ICv2: March 2022 NPD BookScan
A movie, a TV show and national politics have left their mark on the Book Channel’s Top 20 Graphic Novels by Authors, Manga and Superheroes charts, based on NPD BookScan data for March 2022 (2/27/22-4/2/22) provided to ICv2.
The release of The Batman had the greatest impact (see “‘The Batman’ Approaches $500M”); while there are always plenty of Batman books on the superhero chart, this month there are 15, which seems like a record high. And The Batman Box, which was released a few weeks after the film premiered, made the March charts despite being released on March 29, almost at the end of the month.
Moon Knight was also doing well on the superhero chart heading into the Netflix series, which premiered March 30 (see “‘Moon Knight’ Trailer, Date”). Moon Knight by Lemire & Smallwood: the complete collection charted at number 3; there were also two Moon Knight books on the February chart (see “February 2022 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Superhero GNs”). The Lemire/Smallwood Collection was also the number 2 title in comic book stores in March (see “Top 20 Graphic Novels – March 2022”).
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NPD BookScan Top 20 ‘Superheroes’ Graphic Novels – March 2022 (2/27/22 – 4/2/22) |
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Rank |
Title |
Author |
Editor |
|
1 |
BATMAN: YEAR ONE |
MILLER, FRANK |
DC Comics |
|
2 |
BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN |
JEPH LOEB |
DC Comics |
|
3 |
MOON KNIGHT BY LEMIRE & SMALLWOOD: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION |
JEFF LEMIRE |
MARVEL COMICS |
|
4 |
BATMAN: COURT OF OWLS |
SCOTT SNYDER |
DC Comics |
|
5 |
BATMAN: HUSH (NEW EDITION) |
JEPH LOEB |
DC Comics |
|
6 |
BATMAN: THE RETURN OF THE DARK KNIGHT |
FRANK MILLER |
DC Comics |
|
7 |
KEEPERS (2019 EDITION) |
ALAN MOORE |
DC Comics |
|
8 |
BATMAN: BLURRED PLEASURE DLX. ED. HC (NEW EDITION) |
ALAN MOORE |
DC Comics |
|
9 |
BATMAN: THE IMPOSSOR |
MATTSON TOMLIN |
DC Comics |
|
ten |
BATMAN: DARK VICTORY |
JEPH LOEB |
DC Comics |
|
11 |
BATMAN VOL. 2: CITY OF OWLS (THE NEW 52) |
SCOTT SNYDER |
DC Comics |
|
12 |
THE BATMAN WHO LAUGHS |
SCOTT SNYDER |
DC Comics |
|
13 |
BATMAN/FORTNITE: ZERO POINT HC |
CHRISTOS GAGE |
DC Comics |
|
14 |
THE BATMAN BOX |
JEPH LOEB |
DC Comics |
|
15 |
BATMAN: THREE JOKERS HC |
GEOFF JOHNS |
DC Comics |
|
16 |
MOON KNIGHT BY BENDIS & MALEEV: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION |
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS |
MARVEL COMICS |
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17 |
HORIZON ZERO DAWN VOL. 2: RELEASE |
ANNE TOLE |
TITAN comics |
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18 |
BATMAN: A DEATH IN THE FAMILY |
JIM STARLIN |
DC Comics |
|
19 |
THE SAND MAN VOL. 1: PRELUDES AND NOCTURNES 30TH ANN. ED. |
NEIL GAIMAN |
DC Comics |
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20 |
BATMAN: WHITE KNIGHT |
SEAN MURPHY |
DC Comics |
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Source: The NPD/BookScan Group |
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At Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer continues to benefit from media coverage and controversy over its presence in libraries (see “‘Gender Queer’ Was the Most Frequently Challenged Book in 2021”). This graphic novel was released in 2019 but only appeared in the Top 20 Authors in November 2022; it dropped in December but has been back for three months. This month it is at number 8, its highest position to date.
The only new title on the author board was Volume 1 of The Pretty House on the Lake, The James Tynion IV Horror Story which was released by DC under its Black Label imprint (see “DC to Release Tynion IV Series”); it also topped the ComicHub chart for March.
This month’s chart continues some familiar trends: three of the top four stocks are volumes of Solo Leveling, and another Korean title, Volume 1 of The Forsaken Empress, is at number 14. Hell, which was on the February chart, did not make the March top 20. The fact that volume 1 of Solo Leveling is the main title means that new readers always come to the series; the fourth volume is due out in May.
