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DC partners with Walmart

Old 08-29-18, 11:27 AM
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Re: DC partners with Walmart

Found Teen Titans #2 at mine yesterday, all the others sold out.
Old 08-29-18, 01:01 PM
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Re: DC partners with Walmart

I did eventually find all four #2 issues. I've noticed the section for comics getting more and more messy since the start of this experiment. It's also apparent that some stores either threw out their nice displays or had them taken away. Now issues from this series are getting mixed in with the old, random bags of DC Comics leftover from last year's promotion.
Old 08-29-18, 01:33 PM
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Re: DC partners with Walmart

Yeah the only thing I've found are the old bags of comics and some kind of overpriced collections (well, 10 bucks for a magazine sized collection).
Old 08-29-18, 07:17 PM
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Re: DC partners with Walmart

Originally Posted by PhantomStranger
I did eventually find all four #2 issues. I've noticed the section for comics getting more and more messy since the start of this experiment. It's also apparent that some stores either threw out their nice displays or had them taken away. Now issues from this series are getting mixed in with the old, random bags of DC Comics leftover from last year's promotion.
Actually, collector's and flippers have been taking the displays and selling them online.
Old 08-30-18, 02:34 PM
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Re: DC partners with Walmart

Originally Posted by Red Hood
Actually, collector's and flippers have been taking the displays and selling them online.
They were really neat in person, way better than most of the usual Walmart standees typically used. A comic book store near me somehow got one.
Old 09-12-18, 11:59 AM
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Re: DC partners with Walmart

Issue #3 of Superman and Justice League are out and DC has upped the print run. Superman #3 has Tom King's first Superman story. I still feel that DC needs to re-print all issues #1.

Also,
DC Expands WALMART Line With Two New Titles, Two Holiday Specials
By Chris Arrant, Editor September 11, 2018 06:12am ET


DC Entertainment are expanding their line of original titles at Walmart with the addition of two new ongoings as well as two holiday one-shots. First reported by the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette, the new titles are an ongoing Flash DC Giant, a Swamp Thing Halloween Horror Special one-shot, a as-yet-untiled DC holiday special one-shot, and another character ongoing not yet revealed.

"DC characters are universally recognized and have been for generations," said Walmart spokesperson Molly Blakeman. "[Between movies, TV and video games,] there are more DC superhero fans than ever and we wanted to provide these casual fans access to the source material behind the shows, movies and games they love."
Credit: DC Comics

The 100-page Swamp Thing Halloween Horror Special is scheduled to go on-sale October 7, with the 80-page DC holiday special hitting shelves November 11. Both will be priced at $4.99. The release dates for the two ongoings have not been announced.
https://www.newsarama.com/41775-dc-e...-specials.html
Old 09-12-18, 12:01 PM
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Re: DC partners with Walmart

Still haven't found anything except the old rebirth collections. I am in scalper central, though, I'm sure if I go to Frank and Sons or any of the local comic book shop there will be dozens.
Old 09-12-18, 03:58 PM
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Re: DC partners with Walmart

Stocking comes in waves. Some stores have become more and more disorderly in the checkout area since the first batch. Remember, this section is mostly aimed at children.

Your best bets to find them are Super Walmarts.
Old 09-12-18, 04:25 PM
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Re: DC partners with Walmart

I vowed to stop buying these, and wait for the trades, but have the first 8 so far. The chase is alluring and bringing me back to the early years of my collecting.
Old 09-13-18, 12:12 AM
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Re: DC partners with Walmart

Originally Posted by fujishig
Still haven't found anything except the old rebirth collections. I am in scalper central, though, I'm sure if I go to Frank and Sons or any of the local comic book shop there will be dozens.
If you head a bit further out, the Upland Wal-Mart still has everything in stock.


Originally Posted by Trevor
I vowed to stop buying these, and wait for the trades, but have the first 8 so far. The chase is alluring and bringing me back to the early years of my collecting.

