This is an idea I developed on another message board. I think it might generate some discussion here.
There are some titles that just won't sell an ongoing for DC, but they might do well enough as recurring minis -- say, in one four-issue story every year.
They'd be published every two weeks, so that a story would be told in two months. This infrequency of publication would make them feel "special" and would help keep people excited about them. You won't get tired or jaded about anything you're seeing for only two months a year.
Let's say the Martian Manhunter became a recurring mini. You could publish two issues in January and two in February, then take 10 months off. Then you'd do the same thing the following year.
The eight-issue TPB could come out in, say, July of the second year. That would give the TPB plenty of time to sell through before the next Martian Manhunter floppies appear in the following January.
Each story should be numbered 1-4, because a #1 will always sell better than a #5.
Of course you don't want to rent new slots in the comics shops to sell these things, so six minis could share one space during the course of a year. Twenty-four recurring minis could be sold out of just four slots!
Another reason I like this format is that you can use pencillers who do great work but are too slow to handle ongoings. A penciller can take about all the time he wants if he has to turn out only four issues and you give him plenty of lead time.
Publishing minis this way, you could tap into a lot of talent that normally goes to waste. Besides good pencillers who are too slow to handle ongoings, you could use guys who have other jobs and just want to draw a few comics on the side.
You could also use some older writers who have retired or have moved on to something else, but who still have an occasional story to tell.
You could try any comic that won't stand up as an ongoing or is unlikely to.
And with stories this short, if one of them sucks, then so what? A new one will be coming along very soon.
I think DC could easily come up with a dozen recurring minis, and probably two dozen.