Kodansha’s Attack on Titan hit a new high in October, with the first volume taking the #1 slot in bookstores, and placing another three volumes in the chart of the "Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels" sold in the bookstore channel in October, provided exclusively to ICv2.com by Nielsen BookScan.

This was the first time Attack on Titan had taken the top position.  Perhaps most notable, the #1 title was the first volume of the series, of which there were seven available in October, indicating that new customers are finding the property in droves.   The series hit the Top 20 in June, the Top 5 two months later in August, and now the #1 position in another two months in October.

The Walking Dead continues to thrive, with five volumes in the Top 20.  And the top TWD volume is the first Compendium, at #2 overall, with the first regular volume at #13, indicating that some seven years after the launch of the graphic novel series, new readers are still finding it in large numbers.

DC had a good month, with four titles in the Top 20, all new!  DC hasn’t had a new title in the Top 20 since June, when it had one.

The latest Avatar: The Last Airbender volume from Dark Horse hit the charts at #8, which is impressive, especially given that the book shipped at the very end of the month and so did not have many days to generate sales.

There were nine manga titles in the Top 20, another solid performance for the category.  Rosario+Vampire was the top Viz title, at #3.

The latest Pearls Before Swine collection rounded out the Top 20 in the final slot.

BookScan Top 20 Graphic Novels in October 2013

Rank

Title

Author

Publisher

1

ATTACK ON TITAN VOL. 1

HAJIME ISAYAMA

KODANSHA COMICS

2

THE WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM VOL. 1

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

3

ROSARIO + VAMPIRE: SEASON II VOL. 12

AKISHIA IKEDA

VIZ MEDIA

4

BATMAN: THE COURT OF OWLS MASK AND BOOK SET

SCOTT SNYDER

DC COMICS

5

THE JOKER: DEATH OF THE FAMILY HC

VARIOUS

DC COMICS

6

THE WALKING DEAD BOOK VOL. 9 HC

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

7

JUSTICE LEAGUE VOL. 3 HC

GEOFF JOHNS

DC COMICS

8

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER--THE SEARCH PT. 3

GENE LUEN YANK

DARK HORSE COMIC

9

ATTACK ON TITAN VOL. 2

HAJIME ISAYAMA

KODANSHA COMICS

10

NARUTO VOL. 62

MASASHI KISHIMOTO

VIZ MEDIA

11

BLEACH VOL. 58

TITE KUBO

VIZ MEDIA

12

BLACK BIRD VOL. 17

KANOKO SAKURAKOUJI

VIZ MEDIA

13

THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 1

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

14

THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 18

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

15

BATMAN VOL 2: THE CITY OF OWLS

SCOTT SNYDER

DC COMICS

16

THE WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM VOL. 2

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

17

SAILOR MOON SHORT STORIES VOL. 1

NAOKO TAKEUCHI

KODANSHA COMICS

18

ATTACK ON TITAN VOL. 7

HAJIME ISAYAMA

KODANSHA COMICS

19

ATTACK ON TITAN VOL. 3

HAJIME ISAYAMA

KODANSHA COMICS

20

RAT'S WARS: A PEARL'S BEFORE SWINE COLLECTION

STEPHAN PASTIS

ANDREWS MCMEEL


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