There are a couple of interesting quirks to this month’s list of the top 20 Author, Manga, and Superhero graphic novels in the book channel, based on NPD BookScan data for February (2/2/20-2/29/20) provided to ICv2.

Harley Quinn has been off the charts, and not in a good way, for the past three years: Although the "New 52" version was one of the top 20 superhero graphic novels of 2017, it doesn’t appear a Harley comic has made the monthly Top 20 since then. Thanks to the new Birds of Prey movie, though, she’s back, with Harleen, a February debut, taking the number one slot, and Birds of Prey: Harley Quinn, which came out in late January, at number four.

DC Comics dominates this month’s Superhero chart, with 13 of the 20 titles; Marvel Comics has four, and Dark Horse Comics, IDW Publishing and BOOM! Studios each have one.  Watchmen still does well enough to get into the number 2 slot, and the newest Legend of Korra, a late-February release, is at number 3.  Despite Harley Quinn’s prominent placement, Batman is the most-represented superhero franchise on the chart, with five titles in which he is the lead character.

NPD BookScan Top 20 "Superhero" Graphic Novels – February 2020 (2/2/20 - 2/29/20)

Rank

Title

Author

Publisher

1

HARLEEN HC

STJEPAN SEJIC

DC COMICS

2

WATCHMEN (2019 EDITION)

ALAN MOORE

DC COMICS

3

THE LEGEND OF KORRA: RUINS OF THE EMPIRE PART THREE

MICHAEL DANTE DIMARTINO

DARK HORSE

4

BIRDS OF PREY: HARLEY QUINN

AMANDA CONNER

DC COMICS

5

THE BATMAN WHO LAUGHS HC

SCOTT SNYDER

DC COMICS

6

DCEASED HC

TOM TAYLOR

DC COMICS

7

STAR WARS: TARGET VADER

ROBBIE THOMPSON

MARVEL COMICS

8

STAR WARS: DOCTOR APHRA VOL. 7: A ROGUE'S END

SI SPURRIER

MARVEL COMICS

9

BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE DLX ED HC (NEW EDITION)

ALAN MOORE

DC COMICS

10

BATMAN: DAMNED HC

BRIAN AZZARELLO

DC COMICS

11

HOUSE OF X/POWERS OF X HC

JONATHAN HICKMAN

MARVEL COMICS

12

V FOR VENDETTA

ALAN MOORE

DC COMICS

13

DOOMSDAY CLOCK PART 1 HC

JOHNS, GEOFF

DC COMICS

14

BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN

JEPH LOEB

DC COMICS

15

RICK AND MORTY VS. DUNGEONS & DRAGONS

PATRICK ROTHFUSS

IDW PUBLISHING

16

INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US YEAR FIVE- THE COMPLETE COLLECTION

BRIAN BUCCELLATO

DC COMICS

17

ABSOLUTE CARNAGE

DONNY CATES

MARVEL COMICS

18

THE SANDMAN VOL. 1: PRELUDES & NOCTURNES 30TH ANN. ED.

NEIL GAIMAN

DC COMICS

19

BATMAN: YEAR ONE

FRANK MILLER

DC COMICS

20

MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS VOL. 10

MARGUERITE BENNETT

BOOM! STUDIOS

Source: The NPD Group/BookScan

It’s a weird month for manga as well, but the strangeness is not at the top of the chart, it’s at the bottom.  The Manga Top 20 is reliably shonen and seinen manga, series aimed at male teens and adults, but this month there’s a yaoi title, a male-male romance, at number 19: Given Vol. 1.  The audience for yaoi manga is overwhelmingly female, and it’s something of a niche.  What’s more, the manga is from a relatively small Japanese publisher, Shinshokan.  Perhaps the anime, which runs on Crunchyroll, gave it enough of a push to get it onto the chart, outselling several mid-series volumes of My Hero Academia.

Speaking of which… Let’s do the count.  There are 11 volumes of everybody’s favorite superhero manga on this month’s chart, along with two volumes of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba and the most recent volumes of Komi Can’t Communicate, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, The Legend of Zelda, and Tokyo Ghoul: Re.  The first volume of the Persona 5 manga also did well enough to make the manga chart for a second month.

