Exactly half the titles in the Superhero top 20 are new releases. That includes one reprint, though, the paperback edition of The Batman Who Laughs; the hardcover, also on the chart, came out in 2019.
The first and third slots are taken up by two Godzilla vs. Kong tie-ins, part of a flurry of titles that Legendary announced in February (see "Legendary Comics to Launch ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ Publishing Program").
In the number 2 spot is the deluxe hardcover collected edition of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Dark Nights: Death Metal, the sequel to their Dark Nights: Metal series (see "DC Announces ‘Dark Nights: Metal’ Sequel").
Batting cleanup is X of Swords, the hardcover collection of Jonathan Hickman’s massive X-Men crossover event (see "Jonathan Hickman to Headline ‘X of Swords’").
And then there’s Watchmen (2019), which is always on the chart.
Looking over the chart as a whole, DC Comics dominates the top 20 (as usual), Batman dominates the DC offerings (as usual), but Legendary snagging two of the top three spots is worthy of note. Also, further down the chart we see another non-Big Two comic, Volume 4 of Life Is Strange, from Titan; Volume 3 of the series was in last April’s top 20 (see "April 2020 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Author, Manga, Superhero Graphic Novels").
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NPD BookScan Top 20 'Superheroes' Graphic Novels – April 2021 (4/3/21 – 5/1/21) |
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|
Rank |
Title |
Author |
Publisher |
|
1 |
GVK GODZILLA DOMINION |
GREG KEYES |
LEGENDARY COMICS |
|
2 |
DARK NIGHTS: DEATH METAL: DLX. ED. HC |
SCOTT SNYDER |
DC COMICS |
|
3 |
GVK KINGDOM KONG |
MARIE ANELLO |
LEGENDARY COMICS |
|
4 |
X OF SWORDS HC |
JONATHAN HICKMAN |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
5 |
WATCHMEN (2019 EDITION) |
ALAN MOORE |
DC COMICS |
|
6 |
THE BATMAN WHO LAUGHS HC |
SCOTT SNYDER |
DC COMICS |
|
7 |
DCEASED: DEAD PLANET HC |
TOM TAYLOR |
DC COMICS |
|
8 |
THE BATMAN WHO LAUGHS HC |
SCOTT SNYDER |
DC COMICS |
|
9 |
BATMAN: THREE JOKERS HC |
GEOFF JOHNS |
DC COMICS |
|
10 |
BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN |
JEPH LOEB |
DC COMICS |
|
11 |
DARK NIGHTS: DEATH METAL: THE DARKEST KNIGHT |
VARIOUS |
DC COMICS |
|
12 |
HARLEEN HC |
STJEPAN SEJIC |
DC COMICS |
|
13 |
BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE DLX. ED. HC (NEW ED.) |
ALAN MOORE |
DC COMICS |
|
14 |
BATMAN: YEAR ONE |
FRANK MILLER |
DC COMICS |
|
15 |
BATMAN: LAST KNIGHT ON EARTH HC |
SCOTT SNYDER |
DC COMICS |
|
16 |
LIFE IS STRANGE VOL. 4: PARTNERS IN TIME: TRACKS |
EMMA VIECELI |
TITAN COMICS |
|
17 |
STAR WARS VOL. 2: OPERATION STARLIGHT |
CHARLES SOULE |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
18 |
BATMAN VOL. 2: THE JOKER WAR HC |
JAMES TYNION IV |
DC COMICS |
|
19 |
BATMAN: A DEATH IN THE FAMILY THE DLX. ED. HC |
JIM STARLIN |
DC COMICS |
|
20 |
BATMAN: WHITE KNIGHT |
SEAN MURPHY |
DC COMICS |
|
Source: The NPD Group/BookScan |
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There’s only one new title on the Author chart, Living with Mochi by Gemma Gené, at number four. The alert reader will not be surprised to learn that this is a collection of short, funny comics that first ran on Instagram; Andrews McMeel seems to be doing quite well with this category of late. In fact, directly below Living with Mochi are two more Insta-comics, In Love and Pajamas and Strange Planet, and further down is Fangs, by Insta-darling Sarah Andersen, and Stranger Planet.
There are some new-ish titles on the chart as well, with Solo Leveling and Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology making return visits after debuting on the March chart and David Walker and Marcus Kwame Anderson’s The Black Panther Party returning to the chart for the fourth month in a row since its January release.
The first volume of Robert Kirkman’s Invincible Compendium is back on the chart for the second month in a row; this is not a new title, but the animated adaptation began running in late March on Amazon. The first volume of Invincible: The Ultimate Collection also makes the chart at number 19.
The rest of the chart is the usual variety of recurring titles, with They Called Us Enemy in first place.
