Looking back, it hasn't been since October that any super hero comic made that list. Batman vol. 6 was on it for a single week before dropping off. And you know it's never returning. Sales of Batman vol. 6 don't increase once the initial orders have gone out. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it's now out of print.

The only caveat I will mention with DCs sales as reported by Hibbs-he makes a point to say it is the evergreen titles that keep DC at the forefront, not the new releases coming from the collections of monthly continuity driven books. Most of DC's evergreen books are either self-contained stories (THe Dark Knight, Year One, Killing Joke, Watchmen) or parts of finite series (Sandman, Preacher, Fables, etc.) not stuff that comes form the never-ending monthly grind comics. The ones that do come form it tend to be anthology collections (The Greatest Batman Stories ever Told type books, the recent 75th anniversary editions, etc.) and not the longass ongoing stories in tpb form that get one printing and done, and are out of print when they sell through the initial print. Batman being the exception because well Batman, and it is just Snyder's Batman that is the exception, not ther collections of Detective, Batman: Dark Night, Batman/Superman, Batman & Robin) or any other contemporary Batbook that makes the transition into evergreen territory.

Most of the evergreen sales that propel DC in the bookscan trade are stories that have a beginning, middle and end in the book or finite series, and do not require the reader to follow a long drawn out never-ending story the way monthly comics do in whatever format they are releaed in (digital, single issue or trade collections). This is also true of the many indy/creator-owned books in comic format that do well in the book trade. For me, the lesson here is not the a particular publisher, or character type, or genre is the key to success, but the storytelling format, skills, and goals that are the focus of the release. Stories that have a beginning, middle end, or series that as a whole present a story that does, do relatively well in the book trade outside the normal customer base of the comic shop-whether that is Killing Joke, Sandman, March Book One or whatever. Books that are part of an ongoing sprawling never-ending story that can never give the customer the satisfaction of an ending with closure on the story don't do well with audiences (except with the hardcore audience seeking their next fix and who hope it never ends-and that audience isn't served by the outlets Bookscans services, they are served by Diamond).

-M

There's certainly room for improvement, and I think there are some efforts to do just that but I don't think the evidence points to the narratives being too impenetrable as the reason that sales aren't higher.

So all those that tie into events or have other plots shoved into them (Villains month DC or Secret Wars or whatever) mainstian that tightly plotted arc that stands alone. You can read Detective Comics without reading the rest of Death of the Family in other books and get a full story or Action Comics and not read other Superman books for Doomed and get a complete story-and read Superior Spider-Man without prior knowledge form other stories who Dr. Octopus is, and...etc. etc. etc. Yeah, they mave titled arcs, but those aren't self-contained stories that give closure with their endings.

-M

And as I said in my post, Batman by Snyder seems to be the exception (not the rule) for monthly books doing well in the mainstream. However, the remainder of the Batbooks, which have to take their cues from Snyder's big tent pole ideas and work around them in their own books do not do well because, those stories do not stand up on their own or have satisfying endings with closure because they have to take their cues form another book-i.e. Snyder's Batman. While Snyder's Batman doesn't need the other ancillary Bat-books to tell its story, oftentimes the ancillary Bat-books are dependent on the status quo established there to tell theirs, which limits their appeal and their success outside the hardcore audience.

-M

If you read all of say Simone's Batgirl (before the Burside era Batgirl starts) does the story come to a significant ending with closure?

Closure (not a lurching stop) is important to mainstream audiences. Look at the interest final episodes of long ruunning series draw even from viewers who may have stopped watching the show previously. They want that ending that closes the door on story. Not the story just stopping, but all the ends tied up, and a sense of it's done. Most mainstream monthly comics don't give that even when sectioned into titled arcs.

Watchmen has such an ending.

Batman Year One has such an ending even if Batman has most of his career in front of him the story of how he became the Bat has that closure.

Sandman has that closure.

Layman's Detective does not. It's a story crafted for a niche audience in terms of its structures and assumptions. It's not built to succeed with a mainstream audience no matter how you market it.

-M