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In October 2024, DC Comics launched Absolute Batman - the first of several titles featuring dramatically different and dramatically distinct versions of its most popular characters in a new universe, with new continuity, and all that comes with it. Imagine a movie or TV adaptation of your favorite comics, supported by the comics but not bound to them; DC's Absolute titles were that, but doing it in comics.

"Without the mansion…without the money…without the butler…what’s left is the Absolute Dark Knight!" was DC's tagline for the launch of Absolute Batman #1, and it was an overnight success, selling out of a near 300k print run with over 10 subsequent reprintings leading it to be the best-selling comic book of 2024, and now, one of the top 5 best-selling comic boosk of the past 10 years. We previously reported that over 8 million Absolute comics were sold in 2025 despite being a fairly slim and compact number of titles — six, to be exact. 

Related: DC has big questions about Absolute Batman & the Absolute DC Line - and is doing a fan survey

But this week, we have data that speaks to how the initial sales success, followed by strong storytelling that leads to repeat (and new) readers coming back for each next issue, is turning it from being an ephemeral phenomenon to a secular trend, and perhaps a structural change for DC and the American comic book industry. 

May 20's Absolute Green Arrow #1 isn't on sale yet, but comic shops around the world have been buying theirs for two months now. After the deadline for orders for a first printing, sources tell Popverse that DC estimated demand at roughly 300,000 copies, which, for context, is more than the initial demand estimates for Absolute Batman 18 months ago. But here, now five days before its debut, DC is seeing enough interest that it's already told its printers to prepare to go back to press, sensing a demand exceeding that 300k print run by some margin.

While I'm not saying Absolute Green Arrow #1 will outsell Absolute Batman #1 once demand is met through subsequent printings, what is apparent is that retailers, without selling a single copy of the new series yet (unless you count those of us who do pre-orders and have a pullbox!). When comic shops pre-order a comic book, they are, for the most part, making an educated guess and taking all the risk, as most comic books aren't returnable for credit. Any unsold copies of Absolute Green Arrow #1 (or Absolute Batman #1) would sit lonely on their shelves for weeks and end up in a back issue bin.

(Right now, a first printing of Absolute Batman #1 without any signatures, slabbing, or fancy grading, is selling for $179.99 on eBay; that's 3507% over cover price.)

Related: DC's Absolute Batman is now selling 3 times what Scott Snyder expected, and DC staffers are looking back at 'New 52' data to learn how much bigger this is than that

So while in the fall of 2024, comic retailers cumulatively felt it risky to order more than 300,000 copies of a Batman relaunch by the writer of the uber-successful 'New 52' Batman, Scott Snyder. But here now in the spring of 2026, comic retailers cumulatively felt it wasn't risky to order that same amount of Absolute Green Arrow #1.

What that speaks to is growing confidence by comic stores in DC's Absolute line, beyond just the flagship titles like Absolute Batman and Absolute Wonder Woman, but down to smaller titles such as an Absolute Green Arrow.

"I hope that you guys see yourselves in that, and the role you played in that: selling these books hand by hand by hand, and your customers who told a friend, then they told two friends and so on and so on and so," DC's longtime VP of sales & marketing Nancy Spears told retailers at a closed-door meeting in February 2026. "And yes, we heard the rib about not having enough copies. We have printed enough, we promise: just order them." 

And they have.

Need more? Here's our picks for the best DC Comics stories of all time, and here's a list of all the free DC comics you can look forward to as part of this year's Free Comic Book Day 2026 and Comics Giveaway Day 2026.