The Sandman and webtoon collections dominated their respective charts, and Chainsaw Man the manga chart, with a mix of best-sellers and interesting debuts on the Top 20 Author, Manga, and Superhero graphic novels in the book channel, based on NPD BookScan data for September 2022 (8/28/22-10/1/22) provided to ICv2.

Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman was the big book on the Superhero chart, with seven volumes in the Top 20, an ongoing effect from the Netflix series.  Some of the other books are sideways takes on superheroes, including the top title, Fantastic Four: Full Circle, Alex Ross’s homage to Jack Kirby.  That’s the first title in the Abrams MarvelArts imprint (see "Abrams ComicArts Launching Marvel Graphic Novel Line").  Then there’s Batman ’89, Harley Quinn: The Animated Series, the Penguin Classics edition of The Amazing Spider-Man, and Tom Taylor and Yasmine Putri’s Dark Knights of Steel, a high-fantasy tale starring legacy DC characters (see "Tom Taylor Goes Medieval in ‘Dark Knights of Steel’").

The Top 20 looked very different a year ago, with two volumes of The Sandman and lots of Batman (see "September 2021 NPD BookScan").  This year’s chart has more variety, and the book that dominates is anything but a typical superhero title.

NPD BookScan Top 20 'Superheroes' Graphic Novels – September 2022 (8/28/22 – 10/1/22)

Rank

Title

Author

Publisher

1

FANTASTIC FOUR: FULL CIRCLE HC

ALEX ROSS

ABRAMS

2

THE SANDMAN BOOK ONE

NEIL GAIMAN

DC COMICS

3

BATMAN '89 HC

SAM HAMM

DC COMICS

4

THE SANDMAN BOOK TWO

NEIL GAIMAN

DC COMICS

5

HARLEY QUINN: THE ANIMATED SERIES VOL. 1: THE EAT. BANG! KILL TOUR HC

TEE FRANKLIN

DC COMICS

6

THE SANDMAN VOL. 1: PRELUDES & NOCTURNES 30TH ANN. ED.

NEIL GAIMAN

DC COMICS

7

WATCHMEN (2019 EDITION)

ALAN MOORE

DC COMICS

8

THE SANDMAN BOOK THREE

NEIL GAIMAN

DC COMICS

9

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: THE LAST RONIN HC

KEVIN EASTMAN

IDW PUBLISHING

10

THE SANDMAN BOOK FOUR

NEIL GAIMAN

DC COMICS

11

THE SANDMAN VOL. 2: THE DOLL'S HOUSE 30TH ANN. ED.

NEIL GAIMAN

DC COMICS

12

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

STAN LEE

PENGUIN CLASSICS

13

STRANGER THINGS: THE TOMB OF YBWEN (GRAPHIC NOVEL)

GREG PAK

DARK HORSE COMICS

14

STAR WARS: CRIMSON REIGN

CHARLES SOULE

MARVEL COMICS

15

BATMAN: YEAR ONE

FRANK MILLER

DC COMICS

16

BATMAN: ONE DARK KNIGHT HC

JOCK

DC COMICS

17

BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE DLX. ED. HC (NEW EDITION)

ALAN MOORE

DC COMICS

18

THE SANDMAN VOL. 3: DREAM COUNTRY 30TH ANN. ED.

NEIL GAIMAN

DC COMICS

19

DC DARK KNIGHTS OF STEEL VOL. 1 HC

TOM TAYLOR

DC COMICS

20

THE SIMPSONS TREEHOUSE OF HORROR OMINOUS OMNIBUS VOL. 1: SCARY TALES & SCARIER TENTACLES

MATT GROENING

ABRAMS

Source: The NPD Group/BookScan

The fifth and final volume of Solo Leveling debuts at the top of the Author chart, and in fact, the top eight slots are all webtoon adaptations (plus one lone volume of Solo Leveling at number 11).  Once you get past that, there are a couple of new and notable titles that may have some staying power: Kate Beaton’s graphic memoir Ducks: Two Years in the Oilsands, Sarah Andersen’s lighthearted Cryptid Club, and Pornsak Pichetshote and Alexandre Tefengki’s The Good Asian, which just won the Harvey Award for Book of the Year.  They fit right in with the usual eclectic mix.

