How closely does everyone think the low sales numbers and production cutbacks on Golden and Atlas Masterworks were tied to the recession

Even the most popular Masterworks volumes sell very little. The recession may have made a difference for some buyers but I suspect not too many. It's not like Masterworks sales fell off a cliff like the rest of the economy. Decreased sales numbers can also always be tied to other variables, such as later volumes of a series generally selling less.

The reality is only a few thousand people on the planet are interested in luxury format reprints of 70-year-old comic books with crude art & simplistic stories. That includes me - but I only buy one volume of each.