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."