.
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these lists…
It’s the middle of the month, the middle of the week, and there’s nothing in the general Zeitgeist or newscycle driving comic book and graphic novel sales. So that makes it a good time to take a look and see what’s selling at BarnesAndNoble.com.
What do I look at? Any title in the Top 1000 titles overall. A title in the Top 100 should be considered a bestseller, as B&N merges all books into one big list, just like USA Today.
This list was snapshot at about 7:15 PM, Thursday, June 14. I have no inside knowledge about what sells on this list, or how it is calculated. The number rankings come from the distinct pages for each title, while the list is what appears when you click the B&N link above. All of the data below, except for my commentary, comes from their website. Click on the cover, title, or author for more information (including illustrators)!
__________________________________________________________________________
#15
List Price $14.95
[The Walking Dead Compendium (listed below) hit #5 the week after the season finale back in March. It would have been #1, but The Hunger Games had just opened to a record box office so all three books were hot, and 50 Shades of Grey was also trending in the media (even hotter, so I’ve heard). So #15 might be the next highest ranking ever for a graphic novel. Even if it isn’t, it’s still an amazing rank, given that the book has been out since April. It’s currently #33 over at Amazon. Some of the sales could be from Father’s Day promotions. Even so, getting this book is way cooler than any tie! (Although there are some nice Star Wars ties available!)]
# 133
The Walking Dead, Volume 16 (6/19/2012)
List Price $14.99
[The latest collection, collecting issues #91-96.]
# 368
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (6/1/2004)
List Price $13.95
[Summer reading lists? This title usually appears at the beginning of college semesters, along with Maus. But Spiegelman’s best selling title is at #18,258.]
#416
List Price $59.99
[The first 48 issues in one big paperback! I wonder if DC will do something like this four years from now, like a Showcase Deluxe volume?]
# 701
Soul Eater, Volume 1 (10/27/2009)
List Price $11.99
[A charming story about a girl, her scythe, and a dream.]
__________________________________________________________________________
#799
List Price $16.99
[Full color, best described as “what if Heavy Metal did Manga?” A different sort of “flying monkey”…]
__________________________________________________________________________
And what of comic strips? Well, a general search didn’t find any in the Top 1000, but Big Nate is selling, so I checked those. Now, these aren’t the hybrid cartoon diaries which are so popular; these are the actual comic strips, enlarged and presented on the page as a two-by-two grid. They’re actually quite enjoyable… and sell well enough that Andrews McMeel, the syndicate, has started a line of cartoon collections aimed at kids, selling for $9.99 a book!
A link on those book lead to the kids’ section, and I found two Avatar: Airbender books which are also selling well!
Here are the four titles which chart in the Top 1000:
#410
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise, Part 2 (6/12/2012)
List Price $10.99
__________________________________________________________________________
# 472
List Price $9.99
Also Available As:
__________________________________________________________________________
#548
Big Nate Fun Blaster: Cheezy Doodles, Crazy Comix, and Loads of Laughs! (7/3/2012)
List Price $10.99
__________________________________________________________________________
#691
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise, Part 1 (2/7/2012)
List Price $10.99
Oh, that Bryan Gurihiru! My favorite hybrid animal in the Avatar universe.
Thanks for compiling this. I do a weekly summary of the Amazon comics charts over at my blog (the latest is here) and it is interesting to see the similarities and difference between B&N and Amazon.
Love that Avatar charted so high. Nothing against Big Nate, but the new Avatar comics are just so . . . good.
My son (age 8) read the first two volumes of Avatar in one sitting — something he’s never done with *any* comic before.