I can now confirm Walmart is restocking their exclusive comics from DC.

Yesterday, Matthew Halteman mentioned in the comment section:

Found one copy each of the Batman and JLA books. Haven’t found any more at any Walmarts I’ve checked. Went back today (which is the day I was told they are restocked) and was told that they were restocked, but every copy was bought by one person immediately.

Today, the Beat’s Joe Grunenwald came across a restock at his Walmart.  Two copies each of all four titles.

Are the restocks that full set of five Batman / five Justice League / four Superman / two Teen Titans or just two each?

We have insufficient information, but if anybody has seen a full set… or three copies of something, I suppose… speak up.

What does all this mean?  A bi-weekly restock isn’t going to get your numbers up to resemble a Direct Market hit, but it makes sense when you figure that the publishing schedule moving forward is two new comics every two weeks.

So lets do the math here and get a little better idea on the print runs, assuming roughly 3,000 participating Walmarts as per the initial announcement.

If it’s a two copy restock across the board, we’re looking at a total possible circulation of:

Teen Titans: 4 copies/store ~12K total
Superman: 6 copies/store ~18K total
Justice League: 7 copies/store ~21K total
Batman: 7 copies/store ~21K total

That would put Teen Titans roughly on par with Hellblazer’s June DM numbers, Superman somewhere between Red Hood and Damage, and Justice League & Batman somewhere between New Challengers and Green Arrow.  Nothing awe inspiring, but there are sales totals in that ball park.  It’s not necessarily weird relative to the current strength of the DM.

If it’s a full restock, then we’re looking at:

Teen Titans: 4 copies/store ~12K total
Superman: 8 copies/store ~24K total
Justice League: 10 copies/store ~30K total
Batman: 10 copies/store ~30K total

Teen Titans would still be at the lower edges of DCU circulation, but not the lowest by a few thousand.  Superman would selling a similar number to Aquaman or Green Lanterns.  Justice League and Batman would be selling similar to how Harley Quinn sold in June.  Mid-list to upper mid-list relative to the DM.  Assuming there aren’t returns filed on these, which seems somewhat unlikely, but possible.

With one full restock per month, this program makes a lot more sense.  Now, whether this is really getting a lot of copies into the hands of new readers is an open question.  It sounds like their are a lot of speculators at work here, although that might go down a little as the restocks hit and these comics become perhaps a little less scarce.  These also aren’t being shelved in a particularly high traffic or visible area of the stores.

Now, last week Dan DiDio spoke about some of this on the DC All Access show.

Here he says the new features ARE for existing fans, so that conspiracy theory about this being built to have DM fans prop up the Walmart sell-through just got a little stronger.

Given the sellouts, DC / Walmart can always increase the print runs.  15 copies per store gets you to 45K, but I’m not sure how many more copies they can fit in one of those boxes at at the same time. Probably 7 or 8 would fit in the lower slots, but probably not the upper ones.  They’re not taking up a very large footprint right now and there’s a very real question of whether these comics keep selling at the current vector if the perceived scarcity (and resale value that comes with it) takes a hit.

From a very pragmatic standpoint, this looks like it will be a balancing act between collector demand from DM readers who want the new material and then whatever audience they can find organically from withing the Walmart customer base.  That Walmart audience can’t be found until the collector incursions are satisfied and there are shelf copies left.  And better store placement sure wouldn’t hurt matters any.

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17 COMMENTS

  1. If they would stock 20 or 30 copies of each title per store, that might discourage the resale speculators. The low quantity available plays right into their hands. Here in Canada of course, there are no Walmarts carrying these comics, which is creating yet another resale market.
    I doubt that DC and Walmart are running this promotion in order to sell all their copies to one customer, but hey, sales are sales.

  2. Again. Another part of the problem is not all Walmart stores are stocking the comics at all. I’m very frustrated that none of the stores within a 30 minute drive or more are stocking them.

  3. Going to get somewhat technical here – but what is the paper quality for the Walmart books? Is it more like a magazine or a graphic novel? Also curious about page size? Is it a typical magazine page size [8 3⁄8” x 10 7⁄8”] or comic book size [6.625″ x 10.25″].

  4. My local Walmart didn’t have any stocked the first week, but they popped up this week. Unsure if that’s happening elsewhere or not.

