Here’s a closer look at the Top 20 best-selling graphic novels, based on NPD BookScan data for October (9/30/18-10/27/18) provided to ICv2.

The top superhero graphic novel, Sean Murphy’s Batman: White Knight is part of DC Comics new Black Label imprint, which will feature self-contained stories by fan-favorite creators (see "DC Launches Imprint for High Profile Stand-Alone Stories").  DC had nine titles on the chart, while Marvel Comics had five, Dark Horse Comics had two, and Titan Comics, Archie Comics, Fantagraphics, and Heavy Metal each had one.

That gave the chart more variety in terms of genre, with new and old Big Two graphic novels rubbing shoulders with comics based on the Bloodborne and Overwatch video games, the Legend of Korra TV show, Star Wars, Persian legends, Iron Maiden, and the vampire version of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.

No matter what, though, Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and Batman: The Killing Joke are always on the chart, which contributes to the high proportion of DC titles.  Three older Marvel titles have also been charting consistently in recent months: Volume 1 of Black Panther always makes the top 20, Infinity Gauntlet drops to the number 3 spot this month, after staying in the top two since April, and volume 1 of Ms. Marvel has been in the top 20 since June.

NPD BookScan Top 20 'Superhero' Graphic Novels – October 2018 (9/30/18 - 10/27/18)

Rank

Title

Author

Publisher

1

BATMAN: WHITE KNIGHT

SEAN MURPHY

DC BLACK LABEL

2

WONDER WOMAN: EARTH ONE VOL. 2 HC

GRANT MORRISON

DC COMICS

3

INFINITY GAUNTLET

JIM STARLIN

MARVEL COMICS

4

BLOODBORNE: THE DEATH OF SLEEP

ALES KOT

TITAN COMICS

5

WATCHMEN

ALAN MOORE

DC COMICS

6

THE LEGEND OF KORRA: TURF WARS PART 3

MICHAEL DANTE DIMARTINO

DARK HORSE BOOKS

7

ACTION COMICS #1000: THE DLX. ED. HC

BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS

DC COMICS

8

STAR WARS: DARTH VADER - DARK LORD OF THE SITH VOL. 3

CHARLES SOULE

MARVEL COMICS

9

DARK NIGHTS: METAL: DLX. ED. HC

SCOTT SNYDER

DC COMICS

10

CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA

ROBERTO AGUIRRE-SACASA

ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS

11

BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE DLX. ED. HC

ALAN MOORE

DC COMICS

12

POP UP-ZAHHAK: THE LEGEND OF THE SERPENT KING HC

HAMID RAHMANIAN

FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS

13

IRON MAIDEN: LEGACY OF THE BEAST

LLEXI LEON

HEAVY METAL

14

OVERWATCH: ANTHOLOGY VOL. 1 HC

VARIOUS

DARK HORSE BOOKS

15

DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN

FRANK MILLER

MARVEL COMICS

16

DARK NIGHTS: METAL: DARK KNIGHTS RISING HC

PETER TOMASI

DC COMICS

17

V FOR VENDETTA

ALAN MOORE

VERTIGO

18

BLACK PANTHER BOOK 1: A NATION UNDER OUR FEET

TA-NEHISI COATES

MARVEL COMICS

19

BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN

JEPH LOEB

DC COMICS

20

MS. MARVEL VOL. 1

G. WILLOW WILSON

MARVEL COMICS

Source: The NPD Group/BookScan


The manga chart, on the other hand, is extremely consistent.  All 20 top sellers are published by VIZ Media and 11 of them are volumes of My Hero Academia or the spinoff series My Hero Academia: Vigilantes.  The first volume of the original series is number 3 on the list, so new readers are still coming in.

The chart is also overwhelmingly male-oriented: all but the last title are shonen or seinen, published in magazines aimed at boys and young men, respectively, in Japan.  That doesn’t mean women don’t read them, but males are the target demographic.  In last place is the lone shojo (girls) title, the latest volume of the fantasy/adventure romance Yona of the Dawn.

For the most part, any manga that aren’t My Hero Academia tend to show up on the chart only when a new volume comes out; the exception is Tokyo Ghoul, which is still pulling in enough new readers that the first volume ends up in the top 20 every month.

