May was a big month for Marvel Comics and VIZ Media in their respective categories, and in the more diverse realm of Author graphic novels, Image Comics holds sway.  We broke out the Top 20 Superhero Graphic Novels, Top 20 Manga, and Top 20 Author Graphic Novels in the book channel for May 2018 based on information provided by NPD BookScan covering the period April 30 to May 27, 2018, and here's what we saw.

Marvel pretty much owns the superhero chart, but there’s an interesting amount of diversity to it, with one title from BOOM! Studios and a couple from Dark Horse Comics.  DC Comics, on the other hand, is barely there, with two perennials (Watchmen and The Killing Joke), a new nostalgia title (Action Comics: 80 Years of Superman), and only two real new titles, both Batman trades: Batman Vol. 5 (Rebirth), by Tom King, and Dark Days: The Road to Metal, by Scott Snyder.  On the other hand, both of those books came out in mid-May, so they managed to chart less than a month after release.

Marvel takes 12 of the top 20 slots, and they are heavy on movie tie-ins: Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity War, and Silver Surfer: Rebirth of Thanos all tie-in to the Avengers: Infinity War movie, and then we have three and a half Deadpool titles (since one is shared with Spider-Man), two Black Panther trades, and a Star Wars graphic novel. The outlier is Civil War, which collects the 2006-7 crossover event.

NPD BookScan Top 20 'Superhero' Graphic Novels – May 2018 (4/30/18 - 5/27/18)

Rank

Title

Author

Publisher

1

INFINITY GAUNTLET

JIM STARLIN

MARVEL COMICS

2

INFINITY WAR

JIM STARLIN

MARVEL COMICS

3

BLACK PANTHER BOOK 1: A NATION UNDER OUR FEET

TA-NEHISI COATES

MARVEL COMICS

4

BATMAN VOL. 5 (REBIRTH)

TOM KING

DC COMICS

5

WATCHMEN

ALAN MOORE

DC COMICS

6

DEADPOOL KILLS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE

CULLEN BUNN

MARVEL COMICS

7

STAR WARS: DARTH VADER VOL. 2

CHARLES SOULE

MARVEL COMICS

8

MARVEL'S AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR PRELUDE

WILL CORONA PILGRIM

MARVEL COMICS

9

DARK DAYS: THE ROAD TO METAL HC

SCOTT SNYDER

DC COMICS

10

ACTION COMICS: 80 YEARS OF SUPERMAN HC

VARIOUS

DC COMICS

11

MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS VOL. 5

KYLE HIGGINS

BOOM! STUDIOS

12

BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE, DLX. ED.HC

ALAN MOORE

DC COMICS

13

BLACK PANTHER: WORLD OF WAKANDA

TA-NEHISI COATES

MARVEL COMICS

14

SILVER SURFER: REBIRTH OF THANOS

JIM STARLIN

MARVEL COMICS

15

HELLBOY OMNIBUS VOL. 1: SEED OF DESTRUCTION

MIKE MIGNOLA

DARK HORSE COMICS

16

OVERWATCH: ANTHOLOGY VOL. 1 HC

BLIZZARD ENT.

DARK HORSE COMICS

17

DEADPOOL: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION VOL. 1

DANIEL WAY

MARVEL COMICS

18

DEADPOOL KILLS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE

CULLEN BUNN

MARVEL COMICS

19

SPIDER-MAN / DEADPOOL VOL. 1

JOE KELLY

MARVEL COMICS

20

CIVIL WAR

MARK MILLAR

MARVEL COMICS

Source: The NPD Group/BookScan

VIZ Media is to the manga chart as Marvel is to superheroes, only more so, with 18 out of the top 20 titles in May.  What’s more, 8 of those are volumes of My Hero Academia, which has really established itself as the big manga title of the moment.  The series has been picking up steam since last year, but it may have gotten a boost lately because the latest season of the anime debuted in April.

Four volumes of the last Big Manga Title, Tokyo Ghoul, also chart, including volume 1. (Tokyo Ghoul has ended and the current series is a sequel, Tokyo Ghoul: re.)  Most of what’s left are new volumes of long-running, popular series: One Piece, Attack on Titan, One-Punch Man, and two tie-ins to other media with strong female appeal, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Prince and RWBY: Official Manga Anthology.

Old-school manga fans with money to burn probably pushed Go Nagai’s Devilman: The Classic Collection and Hirohiko Araki’s Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure onto the chart, as both are nicely produced hardcovers and thus a little pricier than your standard paperback genre manga.  The first volume of the new hardcover edition of Fullmetal Alchemist has a slightly different appeal (it’s a shonen manga that’s popular with female readers, and it’s by a woman), but again nostalgia is probably a factor as the original fan base replaces their beat-up paperbacks. (For those who are reading it for the first time, the three-in-one omnibus edition offers a better pages-to-dollars ratio.)

