Cape and Cowl Comics' Best Selling Graphic Novels of 2019!

Mister Miracle Collection Cover by Mitch Gerads

Here we go again! We say this every year, but this really is our favorite part about the calendar turning from one year to another. Putting together this list and pondering what it all means to our place in the vast comic book universe is just super fun. So below is our top 100 list and some thoughts and some stats and some questions. If you see anything particularly interesting, please chime in! We’d love to know what you all think.

Thank you so, so, so very much for another amazing year. We really super love you.

1. Mister Miracle

Gotta be honest, some of us were pulling super hard for this to be #1 on the list. *cough*Eitan*cough* This is a rare book we can confidently place in just about anyone’s hands and say simply, “Read this. It’s GREAT. You’ll love it.” with the kind of conviction people just can’t pass on.

2. Die Vol. 1

It helps that this one was universally loved by the staff. Kieron Gillen’s idea for “Goth Jumani” is flat out brilliant and Stephanie Hans’ art is freaking irresistible. No surprise at all that this was a top book on the year.

3. Isola Vol. 1

This one is super interesting because it’s a book that almost completely sells itself. Not that we don’t love it. It just doesn’t require us to do much. People are drawn to the gorgeous art first and are quickly pulled in by the story.

4. CROWDED Vol. 1

It certainly doesn’t hurt that this book is edited by former (and beloved) Cape & Cowl employee, Juliette, BUT we truly believe this would be a smash hit either way. Crowd funded assassinations in a fully gig-based economy? Is that not already a thing?

5. The Wicked +

The Divine Vol. 1

Speaking of Juliette, when she was hired she all but guaranteed our WicDiv sales would go up. Well, she wasn’t kidding! Our customers never stood a chance…

6. Gideon Falls Vol. 1

Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino’s perfect combo of creepy and weird and atmosphere has become our go to horror recommendation. It’s smart and original and we looooove it.

7. Monstress Vol. 1

Not just one of our best selling books of 2019, but one of the best selling books in the 4 year history of Cape & Cowl. Coincidentally, Monstress #1 came out on our very first New Comics Book Day Wednesday!

8. Miles Morales Spider-Man Ultimate Collection Vol. 1

The Into the Spider-Verse movie went a long, long way towards bringing Miles into the spotlight, but we’re proud to say we’ve been selling the crap out of Miles books for years now. We just love the character so much!

9. Bitter Root Vol. 1

Terrifying monsters fueled by hate and the incredible family committed to fighting them might be the one book we most needed to read in 2019. Everything David Walker, Chuck Brown, and Sanford Greene put into this book is fantastic.

10. Batman White Knight

Sean Murphy’s art is absolutely incredible and it turns out he’s a hell of a story teller too. Batman goes too far. The Joker becomes Gotham’s savior. Wait, what? That can’t be right. Trust us, this one’s worth reading for the Batmobiles alone!

11. Monstress Vol. 4

12. Paper Girls Vol. 5

13. Saga Vol. 1

14. Calexit Vol. 1

Talk about a book that sells itself. The perfect combination of cover art, title, and timing. We reorder this book so often the publisher has flat out asked us what we’re doing with them all!

15. Paper Girls Vol. 1

16. Umbrella Academy Vol. 1

People often ask if the popularity of comic book tv and movies have a profound effect on our business and the honest answer is often, “not really.” But there are definitely exceptions. When an Excellent movie or show is based off of a more obscure property or character, people absolutely do rush to the comic shop to learn more. Umbrella Academy is the perfect example. The show was great and left people wanting more. Score!

17. Watchmen

Remember that “obscure” thing we said about the success of Umbrella Academy up for #16 on our list? Well… maybe it’s not a hard and fast rule. Watchmen is the best selling graphic novel of all time and is a regular seller for most if not every comic shop, but that HBO show this year… oh boy! That shot this classic out of a canon. People are reading it for the first time, reading it again, buying it for friends, buying new special editions to glam up the bookcase. All that good stuff. It’s pretty cool!

18. Saga Vol. 9

19. Descender Vol. 1

20. Guts

The first all ages book on our list! We’re super excited that this one ranks so high. We hold (Oakland’s Own!) Raina Telgemeier on a bit of a PEDESTAL here at the shop. In our opinion, and the opinion of a whole bunch of way smarter people, raina is basically responsible for revolutionizing the comic book game and opening it up to an entire new generation. Oh! And this book is amazing! It’s fun and important and helps us talk to kids about anxiety. Love!

21. Gideon Falls Vol. 2

21. The Wicked + The Divine Vol. 9

23. The Wicked + The Divine Vol. 8

24. Paper Girls Vol. 6

25. Monstress Vol. 3

26. Monstress Vol. 2

27. Deadly Class Vol. 1

28. They Called Us Enemy

29. The Wicked + The Divine Vol. 2

30. Dog Man Vol. 6

31. House of X/

Powers of X

Easily the biggest and most important series to come out of the “Big Two” (Marvel and DC) this year. Jonathan HIckman and his artist partners have managed to breath life into the X-Men/Superhero comics like we’ve never really seen before. New readers and old flocked to this one and were rewarded with an amazing read.

