Harley Quinn, Boys Who Like Boys, and Comfort Comics

NPD BookScan Top 20 "Superhero" Graphic Novels – February 2020 (2/2/20 - 2/29/20) Rank Title Author Publisher 1 HARLEEN HC STJEPAN SEJIC DC COMICS 2 WATCHMEN (2019 EDITION) ALAN MOORE DC COMICS 3 THE LEGEND OF KORRA: RUINS OF THE EMPIRE PART THREE MICHAEL DANTE DIMARTINO DARK HORSE 4 BIRDS OF PREY: HARLEY QUINN AMANDA CONNER DC COMICS 5 THE BATMAN WHO LAUGHS HC SCOTT SNYDER DC COMICS 6 DCEASED HC TOM TAYLOR DC COMICS 7 STAR WARS: TARGET VADER ROBBIE THOMPSON MARVEL COMICS 8 STAR WARS: DOCTOR APHRA VOL. 7: A ROGUE'S END SI SPURRIER MARVEL COMICS 9 BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE DLX ED HC (NEW EDITION) ALAN MOORE DC COMICS 10 BATMAN: DAMNED HC BRIAN AZZARELLO DC COMICS 11 HOUSE OF X/POWERS OF X HC JONATHAN HICKMAN MARVEL COMICS 12 V FOR VENDETTA ALAN MOORE DC COMICS 13 DOOMSDAY CLOCK PART 1 HC JOHNS, GEOFF DC COMICS 14 BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN JEPH LOEB DC COMICS 15 RICK AND MORTY VS. DUNGEONS & DRAGONS PATRICK ROTHFUSS IDW PUBLISHING 16 INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US YEAR FIVE- THE COMPLETE COLLECTION BRIAN BUCCELLATO DC COMICS 17 ABSOLUTE CARNAGE DONNY CATES MARVEL COMICS 18 THE SANDMAN VOL. 1: PRELUDES & NOCTURNES 30TH ANN. ED. NEIL GAIMAN DC COMICS 19 BATMAN: YEAR ONE FRANK MILLER DC COMICS 20 MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS VOL. 10 MARGUERITE BENNETT BOOM! STUDIOS Source: The NPD Group/BookScan

There are a couple of interesting quirks to this month’s list of the top 20 Author, Manga, and Superhero graphic novels in the book channel, based on NPD BookScan data for February (2/2/20-2/29/20) provided to ICv2.Harley Quinn has been off the charts, and not in a good way, for the past three years: Although the "New 52" version was one of the top 20 superhero graphic novels of 2017, it doesn’t appear a Harley comic has made the monthly Top 20 since then. Thanks to the new Birds of Prey movie, though, she’s back, with Harleen, a February debut, taking the number one slot, and Birds of Prey: Harley Quinn, which came out in late January, at number four.DC Comics dominates this month’s Superhero chart, with 13 of the 20 titles; Marvel Comics has four, and Dark Horse Comics, IDW Publishing and BOOM! Studios each have one. Watchmen still does well enough to get into the number 2 slot, and the newest Legend of Korra, a late-February release, is at number 3. Despite Harley Quinn’s prominent placement, Batman is the most-represented superhero franchise on the chart, with five titles in which he is the lead character.

It’s a weird month for manga as well, but the strangeness is not at the top of the chart, it’s at the bottom. The Manga Top 20 is reliably shonen and seinen manga, series aimed at male teens and adults, but this month there’s a yaoi title, a male-male romance, at number 19: Given Vol. 1. The audience for yaoi manga is overwhelmingly female, and it’s something of a niche. What’s more, the manga is from a relatively small Japanese publisher, Shinshokan. Perhaps the anime, which runs on Crunchyroll, gave it enough of a push to get it onto the chart, outselling several mid-series volumes of My Hero Academia.



Speaking of which… Let’s do the count. There are 11 volumes of everybody’s favorite superhero manga on this month’s chart, along with two volumes of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba and the most recent volumes of Komi Can’t Communicate, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, The Legend of Zelda, and Tokyo Ghoul: Re. The first volume of the Persona 5 manga also did well enough to make the manga chart for a second month.