  5. I visited at least for Walmarts in the Cincinnati area. Most of the locations had far more than 2 copies of each title. In many cases 4 or 5, and after I bought one of each in one of the locations, they were restocked up again within the week. On the subject of paper quality, I think it’s a very nice heavier duty quality paper but not gloss stock. Well worth the price on the books, especially for the number of pages.

  6. I visited two Walmarts in my area. Both had the comics and ran out pretty quick, not immediate. but quick. Yesterday I checked in one of the Walmarts and there were two copies of Batman and nothing else. I don;t think this comics deal is as big as people are making it out to be.

  7. I don’t see how these appeal to anyone outside the DM market. They’re heavy on continued stories–including the start of 12-part, 12-page new stories soon. What occasional buyer would pick that up? And do it a second time a few months later when he sees them again?

  10. Charles: The dimensions are typical comic book Height and Width — the increased page count means that they fit nicely in Silver Age bags and boards. The cover stock is similar to but thicker than regular comics covers, even better than most magazine covers (ie: it isn’t cardstock).

    The interior paper stock is uncoated, similar to Mando/”New Format” — but about twice as heavy. Mando/New was kinda thin and the paper used in the Grell Green Arrow trades, which reprint Mando/New books, is about twice as thick as the original GA issues, but this paper seems to be about halfway between the original issues of GA and the trades. The most recent book that I’ve gotten that comes to mind – I don’t get a lot of trades — is the trade paperback version of Marvel Masterworks: Adam Warlock Vol. 1, but it feels slightly heavier than that. The Nation magazine uses similar uncoated paper stock.

  11. I went to Wal-Mart on Monday 7/10 they had 2 Batman; 3 Superman; 2 Teen Titans and 4 Justice League.
    I stopped by after work last night 7/13 they had 1 Superman and 2 Justice League. Last week I called 1-888 Wal-mart customer service to find out where they were being carried, I was given 2 Wal-Marts I the Richardson/Plano (Texas) that could have them. Of the two, the closest had them in stock. I had read the Batman and wished they would have stuck in a silver-age done in one. Not as good as the 100-pagers of the early ’70’s.

  12. I think these are almost impossible to adequately restock in a Walmart environment. They probably work with average sales per week and restock according to that. If there is no room on the display for more than a few copies, they will not restock more than a few copies every week. They are not going to keep multiple copies in some backroom, and get someone to fill up the rack if one customer buys the whole bunch. It is not a specialized store.
    I do not live close to any Wallmart, so I am wondering, what about the new stuff? Is it any good? Why not do a review just like the regular comics (DC rundown)? Are us Walmart-underprivileged people missing out on a great Bendis Batman story?
    Oh, and I still do not like the packaging. Quite bland and unimaginative.

  14. Here in Southeastern VA I visited 3 local Walmart stores, 2 of which had the cardboard display with any stock. Copies of all the titles were available except for the Titans imprint, had to find a copy on eBay luckily at a reasonable price. During the first week of release I Was discussing the possibility of restocking with an employee whom was making an attempt to be helpful but they had little to no information since the entire aisle including the RPG and trading cards are apparently handled by a vendor outside the normal WM inventory by tne name of Anderson (if memory serves). This weekend when I stopped in to look for new titles or issues as I am under the impression that new material is supposed to be available on a biweekly basis, there was a Magic the Gathering card display (empty) on the shelf where the comics had been.

  15. Anderson is the company that restocks Walmart’s tabloids and magazines, so they’ll provide regular service and redeliver. They’re who handled comics distribution before everything went Diamond only.

  16. I am curious about ongoing issues, as long as they continue… the OCD Collector in me expected to find 2nd issues available two weeks after the No. 1’s… but it took 6 weeks and only 2 titles appeared at my local stores (Superman & Justice League – while I am a huge Batman aficionado) .. can you provide any additional information on what to expect on an ongoing basis? At least for the time being… Thanks.

  17. As luck would have it, I visited the local Walmart after visiting your site earlier and found the Batman #2 and Teen Titans #2..they had also restocked a couple (Superman and JL I believe) of the #1 issues, there were plenty of each, more than would fit in the 4-compartment display. If you can’t find them check here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/123329916618

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