It reminds me of going from liquor store to liquor store looking for certain issues (before I discovered comic book stores in the early 80s).
Old 09-13-18, 06:36 AM
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Re: DC partners with Walmart

Originally Posted by The Valeyard
It reminds me of going from liquor store to liquor store looking for certain issues (before I discovered comic book stores in the early 80s).
Liquour stores sold comics? I remember the days where 30 stores in my tiny town sold comics, but don’t think I checked the liquor store.

I do remember gawking at alternative comics when I’d tag along with my older brother when he went to the “record store”. [Ron Howard voice]Pot. His brother was buying pot.[/Ron Howard voice]
Old 09-13-18, 03:57 PM
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Re: DC partners with Walmart

I'll need to get that Swamp Thing special!

Originally Posted by Trevor
Liquour stores sold comics? I remember the days where 30 stores in my tiny town sold comics, but don’t think I checked the liquor store.

I do remember gawking at alternative comics when I’d tag along with my older brother when he went to the “record store”. [Ron Howard voice]Pot. His brother was buying pot.[/Ron Howard voice]
Yeah, I've never heard of comics sold at liquor stores. Wow.

And yeah, I remembered seeing some great underground/alternative comics/comix at the local head shop/record store. The funny thing is that not only did that store sell pot, but the guy who ran the local hole in the wall comic shop down the street did as well (the comic store was likely to make his business look legit )
Old 09-16-18, 02:18 PM
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Re: DC partners with Walmart

The #3 issues for Superman and Justice League of America are now out.
Old 09-16-18, 04:51 PM
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Re: DC partners with Walmart

Originally Posted by PhantomStranger
The #3 issues for Superman and Justice League of America are now out.
Posted this back on 9/12. LOL!

One thing I noticed today is that the display that carries these books has now a sticker stating to not discard or sell it as it's for re-stocking.
Old 09-17-18, 01:49 AM
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Re: DC partners with Walmart

Originally Posted by Trevor
Liquour stores sold comics? I remember the days where 30 stores in my tiny town sold comics, but don’t think I checked the liquor store.
There was a liquor store I always hit on my way to Elementary school in Torrance, CA. J's Liquor. Checking Google - It's still there!!



They had Liquor in the back and a comic rack up front by the doors.


There was another store that had a larger selection, including Treasury size books, that my grandfather would take me to on the weekends (when he stocked up on booze). I don't remember where that one was. But they had a great selection of comics. It's where I discovered other comic companies besides DC and Marvel.
Old 09-17-18, 08:25 AM
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Re: DC partners with Walmart

Originally Posted by The Valeyard
There was a liquor store I always hit on my way to Elementary school in Torrance, CA. J's Liquor. Checking Google - It's still there!!



They had Liquor in the back and a comic rack up front by the doors.


There was another store that had a larger selection, including Treasury size books, that my grandfather would take me to on the weekends (when he stocked up on booze). I don't remember where that one was. But they had a great selection of comics. It's where I discovered other comic companies besides DC and Marvel.
Sweet memories! My memory stinks, plus most of my original shops are no longer there. The 7-11s still stand at least, where I bought most of my first couple hundred comics.

I vaguely recall seeing Atlas books on the newsstands in the late 70s, and magazine that I sadly avoided. It wasn’t until 1982 that I found my first comic shop that I realized what was really available. I’m guess the direct market and comic shops had been a thing for years, but I think I’m correct in thinking that they really took off in 1982 when Marvel moved a couple books, Micronauts and Moon Knight, to direct market only.

Back on topic, my wonderful wife bought me the recent #3 issues at Walmart for my birthday, so I’m sadly 10/10 without reading a single full issue yet.
Old 09-21-18, 01:43 PM
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Re: DC partners with Walmart

Originally Posted by Trevor
Sweet memories! My memory stinks, plus most of my original shops are no longer there. The 7-11s still stand at least, where I bought most of my first couple hundred comics.