NPD BookScan Top 20 Author Graphic Novels – September 2022 (8/28/22 – 10/1/22)

Rank

Title

Author

Publisher

1

SOLO LEVELING VOL. 5

CHUGONG

YEN PRESS

2

LORE OLYMPUS: VOLUME TWO HC

RACHEL SMYTHE

DEL REY

3

SOLO LEVELING VOL. 1

CHUGONG

YEN PRESS

4

LORE OLYMPUS: VOLUME TWO

RACHEL SMYTHE

DEL REY

5

LORE OLYMPUS: VOLUME ONE

RACHEL SMYTHE

DEL REY

6

LORE OLYMPUS: VOLUME ONE HC

RACHEL SMYTHE

DEL REY

7

SOLO LEVELING VOL. 4

CHUGONG

YEN PRESS

8

SOLO LEVELING VOL. 2

CHUGONG

YEN PRESS

9

THEY CALLED US ENEMY

GEORGE TAKEI

TOP SHELF PROD.

10

DUCKS: TWO YEARS IN THE OIL SANDS

KATE BEATON

DRAWN & QUARTERLY

11

SOLO LEVELING VOL. 3

CHUGONG

YEN PRESS

12

CRYPTID CLUB HC

SARAH ANDERSEN

ANDREWS & MCMEEL

13

THE GREAT GATSBY: A GRAPHIC NOVEL HC

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

CANTERBURY

14

MONSTRESS VOL. 7: DEVOURER

MARJORIE LIU

IMAGE COMICS

15

MARCH: BOOK ONE

JOHN LEWIS

TOP SHELF PROD.

16

GENDER QUEER: A MEMOIR

MAIA KOBABE

ONI PRESS

17

THE ART OF WAR: A GRAPHIC NOVEL HC

SUN TZU

CANTERBURY

18

FUN HOME: A FAMILY TRAGICOMIC

ALISON BECHDEL

MARINER BOOKS

19

GENDER QUEER: A MEMOIR DLX. ED.

MAIA KOBABE

ONI PRESS

20

THE GOOD ASIAN VOL. 1

PORNSAK PICHETSHOTE

IMAGE COMICS

Source: The NPD Group/BookScan

The Manga chart is almost identical to the Adult chart (see "September 2022 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels"), except that the number of volumes of Chainsaw Man increases to six and Volume 1 of the Deluxe Edition of Berserk shows up at number 19.

NPD BookScan Top 20 Manga Graphic Novels – September 2022 (8/28/22 – 10/1/22)

Rank

Title

Author

Publisher

1

SPY X FAMILY VOL. 8

TATSUYA ENDO

VIZ MEDIA

2

CHAINSAW MAN VOL. 1

TATSUKI FUJIMOTO

VIZ MEDIA

3

JUJUTSU KAISEN VOL. 17

GEGE AKUTAMI

VIZ MEDIA

4

SPY X FAMILY VOL. 2

TATSUYA ENDO

VIZ MEDIA

5

DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 1

KOYOHARU GOTOUGE

VIZ MEDIA

6

SPY X FAMILY VOL. 1

TATSUYA ENDO

VIZ MEDIA

7

JUJUTSU KAISEN VOL. 0

GEGE AKUTAMI

VIZ MEDIA

8

CHAINSAW MAN VOL. 2

TATSUKI FUJIMOTO

VIZ MEDIA

9

SPY X FAMILY VOL. 3

TATSUYA ENDO

VIZ MEDIA

10

DRAGON BALL SUPER VOL. 16

AKIRA TORIYAMA

VIZ MEDIA

11

TOKYO REVENGERS (OMNIBUS) VOL. 3-4

KEN WAKUI

SEVEN SEAS ENT.

12

CHAINSAW MAN VOL. 11

TATSUKI FUJIMOTO

VIZ MEDIA

13

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 1

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

14

DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 2

KOYOHARU GOTOUGE

VIZ MEDIA

15

MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 31

KOHEI HORIKOSHI

VIZ MEDIA

16

JUJUTSU KAISEN VOL. 1

GEGE AKUTAMI

VIZ MEDIA

17

CHAINSAW MAN VOL. 3

TATSUKI FUJIMOTO

VIZ MEDIA

18

CHAINSAW MAN VOL. 4

TATSUKI FUJIMOTO

VIZ MEDIA

19

BERSERK DELUXE VOL. 1 HC

KENTARO MIURA

DARK HORSE

20

CHAINSAW MAN VOL. 10

TATSUKI FUJIMOTO

VIZ MEDIA

Source: The NPD Group/BookScan


For charts of September 2022 graphic novel sales from NPD BookScan:
September 2022 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels
September 2022 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:
September 2022 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
September 2022 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Author, Manga, and Superhero Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
September 2022 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."