Sales of The Walking Dead graphic novels dropped off in bookstores in May, giving some air to other titles as the property's dominance ebbed a bit, according to the May list of "Top 20 Graphic Novels" sold in the book channel, provided exclusively to ICv2 by Nielsen BookScan.  Like last month (see "April BookScan--Top 20 Graphic Novels"), perhaps the most interesting moves were by older titles, displaying sales trends to a greater extent than the six May releases that made Top 20.

The Walking Dead placed only three volumes in the Top 20, down from eight last month, as the show’s impact faded with more than a month since the last episode of last season aired.

The five additional slots cleared by The Walking Dead did not go to Marvel and DC, which together dominate the comic store market.  As was the case last month, DC placed only three titles in the Top 20 (this month none above #15), and Marvel one (Matt Fraction's Hawkeye at #16, down one from #15).  DK Publishing did place two older licensed titles, its Marvel Avengers: The Ultimate Character Guide and DC Comics: The Ultimate Character Guide, we suspect behind promotional activity (given their age).

Still, with Iron Man 3 in theaters, Man of Steel on the way, weaker competition, and roughly a 2/3 share in comic stores, it's surprising how few books the Big Two manage to place among the bestsellers in the book market.

The biggest move goes to Max Brooks' The Zombie Survival Guide, which moved up to #8 from #13 in April.  As we noted last month, this title is climbing the chart in anticipation of World War Z, which has had some negative press in the run-up to release but appears to have some ability to move the sales dial.

Saga moved up again, to #11 from #12, in its eighth month on the chart and the second month since the content controversy surrounding #12 (see "Sexual Content Poses Challenges for Comic Retailers").

Yen Press's latest graphic novel adaptation of a Twilight novel (New Moon: The Manga Volume 1 HC) premiered strong, at #5.

Manga had a good month with eight of the Top 20, up from only four last month.  The latest volume of Naruto took the #1 slot, as it usually does, and placed three titles over-all, including the previous volume, #60, and the latest 3-in-1 Edition.  Beyond the three Naruto titles, two Sailor Moon volumes from Kodansha  (including a new one, which shipped late in the month and only placed #4 as a result), and the latest volumes of Viz's Black Bird, Yen's Black Butler, Seven Seas' Dance in the Vampire Bund make up the eight manga titles in the Top 20 in May.
 

BookScan Top 20 Graphic Novels in May 2013
Rank	Title	Author	Publisher
1	NARUTO VOL. 61	MASASHI KISHIMOTO	VIZ MEDIA
2	THE WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM VOL. 1	ROBERT KIRKMAN	IMAGE COMICS
3	THE WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM VOL. 2	ROBERT KIRKMAN	IMAGE COMICS
4	SAILOR MOON VOL. 11	NAOKO TAKEUCHI	KODANSHA COMICS
5	NEW MOON: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL VOL. 1 HC	STEPHENIE MEYERS	YEN PRESS
6	MARVEL AVENGERS: THE ULTIMATE CHARACTER GUIDE HC	ALAN COWSILL	DK PUBLISHING
7	DC COMICS: THE ULTIMATE CHARACTER GUIDE HC	BRANDON T. SNIDER	DK PUBLISHING
8	THE ZOMBIE SURVIVAL GUIDE: RECORDED ATTACKS	MAX BROOKS	BROADWAY BOOKS
9	BLACK BIRD VOL. 16	KANOKO SAKURAKOUJI	VIZ MEDIA
10	SAILOR MOON VOL. 10	NAOKO TAKEUCHI	KODANSHA COMICS
11	SAGA VOL. 1	BRIAN K. VAUGHAN	IMAGE COMICS
12	BLACK BUTLER VOL. 13	YANA TOBOSO	YEN PRESS
13	THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 1	ROBERT KIRKMAN	IMAGE COMICS
14	DANCE IN THE VAMPIRE BUND VOL. 14	NOZOMU TAMAKI	SEVEN SEAS
15	BATMAN VOL. 2: THE CITY OF OWLS HC	SCOTT SNYDER	DC COMICS
16	HAWKEYE VOL. 1	MATT FRACTION	MARVEL COMICS
17	NARUTO VOL. 60	MASASHI KISHIMOTO	VIZ MEDIA
18	NARUTO (3-IN-1 EDITION) VOL. 5	MASASHI KISHIMOTO	VIZ MEDIA
19	WATCHMEN	ALAN MOORE	DC COMICS
20	BATMAN VOL. 1: THE COURT OF OWLS	SCOTT SNYDER	DC COMICS

BookScan Top 20 Graphic Novel lists, see the "BookScan Top 20 GNs Index."