DC Comics is swapping out its 100-page Walmart giants for shrink-wrapped packages of four recent individual comics, the publisher announced Thursday in a press release.

In fact, that product has already started shipping to stores, and it will be in roughly 2,900 Walmarts by July 21. Each four-pack will retail at a price point of $8.98. The new thing about these is that they will also contain backing boards featuring a different DC superhero as illustrated by Ivan Reis. When put together, the boards will form the Justice League.

This entire Walmart giants line was much ballyhooed when the publisher announced it as part of a drive to get its comics in front of mass market retail customers, thereby expanding its readership. The anthologies paired reprinted material with new stories by top tier creators. This is how Brain Bendis and Nick Derington came to do the delightful Batman Universe story together, as well as how Tom King and Andy Kubert came to do Superman: Up in the Sky.

This new model of bundling previously-released comics together is similar (if not quite identical to) Marvel Comics approach to getting its books into mass market retail outlets.

Full press from DC about the switch can be found below:

In an evolution of DC’s strategy to bring the World’s Greatest Super Heroes to the masses, the publisher announced today that the Walmart 100-Page GIANT anthology titles will be replaced by shrink-wrapped collections of recent DC comic books from the DC universe. The first wave of titles has already begun shipping to stores and should arrive in the more than 2,900 U.S. Walmart locations by Sunday, June 21. 

Each pack of four is priced at $8.98, and includes a collectible backing board featuring a different DC Super Hero. When joined together, they form an image of the Justice League by Ivan Reis.

“Walmart has been a great partner to work with and we’re incredibly excited about this new phase in our relationship,” said Nancy Spears, DC Vice President, Sales. “They continue to provide an excellent platform to deliver our characters and stories to a wider audience, an audience that continues to use movies, television, home video and video games as their gateways to superhero storytelling.”

DC is also working to make these 4-packs available to comic book stores by September 2020.

For the location of your nearest Walmart, check out the store finder at www.walmart.com. For the latest information on Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and the World’s Greatest Super Heroes, visit the DC Comics website at www.dccomics.com and be sure to follow on social media, @dccomics and @thedcnation.

9 COMMENTS

  1. Wow, shades of 1979 when unsold comics were bagged and sold in the 5 & Dime store (aka today’s dollar stores). This doesn’t sound like a good strategy by DC, but rather a cost cutting move.

  2. Does this mean that the direct sale 100 pagers will end as well? A pity if so as the new material they contained gave work to some new creators as well as established pros.

  3. I was hoping DC would expand the Giants line, rather than abandon them. These multipacks for $9 for who knows what comics don’t sound like something kids would care for — random portions of stories targeted for age 45+ men. The similar Marvel packs sit untouched and dusty at Walmart. If DC is truly giving up on floppies and floppy giants, maybe it should just focus on the Raina-format books.

  4. I’m all for DC & Marvel expanding into Wal-Mart if possible. Growing up in a very rural part of the Midwest, I only got into comics because Wal-Mart carried them in spinner racks in the 90’s. Eventually I sought out an LCS, but I was first hooked by those comics I got at Wal-Mart.

  5. I was hoping the Giants will continue, but I hope the Digital Firsts keep bringing new-reader-friendly material into the world.

    And I hope the Walmart packs are a) labeled with which issues are inside, and b) are able to follow titles from month to month, so that readers buying them can read the entirety of continued stories, rather than getting a bunch of random Chapter 4 of 6s.

  6. Sonny: My guess is they will be wrapped up as a part of DC’s Digital initiative.

    Rob: I would agree, though I will say if the target audience for this is kids, I don’t think they care as much that a story could be part 4 of 6. I don’t know about you, but the comics I first read as a child were pretty scatter shot in terms of where they were in a grander storyline, but I was still fascinated by them. I think kids can piece stuff together, we need to give them more credit.

  7. Seems like another move to just go all digital which is DC’s long term plan. Bundle over printed unsold comics and send them to Walmart to sit unsold to be sent to discount stores like Ollie’s. Then DC can say well we tried but there’s no interest in print outside of the specialty stores which are on the decline. :(

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