NPD BookScan Top 20 Manga Graphic Novels – February 2020 (2/2/20 - 2/29/20) Rank Title Author Publisher 1 MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 23 KOHEI HORIKOSHI VIZ MEDIA 2 MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 1 KOHEI HORIKOSHI VIZ MEDIA 3 MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 2 KOHEI HORIKOSHI VIZ MEDIA 4 KOMI CAN'T COMMUNICATE VOL. 5 TOMOHITO ODA VIZ MEDIA 5 MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 22 KOHEI HORIKOSHI VIZ MEDIA 6 UZUMAKI HC JUNJI ITO VIZ MEDIA 7 MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 3 KOHEI HORIKOSHI VIZ MEDIA 8 DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 1 KOYOHARU GOTOUGE VIZ MEDIA 9 JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE: PART 4--DIAMOND IS UNBREAKABLE VOL. 4 HIROHIKO ARAKI VIZ MEDIA 10 MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 4 KOHEI HORIKOSHI VIZ MEDIA 11 MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 20 KOHEI HORIKOSHI VIZ MEDIA 12 MY HERO ACADEMI, VOL. 5 KOHEI HORIKOSHI VIZ MEDIA 13 THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TWILIGHT PRINCESS VOL. 6 AKIRA HIMEKAWA VIZ MEDIA 14 MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 21 KOHEI HORIKOSHI VIZ MEDIA 15 TOKYO GHOUL: RE VOL. 15 SUI ISHIDA VIZ MEDIA 16 MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 19 KOHEI HORIKOSHI VIZ MEDIA 17 PERSONA 5 VOL. 1 HISATO MURASAKI VIZ MEDIA 18 DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VOL. 10 KOYOHARU GOTOUGE VIZ MEDIA 19 GIVEN VOL. 1 NATSUKI KIZU VIZ MEDIA 20 MY HERO ACADEMIA VOL. 6 KOHEI HORIKOSHI VIZ MEDIA Source: The NPD Group/BookScan

All that said, it’s a pretty normal month for Author graphic novels, because every month is different anyway. Nathan W. Pyle’s Strange Planet is bumped out of the top spot by a new collection of warm-n-fuzzy comics, which is probably what everyone needs about now anyway. After that, it’s the usual mix of memoir, horror, gamer stuff, adaptations, and The Umbrella Academy, finishing at number 20, Go To Sleep (I Miss You), Lucy Knisley’s collection of comics about grownups adjusting to having a baby around the house, putting us back in the "Awwwww" zone.

NPD BookScan Top 20 Author Graphic Novels – February 2020 (2/2/20 - 2/29/20) Rank Title Author Publisher 1 SNUG: A COLLECTION OF COMICS ABOUT DATING YOUR BEST FRIEND HC CATANA CHETWYND ANDREWS & MCMEEL 2 STRANGE PLANET HC NATHAN W. PYLE MORROW GIFT 3 THEY CALLED US ENEMY GEORGE TAKEI TOP SHELF PROD. 4 LOCKE & KEY VOL. 1: WELCOME TO LOVECRAFT JOE HILL IDW PUBLISHING 5 MARCH: BOOK ONE JOHN LEWIS TOP SHELF PROD. 6 CRITICAL ROLE VOX MACHINA: ORIGINS VOL. 1 MATTHEW MERCER DARK HORSE COMICS 7 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD: A GRAPHIC NOVEL HARPER LEE HARPER 8 THE ADVENTURE ZONE: MURDER ON THE ROCKPORT LIMITED! CLINT MCELROY FIRST SECOND BOOKS 9 LOCKE & KEY VOL. 2: HEAD GAMES JOE HILL IDW PUBLISHING 10 THE ADVENTURE ZONE: HERE THERE BE GERBLINS CLINT MCELROY FIRST SECOND BOOKS 11 MAKING COMICS LYNDA BARRY DRAWN & QUARTERLY 12 LOCKE & KEY VOL. 3: CROWN OF SHADOWS JOE HILL IDW PUBLISHING 13 THE WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM VOL. 4 KIRKMAN, ROBERT IMAGE COMICS 14 FUN HOME: A FAMILY TRAGICOMIC BECHDEL, ALISON MARINER BOOKS 15 THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY VOL. 3: HOTEL OBLIVION GERARD WAY DARK HORSE COMICS 16 THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY VOL. 1: APOCALYPSE SUITE GERARD WAY DARK HORSE COMICS 17 NOISE: A GRAPHIC NOVEL BASED ON A TRUE STORY ATHLEEN RAYMUNDO LIGHTNING SOURCE 18 DIE VOL. 2: SPLIT THE PARTY KIERON GILLEN IMAGE COMICS 19 LOCKE & KEY VOL. 4: KEYS TO THE KINGDOM JOE HILL IDW PUBLISHING 20 GO TO SLEEP (I MISS YOU): CARTOONS FROM THE FOG OF NEW PARENTHOOD LUCY KNISLEY FIRST SECOND BOOKS Source: The NPD Group/BookScan

For charts of February graphic novel sales from NPD BookScan:

February 2020 NPD BookScan – Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels

February 2020 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:

February 2020 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels with Actual Sales

February 2020 NPD BookScan - Top 20 Author, Manga, and Superhero Graphic Novels with Actual Sales

February 2020 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."