NPD BookScan Top 20 Manga Graphic Novels – February 2020 (2/2/20 - 2/29/20)

Rank

Title

Author

Publisher

1

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 23

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

2

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 1

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

3

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 2

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

4

KOMI CAN'T COMMUNICATE VOL. 5

TOMOHITO ODA

VIZ MEDIA

5

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 22

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

6

UZUMAKI HC

JUNJI ITO

VIZ MEDIA

7

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 3

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

8

DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 1

KOYOHARU GOTOUGE

VIZ MEDIA

9

JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE: PART 4--DIAMOND IS UNBREAKABLE VOL. 4

HIROHIKO ARAKI

VIZ MEDIA

10

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 4

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

11

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 20

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

12

MY HERO ACADEMI, VOL. 5

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

13

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TWILIGHT PRINCESS VOL. 6

AKIRA HIMEKAWA

VIZ MEDIA

14

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 21

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

15

TOKYO GHOUL: RE VOL. 15

SUI ISHIDA

VIZ MEDIA

16

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 19

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

17

PERSONA 5 VOL. 1

HISATO MURASAKI

VIZ MEDIA

18

DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 10

KOYOHARU GOTOUGE

VIZ MEDIA

19

GIVEN VOL. 1

NATSUKI KIZU

VIZ MEDIA

20

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 6

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

Source: The NPD Group/BookScan

All that said, it’s a pretty normal month for Author graphic novels, because every month is different anyway.  Nathan W. Pyle’s Strange Planet is bumped out of the top spot by a new collection of warm-n-fuzzy comics, which is probably what everyone needs about now anyway.  After that, it’s the usual mix of memoir, horror, gamer stuff, adaptations, and The Umbrella Academy, finishing at number 20, Go To Sleep (I Miss You), Lucy Knisley’s collection of comics about grownups adjusting to having a baby around the house, putting us back in the "Awwwww" zone.

NPD BookScan Top 20 Author Graphic Novels – February 2020 (2/2/20 - 2/29/20)

Rank

Title

Author

Publisher

1

SNUG: A COLLECTION OF COMICS ABOUT DATING YOUR BEST FRIEND HC

CATANA CHETWYND

ANDREWS & MCMEEL

2

STRANGE PLANET HC

NATHAN W. PYLE

MORROW GIFT

3

THEY CALLED US ENEMY

GEORGE TAKEI

TOP SHELF PROD.

4

LOCKE & KEY VOL. 1: WELCOME TO LOVECRAFT

JOE HILL

IDW PUBLISHING

5

MARCH: BOOK ONE

JOHN LEWIS

TOP SHELF PROD.

6

CRITICAL ROLE VOX MACHINA: ORIGINS VOL. 1

MATTHEW MERCER

DARK HORSE COMICS

7

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD: A GRAPHIC NOVEL

HARPER LEE

HARPER

8

THE ADVENTURE ZONE: MURDER ON THE ROCKPORT LIMITED!

CLINT MCELROY

FIRST SECOND BOOKS

9

LOCKE & KEY VOL. 2: HEAD GAMES

JOE HILL

IDW PUBLISHING

10

THE ADVENTURE ZONE: HERE THERE BE GERBLINS

CLINT MCELROY

FIRST SECOND BOOKS

11

MAKING COMICS

LYNDA BARRY

DRAWN & QUARTERLY

12

LOCKE & KEY VOL. 3: CROWN OF SHADOWS

JOE HILL

IDW PUBLISHING

13

THE WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM VOL. 4

KIRKMAN, ROBERT

IMAGE COMICS

14

FUN HOME: A FAMILY TRAGICOMIC

BECHDEL, ALISON

MARINER BOOKS

15

THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY VOL. 3: HOTEL OBLIVION

GERARD WAY

DARK HORSE COMICS

16

THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY VOL. 1: APOCALYPSE SUITE

GERARD WAY

DARK HORSE COMICS

17

NOISE: A GRAPHIC NOVEL BASED ON A TRUE STORY

ATHLEEN RAYMUNDO

LIGHTNING SOURCE

18

DIE VOL. 2: SPLIT THE PARTY

KIERON GILLEN

IMAGE COMICS

19

LOCKE & KEY VOL. 4: KEYS TO THE KINGDOM

JOE HILL

IDW PUBLISHING

20

GO TO SLEEP (I MISS YOU): CARTOONS FROM THE FOG OF NEW PARENTHOOD

LUCY KNISLEY

FIRST SECOND BOOKS

Source: The NPD Group/BookScan

For charts of February graphic novel sales from NPD BookScan:
February 2020 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels
February 2020 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:
February 2020 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
February 2020 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Author, Manga, and Superhero Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
February 2020 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Kids 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."