I vaguely recall seeing Atlas books on the newsstands in the late 70s, and magazine that I sadly avoided. It wasn’t until 1982 that I found my first comic shop that I realized what was really available.

My first encounter with a comic store was the Comic Vendor at the Old Towne Mall in Torrance, CA. Sometime in 1979-1980. I was 9 years old. The mall itself was AWESOME! It was like a theme park with nothing but retail. We'd go to see movies there and walk around. One day while walking through the mall, I noticed a store that sold nothing but comics. At the time, I didn't know if it was there forever and I never noticed it or if it just showed up out of the blue. Entering the store was like entering heaven. They had new comics on the racks. ALL the new issues! And in boxes behind the counter - BACK ISSUES! I didn't even know what back issues were then!

Sitting over the clerks shoulder was a Star Wars comic I had never seen before - Star Wars Annual #1 (November 1979). I wanted it so bad! I begged my mom to buy it for me. She was put off with the marked up price. It was $1.00 (compared to the .75¢ cover price). "A dollar for a comic?" (she had no idea how much I spent on comics even then on a small allowance). I still have that book and treated it better than the others because it cost a whole dollar.

I later discovered Geoffrey's Comics which became my main store until I moved out of Torrance in 1989.


Old Towne Mall


Originally Posted by Trevor
I’m guess the direct market and comic shops had been a thing for years, but I think I’m correct in thinking that they really took off in 1982 when Marvel moved a couple books, Micronauts and Moon Knight, to direct market only.

The direct market was around for awhile but extremely limited. The comic business was in the toilet in the late 70s and newsstand sales were ready to die. Jim Shooter was the one who spearheaded moving some of Marvel's books exclusively into comic stores to drive traffic in that direction in late 1981. DC had tried something similar back in 1980 with the Superboy Spectacular. But DC's attempt was half ass.


Originally Posted by Trevor
Back on topic, my wonderful wife bought me the recent #3 issues at Walmart for my birthday, so I’m sadly 10/10 without reading a single full issue yet.
She's a keeper. The Batman and Teen Titans #3s are out this weekend. Bendis on Batman. Not a Bendis fan but I'll give it a read. I'm collecting them anyways!

After picking up the Superman and Justice League #3s two weeks ago, I started reading the books slowly. I never read the Superman/Batman Public Enemies story arc so it's new to me.

Last edited by The Valeyard; 09-21-18 at 01:56 PM.
Old 09-23-18, 01:24 PM
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Re: DC partners with Walmart

I was doing some research on the history of the direct market and suddenly, Robert Beerbohm wrote a lengthy post on the Comic Book Historians FB Group regarding the subject. Very interesting read with more details about some things I had previously glimpsed over. Looks like I gave Jim Shooter a little more credit with the direct market evolution.

A huge misconception still exists out in comics fandom New Media Irjax "won" a law suit with DC comics regarding a near-monopoly Phil Seuling's Seagate once had control over 1974-1979. I broke said monopoly. An act of desperation survival at the time.

A fellow named Chris Piers with a YouTube channel called Comic Trope erroneously writes Seuling had a monopoly on ALL comics in what we used to call the Direct Market. His video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGVo80c-kB0&t=1525s is riddled with Direct Market "origins" error though he displays much enthusiasms. Chuck Rozanski's "Tales From the Database" over in Mile High Comics also has key aspects wrong. So does some tome called Comics Through Time, Dan Gearino's Comic Shop book as well and others.

So much damned myth being bandied about as "fact." Here are some semi slices of detail with much much more going in to Comic Book Store Wars:

Back some time circa late 1980 in the early days of what we were coming to call the Direct Market as Big Rapids Distribution out of Michigan went down for the count a fellow named Hal Schuster flew in to the Bay Area from the Maryland area to solicit my sub-distributor wholesale business for a firm I had grown to call Common Ground.