NPD BookScan Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels – May 2018 (4/30/18 - 5/27/18)

Rank

Title

Author

Publisher

1

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 12

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

2

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 1

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

3

RWBY: OFFICIAL MANGA ANTHOLOGY VOL. 1

VARIOUS

VIZ MEDIA

4

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TWILIGHT PRINCESS VOL. 3

AKIRA HIMEKAWA

VIZ MEDIA

5

ONE PIECE VOL. 86

ODA EIICHIRO

VIZ MEDIA

6

TOKYO GHOUL: RE VOL. 4

SUI ISHIDA

VIZ MEDIA

7

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 2

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

8

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 11

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

9

TOKYO GHOUL VOL. 1

SUI ISHIDA

VIZ MEDIA

10

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 3

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

11

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 10

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

12

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 4

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

13

DEVILMAN: THE CLASSIC COLLECTION VOL. 1 HC

GO NAGAI

SEVEN SEAS

14

JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE: PART 3 - STARDUST CRUSADERS VOL. 7 HC

HIROHIKO ARAKI

VIZ MEDIA

15

ATTACK ON TITAN VOL. 24

HAJIME ISAYAMA

KODANSHA COMICS

16

FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST: FULLMETAL EDITION VOL. 1 HC

HIROMU ARAKAWA

VIZ MEDIA

17

TOKYO GHOUL VOL. 2

SUI ISHIDA

VIZ MEDIA

18

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 9

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

19

TOKYO GHOUL: RE VOL. 3

SUI ISHIDA

VIZ MEDIA

20

ONE-PUNCH MAN VOL. 13

ONE

VIZ MEDIA

Source: The NPD Group/BookScan

The Author chart, as usual, is all over the map: We have Am I There Yet? by an Instagram star; the first volume of March, Rep. John Lewis’s graphic memoir of the Civil Rights movement; vol. 8 of Saga; The Philosophy of Snoopy; and the latest volume of The Walking Dead.  Strange bedfellows indeed!  This is an incredibly diverse category and patterns are much harder to find.  It includes old and new titles in many different genres.  That said, Image Comics is the leading publisher in the author category, and Saga is the dominant series, with five volumes on the chart; a couple of volumes of Brian K. Vaughan’s Paper Girls chart as well.

NPD BookScan Top 20 Author Graphic Novels – May 2018 (4/30/18 - 5/27/18)

Rank

Title

Author

Publisher

1

AM I THERE YET?: THE LOOP-DE-LOOP, ZIGZAGGING JOURNEY TO ADULTHOOD HC

MARI ANDREW

CLARKSON POTTER

2

MARCH: BOOK ONE

JOHN LEWIS

TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS

3

SAGA VOL. 8

BRIAN K. VAUGHAN

IMAGE COMICS

4

THE PHILOSOPHY OF SNOOPY HC

CHARLES M. SCHULZ

RUNNING PRESS ADULT

5

THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 29

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

6

PAPER GIRLS VOL. 4

BRIAN K. VAUGHAN

IMAGE COMICS

7

EVERYONE'S A ALIEBN WHEN UR A ALIEBN TOO: A BOOK HC

JOMNY SUN

HARPER PERENNIAL

8

SAGA VOL. 1

BRIAN K. VAUGHAN

IMAGE COMICS

9

FUN HOME: A FAMILY TRAGICOMIC

ALISON BECHDEL

MARINER BOOKS

10

WHAT TO DO WHEN I'M GONE: A MOTHER'S WISDOM TO HER DAUGHTER HC

SUZY HOPKINS

BLOOMSBURY UK

11

SAGA VOL. 7

BRIAN K. VAUGHAN

IMAGE COMICS

12

MONSTRESS VOL. 1

LIU MARJORIE

IMAGE COMICS

13

PAPER GIRLS VOL. 1

BRIAN K. VAUGHAN

IMAGE COMICS

14

TERMINAL LANCE ULTIMATE OMNIBUS HC

MAXIMILIAN URIARTE

LITTLE BROWN AND CO.

15

SAGA VOL. 2

BRIAN K. VAUGHAN

IMAGE COMICS

16

MY FAVORITE THING IS MONSTERS

EMIL FERRIS

FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS

17

AMERICAN GODS VOL. 1: SHADOW HC

NEIL GAIMAN

DARK HORSE COMICS

18

ROCK STEADY: BRILLIANT ADVICE FROM MY BIPOLAR LIFE

ELLEN FORNEY

FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS

19

GOING INTO TOWN: A LOVE LETTER TO NEW YORK HC

ROZ CHAST

BLOOMSBURY UK

20

SAGA VOL. 3

BRIAN K. VAUGHAN

IMAGE COMICS

Source: The NPD Group/BookScan

For charts of May graphic novel sales from NPD BookScan:
May 2018 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels
May 2018 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Kids Graphic Novels

For the charts with the actual sales numbers from NPD BookScan, see these articles on the ICv2 Pro site:
May 2018 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
May 2018 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Kids Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
May 2018 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Superhero, Manga, Author Graphic Novels with Actual Sales


NPD BookScan collects weekly point-of-sale data on print books from over 16,000 locations including e-tailers, chains, mass merchandisers, independent bookstores, and more.  NPD BookScan covers approximately 85% of the U.S. trade print book market.  The ranks on this chart are based on piece sales. Some publishers classify titles that are primarily text, or art books, as graphic novels; we've removed those titles from the ranking above.

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