32. Blackbird Vol. 1

33. Miles Morales GN Vol. 1

These younger reader editions are probably the smartest thing Marvel did in 2019. Repackaging some of the best new characters who appeal to new readers in a slightly smaller format that is instantly recognizable to the literal millions of kids hoovering up graphic novels around the world. Pretty brilliant.

34. Space Riders Vol. 1

35. Seven to Eternity Vol. 1

36. East of West Vol. 9

37. Batman Who Laughs

38. Upgrade Soul

39. Saga Vol. 8

40. Paper Girls Vol. 2

41. Girl Town

42. Bezkamp

We didn’t do a ton of events in 2019 that were centered around specific books, but when our friend, Oakland’s own Sam Sattin, announced the release of his new Graphic Novel from Lion Forge we new we needed to go big. We had an amazing release party and tons of peeps came out to support!

43. Ms. Marvel GN Vol. 1

44. Saga Vol. 2

45. Farmhand Vol. 1

46. Skyward Vol. 1

47. Chew Vol. 1

48. Dark Nights Metal - Nightmare Batmen

49. Magic Order Vol. 1

50. Head Lopper Vol. 1

51. Tokyo Ghost Vol. 1

52. Shuri Vol. 1

53. Space Riders Vol. 2

54. The Wicked + The Divine Vol. 3

55. Immortal Hulk Vol. 1

56. Head Lopper Vol. 3

57. Aquacorn Cove

58. Dog Man Vol. 7

59. Gender Queer: A Memoir

Another local creator and another one of the best people we’ve had the pleasure of meeting in comics! This books is amazing for a variety of reasons and we love that it has found a solid audience at our shop.

60. Murder Falcon

61. Deadly Class 8

62. The Wicked + The Divine Vol. 7

63. Black Panther Vol. 1

64. Seven to Eternity Vol. 3

65. Paper Girls Vol. 4

66. Ironheart GN Vol. 1

67. Unplugged and Unpopular

Yet another amazing local creator! Mat Haegerty is easily one of the nucest guys in all of comics and we’re huge fans. This book is fantastic and probably the single easiest all ages book to hand sell. A story about a kid teaming up with her grandparent on an adventure one she realizes there’s a world beyond her smart phone. Fun!

68. Spidey GN Vol. 1

69. Thanos Wins

70. Umbrella Academy Vol. 2

71. The Strange Talent of Luther Strode

72. Deadly Class Vol. 2

73. Paper Girls Vol. 3

74. Gideon Falls Vol. 3

75. Saga Vol. 3

76. Middlewest Vol. 1

77. Smile

78. Saga Vol. 7

79. Share Your Smile

80. Sex Criminals 1

81. Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me

Another local creator we love! So we’re a little biased. Sue us. Mariko Tamaki is one of the best in the biz. Her books are great and she’s hilarious. Big fans.

82. Heathen Vol. 1

83. Hellboy Omnibus Vol. 1

84. Abbott

85. Teen Titans GN - Raven

86. Saga Vol. 4

87. Glint

88. Sisters

89. Dog Man Vol. 1

90. Secret Wars (2016)

91. Invisible Kingdom Vol. 1

92. This is a Taco

93. East of West Vol. 1

94. The Wicked + The Divine Vol. 4

95. Black Science Vol. 1

96. Snotgirl Vol. 1

97. Captain Marvel Earth’s Mightiest Hero Vol. 1

98. Batman: The Long Halloween

Bold prediction: This book will see a Watchmen level spike in sales in 2020 and will be a Top 20 book by the end of the year. Rumor is this one is the basis for the new movie and if it starts to get buzz or is halfway decent, people will be clamoring for this one.

99. Black Monday Murders Vol. 1

100. Venom by Donny Cates Vol. 1

Some quick observations:

• For the 4th year in a row, Image Comics dominates our list making up over 50% of the titles and over 60% of units sold.

• Kids/All Ages Graphic Novels took a huge leap from 2018. We have 17 titles on the 2019 list which is up from 8 the year before. These comics are the real deal and a concrete way we can tell the future of comics is bright.

• Marvel is way down from last year. We did count a number of the repackaged all ages books as kids books, but even still… Last year there were 18 Marvel titles in our top 100. This year there are 8. Part of this can be contributed to the perfect storm that was Black Panther. Without the massive BP spike it would be about even.

• A few notable books that fell just outside of the top 100 (by just a single copy): The Boys Omnibus Vol. 1 (Our dirty little secret? We think the show is better than the book, but don’t tell anyone). Akira Vol. 1 (this would have been our only Manga title!). Sandman Vol. 1 (classics be classics, y’know?).