Even though the second season of the AMC adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead ended in March, the TV-drive sales of a phalanx of The Walking Dead graphic novels continued to dominate bookstore graphic novel sales in April according to a report from Nielsen BookScan. Just as in March The Walking Dead took seven out of the top ten spots, though this time Kirkman’s collections swept the top four spots, whereas in March they just took the first and the fourth positions. But just as last month and even dozen Walking Dead titles made up the majority of the top 20.Though it’s not really a graphic novel, DK Publishing’s Marvel Avengers: The Ultimate Guide made its first appearance on the list, due no doubt to the growing excitement for Joss Whedon’s The Avengers movie. It should be interesting to see if The Avengers movie will stimulate the sales of actual Avengers comic books (the Marvel movies have definitely increased the prices of rare landmark issues of comics featuring Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and the rest of the superhero team).
Manga actually upped its presence on the list from 4 titles in March to 5 in April. Debuting manga titles included Viz Media’s Rosario + Vampire: Season 2 was the bestselling manga at #5, while Yen Press’ Black Butler Vol. 9 bowed at #14, and Viz Media’s Bleach Vol. 39 made its first appearance on the list at number 19. Returning manga titles were Viz Media’s Naruto Vol. 55, which slipped from #3 in March to #10 in April, and Kodansha USA’s Sailor Moon Vol. 4, fell from #2 to #18.
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BookScan Top 20 Graphic Novels in April 2012 | |||
|
Rank |
Title |
Author |
Publisher |
|
1 |
THE WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM ONE |
ROBERT KIRKMAN |
IMAGE COMICS |
|
2 |
THE WALKING DEAD BOOK 1 HC |
ROBERT KIRKMAN |
IMAGE COMICS |
|
3 |
THE WALKING DEAD BOOK 2 HC |
ROBERT KIRKMAN |
IMAGE COMICS |
|
4 |
THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 1 |
ROBERT KIRKMAN |
IMAGE COMICS |
|
5 |
ROSARIO+VAMPIRE SEASON II VOL. 8 |
AKIHISA IKEDA |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
6 |
MARVEL AVENGERS: THE ULTIMATE CHARACTER GUIDE HC |
ALAN COWSILL |
DK PUBLISHING |
|
7 |
THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 2 |
ROBERT KIRKMAN |
IMAGE COMICS |
|
8 |
THE WALKING DEAD BOOK 3 HC |
ROBERT KIRKMAN |
IMAGE COMICS |
|
9 |
THE WALKING DEAD BOOK 5 HC |
ROBERT KIRKMAN |
IMAGE COMICS |
|
10 |
NARUTO VOL. 55 |
MASASHI KISHIMOTO |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
11 |
THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 3 |
ROBERT KIRKMAN |
IMAGE COMICS |
|
12 |
THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 15 |
ROBERT KIRKMAN |
IMAGE COMICS |
|
13 |
AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER: THE PROMISE PART 1 |
GENE YANG |
DARK HORSE |
|
14 |
BLACK BUTLER VOL. 9 |
YANA TOBOSO |
YEN PRESS |
|
15 |
THE WALKING DEAD BOOK 6 HC |
ROBERT KIRKMAN |
IMAGE COMICS |
|
16 |
A GAME OF THRONES: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL VOL. 1 HC |
GEROGE R.R. MARTIN |
BANTAM |
|
17 |
THE WALKING DEAD BOOK 7 HC |
ROBERT KIRKMAN |
IMAGE COMICS |
|
18 |
SAILOR MOON VOL. 4 |
NAOKE TAKEUCHI |
KODANSHA COMICS |
|
19 |
BLEACH VOL. 39 |
TITE KUBO |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
20 |
THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 4 |
ROBERT KIRKMAN |
IMAGE COMICS |
The non-Walking Dead, non-manga holdovers were also TV-driven titles. The Dynamite/Bantam comic adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones, which benefits from the popularity of the HBO series, fell from #7 in March to #16 in April, while Dark Horse’s Avatar: The Last Airbender by Gene Yang, which is based on the Nickelodeon series, actually climbed up the chart from #16 in March to #13 in April. Avatar: The Last Airbender topped this chart in February and has been a fixture on it every since.
For past BookScan Top 20 Graphic Novel lists, see the "BookScan Top 20 GNs Index."