Fin Fang Foom wrote:
I think collections that are "themed" (rather than just a sequential) provide a better entry point -- for whatever that's worth. But more to the point, DC just doesn't seem to have any interest in being tied into sequential collections in the trade paperback range (apart from the Chronicles, which are more of a convenience than anything), and I suspect that might be because A.) they don't publish all that many of them in a given year, and B.) from a marketing perspective, it's probably much easier to sell The Greatest Jimmy Olsen Signal Watch Stories Ever Told than Jimmy Olsen, Volume 7.
Chronicles may be "convenient" in that they're easier to put together, but they must also be making a decent buck - they're the only sequential package that DC is expanding when they're pulling back everywhere else. They're now up to the point where they're putting out nearly a Chronicle a month.

And I think to say that DC is doing any "marketing" of any of these books is being generous to say the least.

I think the "sequential" aspect is probably one of the least important factors in the success of the Showcase series.


Really? So DC could just slap together random stories in black & white and they'd sell just as well?

Sorry, I don't think you're giving the buyers enough (any?) credit here.


"As for contentment, that is a myth.  Give a man everything he wishes and he will be unhappy, because he didn't wish for more; give him more, and he will die of his worries.  Only a turtle, asleep on a sunny log, knows contentment!"
-Merlin to Prince Valiant

            Hal Foster 3-7-43