DC's serious lack of mini and limited series

[LifeIsILL]

Outside of Batman and Superman, why is it that no other character have some sort of limited or Mini-series coming out?

Look at Marvel, characters like Wolverine, Cap, Iron Man, Punisher, Hulk, Daredevil, Namor, Silver Surfer constantly pumps out interesting limited series, even before the movies became popular. But as for DC, Batman is the only one with the one-shots, limited series and just about everything else. I think the last Flash mini was the Flashpoint comic in 1999, don't even remember the last Aquaman one. Even Superman isn't pumping out as much as before, only American Alien and Superman Unchained being the recent ones in many years.

What is up with that? And DC should do something about this.

[Atlanta96]

There are currently mini-series for Supergirl, Captain Atom, Raven, Harley Quinn, and Hawkman being printed and an upcoming mini focusing on the Amazons. The fact that none of them are particularly successful might explain why there aren't more.

[Flyattractor]

Well at least before Rebirth back in the Nu52 days, the ongoings got cancelled so fast there was no need to make actual MINIS...

[Bossace]

Raven has one ongoing with dead man, there's a captain atom one, hawkman, poison ivy and swamp thing had one. Etc

[Lee Stone]

DC could use more.

However, we do currently have Deadman, Hawkman/Adam Strange and Captain Atom.

One of the things that they should do is give each of the Titans a spotlight mini.

[gwangung]

However, the fact remains that minis generally have rotten sales. I'm almost certain if they were announced as ongoing, they'd get higher sales.

[GlennSimpson]

Outside of Batman and Superman, why is it that no other character have some sort of limited or Mini-series coming out?

Look at Marvel, characters like Wolverine, Cap, Iron Man, Punisher, Hulk, Daredevil, Namor, Silver Surfer constantly pumps out interesting limited series, even before the movies became popular. But as for DC, Batman is the only one with the one-shots, limited series and just about everything else. I think the last Flash mini was the Flashpoint comic in 1999, don't even remember the last Aquaman one. Even Superman isn't pumping out as much as before, only American Alien and Superman Unchained being the recent ones in many years.

What is up with that? And DC should do something about this.

Mini series don't sell as well as ongoings. Marvel can get away with it because they sell more overall, generally. Nothing important ever happens in a mini (unless it's some big event) and people who are looking for ways to keep their buying budget down will definitely make that the first place they cut.

This is probably one of the reasons DC went with double-shipping a lot of their books - it gives them more books to sell in a month but they are harder for readers to skip.

It may be that you really like mini-series, but unfortunately you appear to be in the minority.

Also worth noting, if I recall correctly, Flashpoint basically took the place of the Flash book for the months it was out (I think) and Aquaman's minis were definitely coming out when he didn't have an ongoing book. Superman and Batman are the only DC characters popular enough to really get people to buy mini series.

[Lee Stone]

Mini series don't sell as well as ongoings. Marvel can get away with it because they sell more overall, generally. Nothing important ever happens in a mini (unless it's some big event) and people who are looking for ways to keep their buying budget down will definitely make that the first place they cut.

This is probably one of the reasons DC went with double-shipping a lot of their books - it gives them more books to sell in a month but they are harder for readers to skip.

It may be that you really like mini-series, but unfortunately you appear to be in the minority.

And the double-shipping lets them kinda sneak minis into the ongoings (like the Monster Men story) that can be used as backdoor pilots for new titles.

[JasonTodd428]

However, the fact remains that minis generally have rotten sales. I'm almost certain if they were announced as ongoing, they'd get higher sales.

They might sell more but then fans would start to talk about stealth cancellations and how DC pulled yet another bait and switch because they were told they were ongoings at the beginnings. It's damned if you do and damned if you don't. Personally, I'd rather know going in that a book was a mini and that it had a finite number of issues then to be told it's an ongoing, which implies a longer run then six issues.

[GlennSimpson]

They might sell more but then fans would start to talk about stealth cancellations and how DC pulled yet another bait and switch because they were told they were ongoings at the beginnings. It's damned if you do and damned if you don't. Personally, I'd rather know going in that a book was a mini and that it had a finite number of issues then to be told it's an ongoing, which implies a longer run then six issues.

Yes but while the fans are complaining, more of them are buying those first six issues as an ongoing than they would if it was known as a mini-series up front. So DC has their money*

*Yes, I know readers don't buy directly from DC, but you know what I mean.

[JasonTodd428]

Yes but while the fans are complaining, more of them are buying those first six issues as an ongoing than they would if it was known as a mini-series up front. So DC has their money*

*Yes, I know readers don't buy directly from DC, but you know what I mean.

