Thread by @TheBigBang_

Each year we talk about the previous year's sales in the store and today we're going to be looking at the Top 100 Graphic Novel and Books Sales for 2019.

I am John and I will be your host today.
#dmsales2019

Bruno will be along sometime next week to talk about single issue sales, but for today, it's all books.

Before that, and just to get you an idea about our year, overall it was a great business year, the best in 3, and the busiest December ever.

Action Figure sales were way up due to a far better supply chain of lines for 3/4's of the year with Marvel Legends and Star Wars Black Series ruling the roost. The last 1/4 was harder as demand outstripped supply. Best selling figure was of course The Mandalorian

Turns out if we can actually get the products people want in that area on time and in the quantities we need they sell amazingly well. But the last 1/4 of the year was a distribution nightmare, hopefully 2020 will see that improve.

And before we get to the nitty gritty of out Top 100 GN's and Books for 2019 just a reminder that you can check out the hashtag at the top #dmsales2019 to see what ourselves and other stores around the world are reporting for their 2019 in sales.

Couple of rules first too.

We don't tag creators in this list as that'd be an insane amount of searching to do as we don't just tag a writer or an artist when talking about a book as we try and tag the entire creative team normally. That's just not happening here today.

If you want to draw a creators attention to where they place on the list feel free, but we won't be replying to individual questions until the list is up and finished, and we may have to reply to some in the days after as we're busy too.

The way the list was put together was by Units Sold. Not by profit, that's a whole different list. If a book tied with another then the book with the higher RRP takes the higher spot. if the books have the same RRP then they are a tie and will share the spot.

The list incorporated all Graphic Novels and Books sold in the store excluding Partworks and Roleplaying Game books.

Partworks were removed as they're basically a periodical, RPG books were removed as they're an entire thing to themselves. (We will talk about them later)

As an Aside the highest selling partwork of 2019 was The DC Graphic Novel Collection of the Killing Joke and The Man Who Laughs and our best selling RPG book was the Dungeons and Dragons Players Handbook.

Anyway, on to the Top 100, I'll be doing this in blocks so if we go quiet for a bit don't worry. We're just getting our info together.

The 100th best selling spot was a tie between Wicked & Divine Graphic Novel Volume 9 and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Graphic Novel Volume 1 Secrets And Rumors

99: Sandman Graphic Novel Volume 2 The Dolls House 30 Anniv Edition, a classic that still sells great.

98: Avengers Vs X-Men Graphic Novel (we have gotten so many new readers who've only seen Marvel Movies into comics in general with this title over the years.

97: Akira Kodansha Edition Graphic Novel Volume 1.

Always makes the Top 100 but it's a number 1 in our hearts.

The 96th spot was a tie.

My Hero Academia Graphic Novel Volume 6 and Assassination Classroom Graphic Novel Volume 1 both share that spot.

95: Attack on Titan Graphic Novel Volume 1

94th place was a three way tie.

Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur Graphic Novel Volume 1 Beginning, Teen Titans Go Bring It On Graphic Novel and Dog Man Graphic Novel Volume 8 Fetch-22 all share number 94.

93rd place was a two way split between Immortal Hulk Volume 2 Green Door and Star Wars Darth Maul Son Dathomir

92: Maus. (if you haven't read this you totally should)

91: Smashed Junji Ito Story Collection Hardcover.

I am legit a different person after reading these. Amazing stuff.

90: Miles Morales Spider-Man Book 1

This is the first of a lot of Miles entries on the list.

89: Four way split.

Dear Justice League GN, My Hero Academia GN Volume 16, My Hero Academia GN Volume 21 and My Hero Academia Vigilantes GN Volume 1

88: Hilda & The Troll.

This was always a decent seller but once the Netflix series hit we had an influx of new hilda readers.

87: Paper Girls Volume 2

Can't say enough good things about this series.

86: Four of our favs share this spot.

Batman Year One Deluxe Soft Cover, Joker Graphic Novel Black Label, Saga Graphic Novel Volume 8 and Wicked & Divine Graphic Novel Volume 2 Fandemonium.

85: Batman Vol 8 Cold Days and Gideon Falls Vol 2 Original Sins both tied.

84: My Hero Academia Graphic Novel Volume 20

This series is a power house.

83: Tokyo Ghoul Graphic Novel Volume 1

So is this.

82: This slot was a two way tie.

Dragon Ball 3 In 1 tp Volume 1 and Saga Graphic Novel Volume 3.

