The number three title is Volume 1 of Critical Role Vox Machina: Origins, which is based on a webseries in which a group of voice actors play Dungeons & Dragons. Their group of adventurers is named Vox Machina, and the graphic novel, true to its name, gives their origin story. A second volume, co-written by Jody Houser (Faith, Mother Panic, Stranger Things) is scheduled for June 2020.
Then there’s Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration, which was released on October 29 and still made the number four spot. Immigration is a hot topic right now, and the artist is Zach Weinersmith, creator of the popular webcomic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. Writer Bryan Caplan is an economist who gets quoted a lot in the media. This is the first of a wave of nonfiction graphic novels about civics and politics that will be coming out in the next year.
The first collected volume of DC Comics’ Doomsday Clock shows up at number 11; not surprisingly, it did better in the direct market, topping the October chart in unit sales (see "‘X-Men’ Tops Charts in Big October for Comic Stores").
Down in the number 19 spot is False Knees: An Illustrated Guide to Animal Behavior, the first print collection of Joshua Barkman’s webcomic of the same name. Despite the title, this is not nonfiction: Barkman draws very meme-able short comics of carefully rendered animals having absurd conversations.
Aside from those titles, the top 20 holds few surprises. The top seller is Volume 4 of The Walking Dead Compendium (the number one graphic novel in the direct market in dollar sales), followed by the 2019 edition of Watchmen. It’s mildly surprising that the new volume of My Hero Academia is in fifth place, but it was released shortly before the end of last month’s reporting period, so the sales are split across two charts (see "September 2019 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels").
Overall, 10 of the top 20 are manga, and all but one of those are from VIZ Media. The third volume of Komi Can’t Communicate, at number six, is the second-highest manga title. This series has consistently shown up in the top 20, and it seems to have some staying power.
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NPD BookScan Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels – October 2019 (10/6/19 - 11/2/19) |
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|
Rank |
Title |
Author |
Publisher |
|
1 |
THE WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM VOL. 4 |
ROBERT KIRKMAN |
IMAGE COMICS |
|
2 |
WATCHMEN (2019 EDITION) |
ALAN MOORE |
DC COMICS |
|
3 |
CRITICAL ROLE VOX MACHINA: ORIGINS VOL. 1 |
MATTHEW MERCER |
DARK HORSE COMICS |
|
4 |
OPEN BORDERS: THE SCIENCE AND ETHICS OF IMMIGRATION |
BRYAN CAPLAN |
FIRST SECOND BOOKS |
|
5 |
MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 21 |
KOHEI HORIKOSHI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
6 |
KOMI CAN'T COMMUNICATE VOL. 3 |
TOMOHITO ODA |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
7 |
MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 1 |
KOHEI HORIKOSHI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
8 |
THEY CALLED US ENEMY |
GEORGE TAKEI |
TOP SHELF PROD. |
|
9 |
THE ADVENTURE ZONE: MURDER ON THE ROCKPORT LIMITED! |
CLINT MCELROY |
FIRST SECOND BOOKS |
|
10 |
MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 2 |
KOHEI HORIKOSHI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
11 |
DOOMSDAY CLOCK PART 1 HC |
GEOFF JOHNS |
DC COMICS |
|
12 |
UZUMAKI HC |
JUNJI ITO |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
13 |
BERSERK VOL. 40 |
KENTARO MIURA |
DARK HORSE COMICS |
|
14 |
MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 20 |
KOHEI HORIKOSHI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
15 |
MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 3 |
KOHEI HORIKOSHI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
16 |
BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE DLX. ED. HC (NEW EDITION) |
ALAN MOORE |
DC COMICS |
|
17 |
BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE DLX. ED. HC |
ALAN MOORE |
DC COMICS |
|
18 |
MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 4 |
KOHEI HORIKOSHI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
19 |
FALSE KNEES: AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO ANIMAL BEHAVIOR |
JOSHUA BARKMAN |
ANDREWS MCMEEL |
|
20 |
DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 8 |
KOYOHARU GOTOUGE |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
Source: The NPD Group/BookScan |
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For charts of October graphic novel sales from NPD BookScan:
October 2019 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels
October 2019 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:
October 2019 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
October 2019 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Author, Manga, and Superhero Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
October 2019 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."