The best-selling graphic novels of 2023 have been revealed. Eric Powell and Lucky Yates are teaming up on a new comic series, Lester of the Lesser Gods. This year’s Inkwell Awards have moved to Hershey. All on Comic Book Club News for January 31, 2024.
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Episode Transcript:
Best-selling graphic novels of 2023, revealed.
Eric Powell and Lucky Yates teaming up.
Inkwell Awards move to Hershey.
This is Comic Book Club News for January 31, 2024.
The Best-Selling Graphic Novels Of 2023 Revealed:
Figuring out what is – and is not – selling in the comic book industry is tough work. But thanks to PopVerse, via data provided by ICv2, via data provided by Circana Bookscan, and now said out loud by me, we have a general idea about the top graphic novels sold in the United States in 2023.
First, a note. This is not a complete list, as it doesn’t encompass all sales at all stores. However, it does give us a snapshot of what people were buying last year. And what they were buying was Manga.
The top-selling graphic novel of 2023 was Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Vol. 1, with 148,488 copies sold. And in fact, seven of the top 10 on the list are Manga volumes, including Chainsaw Man, Beserk, and more. That said, the surprising number two on the list, with only 300 fewer copies sold than the top book was IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin.
Also in the Top 10 non-Manga were Lore Olympus at number nine, and Bill Watterson’s The Mysteries at number 10. If Manga is sorted out entirely a few more titles pop up, albeit in the tens of thousands of copies sold, versus over 100,000. And in fact, they’re both graphic memoirs from 2019 that tend to sell copies whenever there’s controversy around them: George Takei’s They Called Us Enemy, and Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer.
As for the Big Two, aka Coke and Pepsi — sorry, DC and Marvel — Watchmen was the biggest with 30,000 copies sold over multiple editions of the collection. Sandman also did well, just north of 20,000 copies sold. And multiple Batman series charted, though all were in the 10 to 20,000 copies sold range.
And Marvel didn’t crack the Top 30 books at all, with Spider-Punk: Battle of the Banned the highest selling volume from the publisher, with just over 10,000 copies sold.
So there you go! Move over, Coke and Pepsi. It’s RC Cola’s time to shine.
Eric Powell And Lucky Yates Teaming Up On New Comic:
Eric Powell is teaming up with Lucky Yates on a new comic book series for Dark Horse Comics. And as you might expect from the creator of The Goon, and the voice of Dr Krieger on Archer, it is extremely dark and serious.
Just kidding. The book, titled Lester of the Lesser Gods is what we in the industry refer to as a “Goofmatron 5000,” focusing on the LARPing son of Odin, who “wanders the post-apocalyptic wasteland after thwarting Satan’s attempt to bring about the end of days. But can this hero of the downtrodden survive the battle arena of Will Frye the Technomancer Guy?”
The title actually started as an animated short created by Powell a decade ago. And back in 2021, it came out as a one-shot from Powell’s Albatross Press, co-written by Yates. And now, the story is three issues long, and coming out from Dark Horse. So there you go! It will hit stores on May 22, 2024.
Inkwell Awards Move To Hershey:
If you were going to host a comic convention, wouldn’t you want it to be in a town known for chocolate? I guess? Anyway, the annual Inkwell Awards have been picked up by the Hershey Comic Con, a convention nicknamed “the sweetest comic con on Earth.”
The news was announced by Bob Almond, though personally I prefer Bob Milk or Bob Dark, but anyway, Bob Almond, the Inkwell Awards Founder and Director, and Joe Figured, Head Promoter of the Hershey Comic Con, whose last name is not a type of chocolate bar.
Said Almond: “It didn’t take long for Joe and I to realize that we were on the exact same page about what we were looking for and a business relationship was formed. The convention community took a hit like every other business and not everyone survived. I wanted to see shows gain strong footholds again, and knew that, eventually, things would improve, leading to more attendance invitations similar to pre-pandemic levels”
Perhaps not the most triumphant statement, but the Awards will be returning for their 15th anniversary, so that’s nice. Nominees and attendees are TBA, but the ceremony will include the Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Award, presented by the late Sinnott’s son, and an appearance by Ms. Inkwell, aka spokesmodel and hostess, Hailey Skaza-Gagne.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And if you’re curious, the convention is about a 15-20 minute drive away from Hershey Park, in case you want to ride some rides after or something.
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