A 900-issue run is not a wall you climb - it is a hallway with a dozen doors. Someone new who grabs whatever is on the shelf this week, mid-arc, mid-crossover, usually bounces off it and does not come back. That is a sale we would rather not make than make badly.
So before we ring up a long-running title for a first-time reader, someone at the counter finds the actual jumping-on point - a new #1, a clean arc start, a done-in-one - and sells that instead. It is slower at the register. It is why people come back.
This month’s jumping-on points
A fresh #1, no history required
A relaunch built to owe nothing to what came before. Recommended first to anyone who says they have never read one of these.
A clean arc start, forty issues in
The creative team changed here and the story resets its own table. You will miss some references, not the plot.
A done-in-one worth reading cold
One issue, one complete story, no pull list required. The cheapest possible way to find out if the character is for you.
