The success of the Hellboy movie has given Dark Horse a graphic novel hit that has broken manga's run at the top of the graphic novel chart. Relaunched in five trade paperbacks with a matching trade dress, the series has been selling well in bookstores and comics shops.
At the beginning of May, the book was number 1 on Bookscan's graphic novel list, and there are five Hellboy titles among the top 100. The first book, Seed of Destruction, which formed the rough basis of the movie, quickly sold 20,000 copies, about half through bookstores, and now has sold about 40,000. Hellboy: Wake the Devil has sold close to 20,000 copies. Early demand outstripped the available supply; additional books had to be air freighted to the U.S. from China. "It did exceed our wildest expectations," said Michael Martens, Dark Horse v-p of business development. All the books are available now to meet another expected round of demand when the DVD is released on July 27.
