Second, those covers. They're darn near somber. Heavy on dark colors, a limited palette, and two even had panels at the bottom cutting space for the main image.

Look at the crime and horror covers of the same time period. That is what sold those books. If this format was driving Goodmans best selling titles, it was only natural for him, or Lee, to think that it would do the same for the superheroes.

You have to remember, as far as all sellers were concerned, superheroes were dead, a fad whose time had passed. DCs hero books were driven by three properties, Superman (and Superboy by extension), Batman, and Wonder Woman. They survived because they were the first of their kind, and the successes that everyone else piggybacked off of.

Goodman and Lee only returned to superheroes because of The Adventures of Superman. They were just piggybacking on that success, looking for the next big thing. Youre right about the stories being too short and the poor covers, but they were just looking at what drove their other books, and if it didnt work, so what? Superheroes werent any more important to them than the hotrod issues that preceded them in Young Men.

-Eric