Anyone Else Wish They’d Focus on More Minor Characters?

COUGH Booster Gold COUGH

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I have to admit there doesn’t seem to be much new out that interests me anymore. I’d love to see more series that aren’t trinity related. I’ve been saying for ages that I’d love to see a new JSA series that isn’t another complete reset.
I’ve told a few people what my ideas for it would be, but it’s not like DC is going to hire me to write it, or I’d jump at the chance. I’ve even got ideas for another non-JSA series or two which I’ve shared with some people from the book club discord group, one of which would be targeted at younger readers. I really think they need to start thinking more outside the box. Hundreds of Batman things ad nauseam are going to be some people’s cup of tea, but there are plenty of us out there waiting for something that’s different, has a decent plot, and some real depth.

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That seems to be the case. However, DC does own to ripoffs Midnight and Greyshirt.

Just bring back Brave and the Bold as a Team up book of one and done stories

So Batman/Kilowag
Guy Gardener/Harley Quinn
Booster Gold/ The Spectre
Rip Hunter/The Phantom Stranger
Snowflame :laughing:/Cyborg

Or have serlizaed back up stories in the more popular books for the minor charators to test the water for a series.

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@Clonegeek18, Shhhh, don’t tell anyone, but word on the street is that you should pick up Catwoman #23. Trust me.

Sweet, thanks for the recoumid, @RufusPentecost


I just wanted to bump this thread with some needed context.

34/100 best selling Superhero and Graphic Novels are from DC.

30/34 best sellers from DC have a Batman family member as a main character.

2/34 are Watchmen books.

2/34 are from the Sandman Universe.

I can definitely see why critical fans say there is a Batman centered concentration issue at DC. The difficulty I have with critics is that many people believe the answer should be DC putting the breaks on printing Batman comics for a while.

Some extremists take the approach that DC should be more like Marvel and stop printing top selling older Batman stories to give other characters a chance to catch up. With Most Bat featured books are over 5 years old the other franchises would look a little better.

What does DC have that hits like The Dark Knight Returns, Year One, The Long Halloween or The Killing Joke? Why would people that gravitate to The Killing Joke pick up Aquaman or Booster Gold? The only result of not printing Bat Family books that sell is DC losing a lot of money IMHO.

The best way to build readers for less popular characters would be to use an anthology or Backup approach. Aquaman, Green Arrow, Batgirl and Hawkman were backup characters for years before getting their own series. Only Batgirl and Green Arrow were able to sell over 20k for 5 straight years.

Super Sons did not sell well in comic shops while the Omnibus is one of DC’s best selling titles on Amazon. There are definitely audiences for less popular characters: it just takes a lot of creativity to find them.

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It’s about the money. Batman alone brought over $400 mln to Warner Media in 2013 from just licensing. Add in Harley Quinn, Joker, Nightwing, Robin, Catwoman, Poison Ivy & Batgirl and there is a strong basis for why Batman so clearly dominates what DC Comics makes.

The merchandise is the marketing that gets people to buy the comics. And Batman characters are marketed more than anything else from DC.


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This thread: :+1:

The thing I love about underrated, under looked and minor characters is that they themselves are like the underdogs in the comics.
They aren’t popular which means that anyone can tell any kind of story with them and it wouldn’t contradict them which means more interesting stories. The potential is what makes me love their characters more than any appearance by Batman.

I enjoy reading about Batman but I love a little more reading books about Black Lighting or Green Arrow and despite what people claim, while their known heroes, we actually don’t see them in plenty books. I can’t fandom how long since black lighting had ongoing for a series.

I do love anthologies’, but I do think that that series like Truth and Justice really dropped the ball in that regard to showcasing more heroes. Urban legends is pretty great though.

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I would love to see more of the Western Characters, Bat-Lash & John Hex are probably my favorites.

while my favorite Swamp Thing has gotten a little more attention lately, I love to see more of Etrigon, - with More Rhyming.

I defiantly would like to see more brave & the Bold or DC presents stories to show off lessor know characters that people might not know about.

This is why I love the cartoons JLU, Justice League Action, & Batman the brave & The Bold cartoons, then I would go and try to find comics with those characters in them, witch seem pretty hard to do at times.

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Dc is still promoting new characters like Circuit Breaker and also minor characters like Dreamer. For Dreamer, they are promoting her in the Lazarus Planet event. Dreamer has a 10 page anthology story and is also in the main event Lazarus Planet Omega. Minor characters are usually found in anthology titles like Action Comics which has Power Girl with guest star Omen. Wonder Woman is sharing her title with Yara Flor. Danger Street has lots of minor and obscure characters from the old bronze age showcase title called 1st Issue Special such as the original outsiders (doc scary, mighty mary, lizard johnny, amazing ronnie, billy the bighead boy, hairy larry).
1976 outsiders by Jerry Grandenetti:

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