Posted in: Comics | Tagged: 100 page giant

Details on DC Comics 100-Page Giant Relaunch – No Longer Walmart-Exclusive, But They Get Them Early

Published Mon, 05 Aug 2019 11:00:34 -0500

Last updated Tue, 06 Aug 2019 18:33:01 -0500

I have been talking to a tonne of people about DC Comics plans for the 100-Page Giant line of mixed reprint and original comic books, previously exclusive to either Walmart or Target depending, and now planned to be available across the international mass market. Here's what I know -r at least, have heard.

I am told that the production and packaging on these new volumes is, and I quote, 'going to be spectacular' and a step up on the magazines that have reached Walmart and Target so far. Upcoming magazines will include pull out posters, huge maps, fold-out 4 page spreads and more.

Even though they are no longer exclusive, Walmart will have more end-caps for these in many stores.

I am also told that the number of Walmarts carrying the DC Giant line has been increasing in recent weeks. If a local Walmart to you did not carry these books, they may well now – though with fewer copies to begin with.

and will have their own exclusive covers – reworking previous cover art to be presented in a new fashion. As will Target. As will the direct market of comic stores.

In this fashion, there are plans to have around twenty ongoing titles, packaged and published in this fashion. That's a massive jump.

I am also told to keep my ears and eyes open on the Tabloid/Treasury-style format as Walmart is very interested in pursuing this kind of high-end approach as well, ahead of the Christmas holiday season.

And yes, while these comics may not be exclusive to Walmart and Target any more – they will get them before comic shops. The new line planned for October in comic stores, should be in Walmart and Targets on around September 20th.

The final exclusives ship should be around mid-August, with Batman Giant #14 and the eighth issues of other titles. What happens to Superman Giant and it's unfinished Tom King/Andy Kubert Superman story, Up In The Sky, is not yet known, as it still has a couple of chapters yet to run. Maybe we'll get an additional Superman Giant #15 at some point, maybe they'll just add it to the collected editions… or maybe it will just keep running for a couple more issues, as there s no Superman Giant Relaunch scheduled yet.

What else? Oh yes.

Walmart employees have been instructed not to touch, or rearrange the area that host DC and Marvel comic books. They are run by a separate company, not a part of Walmart. Any messes are meant to be tidied up by someone who attends especially to do so – once a week or once a fortnight. Which is how those slimeballs managed to ooze so long onto so many of those comic books. And it looks like this may have been part of the original deal, a third party that brokered the initial deals with Walmart and Target, and now has moved onto the exclusive variant covers end early arrival as a way to maintain some advantage over the comic store market. This would not be unique to comics, Walmart has a history of its checkout aisles being stocked and "run" by separate companies. But this is also why the comic books are much more up-front in stores than may otherwise have been expected.

And it may also explain why the Publisher of DC Comics, Jim Lee, is out doing it himself…