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Which characters or titles throughout DC history, which initially didn't appear to hold much promise or were expected to do well, defied all odds to become runaway hits and ongoing success stories?
[color=red]Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)[/color]
The most recent example, despite me not really liking it personally, is Injustice. A schlocky video game tie in that became immensely popular very quickly.
Another big example would obviously be New Teen Titans. DC was kind of using a known, good formula, but hell it's not like X-men itself wasn't a rip off originally (Hello Doom Patrol!). NTT reaching the heights it did, so quickly, was beyond everyone's expectations and that dragon has been chased for decades at this point.
Legion of Superheroes
I mean, look at their names, Ball Boy, Sun Boy, This Boy, That Boy....and they have a big cult fanbase.
I really didn't think that DCeased would catch on like it did, but it's consistently one of DC's best selling titles.
I'm not sure that exists. There are not "unexpected runaway successes." There's the Trinity, then there's everyone else who gets to survive with varying degrees of success and then there are the ones who pop their heads up once in awhile only to get shot down until they're given another chance.
That said, okay - maybe Harley Quinn I guess...
Great question!
I would probably have to say G'Nort, the greatest Green Lantern of all!
G'Nort started off as a one off joke appearance in Justice League International # 10 but soon became a fixture in that title and the early 90s Green Lantern series.
G'Nort would appear in 80s comics such as Mister Miracle and Power of the Atom, and was even given a secret origin story in Secret Origins.
G'Nort would go on to star in Justice League Annual 4 (Justice League Antarctica!) and Justice League Quarterly 2 with his sidekick, the Scarlet Skier.
After his very own storyline in the main GL title, G'Nort would be given a gig as one of the features in the first five Green Lantern Quarterly books. These tales would feature G'Nort and his second sidekick, Sax Girl!
A few years later Green Lantern 80 Page Giant came out and would feature tales of the greatest Lanterns ever. Alan Scott, Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Guy Gardner, Kyle Rayner...and G'Nort.
G'Nort would go dark after that for a few years. Luckily superstar artist Dale Eaglesham would include G'Nort in background cameos of Green Lantern at the behest of G'Nort fans from the DC message boards. G'Nort can be seen on a poster during the Last Laugh crossover and as a waiter in issue 153 of the Lantern series.
Geoff Johns hated G'Nort and wanted nothing to do with him, but not even Johns could withstand the power of G'Nort and included G'Nort in his final Green Lantern issue.
Does that count?
Definitely Injustice. The comic was a digital comic which people really don't talk about but it was more successful than other print comics. It's one of DC's mos popular elseworlds.
...Modern Aquaman?
[QUOTE=Frontier;4581984]...Modern Aquaman?[/QUOTE]
Probably. Peter David's run maybe.
I'm thinking maybe Lobo counts here too.
It'll sound weird but I think Jon Kent.
I don't know if anyone expected the character to catch on so quick and the super sons dynamic and title with it.
I think Harley Quinn, she stared as just as side character in the DCAU but is currently one of DCs most popular characters.
Jason Todd, not that popular as Robin, but as Red Hood he was at least able to keep his series going since Flashpoint. The sales are not that great, but there are not many other characters that manage this these days.
The Wonder Woman movie turned out to be much more successful then I think people were expecting. Untested director, untested film IP, the stereotype that women can't headline blockbuster Superhero movies, and despite her strong showing in BvS people were still unsure about DC movies.
Post-Crisis Matrix Supergirl. Nobody liked her when she first appeared, the premise was convoluted, and she wasn't the REAL Supergirl, Superman's cousin. Then Peter David came along and wrote her solo series that lasted 80 issues, because it was just so good. Then DC canceled that to make room for the return of Kara Zor-El, but David's series could have lasted longer, if they'd let it.
