Sales of The Walking Dead graphic novels dropped off in bookstores in May, giving some air to other titles as the property's dominance ebbed a bit, according to the May list of "Top 20 Graphic Novels" sold in the book channel, provided exclusively to ICv2 by Nielsen BookScan.  Like last month (see "April BookScan--Top 20 Graphic Novels"), perhaps the most interesting moves were by older titles, displaying sales trends to a greater extent than the six May releases that made Top 20.

The Walking Dead placed only three volumes in the Top 20, down from eight last month, as the show’s impact faded with more than a month since the last episode of last season aired.

The five additional slots cleared by The Walking Dead did not go to Marvel and DC, which together dominate the comic store market.  As was the case last month, DC placed only three titles in the Top 20 (this month none above #15), and Marvel one (Matt Fraction's Hawkeye at #16, down one from #15).  DK Publishing did place two older licensed titles, its Marvel Avengers: The Ultimate Character Guide and DC Comics: The Ultimate Character Guide, we suspect behind promotional activity (given their age).

Still, with Iron Man 3 in theaters, Man of Steel on the way, weaker competition, and roughly a 2/3 share in comic stores, it's surprising how few books the Big Two manage to place among the bestsellers in the book market.

The biggest move goes to Max Brooks' The Zombie Survival Guide, which moved up to #8 from #13 in April.  As we noted last month, this title is climbing the chart in anticipation of World War Z, which has had some negative press in the run-up to release but appears to have some ability to move the sales dial.

Saga moved up again, to #11 from #12, in its eighth month on the chart and the second month since the content controversy surrounding #12 (see "Sexual Content Poses Challenges for Comic Retailers").

Yen Press's latest graphic novel adaptation of a Twilight novel (New Moon: The Manga Volume 1 HC) premiered strong, at #5.

Manga had a good month with eight of the Top 20, up from only four last month.  The latest volume of Naruto took the #1 slot, as it usually does, and placed three titles over-all, including the previous volume, #60, and the latest 3-in-1 Edition.  Beyond the three Naruto titles, two Sailor Moon volumes from Kodansha  (including a new one, which shipped late in the month and only placed #4 as a result), and the latest volumes of Viz's Black Bird, Yen's Black Butler, Seven Seas' Dance in the Vampire Bund make up the eight manga titles in the Top 20 in May.
 

BookScan Top 20 Graphic Novels in May 2013

Rank

Title

Author

Publisher

1

NARUTO VOL. 61

MASASHI KISHIMOTO

VIZ MEDIA

2

THE WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM VOL. 1

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

3

THE WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM VOL. 2

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

4

SAILOR MOON VOL. 11

NAOKO TAKEUCHI

KODANSHA COMICS

5

NEW MOON: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL VOL. 1 HC

STEPHENIE MEYERS

YEN PRESS

6

MARVEL AVENGERS: THE ULTIMATE CHARACTER GUIDE HC

ALAN COWSILL

DK PUBLISHING

7

DC COMICS: THE ULTIMATE CHARACTER GUIDE HC

BRANDON T. SNIDER

DK PUBLISHING

8

THE ZOMBIE SURVIVAL GUIDE: RECORDED ATTACKS

MAX BROOKS

BROADWAY BOOKS

9

BLACK BIRD VOL. 16

KANOKO SAKURAKOUJI

VIZ MEDIA

10

SAILOR MOON VOL. 10

NAOKO TAKEUCHI

KODANSHA COMICS

11

SAGA VOL. 1

BRIAN K. VAUGHAN

IMAGE COMICS

12

BLACK BUTLER VOL. 13

YANA TOBOSO

YEN PRESS

13

THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 1

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

14

DANCE IN THE VAMPIRE BUND VOL. 14

NOZOMU TAMAKI

SEVEN SEAS

15

BATMAN VOL. 2: THE CITY OF OWLS HC

SCOTT SNYDER

DC COMICS

16

HAWKEYE VOL. 1

MATT FRACTION

MARVEL COMICS

17

NARUTO VOL. 60

MASASHI KISHIMOTO

VIZ MEDIA

18

NARUTO (3-IN-1 EDITION) VOL. 5

MASASHI KISHIMOTO

VIZ MEDIA

19

WATCHMEN

ALAN MOORE

DC COMICS

20

BATMAN VOL. 1: THE COURT OF OWLS

SCOTT SNYDER

DC COMICS


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