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NPD BookScan Top 20 Author Graphic Novels – March 2022 (2/27/22 – 4/2/22) |
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Rank |
Title |
Author |
Editor |
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1 |
SOLO LEVELING, FLY. 1 |
CHUGONG |
YEN PRESS |
|
2 |
THEY CALLED US ENEMY |
GEORGE TAKEI |
PROD. |
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3 |
SOLO LEVEL FLIGHT. 2 |
CHUGONG |
YEN PRESS |
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4 |
SOLO LEVEL FLIGHT. 3 |
CHUGONG |
YEN PRESS |
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5 |
LORE OLYMPUS: VOLUME ONE |
RACHEL SMYTH |
LED REY |
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6 |
MARCH: BOOK ONE |
JOHN LEWIS |
PROD. |
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7 |
LORE OLYMPUS: VOLUME ONE HC |
RACHEL SMYTH |
LED REY |
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8 |
GENDER QUEER: A MEMORY |
MAIA KOBABE |
ONI PRESS |
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9 |
THE BEAUTIFUL HOUSE ON THE LAKE VOL. 1 |
JAMES TYNION IV |
DC Comics |
|
ten |
SAPIENS: A GRAPHIC HISTORY: THE BIRTH OF HUMANITY |
YUVAL NOAH HARARI |
PERENNIAL HARPER |
|
11 |
1984: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL |
GEORGE ORWELL |
MARITIME BOOKS |
|
12 |
INVINCIBLE COMPENDIUM VOL. 1 |
Robert Kirkman |
IMAGE COMICS |
|
13 |
CRITICAL ROLE: THE MIGHTY NEIN ORIGINS – CALEB WIDOGAST |
JODIE HOUSER |
BLACK HORSE COMIC |
|
14 |
THE ABANDONED EMPRESS VOL. 1 |
IN A |
YEN PRESS |
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15 |
FUN HOME: A FAMILY TRAGICOMIC |
Alison Bechdel |
MARITIME BOOKS |
|
16 |
CRITICAL ROLE: THE MIGHTY NEIN ORIGINS – JESTER LAVORRE HC |
SAM MAGGS |
BLACK HORSE COMIC |
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17 |
CRITICAL ROLE: LIBRARY VOX MACHINA ORIGINS ED. HC: SERIES I & II COLLECTION |
CRITICAL ROLE |
BLACK HORSE COMIC |
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18 |
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD: AN HC GRAPHIC NOVEL |
HARPER-LEE |
HARPER |
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19 |
I WAS THEIR AMERICAN DREAM: A GRAPHIC MEMORY |
MALAKA GHARIB |
CLARKSON POTTER |
|
20 |
INVINCIBLE COMPENDIUM VOL. 2 |
Robert Kirkman |
IMAGE COMICS |
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Source: The NPD/BookScan Group |
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The Manga chart is identical to the March 2022 Adult Top 20, as all of these titles were manga, so see our previous coverage for a discussion of March manga trends (see “March 2022 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Adult GNs”).
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NPD BookScan Top 20 Manga Graphic Novels – March 2022 (2/27/22 – 4/2/22) |
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Rank |
Title |
Author |
Editor |
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1 |
MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 30 |
KOHEI HORIKOSHI |
VIZ MEDIA |
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2 |
DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 1 |
KOYOHARU GOTOUGE |
VIZ MEDIA |
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3 |
DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA – STORIES OF WATER AND FLAME |
RYOJI HIRANO |
VIZ MEDIA |
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4 |
CHAINSAW MAN VOL. 1 |
TATSUKI FUJIMOTO |
VIZ MEDIA |
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5 |
CHAINSAW MAN VOL. 2 |
TATSUKI FUJIMOTO |
VIZ MEDIA |
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6 |
MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 1 |
KOHEI HORIKOSHI |
VIZ MEDIA |
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7 |
HANAKO-KUN VOL. 0 |
AIDAIRO |
YEN PRESS |
|
8 |
DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 2 |
KOYOHARU GOTOUGE |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
9 |
JUJUTSU KAISEN VOL. 14 |
GEGE AKUTAMI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
ten |
CHAINSAW MAN VOL. 3 |
TATSUKI FUJIMOTO |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
11 |
BERSERK DELUXE VOL. 1 hp |
KENTARO MIURA |
BLACK HORSE COMIC |
|
12 |
CHAINSAW MAN VOL. 4 |
TATSUKI FUJIMOTO |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
13 |
DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 12 |
KOYOHARU GOTOUGE |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
14 |
JUJUTSU KAISEN VOL. 1 |
GEGE AKUTAMI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
15 |
DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 3 |
KOYOHARU GOTOUGE |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
16 |
CHAINSAW MAN VOL. 9 |
TATSUKI FUJIMOTO |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
17 |
SPY X FAMILY VOL. 1 |
TATSUYA ENDO |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
18 |
JUJUTSU KAISEN VOL. 2 |
GEGE AKUTAMI |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
19 |
KAIJU NO. 8 VOL. 1 |
NAOYA MATSUMOTO |
VIZ MEDIA |
|
20 |
BERSERK DELUXE VOL. 10 HP |
KENTARO MIURA |
BLACK HORSE COMIC |
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Source: The NPD/BookScan Group |
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For March 2022 graphic novel sales charts from NPD BookScan:
March 2022 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels
March 2022 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Graphic Novels for Children
For charts with actual NPD BookScan sales numbers, see these articles on the ICv2 Pro site:
March 2022 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels With Actual Sales
March 2022 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Author, Manga, and Superhero Graphic Novels with Actual Sales
March 2022 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Graphic Novels for Children with Actual Sales
NPD BookScan collects weekly print book point-of-sale data from over 16,000 locations, including online retailers, chains, mass merchandisers, independent bookstores, and more. NPD BookScan covers approximately 85% of the US print book market. The rankings on this chart are based on coin sales. Some publishers classify titles that are primarily text or art books as graphic novels; we have removed these titles from the ranking above.
For previous lists of BookScan’s Top 20 Graphic Novels, see “BookScan’s Top 20 Graphic Novels Index.”
