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Who knew taking away Batman's money would end up making DC more money? 

DC Comics' Absolute Batman is a once-in-a-generation success story, reinventing a character who was old when anyone reading this was young, stripping the character down to the basics (and then some) and building a new version of the character for today's world. While its chart-topping success is a given now nearly two years in, if anyone tells you they knew Absolute Batman was going to be this big a success before it happened, they'd be lying to you. 

Heck, even DC Comics and writer/co-creator Scott Snyder didn't think it would be doing this.

“… the day we got the Absolute Batman #1 numbers, it took us a couple hours of shock and digging through old spreadsheets until we could actually make ourselves believe that we’d beaten those days,” says DC Comics' executive editor Chris Conroy, in Comics! The Magazine #1, referring to the 'New 52' era, which has been seen as the high-water mark for DC comics in the 21st Century.

Conroy is one of a small handful of DC editorial staff who not only remember 'New 52,' but were a part of it; at the time, he edited several titles, including the Swamp Thing reboot, with future Absolute Batman writer Scott Snyder, and then-'New 52' Batman writer Scott Snyder.

RELATED: How DC’s Absolute Batman channels Berserk and seinen manga into a brutal new Dark Knight

According to public reports from its distributor at the time, the 'New 52' Batman #1 sold just over 225,000 copies in September 2011. Over its 52-issue run (not including annuals, specials, and spinoffs), Snyder's 'New 52' Batman run never once dipped under 100,000 copies sold in the first month of each issue's release - something subsequent Batman runs haven't been able to keep up with, based on the limited evidence publicly available. Either way, those numbers don't include any copies sold outside of that window, which would include reprints, digital copies, non-US editions, and collected editions.

Absolute Batman, however, sold just under 400,000 copies in its first six weeks of release back at the end of 2024, and demand has continued that DC recently reprinted it for an eleventh time. According to sources familiar with sales figures, DC's Absolute Batman has settled into the range of selling roughly 300,000 print copies per issue, going on two years later.

"We’re over a year into these titles, and the sales on multiple titles are going up issue to issue — sometimes by really startling amounts," Conroy tells Comics! The Magazine #1, without giving specifics.

Snyder, who made his career thanks to the success of the 'New 52' Batman run, honestly didn't think Absolute Batman would come close to matching that. 

“Nick [Dragotta, series artist] and I never expected this book to be a big hit, in all sincerity. That’s the reason I was out there promoting it so hard; my hope was that issue #1 might break 100,000 copies because it’s a Batman #1, even though it's an alternate take," says Snyder. "And then from there, my hope was that it would settle somewhere in a healthy mid-list range and just survive like Detective Comics. At least long enough for us to really tell a great story." 

Conroy, who has been a part of several DC line launches (and relaunches) such as 'New 52,' 'Rebirth,' 'Infinite Frontier,' 'Dawn of DC,' says that the success of Absolute Batman (and the Absolute line in general) has led to a very specific "vibe shift" inside DC's Burbank offices.

"But the vibe shift in the office has been extremely real, and it's just made us more certain in our creative convictions and in the decisions that got us here," says Conroy. "We can feel the horizons of possibility expanding, and that’s unlocking great work from everyone, both inside the building and out in the talent community.”

"The success of it is beyond bewildering to both of us," Snyder adds. "And at times, to be fully honest, it can be pretty overwhelming.”

Here's an update to date guide on the Absolute Batman release schedule.