I also forget at the moment if Geoff Johns is writing Superman or Action, but I'd recommend finding out and picking some of those issues up. He's sort of cleaning up some of the villains right now–”retconning” (retro active continuity…a post for another time) them–to make them either more plausible, give them better motivations, etc… they're generally self-contained stories and everything that Johns touches these days is gold.

See, I'm MORE than willing to pick up a brand new series than these old ones. I'm signed up for War Heroes, Kick-Ass, 1985, The X-Files, Solomon Kane, etc., just because they are NEW and I can start from the beginning.

But like you said, Batman RIP has been a struggle for me. I had to really read someone else's synopsis of the first one and the third to understand what was happening.

The whole Joker thing, etc.

It's probably very difficult to start new series on existing character though.

I did just sign up for Superman, and figure i'll just start reading it and enjoy it for what it is, without worrying about previous stuff…sort of like with Nova.

That said, is this really the story that DC should be telling right now? There's no better time to try to be capturing new readers, and this is going to confirm a lot of people's fears: you can't just pick up a comic book and enjoy a single issue anymore.

Marvel is got a similar problem right now. They should be cashing in on Iron Man in a huge way, but all of the IM titles they have out right now are not only sub-par, but knee-deep in a huge cross-over event that has it's roots in Fantastic Four #2. Yeah, THAT #2 from the early 60's.

I think both Marvel and DC are putting out pretty good stories for their existing customer base, but I don't think they're turning out good business practice for a dying medium. Batman RIP is a prime example of why they might not capture as many new readers as they'd like in the wake of a successful film.