Even though the second season of the AMC adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead ended in March, the TV-drive sales of a phalanx of The Walking Dead graphic novels continued to dominate bookstore graphic novel sales in April according to a report from Nielsen BookScan.  Just as in March The Walking Dead took seven out of the top ten spots, though this time Kirkman’s collections swept the top four spots, whereas in March they just took the first and the fourth positions.  But just as last month and even dozen Walking Dead titles made up the majority of the top 20.

Though it’s not really a graphic novel, DK Publishing’s Marvel Avengers: The Ultimate Guide made its first appearance on the list, due no doubt to the growing excitement for Joss Whedon’s The Avengers movie.  It should be interesting to see if The Avengers movie will stimulate the sales of actual Avengers comic books (the Marvel movies have definitely increased the prices of rare landmark issues of comics featuring Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and the rest of the superhero team).

Manga actually upped its presence on the list from 4 titles in March to 5 in April.  Debuting manga titles included Viz Media’s Rosario + Vampire: Season 2 was the bestselling manga at #5, while Yen Press’ Black Butler Vol. 9 bowed at #14, and Viz Media’s Bleach Vol. 39 made its first appearance on the list at number 19.  Returning manga titles were Viz Media’s Naruto Vol. 55, which slipped from #3 in March to #10 in April, and Kodansha USA’s Sailor Moon Vol. 4, fell from #2 to #18.

BookScan Top 20 Graphic Novels in April 2012
Rank	Title	Author	Publisher
1	THE WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM ONE	ROBERT KIRKMAN	IMAGE COMICS
2	THE WALKING DEAD BOOK 1 HC	ROBERT KIRKMAN	IMAGE COMICS
3	THE WALKING DEAD BOOK 2 HC	ROBERT KIRKMAN	IMAGE COMICS
4	THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 1	ROBERT KIRKMAN	IMAGE COMICS
5	ROSARIO+VAMPIRE SEASON II VOL. 8	AKIHISA IKEDA	VIZ MEDIA
6	MARVEL AVENGERS: THE ULTIMATE CHARACTER GUIDE HC	ALAN COWSILL	DK PUBLISHING
7	THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 2	ROBERT KIRKMAN	IMAGE COMICS
8	THE WALKING DEAD BOOK 3 HC	ROBERT KIRKMAN	IMAGE COMICS
9	THE WALKING DEAD BOOK 5 HC	ROBERT KIRKMAN	IMAGE COMICS
10	NARUTO VOL. 55	MASASHI KISHIMOTO	VIZ MEDIA
11	THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 3	ROBERT KIRKMAN	IMAGE COMICS
12	THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 15	ROBERT KIRKMAN	IMAGE COMICS
13	AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER: THE PROMISE PART 1	GENE YANG	DARK HORSE
14	BLACK BUTLER VOL. 9	YANA TOBOSO	YEN PRESS
15	THE WALKING DEAD BOOK 6 HC	ROBERT KIRKMAN	IMAGE COMICS
16	A GAME OF THRONES: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL VOL. 1 HC	GEROGE R.R. MARTIN	BANTAM
17	THE WALKING DEAD BOOK 7 HC	ROBERT KIRKMAN	IMAGE COMICS
18	SAILOR MOON VOL. 4	NAOKE TAKEUCHI	KODANSHA COMICS
19	BLEACH VOL. 39	TITE KUBO	VIZ MEDIA
20	THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 4	ROBERT KIRKMAN	IMAGE COMICS

The non-Walking Dead, non-manga holdovers were also TV-driven titles.  The Dynamite/Bantam comic adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones, which benefits from the popularity of the HBO series, fell from #7 in March to #16 in April, while Dark Horse’s Avatar: The Last Airbender by Gene Yang, which is based on the Nickelodeon series, actually climbed up the chart from #16 in March to #13 in April.  Avatar: The Last Airbender topped this chart in February and has been a fixture on it every since.

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