A new Jet City edition of a graphic novel originally published by Marvel hit the chart of the "Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels" sold in the bookstore channel in January, provided exclusively to ICv2.com by Nielsen BookScan.  This is an initial answer to the question of whether Amazon will be able to effectively use its marketing prowess to sell the graphic novels it publishes, and that answer appears to be "yes."

The Sworn Sword: The Graphic Novel (A Game of Thrones) is material originally packaged by the Dabel Brothers and published by Marvel back in 2008.  But that, of course, was before the premiere of the HBO series based on Game of Thrones, which elevated author George R.R. Martin’s universe to high geek status.

Amazon’s Jet City imprint (see "Amazon Enters Comic Book Publishing") has cleverly incorporated Game of Thrones into the title of the book, and has been rewarded with the #15 title in January for five year old material.  Jet City does promise over 25 pages of bonus material, and the book appears to be sporting a new cover.  And Amazon has a discount of over 40% from the $14.95 cover price, which makes the 176-page graphic novel only $8.55, a good price.  The material is clearly in demand, with the Marvel hardcover edition going for $84 to $172 from ten Amazon resellers.

There's been a lot of discussion about Amazon entering the comic market as a publisher (see "Amazon and Comics: How Close Is the Apocalypse?"); it's now starting to play out in real time.

Manga had a good month in January, with eight manga titles in the Top 20.  The mighty Naruto led the way, with the #1 title and two in the Top 20.  The surging Attack on Titan, though, had four in the Top 20, including the #2 and #3 volumes.

The Walking Dead slowed down in January, in the period between the two halves of the television series, to a mere four volumes in the Top 20, down from eight in December.

BookScan Top 20 Graphic Novels in January 2014

Rank

Title

Author

Publisher

1

NARUTO VOL. 64

MASASHI KISHIMOTO

VIZ MEDIA

2

ATTACK ON TITAN VOL. 10

HAJIME ISAYAMA

KODANSHA COMICS

3

ATTACK ON TITAN VOL. 1

HAJIME ISAYAMA

KODANSHA COMICS

4

THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 19

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

5

THE WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM VOL. 1

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

6

THE WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM VOL. 2

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

7

BATMAN VOL.3: DEATH OF THE FAMILY HC

SCOTT SNYDER

DC COMICS

8

ATTACK ON TITAN VOL. 2

HAJIME ISAYAMA

KODANSHA COMICS

9

MONSTER MUSUME VOL. 2

OKAYADO

SEVEN SEAS

10

NARUTO VOL. 63

MASASHI KISHIMOTO

VIZ MEDIA

11

SAGA VOL. 1

BRIAN K VAUGHAN

IMAGE COMICS

12

FUN HOME: A FAMILY TRAGICOMIC

ALISON BECHDEL

MARINER BOOKS

13

YU-GI-OH! ZEXAL VOL. 4

SHIN YOSHIDA

VIZ MEDIA

14

BATMAN VOL 2: THE CITY OF OWLS

SCOTT SNYDER

DC COMICS

15

MISS PERENGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN HC

RANSOM RIGGS

YEN PRESS

16

THE SWORN SWORD: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL (A GAME OF THRONES)

GEORGE R.R. MARTIN

JET CITY COMICS

17

WATCHMEN

ALAN MOORE

DC COMICS

18

THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 1

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

19

ATTACK ON TITAN VOL. 3

HAJIME ISAYAMA

KODANSHA COMICS

20

BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE DLX ED HC

ALAN MOORE

DC COMICS


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