Like I said it's possible that a mini masquerading as an ongoing would get more readers. I never denied that all I'm saying is fan expectations are being trifled with by telling them a mini is really an ongoing and I find that a huge turn off. If a book is slated to be a mini-series I'd rather just be told that from the get go because then at least I know it's finite and that it will have a guaranteed number of issues to tell its story. Like I said calling them an ongoing implies that they well...are ongoing and to me that means something entirely different.

[Lee Stone]

Like I said it's possible that a mini masquerading as an ongoing would get more readers. I never denied that all I'm saying is fan expectations are being trifled with by telling them a mini is really an ongoing and I find that a huge turn off. If a book is slated to be a mini-series I'd rather just be told that from the get go because then at least I know it's finite and that it will have a guaranteed number of issues to tell its story. Like I said calling them an ongoing implies that they well...are ongoing and to me that means something entirely different.

Plus, when a mini is solicited as an ongoing to garner more interest, but still only sells as good as it woulld've as a mini, and then gets cancelled... it's labeled 'a failure' by the general comics populace, rather than as 'a rather well received mini.'

[GlennSimpson]

Like I said it's possible that a mini masquerading as an ongoing would get more readers. I never denied that all I'm saying is fan expectations are being trifled with by telling them a mini is really an ongoing and I find that a huge turn off. If a book is slated to be a mini-series I'd rather just be told that from the get go because then at least I know it's finite and that it will have a guaranteed number of issues to tell its story. Like I said calling them an ongoing implies that they well...are ongoing and to me that means something entirely different.

Plus, when a mini is solicited as an ongoing to garner more interest, but still only sells as good as it woulld've as a mini, and then gets cancelled... it's labeled 'a failure' by the general comics populace, rather than as 'a rather well received mini.'

I guess I'm not sure I see where this "negative opinion" ends up translating into any kind of tangible difference in sales or whatnot, but maybe it does.

[neonrideraryeh]

Let's avoid the over-spam of Stealth Minis, that's more of a Marvel thing in recent times and it's annoying. I spoke to a comic store owner and they dislike this because they get told a Marvel thing is gonna be an ongoing and then it turns out to not be. This bait and switching and the lying in solicits is not helpful.

So it would be interesting to get more some Minis. We have a few options for it with past precedent, so what ones are the best option in your opinions?

Option 1 - DC Universe Presents anthology series returns. It could be in the form of one-shots or full arcs or a mix. It didn't sell too amazingly during New 52 but I enjoyed a good chunk of it (Deadman was good, Vandal Savage was decent, I kind like Lightning/Devil. Challengers of the Unknown was reaaaaalllly bad though.) It could be a good platform to bring back some of the characters.

Option 2- Similar to Option 1, bring back the Legends of Tomorrow format. It's a bit costly because it's 4 issues in 1. But I think people seemed to enjoy the minis they had available the first time. By having the various minis in bulk, it would show off characters to an audience.

Option 3- OGNs. Have a mini-series worth of stuff in 1 trade all collected up and ready to go. OGNs don't have to be on Earth One or elseworlds. They can do normal in-universe graphic novels if they want. These are affordable and if they have good characters, people will get them. I think this might be the most effective option.

Option 4- Backups. Have more backup stories in existing comics. Yes, this time it will be 10 pages instead of 20 and can annoy people by having a series the person buying the main story didn't want for an extra dollar. But they could put relevant characters with things (eg a Spoiler mini backup in a Bat thing, or a story about a Titan character backup in Titan) and putting it in titles that will sell well (I liked the Sword of Sorcery backups but Amethyst was not a big enough property to have that extra dollar); popular things benefit from that. Then they have to figure out how to trade-collect it too. Could be in its own trade or included with the titles it was packed with originally. I was kind of annoyed that the backups in New 52 Batman weren't always included in the trades.

Option 5- Keep going with existing Mini-series in the same way. Stuff like Raven seemed to be liked by people. Minis don't sell amazingly, but they sell to the people who are followers of those characters and want to know what they are up. Keep them with a good quality and it should work out. Please don't do stealth ones, it's so shady.

[LifeIsILL]

DC could use more.

However, we do currently have Deadman, Hawkman/Adam Strange and Captain Atom.

One of the things that they should do is give each of the Titans a spotlight mini.

Yeah I should have clarified in my original post. Of course characters like Midnighter, Poison Ivy, El Diablo are gonna get a mini once in a blue moon due to their lack of ongoings. Poison Ivy and Harley are popular enough to have minis and I think they do sell.

But I was more referring to the JLA big shot characters besides Batman and Superman, they surprisingly do not have many in the last 20 years.....or ever. I brought this up because Batman and Superman's elseworld tales are considered to be top-notch comic book material. I just think they should try it more with the other JLA members.