Why Isn't Justice League DC's Best Selling Title

[Self-DCeit]

Its an average book and the team needs some rotation.

What do you mean, some rotation? We barely got to see the team together before having them lose one of its founding members and they haven't even gelled to the point you'd want to see new blood. Talk about rushing things...

[blinker]

It’s not surprising at all that Bats is outselling the league. People will buy Batman books even if their crap.

[Aquacatlungfish]

It’s not surprising at all that Bats is outselling the league. People will buy Batman books even if their crap.

Apparently when they're the best of the New 52 they won't. Inc is the lowest selling Batman title starring Batman .

[FanboyStranger]

It shows that while people go on about creators this and that, we'll always fall back into patterns and get the same stuff over and over again...

Isn't that why it is selling so well? I mean, JL's still over 115,000, despite not being any good, while something different like Dial H is selling around 17,000.

[Den]

I think some of the reasons they aren't popular is that:

1.) It's just an averagely written book
2.) The team is always squabbling
3.) Unlike most teams who's characters origins make a negative into a strength, all the Justice League are pretty much the "most popular perfect kids from high school" and so aren't really that relatable for readers.
4.) And oh yeah, did I already mention them arguing all the time like children? What kind of example is that?

I'll second this. I love Johns writing in a lot of areas, but this is his weakest stuff in a long time and it's just 'there'. Instead of seeing the worlds most best heroes, it feels far too often like I'm reading about a bunch of fratboys (and one gal) in tights. I was cool with that in the 'five years ago' issues, but then they jumped ahead and none of them had really improved much. Some of the Wonder Woman /Superman date scenes were cute, but it still feels forced. I'm still getting it, but I've been sorely tempted to drop it more than once.

Oddly, I have high hopes for Justice League of America. I think Johns might be more enthused for it.

[Will.S]

Apparently when they're the best of the New 52 they won't. Inc is the lowest selling Batman title starring Batman .

Kind of an odd reversal compared to the last few years.

[blackadamFTW]

As others have said, Batman is definitely the reason it's not the best selling title. The whole Death of the Family arc has made a pretty big deal, so that's bound to make it one of the best sellers (in this case, it is the best seller). The only reason I'm reading Justice League is because they made Captain Marvel (I mean "Shazam") a team member. I do like that they introduced Ocean Master, and made him a pretty big threat. One thing I never loved about Aquaman was that he didn't have any great villains except for Black Manta. Now they're introducing Ocean Master and not only making him an Aquaman villain, but a Justice League villain as well. This also kind of relates to the whole not number one thing, though, because some newer comic book fans probably would want to see villains they know or something like that. I like it, though.

[FIFTY-TWO (52)]

I think some of the reasons they aren't popular is that:

You can stop right there. Justice League is a very popular book. It's in the top 5 of the Top 100.

[RandomFalls]

Well it's DC's second best selling title so it's hardly doing bad, but having said that I'd say the reason it hasn't held onto sales as well as Batman is simply because it's not very good. It has fan favourite characters but does a piss poor job of showcasing them. The first arc was a mess with little to no story and just lots of random fighting, the second put the League into secondary character poitions in favour of Steve Trevor, and the newest arc is a definite improvement but is missing Green Lantern and Flash, and still shows a fractured League that squabble like children and relies on them acting like idiots to move the story forward. It has not been a great time for them.

While Batman has kept up a pretty consistent quality in it's writing and art. Personally I'm not enjoying Death of the Family, and I felt like Court of Owls went on too long, but I wouldn't say that it's anywhere near the mess that Justice League is.

[batGRRRl4ever]

You can stop right there. Justice League is a very popular book. It's in the top 5 of the Top 100.

I guess I could have stipulated why it's not popular with EVERYONE.

Well it's DC's second best selling title so it's hardly doing bad, but having said that I'd say the reason it hasn't held onto sales as well as Batman is simply because it's not very good. It has fan favourite characters but does a piss poor job of showcasing them....and still shows a fractured League that squabble like children and relies on them acting like idiots to move the story forward.

Most definitely this as a big issue of this books wanting in terms of true quality.

[glennsim]

You can stop right there. Justice League is a very popular book. It's in the top 5 of the Top 100.

Yeah, I think what the OP was asking was simply "Since this book has all of the most popular DC heroes, why isn't it the #1 best-selling book every month?" Which wasn't intended to suggest it sold poorly.

I mean, logically, there are people buying Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman comics but not buying the comic Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman in it.

[Outside_85]

More specifically to the OP I would assume that despite the book featuring all the major players, it is not all the major players fans that want to follow them over into a book where they have to share panel space with just as large personalities. Like currently Aquaman fans will be quite happy to read it, but Barry and Hal fans have no reason to unless they are also fans of Aquaman.

While there are alot of people who will buy this book purely because of Johns being the writer, even they are limited.

In regards to new/unrelated readers, well first of all they have to pick it out of dozens of other titles and right now a book like Avengers has a much bigger name recognition than Justice League. To new readers the name of Geoff Johns, Jim Lee and/or Ivan Ries will mean nothing. Perhaps the 7 for 1 idea of the team book sounds great on paper for a new reader, an entry point for them to the world of DC, but it comes with an intimidation factor of a new reader having to figure out not 1 but 7 characters that dont all get a fair share of exposure from issue to issue.
To older, more cynical/critical, readers however, there is the recognition that Johns is at his best when writing solo characters and his team-books normally are serviceable but nothing exceptional (I know some praise his JSA run, but I haven't read it...but I have read his TT run and that amounted to almost nothing). Theres how everyone's acting different in JL to a greater or lesser degree when compared to their solo books that can be off-putting or annoying. And finally theres the problem of the stories themselves not being terribly good save for a few cool moments.

[neverender]

Because Geoff Johns, my reason for not buying it at least not for full price.

[Conway]

I can sum up most of these two pages with one simple quote from Dr. Sheldon Cooper "I'M BATMAN"

[Parch]

Because there are a lot of people who really just like Batman. There are people who buy nothing but Marvel, and Batman.

This is actually very true. I'd include a bunch who read nothing but indy, and Batman.

There is no doubt who the cash cow is for DC, and the rest of DC just can't approach his level of popularity.