Anonymous:
The practice of releasing new number one after new number one simply is not creating new readers, it's not growing the market, it's admitting that the books in question aren't successful enough to continue without being constantly relaunched, and the long-term result is that it diminishes enthusiasm amongst readers and damages the medium.
I don’t agree with your premise–but assuming that I did, what you’re advocating here is not doing the thing that keeps the books selling, in essence killing the medium and the industry far, far more quickly. It’s not like readers are suddenly going to start flocking to the stores because there are a whole bunch of #159s on the stands or something.
Relaunches do bring in new readers. I’m a result of DC’s New 52 and it took me a long time of going into comic shops before I picked up a Spider-Man comic because I didn’t know where to start. I don’t think I picked them up as they released until about 696 or 697 when we learned that the series was going to end at 700…and then be relaunched.
