Viz’s Vampire Knight Vol. 7 was the #1 graphic novel in bookstores in August, according to rankings provided by Nielsen BookScan.  Watchmen went up one rank to #2, behind marketing associated with the DVD release.  Naruto Vol. 45 and Fruits Basket Vol. 23 stayed in the top five for another month.  The launch title in the top five was Del Rey’s Mercy Thompson: Homecoming, a new prequel to the Mercy Thompson novels written by Patricia Briggs.



 

BookScan Top 20 Graphic Novels in August

 

Rank

Title

Author

Publisher

1

VAMPIRE KNIGHT VOL. 7

MATSURI HINO

VIZ MEDIA

2

WATCHMEN TP

ALAN MOORE

DC COMICS

3

NARUTO VOL. 45

MASASHI KISHIMOTO

VIZ MEDIA

4

MERCY THOMPSON: HOMECOMING HC

PATRICIA BRIGGS

DEL REY

5

FRUITS BASKET VOL. 23

NATSUKI TAKAYA

TOKYOPOP

6

ROSARIO+VAMPIRE VOL. 8

AKIHISA IKEDA

VIZ MEDIA

7

BLACK BIRD VOL. 1

KANOKO SAKURAKOJI

VIZ MEDIA

8

FABLES VOL. 12 TP

BILL WILLINGHAM

VERTIGO

9

FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST VOL. 19

ARAKAWA HIROMU

VIZ MEDIA

10

THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 10 TP

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE

11

BATMAN: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE CAPED CRUSADER? DLX ED HC

NEIL GAIMAN

DC COMICS

12

D.GRAY-MAN VOL. 14

KATSURA HOSHINO

VIZ MEDIA

13

D.N.ANGEL VOL. 12

YUKIRU SUGISAKI

TOKYOPOP

14

V FOR VENDETTA TP

ALAN MOORE

VERTIGO

15

ASTERIOS POLYP HC

DAVID MAZZUCCHELLI

PANTHEON

16

OTOMEN VOL. 3

AYA KANNO

VIZ MEDIA

17

NARUTO VOL. 43

MASASHI KISHIMOTO

VIZ MEDIA

18

BLOODY KISS VOL. 1

KAZUKO FURUMIYA

TOKYOPOP

19

FINAL CRISIS HC

GRANT MORRISON

DC COMICS

20

RAY BRADBURY'S FAHRENHEIT 451: THE AUTHORIZED ADAPTATION TP

TIM HAMILTON

HILL & WANG


The launch volumes of two new manga series appeared in the Top 20 this month:  Black Bird Vol. 1 from Viz at #7 and Bloody Kiss Vol. 1 at #18 from Tokyopop.

 

Hill & Wang’s Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 adaptation debuted at #20. 

 

There were eleven manga titles in the Top 20 in August, down from 12 in July.  There were only two Naruto volumes in the Top 20, down from six and seven in the last two months, respectively.  Viz still had eight of the top 20 titles, though.  DC/Vertigo had five, Tokyopop had three, and Del Rey, Image, Pantheon, and Hill & Wang each had one.

 

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."