“New Kid,” “Guts,” and “Beast Boy” top October 2020 NY Times graphic novel best seller list

Updated on December 10, 2021

Time to look at the New York Times’ graphic novel best seller list for October 2020.

The top five best sellers

Here’s October’s top five best sellers.

1. “New Kid,” by Jerry Craft (Amazon, Bookshop, Kobo)
2. “Guts,” by Raina Telgemeier (Amazon, Bookshop, Kobo)
3. “Teen Titans: Beast Boy,” by Kami Garcia; illustrated by Gabriel Picolo (Amazon, Bookshop)
4. “Baby-Sitters Little Sister: Karen’s Roller Skates,” by Ann N. Martin; illustrated by Katy Farina (Amazon, Bookshop, Kobo)
5. “Fangs,” by Sarah Andersen (Amazon, Bookshop)

(Disclosure: The blog is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, and will earn a commission for purchases made through Bookshop links.)

Just like last month, “New Kid” tops the best seller list. For that matter, most of the top five entries are similar to last month’s.

Appropriate-for-Halloween graphic novels

A few of the entries this month have a Halloween/horror theme to them.

Coming in at #5 is “Fangs,” by Sarah Andersen of the “Sarah’s Scribbles” comic strip. This book is about a 300-year-old vampire who starts dating a werewolf. From the few sample strips I saw, the humor’s in the same vein (no pun intended) as Andersen’s comic strip, but with horror/monster-themed jokes.

At #7 is “The Horrifyingly Haunted Hack-A-Ween” by Meredith Rusu. A “Captain Underpants” book, it seems to be an adaption of the Netflix series’ Halloween special.

Beast Boy is the top-selling superhero graphic novel

The “Big Two” finally make an appearance after a months-long absence. At #5 is a “Teen Titans” graphic novel starring Beast Boy, as a follow-up to the successful Raven graphic novel.

Given the Teen Titans’ popularity with Cartoon Network viewers, it’s not surprising that DC’s had success with this line of Teen Titans books. The Raven GN was DC’s most popular non-reprint/original graphic novel for 2019 in book channel sales (“Watchmen” beat it for #1). I’ve read the Raven book, and it was entertaining, albeit quite different from both the TV shows and the DCU comics.

Manga does well this month

Manga volumes also did well this month, taking up four of the 15 slots. “My Hero Academia” (by Kohei Horikoshi) continues to be the most popular series (volume 1 at #6 and volume 2 at #8). “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba” (by Koyoharu Gotouge) also put in two slots (volume 1 at #9 and volume 16 at #12).

I’ve read a bit of “My Hero Academia,” so I can see why it continues to be the most popular superhero genre entry on the New York Times’ best seller list. “Academia” hits many of the popular superhero tropes; it’s also easy to start reading (start with volume 1, go from there), unlike Western superhero comics.

Image from “New Kid.” Art by Jerry Craft. (Quill Tree Books)