The Summer of 2025 once again validated our belief that “backlist is frontlist for the majority of readers,” as many older favorites remained popular in the 3,500+ schools and libraries that help make “Read All The Comics!” happen. That includes the continued popularity of Milk & Mocha Comics Collection: Our Little Happiness (Andrews McMeel), which was an immediate hit when it was first added in the summer of 2023, and has been our most popular individual title ever since. By a landslide!
Of course, we’ve added a few thousand more titles to Comics Plus since then (check out Just Added every Wednesday), many of which are also finding new readers all the time — because that’s the true power of unlimited, simultaneous access.
When readers don’t have to worry about holds, wait lists, and borrowing limits, they can simply read ALL the comics they’re interested in, whenever they’re ready.
Most Popular New Additions in 2025
It’s an open secret that the NY Times Bestsellers lists are curated (“authoritatively” and “independently” ranked) and not a list of actual bestsellers in any given week. By design, it often excludes popular backlist titles that continue to sell well, or else Dav Pilkey and a handful of manga series would dominate not only their Graphic Books and Manga list, but some of their regular lists, too. Those lists also don’t consider what’s circulating in libraries and schools.
Taking a page from the NY Times, we’re going to look at the titles that were added to Comics Plus in 2025 and spotlight the most popular ones for every age level. While primarily “new” releases, we also occasionally add backlist titles from new and existing publisher partners, so some of these still follow the “backlist is frontlist” rule, the most notable examples being Fullmetal Alchemist and Solo Leveling (Yen Press).
YOUNG READERS
Our youngest readers get the best of two worlds with access to comics and picture books, and our collection of the latter saw another influx of new and backlist titles, including Cherry Lake’s unsurprisingly popular Get Out Alive! series, which was just released in August!
- Escape From the Bone Eater (Cherry Lake)
- Escape From a Death Roll (Cherry Lake)
- Escape From Razor Teeth (Cherry Lake)
- Escape From the Spotted Assassin (Cherry Lake)
- Numbers in Spanish (Capstone)
- Sirenas (Capstone)
- Escape From the Ice Prowler (Cherry Lake)
- Escape From a Deadly Hug (Cherry Lake)
- Miss Betti, What Is This?: How Detroit’s School Lunch Lady Got Good Food on the Menu (Cherry Lake)
- In Bloom: Who Stole the Bone? (Cherry Lake)
Picture books, early readers, and decodables have also helped our collection of Spanish-language titles for young readers continue to grow, with Capstone’s Numbers in Spanish and Sirenas being among the most popular 2025 additions… so far.
- Comics Plus Collection(s): Elementary, Children’s Public Library, All-Access for Schools, Full Collection
MIDDLE GRADE
Despite ongoing concerns that middle grade readers aren’t reading as much as they used to, comics and manga remain extremely popular with them — in print and on Comics Plus. We break out our circulation by age ranges partly because our “middle grade” collection is so overwhelmingly popular, those titles out-circulate everything else.
While Milk & Mocha is the most prominent example of this phenomenon (and for a couple of years before it, Avatar), the list of popular 2025 additions features several familiar franchises, including the long-running Big Nate series and Dynamite’s Disney comics.
In fact, Big Nate: Attack of the Cheez Funk Breath (Andrews McMeel) is the most popular title overall that we added in 2025… so far!
- Big Nate: Attack of the Cheez Funk Breath (Andrews McMeel)
- Big Nate: No Harm Done! (Andrews McMeel)
- Minecraft: Out of Order Volume 1 (Dark Horse)
- The New Adventures of Disney Pixar’s Turning Red #1 (Papercutz)
- Zootopia #1 (Dynamite)
- Slice of Mallow Vol. 2: Second Slice (Andrews McMeel)
- Minecraft: Heart of Cobblestone Volume 1 (Dark Horse)
- Zootopia #2 (Dynamite)
- The Art of the Amazing Spider-Man (Dark Horse)
- Stitch #1 (Dynamite)
On Comics Plus, popularity is purely organic. There are no algorithms, no chatbots, no targeted ads; just human curation (every featured list is manually curated by us) and humans reading the books they want to read without unnecessary restrictions.
- Comics Plus Collection(s): Elementary, Middle School, Children’s Public Library, Teen Public Library, All-Access for Schools, Full Collection
TEEN
The only thing more predictable than complaints about middle graders not reading enough is complaints that teenagers aren’t reading enough, both of which typically ignore the popularity of comics and manga and webtoons.
Manga, in particular, is extremely popular with older readers — from teens to adults — and the range of genres is unmatched by any other medium, including western comics.
