DC has pre-orders for over 200,000 copies of Justice League #1, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times .  And another six #1s from the DC relaunch have orders for over 100,000, according to the report. Those numbers include non-U.S. orders through Diamond and non-Diamond sales in the U.S. so are not strictly comparable to the Top 300 lists published here each month, but still represent a substantial initial success in terms of sell-in of these titles.

Initial orders this size mean that DC is going to get high trial from fans old and new for its New 52 full line relaunch.  The next questions to be answered will revolve around creative execution: will these high profile new stories create excitement for subsequent issues and other titles?

DC co-publisher Dan Didio laid out the reason for DC’s aggressive relaunch strategy in stark terms.  “The truth is people are leaving anyway, they’re just doing it quietly, and we have been papering it over with increased prices.  We didn’t want to wake up one day and find we had a bunch of $20 books that 10,000 people are buying.”