Penguin did Marvel Comics better than Marvel did on the superhero chart, Invincible took off, and Shonen Jump titles topped the manga chart, based on Circana (formerly NPD) BookScan data for December 2023 (11/26/23 – 12/30/23) provided to ICv2.

Penguin’s hardcover Amazing Spider-Man outsold both of the actual Marvel Spider-Man titles on the chart.  December wasn’t a good month for Marvel graphic novels.  On the rest of the chart, three different properties appear twice in the Superhero Top 20: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin, both the regular edition and the Director’s Cut; two different editions of Watchmen; and both the hardcover and the paperback versions of the Penguin Classics collection of The Amazing Spider-Man.

There are no December releases on the Superhero chart, but two November titles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin—Lost Years and Jeffrey Brown’s The Mandalorian and Child, are back in the top 20 for a second month, and Vol. 1 of Rick and Morty: The Manga (which is not, in fact, a manga) marks its third month on the chart.

Circana BookScan Top 20 "Superhero" Graphic Novels – December 2023 (11/26/23 - 12/30/23)

Rank

Title

Author

Publisher

1

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: THE LAST RONIN HC

KEVIN EASTMAN

IDW PUBLISHING

2

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: THE LAST RONIN--LOST YEARS HC

KEVIN EASTMAN

IDW PUBLISHING

3

DISNEY MANGA: TIM BURTON'S THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS - THE BATTLE FOR PUMPKIN KING

DAN CONNER

TOKYOPOP

4

THE MANDALORIAN AND CHILD

JEFFREY BROWN

CHRONICLE BOOKS

5

THE SANDMAN BOOK ONE

NEIL GAIMAN

DC COMICS

6

BATMAN: YEAR ONE

FRANK MILLER

DC COMICS

7

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

ALAN MOORE

DC COMICS

8

RICK AND MORTY: THE MANGA VOL. 1 -- GET IN THE ROBOT, MORTY!

ALISSA M. SALLAH

ONI PRESS

9

WATCHMEN: THE DELUXE EDITION

ALAN MOORE

DC COMICS

10

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: THE LAST RONIN DIRECTOR'S CUT HC

KEVIN EASTMAN

IDW PUBLISHING

11

WATCHMEN (2019 EDITION)

ALAN MOORE

DC COMICS

12

STRANGER THINGS GRAPHIC NOVEL BOXED SET (ZOMBIE BOYS, THE BULLY, ERICA THE GREAT )

GREG PAK

DARK HORSE

13

BATMAN '89 HC

SAM HAMM

DC COMICS

14

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN HC

STAN LEE

PENGUIN CLASSICS

15

SPIDER-MAN: MILES MORALES VOL. 1

BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS

MARVEL COMICS

16

STRANGER THINGS AND DUNGEONS & DRAGONS

JODY HOUSER

DARK HORSE

17

BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN

JEPH LOEB

DC COMICS

18

SPIDER-PUNK: BATTLE OF THE BANNED

CODY ZIGLAR

MARVEL COMICS

19

THE BATMAN WHO LAUGHS

SCOTT SNYDER

DC COMICS

20

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

STAN LEE

PENGUIN CLASSICS

Source: Circana

All three volumes of the Invincible Compendium are on the chart, as are five volumes of Lore Olympus (in a mix of hardcovers and paperbacks) and three of Solo Leveling.  And Roz Chast’s I Must Be Dreaming is back for its third month.

The Invincible Compendium volumes likely got a boost from the second season of the series, which began streaming at the beginning of November (see "‘Invincible’ S2 Trailers").  It’s interesting that these hefty and fairly expensive volumes (MSRP: $64.99) made the chart while the new edition of the regular trade paperback (MSRP: $12.99) did not; presumably readers picking up the series at this point were ready to binge.

Bill Watterson and John Kascht’s The Mysteries tops the Author chart for the third month in a row, and Vol. 1 of The Calvin and Hobbes Portable Compendium stays in the Top 20 for a fourth month.  Vol. 11 of Saga is in second place.

Three new Asian titles debut on the chart: the first volumes of Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint and Dark Moon: The Blood Altar, both manhwa from Ize Press, and the fourth volume of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi, a Chinese series that is doing quite well for Seven Seas in both novel and manhua form.  Another new title is Vol. 1 of Lumine, which runs on the Webtoon platform, and the other Webtoon title, Vol. 1 of Boyfriends, is back for a second month.

