The latest volume of Robert Kirkman’s Image Comics series The Walking Dead: All Out War, Part 2 topped the BookScan list of adult graphic novels sold in bookstores during August  Interestingly, this latest volume of The Walking Dead, which was released to the book trade on July 29th, was the only TWD volume to make the list for August, something that may change as we get to the debut of Season 5 of the AMC series in October.  Meanwhile another Image Comics property, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples’ Saga, managed to get all 3 volumes in the Top 20 in both the BookScan list and Diamond Comic Distributor’s August list of bestselling graphic novels (see "Top 300 Graphic Novels Actual--August")--and this science fiction saga, which has strong appeal to both genders, continues to gain strength.
 
Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Seconds, which scored with a sparkling debut last month (see "July BookScan--Top 20 Graphic Novels"), was in second place (with its standard edition) for the second month in a row--and once again the Barnes & Noble edition of Seconds also made the Top 20 (at #14).  Last month, if the two editions of Seconds had been added together, Seconds probably would have topped the list, and the same thing might even have happened this month.  Seconds, which is published by Random House, is clearly one of the breakout graphic novel hits of the summer--why hasn’t it shown up on Diamond’s Top 300 Graphic Novel lists?
 
The latest volume of Naruto from VIZ Media, which topped the chart in July, slipped to #3, as it continued to demonstrate the lasting appeal of the mature, but still potent, franchise.  The new #1 manga property in North America, Kodansha’s Attack on Titan continued to show-off its status by landing four titles in the top 12 in August including both the #1 and #2 volumes of the series, which shows that the property is still gaining new readers. 
 
Overall there were nine manga on the Top 20 chart in August, up from six in July.  Mention should be made of Maximum Ride Vol. 8, the James Patterson-inspired OEL series from Yen Press that just continues to sell, and Monster Musume, Vol. 4 from Seven Seas, as well as two solid performers with long track records from Viz Media, Bleach and Rosario+Vampire.
 
There is no doubt that Guardians of the Galaxy has been the big breakout movie hit of the summer, and unlike many a Marvel big screen epic, Guardians actually appears to be able to drive sales of both comics (see "Top 300 Comics Actual--August 2014") and graphic novels.  The trade paperback of the first volume collecting the new Bendis-penned Guardians series, released back in April, was in the Top 10 on both the BookScan and Diamond lists in August.
 
BookScan reports on the bookstore market, so it is no surprise that comics with literary pedigrees can do well on the list as Jules Feiffer’s Kill My Mother: A Graphic Novel demonstrates.  Bookstores also do very well with perennial-selling backlist title, so it’s even less of a surprise that Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese had a strong presence on the August chart, where it was joined by fellow evergreens, Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, and Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke.
 

BookScan Top 20 Graphic Novels in August 2014
Rank	Title	Author	Publisher
1	THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 21	ROBERT KIRKMAN	IMAGE COMICS
2	SECONDS: A GRAPHIC NOVEL HC	BRYAN LEE O'MALLEY	BALLANTINE BOOKS
3	NARUTO VOL. 66	MASASHI KISHIMOTO	VIZ MEDIA
4	GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 1	BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS	MARVEL COMICS
5	ATTACK ON TITAN VOL. 1	HAJIME ISAYAMA	KODANSHA COMICS
6	AMERICAN BORN CHINESE	GENE LUEN YANG	SQUARE FISH
7	ATTACK ON TITAN: NO REGRETS VOL. 1	GUN SNARK	KODANSHA COMICS
8	ATTACK ON TITAN VOL. 13	HAJIME ISAYAMA	KODANSHA COMICS
9	MAXIMUM RIDE VOL. 8	JAMES PATTERSON	YEN PRESS
10	SAGA VOL. 1	BRIAN K VAUGHAN	IMAGE COMICS
11	SAGA VOL. 3	BRIAN K VAUGHAN	IMAGE COMICS
12	ATTACK ON TITAN VOL. 2	HAJIME ISAYAMA	KODANSHA COMICS
13	ROSARIO + VAMPIRE SEASON II VOL. 13	AKIHISA IKEDA	VIZ MEDIA
14	SECONDS: A GRAPHIC NOVEL HC (B&N EXCLUSIVE)	BRYAN LEE O'MALLEY	BALLANTINE BOOKS
15	BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS	FRANK MILLER	DC COMICS
16	BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE DLX ED	ALAN MOORE	DC COMICS
17	MONSTER MUSUME VOL. 4	OKAYADO	SEAVEN SEAS
18	KILL MY MOTHER: A GRAPHIC NOVEL	JULES FEIFFER	LIVERIGHT
19	BLEACH VOL. 61	TITE KUBO	VIZ MEDIA
20	SAGA VOL. 2	BRIAN K VAUGHAN	IMAGE COMICS

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