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NPD BookScan Top 20 Author Graphic Novels – April 2021 (4/3/21 – 5/1/21) |
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|
Rank |
Title |
Author |
Publisher |
|
1 |
THEY CALLED US ENEMY |
GEORGE TAKEI |
TOP SHELF PROD. |
|
2 |
SOLO LEVELING VOL. 1 |
CHUGONG |
YEN PRESS |
|
3 |
MARCH: BOOK ONE |
JOHN LEWIS |
TOP SHELF PROD. |
|
4 |
LIVING WITH MOCHI |
GEMMA GENÉ |
ANDREWS MCMEEL |
|
5 |
IN LOVE & PAJAMAS: A COLLECTION OF COMICS ABOUT BEING YOURSELF TOGETHER HC |
CATANA CHETWYND |
ANDREWS MCMEEL |
|
6 |
STRANGE PLANET HC |
NATHAN W. PYLE |
MORROW GIFT |
|
7 |
DUNE: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL BOOK 1 HC |
FRANK HERBERT |
ABRAMS |
|
8 |
MONSTERS HC |
BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH |
FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS |
|
9 |
FANGS HC |
SARAH ANDERSEN |
ANDREWS MCMEEL |
|
10 |
INVINCIBLE COMPENDIUM VOL. 1 |
KIRKMAN, ROBERT |
IMAGE COMICS |
|
11 |
STRANGER PLANET HC |
NATHAN W. PYLE |
MORROW GIFT |
|
12 |
MARCH (TRILOGY SLIPCASE SET) |
JOHN LEWIS |
TOP SHELF PROD. |
|
13 |
NORSE MYTHOLOGY VOL. 1 HC |
NEIL GAIMAN |
DARK HORSE COMICS |
|
14 |
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD: A GRAPHIC NOVEL HC |
HARPER LEE |
HARPER |
|
15 |
SAPIENS: A GRAPHIC HISTORY: THE BIRTH OF HUMANKIND |
YUVAL NOAH HARARI |
HARPERCOLLINS PUB. |
|
16 |
FUN HOME: A FAMILY TRAGICOMIC |
ALISON BECHDEL |
MARINER BOOKS |
|
17 |
THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY VOL. 1: APOCALYPSE SUITE |
GERARD WAY |
DARK HORSE COMICS |
|
18 |
INVINCIBLE: THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION VOL. 1 HC |
ROBERT KIRKMAN |
IMAGE COMICS |
|
19 |
THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY: A GRAPHIC NOVEL HISTORY |
DAVID F. WALKER |
TEN SPEED PRESS |
|
20 |
CRITICAL ROLE: VOX MACHINA ORIGINS LIB. ED.: SERIES I & II COLL. HC |
CRITICAL ROLE |
DARK HORSE COMICS |
|
Source: The NPD Group/BookScan |
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The Manga top 20 may look familiar, as it is identical to the Adult top 20, but it’s worth looking at it in context with the other charts. One thing worth noting is that there are four April releases, as readers snapped up the latest volumes of My Hero Academia, Chainsaw Man, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.
Also, while VIZ Media has 19 of the 20 slots on the chart, what’s less obvious to the American observer is that all 19 of those titles are from the same Japanese publisher, Shueisha, which is part of the group of Japanese companies that own VIZ (the other manga publisher in that group is Shogakukan). What’s more, all those top-selling titles are part of VIZ’s Shonen Jump imprint and are available on the Shonen Jump app; new chapters are also available for free on the MangaPlus website, which is run by Shueisha but is in English. Some, but not all, of these titles, ran in the Japanese Shonen Jump magazine.
Now, there are several ways of interpreting this. One is that the Shueisha folks really know how to make manga that sell, and that’s definitely true; Weekly Shonen Jump is the best-selling manga magazine in Japan. Anime is a driving factor as well, but there is no Chainsaw Man anime. So it’s very possible that one of the reasons for these titles’ success is that they are readily available digitally, which helps keep fans engaged.
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NPD BookScan Top 20 Manga Graphic Novels – April 2021 (4/3/21 – 5/1/21) |
|||
|
Rank |
Title |
Author |
Publisher |
|
1 |
MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 27 |
KOHEI HORIKOSHI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
2 |
CHAINSAW MAN VOL. 4 |
TATSUKI FUJIMOTO |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
3 |
JUJUTSU KAISEN VOL. 9 |
GEGE AKUTAMI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
4 |
DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 1 |
KOYOHARU GOTOUGE |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
5 |
DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 2 |
KOYOHARU GOTOUGE |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
6 |
CHAINSAW MAN VOL. 2 |
TATSUKI FUJIMOTO |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
7 |
DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 21 |
KOYOHARU GOTOUGE |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
8 |
ATTACK ON TITAN VOL. 1 |
HAJIME ISAYAMA |
KODANSHA COMICS |
|
9 |
MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 2 |
KOHEI HORIKOSHI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
10 |
SPY X FAMILY VOL. 1 |
TATSUYA ENDO |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
11 |
JUJUTSU KAISEN VOL. 1 |
GEGE AKUTAMI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
12 |
DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 3 |
KOYOHARU GOTOUGE |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
13 |
DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 8 |
KOYOHARU GOTOUGE |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
14 |
JUJUTSU KAISEN VOL. 7 |
GEGE AKUTAMI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
15 |
DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 4 |
KOYOHARU GOTOUGE |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
16 |
TOKYO GHOUL VOL. 1 |
SUI ISHIDA |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
17 |
DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 9 |
KOYOHARU GOTOUGE |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
18 |
MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 26 |
KOHEI HORIKOSHI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
19 |
DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 7 |
KOYOHARU GOTOUGE |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
20 |
DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 10 |
KOYOHARU GOTOUGE |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
Source: The NPD Group/BookScan |
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For charts of April 2021 graphic novel sales from NPD BookScan:
April 2021 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels
April 2021 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:
April 2021 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
April 2021 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Author, Manga, and Superhero Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
April 2021 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."