Superman, Batman, the Sandman, the Joker, Jimmy Olsen, the Justice Society of America, Blackhawk, Plastic Man, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, Alfred, Johnny Peril, the Fox and the Crow, Boy Commandos, harlequins, wonder dogs, Tomahawk, teen humour comics, Smallville, Jerry Lewis, Superman and Batman team-ups, romance comics, horror comics, the Club of Heroes, Batwoman, intelligent apes, Sgt. Rock, the Manhunter from Mars, the revival of the Flash, the Suicide Squad, Wally West, Maynard G. Krebs, teen groups, Tomar Re, imaginary stories, multiple Earths, Mera, the Floronic Man, Zatanna, Death-Man, Animal Man, Guy Gardner, Jonah Hex, Nubia, the Champions of Angor, John Stewart, Swamp Thing, Darkseid, Power Girl, the Warlord, Shade the Changing Man, Black Lightning, the Global Guardians (featuring Green Flame and Ice Maiden), Vixen, digest comics, Vibe, Jason Todd, Deathstroke the Terminator, Terra, Ambush Bug, Lobo, John Constantine, Superboy Prime, the Monitor, Booster Gold, the Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Maxwell Lord, KGBeast, character deaths, heel turns, Azrael, Timothy Hunter, Lucifer, returns from the dead.
[QUOTE=Aahz;4582047]I think Harley Quinn, she stared as just as side character in the DCAU but is currently one of DCs most popular characters.
Jason Todd, not that popular as Robin, but as Red Hood he was at least able to keep his series going since Flashpoint. The sales are not that great, but there are not many other characters that manage this these days.[/QUOTE]
Red Hood totally he had a movie made about him as well appearing in other animated media and video games.
Harley is probably the biggest unexpected hit from DC.
Watchmen and sandman are obvious ones.
The Wolfman/Perez Titans.
I believe they found out around the sixth issue that they were outselling most of Marvel and were surprised.
Hitman.
Part of the 'DC and Marvel freak out over Image doing superheroes and try to trademark every edgy name they can think of before Image does', also known as 'the 1993 Annuals'. Hitman was DC's only thing to really last out of that.
The JSA.
When DC gained the license to do the Archie heroes in the early '90s, they had some lead time to fill while waiting for things to get started. So, they took the pool of creators and made a 'throwaway' JSA mini-series that stood alone and wasn't dependent on continuity.
Reception was so good that it sparked a revival of the team, despite that not being the purpose of the book.
JLI.
The longer it ran, the more haters thought 'no one could like this', but it just couldn't stop.
Writers and editors were forbidding their characters from joining, but the JLI defied them by creating stars out of the ones they were given.
It was the first time since All-Star Squadron that a Justice League title had spin-offs launch out of it, with 1989 and 1990 being its biggest years.
The title became one of DC's top titles, only dropping down a couple years after Batman mania started again and the formula began getting tired.
Led to Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Guy Gardner, Fire and Ice becoming fan-favorites and solidified J'onn J'onzz as the heart/soul of the Justice League.
Lobo.
Minor villain in a minor comic sold only at comic shops when comic shops weren't the norm.
Suddenly he's everywhere.
Harley Quinn.
Started out as not even a comic character.
Took over the DCU when she transitioned over.
Animal Man.
[img]https://comicvine1.cbsistatic.com/uploads/scale_large/6/67663/2657662-89.jpg[/img]
I'd like to think the New Superman and Justice League of China have a cult following, but that fanbase seems to have died since the series ended. Otherwise it would be Injustice, which I expected to be crap like the games but turned out to be an amazing story (especially Injustice 2 since it was only Tom Taylor) and also DCeased (also Tom Taylor). I think his work has shown to be consistently cult classic stories, but I'm also a relatively new reader (started reading comics avidly with Earth-2 in 2012).
[QUOTE=Frontier;4581984]...Modern Aquaman?[/QUOTE]
Yeah Aquaman has came a loooooooong way, people used to automatically shit on him no matter how awesome he was.
Maybe Flintstones from a couple of years ago. The buzz around it at my LCS grew exponentially from where it seemingly started with indifference. I thought the same kind of phenomenon happened in the New52 with Frankenstein and Dial H, although the latter had a somewhat well-known author outside of comics attached to it.
Hitman immediately sprung to mind.
In the same vein, I remember when Preacher started to REALLY explode too.
Around issue 5 EVERYONE was raving about the new Vertigo title that you HAD to read.