DC Comics dominated the April 2026 graphic novel sales charts. The Eisner Awards are under fire for a nominated book that includes the usage of AI. Writer Torunn Grønbekk has launched a new comic book scriptwriting tool.
SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, APPLE, SPOTIFY, OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON BLUESKY, INSTAGRAM, TIKTOK, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON.
Powered by RedCircle
Episode Transcript:
DC absolutely dominates April graphic novel sales.
Eisners under fire for AI.
Torunn Grønbekk launches comic scriptwriting tool.
This is Comic Book Club News for May 19, 2026.
DC Dominates April 2026 Graphic Novel Sales:
The April 2026 graphic novel sales charts are here, and while this month’s single issue chart was a bit of a shakeup with Marvel regaining ground, DC Comics remained absolutely dominant in trades and collections.
Per ICv2, it was the opposite, in fact, with Marvel ranking exactly zero times in the Top 20. Instead, DC took fifteen of the slots, with Image grabbing the other five.
To break it down a little further, Absolute Batman Volume 1 took the number one slot, with Volume 2 coming in at number two. In fact, the Absolute Universe titles both in softcover and hardcover accounted for eight of the slots.
Meanwhile, DC’s Compact collections continued to be strong with Dark Knight Returns at number three, and six slots total. The only other title from DC that ranked was Batman: Dark Patterns at number 14.
Over at Image Comics, Invincible volumes accounted for four of the titles ranking, led by the slim size new edition Volume 1 at number eight and the Volume 1 compendium at number nine, likely on the back of the strength of the animated series. The lone non-Invincible Universe title? Everything Dead & Dying, coming in at number 18.
Eisner Awards Under Fire For AI Comic Book Page:
Last week, the Eisner Award nominations were announced, and almost immediately came under fire for one page of a comic in particular… Nominated book Stardust the Super Wizard, which includes a page created using AI.
Creator Michael Todasco has been open about his usage, which was not disclosed in the initial Zoop campaign for the book. He later explained that he trained AI on “the original Fletcher Hanks artwork and story structure,” and the final page did end up in the now nominated anthology.
While the Eisners currently don’t have any guidelines in either direction about AI, meaning that the usage is fair game, the nomination has faced significant blowback online. This has led to a petition to ban AI at the Eisners which, as of this recording, has nearly 800 signatures. While any movement from the petition likely wouldn’t impact the nomination of Stardust, the goal is to add a “No AI at the Eisners” clause for next year’s nominations.
More on this as it develops.
Torunn Grønbekk Launches Comic Book Scriptwriting Tool:
Today in tech news that’s actually pretty neat, writer Torunn Grønbekk announced that she’s been working on a comic book scriptwriting tool, which she’s now posting as a public alpha.
Called Norn, the tool was built by the Catwoman writer to help with her own writing, but has generated enough interest for her to allow others to stress-test it and provide feedback.
What does Norn do? The slick looking interface helps you outline your comic book issue, graphic novel, comic strip, etc, then turn that outline into beats, then pages and scenes thanks to automatic formatting.
Grønbekk plugs that there’s no cloud or AI-integration as it’s made by “skeptical nerds who value privacy,” and instead runs in your browser. The site is also open about the tool being in active development, and may be buggy. But if you want to sign up for the Alpha, you can do so at nornstory dot com right now.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And it turns out you can spell Eisners without AI.
Got tips or stories you’d like us to cover? Email us at comicbookclublive@gmail.com.
For more comic book news, reviews, and interviews, check out comicbookclublive.com.
Listen early and ad-free on Patreon.com/comicbookclub.
Share this:
Discover more from Comic Book Club
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.