- The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t a Guy at All, Vol. 1 (Yen Press)
- Cthulhu Cat (Dark Horse)
- The Unwanted Bride Loves the Crown Prince With All Her Heart, Vol. #1 (Tokyopop)
- The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t a Guy at All, Vol. 2 (Yen Press)
- The 31st Consort, Vol. 1 (Yen Press)
- The Art of Marvel Rivals (Dark Horse)
- ZomCom’ics (Andrews McMeel)
- In Another World, My Sister Stole My Name, Vol. 2 (Yen Press)
- I Was Reincarnated as the Heroine on the Verge of a Bad Ending, and I’m Determined to Fall in Love!, Vol #3 (Tokyopop)
- Trapped By His Love: The Duke’s Unexpected Bride, Vol #2 (Tokyopop)
Teenagers often want to escape from schoolwork or independently choose titles that don’t appear on classroom reading lists, and the library can be a safe space to do that. Digital access offers them a greater level of privacy, too.
- Comics Plus Collection(s): Middle School, High School, Teen Public Library, All-Access for Schools, Full Collection
YOUNG ADULT
The difference between a teenager and a young adult isn’t written in stone; for Comics Plus we focus on the intensity and depth of the stories being told, with young adults able to handle more of both than their younger schoolmates.
A lot of popular manga falls into this age level in the US, and it’s often where Western comics get more interesting, too.
Invincible had been our most popular YA series coming into 2025 (and our most popular superhero series overall), but the additions of Fullmetal Alchemist and Solo Leveling had an immediate impact and the latter is already challenging its popularity.
- When I Became a Commoner, They Broke Off Our Engagement!, Vol. 4 (Yen Press)
- Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 1 (Yen Press)
- Solo Leveling, Vol. 1 (Yen Press)
- Invincible Vol. 22: Reboot? (Image Comics)
- Cult of the Lamb Vol. 1: The First Verse (Oni Press)
- Solo Leveling, Vol. 2 (Yen Press)
- Sad Nuggie: Life is Sweet and Sour (Andrews McMeel)
- The Summer Hikaru Died, Vol. 5 (Yen Press)
- Solo Leveling, Vol. 3 (Yen Press)
- Solo Leveling, Vol. 7 (Yen Press)
As with teenagers, many young adults also look to the library as a safe space to escape from their daily stress and/or educate themselves about the world around them and beyond. Digital access offers them a greater level of privacy to read freely, too.
- Comics Plus Collection(s): High School, Teen Public Library, All-Access for Schools, Full Collection
ADULT
The other side of the “kids don’t read anymore” coin is the equally incorrect claim that “adults don’t read comics” or worse, “adults only read superhero comics.”
Our ever-expanding collection for adults isn’t available in schools, so they don’t have the same reach as the rest of the collection and are unlikely to out-circulate our most popular titles for younger readers — but it features a wide range of noteworthy must reads that shouldn’t be overlooked.
It also includes a much deeper selection of manga; perhaps too deep for some tastes, but when we say “Read All the Comics!” we mean read ALL the comics!
- Reincarnation Coliseum, Vol. 1 (Yen Press)
- Strategic Lovers, Vol. 2 (Yen Press)
- The Stranger in the Hoarding House (Tokyopop)
- Honey Trap Shared House, Vol. 5 (Yen Press)
- Reincarnation Coliseum, Vol. 2 (Yen Press)
- I Was A Fashion School Serial Killer #1 (Image Comics)
- Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees: Collected edition (IDW)
- Magical Explorer, Vol. 2 (Yen Press)
- Open Earth (Oni Press)
- Strategic Lovers, Vol. 3 (Yen Press)
One of the most important benefits of digital access via libraries is respecting readers’ fundamental right to privacy, and the ability to freely read what you enjoy without the judgement of others. Comics Plus customers have full control over which titles they make available in their own collections, though, ensuring they comply with their own collection development policies.
- Comics Plus Collection: Full Collection
Read All The Comics!
“An absolute game changer.” School Library Journal
With Comics Plus, schools and libraries can offer readers unlimited access to thousands of digital comics, manga, and picture books from popular publishers like ABDO, Andrews McMeel, Capstone, Cherry Lake, Dark Horse, Europe Comics, Fantagraphics, Humanoids, IDW, Image Comics, Kodansha, Lerner, Mad Cave, Manga Classics, Oni Press, Papercutz, Tokyopop, TOON Books, UDON Entertainment, Yen Press, and dozens more.
No holds, wait lists, or monthly borrowing limits—all at a price that won’t break your materials budget.
Learn more at comicsplusapp.com and sign up for a free demo account.
We curate high-interest, immersive digital content that helps schools and libraries expand and diversify their collections—without breaking their materials budgets.