And at 81 it's Amazing Spider-Man By Nick Spencer Graphic Novel Volume 3

80's a three way tie. One's the start of an epic run, one's the end and the other is just an epic all to itself.

Batman Graphic Novel Volume 1 I Am Gotham, Walking Dead Graphic Novel Volume 32 Rest In Peace and God Country Graphic Novel all share this spot.

79 is Justice League Graphic Novel Volume 1 The Totality

What a cover. Great story, and a lot of kids went for this just based on the iconic imagery too.

78: Preacher Graphic Novel Book 1

A classic.

77's another 3 way tie.

Batman The Long Halloween, Hellboy Complete Short Stories Graphic Novel Volume 1 and Hellboy Omnibus Graphic Novel Volume 3 The Wild Hunt all share the spot.

You know what else they all have in common?

They're all amazing.

76: Uzumaki 3 In 1 Deluxe Edition Hardcover Junji Ito

My nerves...

75's our first five way tie.

So 75 part one is... Dr Stone Graphic Novel Volume 1, Dragon Ball Super Graphic Novel Volume 1 and My Hero Academia Graphic Novel Volume 14

75 part two is Rat Queens Graphic Novel Volume 1 Sass & Sorcery and Skyward Graphic Novel Volume 1 My Low-g Life

Mega props to Skyward BTW. I love that books.

Not saying I don't like the others I'm just saying I like that one a lot.

74: Promised Neverland Graphic Novel Volume 1

73: Saga Graphic Novel Volume 2

72 is a two way tie from a galaxy far, far way... Star Wars Darth Vader Dark Lord Sith Graphic Novel Volume 3 Burning Seas and Star Wars Graphic Novel Volume 1 Skywalker Strikes both share the spot.

FYI both are wonderful stories but that Darth Vader book is BAD ASS!

And at 71 it's Paper Girls Graphic Novel Volume 5.

This series is so, so good.

70: Sabrina Chilling Adventures Graphic Novel Volume 1

Can I just say that this was always a great seller, but the TV cover's way inferior in terms of impact to the original in terms of previous years sales. But the book has a dedicated following.

69: One of our best sellers of all time, Old Man Logan hits that sweet 69 spot.

68th place is a tie with two of DC's freshest new series DCeased and batman Damned. We had two editions of DCeased on sale here both with signed bookplates so it rocketed past other entries and all of our copies of Batman Damned also had signed bookplates so the same applied.

67: My Hero Academia Graphic Novel Volume 5

66: Amazing Spider-Man By Nick Spencer Graphic Novel Volume 2

65: Batman A Death In The Family Graphic Novel

An oldie but a goodie. (baddie?)

64: Drama.

HUGE SALES!

63: Buffy The Vampire Slayer Graphic Novel Volume 1

Check out that Matt Taylor cover plus new adventures of the Scooby Gang's doing great.

62: Critical Role Graphic Novel Volume 1 Vox Machina Origins

(this would have placed higher if we could have gotten more stock at certain times of the year)

And 61 is My Hero Academia Graphic Novel Volume 4

60: Savage Town OGN.

Straight Outta' Limerick!

59: Spider-Gwen Graphic Novel Volume 1 Greater Power

Spider-Verse characters are huge.

58: House of X Powers of X Hardcover

This came out a month ago.

Such is the power of this X-Men run.

57 is a tie.

Marvel Action Avengers Graphic Novel Book 1 New Danger for the kids and Saga Graphic Novel Volume 1 which isn't for the kids both tied the spot.

Both are great.

56: Amulet Book 1

We need the new one sooooooon please.

55's a tie.

Sonic The Hedgehog Graphic Novel Volume 2 Fate Dr Eggman
and Spider-Man Miles Morales Graphic Novel Volume 1 both sold great.

54: Hellboy Omnibus Graphic Novel Volume 2 Strange Places

God I love Hellboy.

And these newer editions are such a hit.

53: My Hero Academia Graphic Novel Volume 19

There it is again.

52's a 3 way tie.

Star Wars Darth Vader Dark Lord Sith Graphic Novel Volume 2 Legacys End, Umbrella Academy Graphic Novel Volume 2 Dallas and Wicked & Divine Graphic Novel Volume 8 Old Is The New New all finished the same.

51: Spider-Man Life Story.

Chip!

50: My Hero Academia Graphic Novel Volume 18 and Wicked & Divine Graphic Novel Volume 1 The Faust Act.

Wic+Div probably would've been higher if we hadn't have sold out of our store exclusive cover. But we did. So. There you go.

