Steven Grant: Why comics get canned

In the latest installment of Steven Grant's Permanent Damage column for CBR, the scribe returns to classic form with an excellent essay on the problem new titles have succeeding in the comic book marketplace in the wake of DC's cancellation of Human Target, Bloodhound and apparently Fallen Angel.:

But you'd think, after a few decades in the business, comics companies would have a better grasp on how to launch titles. Not that the readership makes it easy. But (not to pick on Dan Jolley or suggest anything about the book, it just happens to fit the thesis) why take a book like BLOODHOUND and simply dump it onto the market? On the surface - and that's as far as most people who go with anything - it wouldn't appear to be a particularly salable property, at least not without some marketing muscle behind it.

Grant goes on to explain that the best method for a new concept to succeed follows the Birds of Prey track: a few mini-series and one-shots before diving into an ongoing. That way, fans of the comic won't feel too shafted if the series doesn't continue (since it's finite, and all) and there's potential for an ongoing. A great, insightful piece. Check it out.