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The 100-Page DC Comics Giants Arrived in Walmart Stores Yesterday

Published Sat, 30 Jun 2018 08:00:25 -0500

Last updated Sat, 30 Jun 2018 15:55:53 -0500

Yesterday, Bleeding Cool's Ian Melton went to a Walmart in Washington State and found the DC 100-Page Giants on display already. We sent him back to get photos. He writes:

The area where the comics are is the exact same area where they just had the remaining DC three-packs and the Marvel ones when they were out. But the Marvel ones sold out eventually or were so trashed they disappeared. Or they were stolen… that isn't uncommon.

I checked the other Walmarts, and only one of the three had the comics out. The main issue is that most of the comics I saw were heavily damaged, with bent pages or more commonly damage on the spines — very easy to get with comics of this type.

For those thinking maybe of a larger amount of comics being stocked by Walmart… I don't know where they would go. The Walmart I took the photos at is right now renovating, and I doubt any Walmart would build a new area. They could go with the magazine section… but since they did the exclusive three-comic packs they have been set up where I showed in the pics, at the front of the store near the registrars with the trading cards and the higher-end action figures.

The stock numbers for the Titans comic was not proportionate to the JL, Batman, or Superman comics when I first went. On my return, they were mostly gone, though I found a few scattered throughout the store.

The new Wonder Woman story seems to be set in a weird time period that does not acknowledge any of Greg Rucka/Nicola Scott/Liam Sharp's work on the title as it uses Ares as a general villain, similar to his portrayal in the movie and in the Injustice game. Also, it seems very new 52 inspired as Steve Trevor is very much Diana's companion/handler during the story, by Seeley and Leonardi.

The Batman story is very much Rebirth/King era Batman using the Rebirth costume, by Palmiotti and Zircher.

The Superman story reads like a pre-Flashpoint story, but could easily read like it is set before Bendis's Action Comics #1000 story with the red trunks very easy to see. By Palmiotti and Tom Derenick.

The Teen Titans story is the oddest, introducing the Disruptor, a new villain, having a team of four with Robin (Tim Drake's Red Robin, it seems, but called Robin in the story), Starfire, Beast Boy, and Raven, and not fitting into any current DC continuity as those four have never been together as a team in Rebirth or the new 52. Jurgens is going for a classic New Teen Titans vibe as Disruptor is secretly working for The Hive, similar to Deathstroke back during the classic Wolfman/Perez run.

The stories read like what you expect — short part ones of two-parters (though the Wonder Woman could be a stand-alone) and very easy to jump into, not clearly set at any particular time.

While Bleeding Cool reader Kyle Stephens went to the Walmart in shopping mall King of Prussia, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He tells us:

I thought you might like to know that I saw the 100-page specials at Walmart today (Batman and Justice League ones at least), and it's actually a very well-done book that will do its job of getting people interested in the comics if they fall into the hands of new readers. The problem is that that's a big IF… because they're buried on the bottom shelf in the trading card aisle ghetto, and I can't imagine anyone coming across these unless they were looking for them, which is not the target audience. It's a good product, it's just lacking in correct promotion.

My only real complaint with the books themselves is that the lead story (the original one) in the Batman book is Batman rescuing a child that was kidnapped for ransom money from his billionaire grandparents and it leads him to Crime Alley. And then the next story is the first part of Hush, which has Batman rescuing a child that was kidnapped for ransom money from his billionaire family, and it ends up in Crime Alley (but this time with super-villains). It's a bizarre pair of stories when placed together.

While reader Jerrod Huegnot tells us:

All four titles are out on display. They are shelved near checkouts where gaming and baseball cards are sold. The shelf holder unit is shallow (five copies per slot). Also, you have to remove the unit to get the back top titles out (presuming you have the diligence of a collector).