49: Scooby Doo Team Up Graphic Novel Volume 1

These books are so good.

So, so good.

48: Captain America Vol 1 Winter in America.

Great take on Cap and the covers stand out on the shelf. Plus this series came out at the exact right time with Endgame fever still in full effect.

47: Immortal Hulk Graphic Novel Volume 1 Or Is He Both

This series is legitimately one of the best comics on the stands right now.

46: Batman Who Laughs Hardcover

I read this and Batman didn't laugh once.

Thank you.

Also, you can't beat that creative team in this store.

Lot of love for all involved.

45's a two way tie and while it's the billionth entry for My Hero Academia with Volume 17 it's the first entry for the amazing
Phoebe & Her Unicorn Graphic Novel Volume 2 Unicorn On A Roll

44: Raina Telgemeier Ghosts Graphic Novel

For some reason Ghosts is pretty hard to get, so when I could get copies I ordered enough for years and they lasted months.

Raina's pretty unstoppable.

43: Dog Man Graphic Novel Volume 7 For Whom Ball Rolls

Dog Man's just massive.

42: Walking Dead Graphic Novel Volume 31 The Rotten core.

We miss you X

41's a 4 way tie.

Dark Knight Returns - always sells.
Star Wars Darth Vader Dark Lord Sith Volume 4 Fortress Vader - is amazing.
Thanos Wins By Donny Cates - Sells to everyone, especially kids. Kids love Thanos.
Umbrella Academy Vol 3 Hotel Oblivion - Legit great series

Number 40 is again a 3 way tie.

Marvel Action Spider-Man Graphic Novel Book 1 New Beginning
My Hero Academia Graphic Novel Volume 3
Paper Girls Graphic Novel Volume 1

That's about as different as it gets really isn't it?

39's a two way tie and says a lot about in store sales this year along with number 38.

The 2 books that tied at number 39 were Sisters and Smile.

Both sold the exact same number.

And at 38 it's Guts.

We love you Raina.

37's a 2 way tie.

Civil War II Graphic Novel and the Sandman Graphic Novel Volume 1 Preludes & Nocturnes 30th Anniv Edition matched for 37th place.

36 is the incomparable Batman Hush Complete Graphic Novel

Me and Bruno often wonder just how many copies of Hush we've sold throughout the years and it's hard to beat as an entry book for a lot of folks who want to start reading Batman.

35's a big one.

Dark Nights Metal Graphic Novel

Snyder and Capullo could literally murder me in the store in front of everyone and no one would testify against them. That's how much they're loved here.

That's NOT a suggestion BTW.

34's One Punch Man volume 1.

these books just sell and sell and sell...

33: Share Your Smile Rainas Guide To Telling Your Own Story Hardcover

Huge hit with all ages in here.

32: How To Draw Comics Marvel Way

One hell of a seller even to this day, I don't think there's ever been a book in this area to replicate it's success.

31: Star Wars Darth Vader Dark Lord Sith Graphic Novel Volume 1 Imperial Machine

You can't stop this series from selling BIG numbers and it's required reading for Star wars fans.

30: Saga Graphic Novel Volume 9.

I can't understate the importance of this series to so many stores, but it's importance to comics as a medium is so much more than that. Please come back soon Daga.

29: Venom By Donny Cates Graphic Novel Volume 1 Rex

Venom is cool, Donny is cooler.

Tom Hardy should play Donny in a movie about writing this bad ass Venom book.

I'd watch that.

Ms Marvel Gn-Tp Kamala Khan

These editions are amazing sellers. More please Marvel.

27: Sara Graphic Novel

This is a reeeeeeeally high spot for a book that's not distributed by Diamond.

Plus it's a great book in every way.

26: Sonic The Hedgehog Graphic Novel Volume 1 Fallout

Sonic's popular as hell.

25: Boys Omnibus Graphic Novel Volume 1

Massive kudos to Dynamite for keeping this available every single time we ordered it. If you've watched the show the book is even better and funnier IMO.

24: My Hero Academia Graphic Novel Volume 2

This series is a beast.

23: Spidey Graphic Novel Freshman Year

This format's unbeatable, the price point's unbeatable and i think this may be the book with an Irish talent that's highest on the list too.

Maybe...

Shut up Nate.

22's a tie.

Batman The Killing Joke Special Edition Hardcover and the
Avengers By Jason Aaron Graphic Novel Volume 1 Final Host both share 22.

And at 21 it's a previous year's number 1 book.

