While it is good news for the manga market that two series (Tokyo Ghoul & One-Punch Man) posted such strong debuts, the top rungs on the chart went to the usual suspects, new volumes of Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples’ Saga and Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead—the two graphic novel franchises that have been dominating GN sales in both the bookstore and direct markets for several years running. Both titles hit the bookstores in September, and it is noteworthy that Saga Vol. 5 did outsell The Walking Dead Vol. 24 in the bookstore market, something that reflects reports ICv2 has been receiving from direct market retailers like Brian Hibbs of Comix Experience in San Francisco, who have reported that individual volumes of Saga have been outselling TWD at their stores for quite some time.
Mention should be made of Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, which was #3 in August and remained in that high perch in September even outselling the new Scott Snyder Batman collection, which debuted in the bookstores on September 1st and finished in fourth place. Fun Home’s performance isn’t too bad for a graphic novel that debuted in 2007, and stands out as a testimony to the graphic novel sales-driving power of a Broadway adaptation. "Evergreen" backlist sellers are a constant presence on the Bookstore Top 20 Adult GN list, and this month is no exception with Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s Batman: The Killing Joke, Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese, Moore & and Dave Gibbon’s Watchmen, Mark Millar’s Civil War, and Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns all making their umpteenth appearance on this monthly list.
New titles that made this list in September include Kate Beaton’s Step Aside, Pops: A Hark! A Vagrant Collection from Drawn & Quarterly that features more of the witty, anachronistic send-ups of canonical literary texts that put Beaton’s previous volume, Hark! A Vagrant on the New York Times bestseller list for five straight months.
Perhaps the most surprising title on the list is Username: Evie, a graphic novel by the British vlogger Joe Sugg, a roof thatcher by trade whose YouTube channel has 4 million subscribers, who in Username Evie has created a very affecting story of a socially-isolated teen girl, who stumbles on a virtual reality computer world created by her late father.
The other anomaly on the list is a comic strip collection, Pearls Get Sacrificed: A Pearls Before Swine Treasury, which demonstrates that Stephen Pastis is one of the most popular newspaper cartoonists working today.
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BookScan Top 20 Graphic Novels in September 2015 |
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|
Rank |
Title |
Author |
Publisher |
|
1 |
SAGA VOL. 5 |
BRIAN K. VAUGHAN |
IMAGE COMICS |
|
4 |
THE WALKING DEAD VOL. 24 |
ROBERT KIRKMAN |
IMAGE COMICS |
|
3 |
FUN HOME: A FAMILY TRAGICOMIC |
ALISON BECHDEL |
MARINER BOOKS |
|
4 |
BATMAN VOL. 7 HC |
SCOTT SNYDER |
DC COMICS |
|
5 |
TOKYO GHOUL VOL. 1 |
SUI ISHIDA |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
6 |
BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE DLX ED |
ALAN MOORE |
DC COMICS |
|
7 |
TOKYO GHOUL VOL. 2 |
SUI ISHIDA |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
8 |
ONE-PUNCH MAN VOL. 1 |
ONE |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
9 |
STEP ASIDE, POPS: A HARK! A VAGRANT COLLECTION |
KATE BEATON |
DRAWN & QUARTERLY |
|
10 |
NARUTO VOL. 71 |
MASASHI KISHIMOTO |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
11 |
ONE-PUNCH MAN VOL. 2 |
ONE |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
12 |
AMERICAN BORN CHINESE |
GENE LUEN YANG |
MACMILLAN |
|
13 |
ATTACK ON TITAN VOL. 16 |
HAJIME ISAYAMA |
KODANSHA COMICS |
|
14 |
SGA VOL. 1 |
BRIAN K. VAUGHAN |
IMAGE COMICS |
|
15 |
USERNAME: EVIE |
JOE SUGG |
RUNNING BOOK PRESS |
|
16 |
WATCHMEN |
ALAN MOORE |
DC COMICS |
|
17 |
CIVIL WAR |
MARK MILLAR |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
18 |
PEARLS GET SACRIFICED: A PEARLS BEFORE SWINE TREASURY |
STEPHAN PASTIS |
ANDREWS MCMEEL |
|
19 |
ATTACK ON TITAN VOL. 1 |
HAJIME ISAYAMA |
KODANSHA COMICS |
|
20 |
BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS |
FRANK MILLER |
DC COMICS |
For past BookScan Top 20 Graphic Novel lists, see the "BookScan Top 20 GN Index."