NPD BookScan Top 20 Manga Graphic Novels – October 2018 (9/30/18 - 10/27/18)

Rank

Title

Author

Publisher

1

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 15

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

2

MY HERO ACADEMIA VIGILANTES VOL. 2

HIDEYUKI FURUHASHI

VIZ MEDIA

3

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 1

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

4

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 14

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

5

TOKYO GHOUL RE VOL. 7

SUI ISHIDA

VIZ MEDIA

6

BERSERK OFFICIAL GUIDEBOOK

KENTARO MIURA

DARK HORSE MANGA

7

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 2

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

8

FRANKENSTEIN: JUNJI ITO STORY COLLECTION HC

JUNJI ITO

VIZ MEDIA

9

BLEACH VOL. 74

TITE KUBO

VIZ MEDIA

10

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TWILIGHT PRINCESS VOL. 4

AKIRA HIMEKAWA

VIZ MEDIA

11

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 3

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

12

MY HERO ACADEMIA VIGILANTES VOL. 1

HIDEYUKI FURUHASHI

VIZ MEDIA

13

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 4

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

14

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 5

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

15

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 13

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

16

BLUE EXORCIST VOL. 20

KAZUE KATO

VIZ MEDIA

17

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 6

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

18

TOKYO GHOUL VOL. 1

SUI ISHIDA

VIZ MEDIA

19

THE PROMISED NEVERLAND VOL. 6

KAIU SHIRAI

VIZ MEDIA

20

FOOD WARS SHOKUGEKI NO SOMA VOL. 26

YUTO TSUKUDA

VIZ MEDIA

Source: The NPD Group/BookScan


While the author chart is less consistent than superheroes, there is a clear winner and that’s Image Comics, whose graphic novels account for nine of the top 20. No other publisher appears more than once, which is not that unusual for this category.  Image publishes series, but the rest of the graphic novels on this chart are one-offs.

As with manga, a lot of creator-owned titles only make the top 20 when a new volume comes out, but there are a couple of perennials that sell enough units to get on the chart almost every month: Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, Jomny Sun’s Everyone’s a Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too, Book One of March, and Instagram star Mari Andrew’s Am I There Yet? The Loop-de-Loop, Zigzagging Journey to Adulthood.  For whatever reason, and it may be different for each one, these books are finding a steady audience, and presumably these are new readers each time, as all but March are one-shots (and the first volume of March is the most likely to be on the charts).

NPD BookScan Top 20 Author Graphic Novels – October 2018 (9/30/18 - 10/27/18)

Rank

Title

Author

Publisher

1

SAGA VOL. 9

BRIAN K. VAUGHAN

IMAGE COMICS

2

ANTHONY BOURDAIN'S HUNGRY GHOST HC

ANTHONY BOURDAIN

BERGER BOOKS

3

THE ADVENTURE ZONE: HERE THERE BE GERBLINS

CLINT MCELROY

FIRST SECOND BOOKS

4

THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 30

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

5

ANNE FRANK'S DIARY THE GRAPHIC ADAPTATION HC

ANNE FRANK

PANTHEON BOOKS

6

WALKING DEAD BOOK 15 HC

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

7

SHEETS

BRENNA THUMMLER

LION FORGE

8

WICKED + THE DIVINE VOL. 7

KIERON GILLEN

IMAGE COMICS

9

MONSTRESS VOL. 3

MARJORIE LIU

IMAGE COMICS

10

THE COMIC BOOK STORY OF PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING

AUBREY SITTERSON

TEN SPEED PRESS

11

MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN JUNKIES HC

ED BRUBAKER

IMAGE COMICS

12

MARCH BOOK 1

JOHN LEWIS

TOP SHELF PROD.

13

SABRINA HC

NICK DRNASO

DRAWN & QUARTERLY

14

FUN HOME: A FAMILY TRAGICOMIC

ALISON BECHDEL

MARINER BOOKS

15

MONSTRESS VOL. 1

MARJORIE LIU

IMAGE COMICS

16

SAGA VOL. 8

BRIAN K. VAUGHAN

IMAGE COMICS

17

SAGA VOL. 1

BRIAN K. VAUGHAN

IMAGE COMICS

18

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

JOMNY SUN

HARPER PERENNIAL

19

PASSING FOR HUMAN HC

LIANA FINCK

RANDOM HOUSE

20

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

MARI ANDREW

CLARKSON POTTER PUB.

Source: The NPD Group/BookScan

For charts of October graphic novel sales from NPD BookScan:
October 2018 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels
October 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:
October 2018 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels with Actual Sale
October 2018 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Kids Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
October 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 channel.  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."