1.25 million copies of Dog Man: Grime & Punishment sold in four months

(Image credit: Dav Pilkey (Scholastic/Graphix))

Dog Man: Grime and Punishment has sold 1.25 million copies, according to NPD BookScan. And while most comic sales figures and sell-out notices are for sales to retailers and not the readers themselves, these are sell-through numbers - with data provided by those stores to NPD BookScan.

"For long time readers of the Captain Underpants and Dog Man series, Dog Man: Grime and Punishment will be a familiar and delightful continuation of Pilkey's long-running universe," Newsarama reviewer C.K. Stewart writes of the new volume. "Even if you're new, though, and looking for a light and breezy read or trying to find something for the younger readers in your life, Dog Man: Grime and Punishment will offer as enthusiastic welcome to you as the titular hero does to all he meets.

The ninth volume of Dav Pilkey's hit all-ages OGN series, Dog Man: Grime and Punishment was the third-largest selling book of 2020 overall - beaten only by Barack Obama's A Promised Land and Stephanie Meyer's Midnight Sun.

The last three volumes of Dog Man (Brawl of the Wild, For Whom the Ball Rolls, and Fetch-22) also had five million-copy first printings, but Grime and Punishment's comes in the midst of a pandemic which could have hampered demand for the print series. Over 30 million copies of the Dog Man series have been sold and have been translated into over 30 languages.

"Since we announced the publication date for Dog Man: Grime & Punishment, we have been hearing from enthusiastic kids, parents, educators, and retailers who have been eagerly waiting for its release," the president of Scholastic's trade division Ellie Berger said in late 2020. "We couldn't be more thrilled to see kids and families around the world so excited, laughing and reading together. We look forward to publishing more Dav Pilkey books in the future."

Striking while the iron is hot, the next volume, Dog Man: Mothering Heights, goes on sale on March 23.

Over in the adult graphic novel side of things, sales have jumped almost 20%.

Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)