Civil War barely missed entering the top 20.

At 20 it's the amazing Monstress Graphic Novel Volume 2

At 19 Star Wars Darth Vader Graphic Novel Volume 1 Vader

So, so good.

18 would've placed a hell of a lot higher if we could have gotten the stock.

But we couldn't because it was always, always out of print.

Spider-Man Into Spider-Verse Art of The Movie Hardcover

17's the wonderful Hellboy Omnibus Graphic Novel Volume 1 Seed of Destruction, like I said before this format and price point is such a hit.

16 is at 16 because of Spider-Verse's popularity and it's a way more affordable book that the Spider-verse collection in general which saw sales go really high, especially with kids.

Spider-Geddon Graphic Novel

This is kind of cool, at 15 Adventure Zone Graphic Novel Volume 1 Here There Be Gerblins

And at 14 selling exactly one more copy it's Adventure Zone Graphic Novel Volume 2 Murder On Rockport Limited

Lucky number 13 on the list is Monstress Graphic Novel Volume 3.

We hosted Sana while she was here in Ireland for World Con and she also did a store signing with us.

One of the nicest and most talented creators we've ever met.

12's Miles Morales Graphic Novel Spider-Man

Remember what I said about great content in unbeatable formats at a fantastic price point.

11's last years number 1.

Infinity Gauntlet Graphic Novel.

Kids. Love. Thanos.

At 10 it's the Umbrella Academy Volume 1 Apocalypse Suite.

This could've been way higher but as interest peaked with the show Dark Horse let this go out of print. We lost hundreds of sales and I will never not give Matt at DH shit for that. ( I still love you Matt)

9: Sheets.

This again could've place higher too if we could've gotten more stock before Christmas. This book did everything right and it's wonderful.

8's Amazing Spider-Man By Nick Spencer Graphic Novel Volume 1 Back to Basics.

This book hit at a perfect time for us and for Spider-Man interest in general.

7's Watchmen.

No seriously, the 32 year old classic is still doing the numbers and still in our top ten.

The show (which I haven't watched but Bruno swears is amazing) has brought in a lot of people who've somehow never read it before.

6 is quite possibly one of our favorite books in store.

Phoebe & Her Unicorn Graphic Novel Volume 1

This series is a juggernaut.

God what I would give for a Dana Simpson signing, it'd probably be the biggest in the store's history.

5's Batman White Knight.

You knew this had to be way up there. Sean Murphy and Matt Hollingsworth's epic artwork just sell this right off the shelf.

As always, huge following here.

Plus a great Batman story not tied to decades of continuity is a very easy sell to new readers.

4: My Hero Academia Volume 1

I haven't said much about it through it's numerous entries on the list because I knew where Volume 1 placed.

Absolute powerhouse.

Great content, dedicated fans and unbeatable price point.

If publishers could replicate this we'd all be better off.

3's the beautiful Monstress Graphic Novel Volume 1.

Like I said before we were lucky enough to have Sana Takeda with us at World Con and here in store too and that helped bolster the numbers. But this would've been a top 10 finish regardless.

At 2.

It's Mister Miracle.

Mitch and Tom were unbelievably amazing and we did a bookplate edition.

Tom even sketched on some, Mitch didn't.

(Boo Mitch)

Great book, great character, unreal creative team who we owe big time and have yet to get here.

(yet I say)

Finally, our best selling Graphic Novel of 2019 is Die Volume 1 Fantasy Heartbreaker and it was always going to be.

We were lucky enough to do our own variant on the book with a signed bookplate plus Kieron and Chrissy did a launch event and we love those people.

And that's the top 100 for 2019.

Thanks for reading.

Thank you for making our job as awesome as it is and thank you for supporting us.

You are all amazing.

The list this year I think is probably the most diverse catalog of sales we've ever recorded.

There are literally every different type of comic book listed in there aimed at every demographic you can think of.

We hear a lot about how comics are dying, the medium is antiquated, comic shops are over etc.

Well, not here...

2019 was amazing and we hope 2020 is better, for all of us, and for you.

Before we go I'll give you some more info just for fun.

In 2019 we sold just under 6000 different titles.

Kieron Gillen wrote our top 100th, 50th and number 1 entry on this list so I'm picking those numbers on the lotto.

Of the 100 slots on the list My Hero Academia features in 14 of them.

I am beat, but there's still some analysis to share later on in the week and I'll get back to it then.

Any questions fire away and I'll do my best to get to those too.

Cheers all.

Here's to 2020.