maximilian Uriarte, a U.S. Marine Corps Lance Corporal.  The title refers to a Lance Corporal who can’t get promoted to Corporal.

Uriarte served two tours in Iraq, one as the turret gunner of an MRAP in 2007-2008, and a second tour in 2009 in Combat Art and Combat Photography.  He began the webcomic in January of 2010, and left the Marines in May of that year.  In August of 2013, Uriarte Kickstarted this collection, which raised $162,682 from 2.959 backers, a very impressive total for a graphic novel.  Little Brown released the collection to the trade.

The rest of the April BookScan chart was similar to other recent months, with the latest volume of The Walking Dead riding the end-of-the-season wave at #1 and five volumes in the Top 20 (the first volume and the three Compendia were the other four).  Image had two other volumes, Rat Queens Vol. 3 and Paper Girls Vol. 1, in the Top 20 for a total of seven, the best showing of any publisher.

DC’s Batman: The Killing Joke continued its climb up the chart, taking the #2 slot in April.  Its previous best rank was #3 in February (see "February 2016 BookScan"), when we predicted that by the time Suicide Squad comes out in August, this 28-year-old material will be topping the chart.  Batman vs. Superman is still in the Top 5, and Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 1 HC was at #9 in the month of its release, rounding out DC’s three titles in the Top 20.

VIZ Media had three volumes of Tokyo Ghoul and one volume of One-Punch Man in the Top 20, and Kodansha charted the most recent Attack on Titan volume, making five manga volumes in the Top 20 this month.

Dark Horse Comics had two volumes for younger readers in the Top 20, with the latest Plants vs. Zombies continuing to make the Top 20 for the third straight month, joined by the latest volume of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

BookScan Top 20 Graphic Novels in April 2016

Rank

Title

Author

Publisher

1

THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 25

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

2

BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE DLX ED

ALAN MOORE

DC COMICS

3

THE WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM VOL. 3

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

4

BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN: THE GREATEST BATTLES

VARIOUS

DC COMICS

5

THE WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM VOL. 1

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

6

THE WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM VOL. 2

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

7

TOKYO GHOUL VOL. 6

SUI ISHIDA

VIZ MEDIA

8

CIVIL WAR

MARK MILLAR

MARVEL COMICS

9

WONDER WOMAN: EARTH ONE VOL. 1 HC

GRANT MORRISON

DC COMICS

10

TOKYO GHOUL VOL. 1

SUI ISHIDA

VIZ MEDIA

11

ATTACK ON TITAN VOL. 18

HAJIME ISAYAMA

KODANSHA COMICS

12

ONE-PUNCH MAN VOL. 1

ONE

VIZ MEDIA

13

RAT QUEENS VOL. 3

KURTIS J. WIEBE

IMAGE COMICS

14

PAPER GIRLS VOL. 1

BRIAN K. VAUGHAN

IMAGE COMICS

15

PLANTS VS. ZOMBIES VOL 4: GARDEN WARFARE HC

PAUL TOBIN

DARK HORSE COMICS

16

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER--SMOKE AND SHADOW PT. 3

LUEN GENE YANG

DARK HORSE COMICS

17

THE WHITE DONKEY: TERMINAL LANCE HC

MAXIMILIAN URIARTE

LITTLE BROWN

18

TOKYO GHOUL VOL. 5

SUI ISHIDA

VIZ MEDIA

19

DEADPOOL KILLS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE

CULLEN BUNN

MARVEL COMICS

20

THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 1

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

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