Circana BookScan Top 20 Author Graphic Novels – December 2023 (11/26/23 - 12/30/23)

Rank

Title

Author

Publisher

1

THE MYSTERIES HC

BILL WATTERSON

ANDREWS & MCMEEL

2

SAGA VOL. 11

BRIAN K. VAUGHAN

IMAGE COMICS

3

INVINCIBLE COMPENDIUM VOL. 1

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

4

INVINCIBLE COMPENDIUM VOL. 2

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

5

THE CALVIN AND HOBBES PORTABLE COMPENDIUM SET 1: VOL. 1

BILL WATTERSON

ANDREWS & MCMEEL

6

LORE OLYMPUS: VOL. FOUR HC

RACHEL SMYTHE

INKLORE

7

LORE OLYMPUS: VOL. FIVE HC

RACHEL SMYTHE

INKLORE

8

SOLO LEVELING VOL. 1

CHUGONG

YEN PRESS

9

INVINCIBLE COMPENDIUM VOL. 3

ROBERT KIRKMAN

IMAGE COMICS

10

OMNISCIENT READER'S VIEWPOINT VOL. 1

SLEEPY-C

IZE PRESS

11

LORE OLYMPUS: VOL. ONE

RACHEL SMYTHE

INKLORE

12

GRANDMASTER OF DEMONIC CULTIVATION: MO DAO ZU SHI VOL. 4

MO XIANG TONG XIU

SEVEN SEAS

13

DARK MOON: THE BLOOD ALTAR VOL. 1

HYBE

IZE PRESS

14

I MUST BE DREAMING HC

ROZ CHAST

BLOOMSBURY

15

SOLO LEVELING VOL. 7

CHUGONG

YEN PRESS

16

BOYFRIENDS. VOL. ONE

REFRAINBOW

WEBTOON UNSCROLLED

17

LUMINE VOL. ONE

EMMA KROGELL

WEBTOON UNSCROLLED

18

LORE OLYMPUS VOL FIVE HC (B&N EXCLUSIVE)

RACHEL SMYTHE

INKLORE

19

LORE OLYMPUS: VOL. TWO

RACHEL SMYTHE

INKLORE

20

SOLO LEVELING VOL. 2

CHUGONG

YEN PRESS

Source: Circana

Two December Shonen Jump releases crowd the top of the chart: Vol. 13 of Chainsaw Man at number one and Vol. 36 of My Hero Academia in fourth place. In between is Vol. 21 of Jujutsu Kaisen, which came out in November and placed second for the second month in a row.  One other new release worth noting is Vol. 1 of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu Academy, a comedy spinoff of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.

The vast majority of the titles in the Top 20, 17 in all, are not just VIZ Media but Shonen Jump, with readers picking up both new and older volumes (and in the case of Chainsaw Man, the box set), meaning that new readers are still coming to these series.

Circana BookScan Top 20 Manga Graphic Novels – December 2023 (11/26/23 - 12/30/23)

Rank

Title

Author

Publisher

1

CHAINSAW MAN VOL. 13

TATSUKI FUJIMOTO

VIZ MEDIA

2

JUJUTSU KAISEN VOL. 21

GEGE AKUTAMI

VIZ MEDIA

3

BERSERK DELUXE VOL. 1 HC

KENTARO MIURA

DARK HORSE

4

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 36

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

5

JUJUTSU KAISEN VOL. 1

GEGE AKUTAMI

VIZ MEDIA

6

CHAINSAW MAN VOL. 12

TATSUKI FUJIMOTO

VIZ MEDIA

7

JUJUTSU KAISEN VOL. 0

GEGE AKUTAMI

VIZ MEDIA

8

ONE PIECE VOL. 104

EIICHIRO ODA

VIZ MEDIA

9

DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 1

KOYOHARU GOTOUGE

VIZ MEDIA

10

CHAINSAW MAN BOX SET (VOLS. 1-11)

TATSUKI FUJIMOTO

VIZ MEDIA

11

SPY X FAMILY VOL. 10

TATSUYA ENDO

VIZ MEDIA

12

JUJUTSU KAISEN VOL. 20

GEGE AKUTAMI

VIZ MEDIA

13

ONE PIECE VOL. 1 OMNIBUS EDITION (VOLS. 1, 2 & 3)

EIICHIRO ODA

VIZ MEDIA

14

CHAINSAW MAN VOL. 1

TATSUKI FUJIMOTO

VIZ MEDIA

15

SPY X FAMILY VOL. 1

TATSUYA ENDO

VIZ MEDIA

16

BERSERK DELUXE VOL. 2 HC

KENTARO MIURA

DARK HORSE

17

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 1

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

18

BERSERK DELUXE VOL. 14 HC

KENTARO MIURA

DARK HORSE

19

JUJUTSU KAISEN VOL. 3

GEGE AKUTAMI

VIZ MEDIA

20

DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU ACADEMY, VOL. 1

NATSUKI HOKAMI

VIZ MEDIA

Source: Circana

For charts of December 2023 graphic novel sales from Circana:
December 2023 Circana – Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels
December 2023 Circana – Top 20 Kids Graphic Novels

For the charts with the actual sales numbers from Circana, see these articles on the ICv2 Pro site:
December 2023 Circana – Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
December 2023 Circana – Top 20 Author, Manga, and Superhero Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
December 2023 Circana – Top 20 Kids Graphic Novels with Actual Sales


Circana collects weekly point-of-sale data on print books from over 16,000 locations including e-tailers, chains, mass merchandisers, independent bookstores, and more.  Circana 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 Top 20 Graphic Novel lists, see the "Top 20 GN Index."