So named as new guys were opening up comic book stores in "virgin" territory and we needed a "common" source to keep acquiring new DM stuff then coming out of mainly Sparta.

He voiced he had a number of guys back east such as Steve Geppi in Baltimore, Carol Kalish then running a distributorship for him in Boston, Tony Isabella out of Ohio, Joe Krolik with Styx out of eastern Canada, Ron Van Leeuwen with Silver Snail in Toronto, Fantasy Castle in the LA area.

Trip was, and this is what hurt Big Rapids, other early DM distributors, Phil Seuling and Jonni Levas of Seagate out of the NYC area back in 1974 had been handed a de facto monopoly on DC on "sub"-distributor accounts following the very second DM ever opened, Donahoe Brudders, out of Michigan, had defaulted their entire business to the tune of over a million dollars.

The Donahoe Brudders never paid DC National or any other publisher a penny. DC did not want to be risking any more fly by night distribution gigs. They knew and trusted Phil.

Sol Harrison and Phil had conjured up the very first experiments shipping "direct" out of Sparta starting up late Fall 1973. Our first order with Phil was for SImon & Kirby's reunion comic book, Sandman #1 with us at Comics & Comix pre-ordering 3000 copies which arrived back across the USA some three weeks after Oakland's Gilboy Agency got theirs in.

There were obviously a lot of logistical "bugs" to work out making it viable for us sellers on the west coast. John Barrett and I got incredibly pissed off at Bud Plant when Bud turned down Phil's offer of the entire west coast.

Carmine Infantino, not wanting to be outdone by Sol, was a guest that same fall at Detroit Triple Fan Fair. The Donahoe Brudders approached him. He signed them up. This is what Carmine told me during tape recorded interviews I did at his apartment in NYC our friend Julius Schwartz initially set up for me.
Pacific Comics under control of Steve and William Schanes were the 3rd Direct Market distributor for Sparta Comics Code product.

That same year Hal flew out to talk with me New Media Irjax also filed suit on the main Sparta publishers as well as Seagate. However, he could not offer "drop" ship out of Sparta to me - or any one else.
We began getting our Marvels at 58% off cover prices but still had to order minimum $3K of stuff - mainly DC - from Seagate.

In 1979 the suit was "settled."

However there is a "back story" to this tale which I kept quiet for a very long time which I would like to shed some more light on.

At some point in 1979 I received a letter on Seagate stationary from Jonni Levas stating that in order to get any product all Seagate sub-distributors hence forth would have to order ALL their material from Seagate.

Otherwise one would receive nothing. Seagate was also pre-pay at time of order two months before any thing shipped. I looked at this letter. In 1979 cover price dollars Common Ground was ordering around $8,000 a month wholesale. I did some simple math and realized that all of a sudden being forced to be pre-paying some $25K would put my out of business. I tried communicating with Seagate hitting a stone-walling pile of bricks.

Being one year or so into the huge investment of The Funny Pages out at Pier 39 much less being locked in to a veritable "comic book store war" with my ex-partners Comics and Comix over on Telegraph Ave near UC-Berkeley where mere hours beating the other place meant hundreds of dollars in extra cash flow in that then rarefied market. Week after week those extra sales meant make or break surviving on that street.

So I took that letter over to 450 Golden Gate Ave which was the Federal Building housing all sorts of government entities. After some poking around in various offices I was directed to the 5th floor to the Sherman Anti-Trust division.

Inside there I remember starting off saying, "I know this is not a big case, not a GM, AT&T, some thing like that, but there is this firm called Seagate out of New York which has a near-monopoly on DC comics which if they get away with it will put 23 full time workers out on the street...."

These guys listened to me explain how this then-new "Direct" market worked, then asked my indulgence while one of them got on the phone calling their counter-parts in New York City.

His conversation on the phone lasted about 20 minutes. He hung up, then turned to me saying for me to have a bit of patience. He thought he could help out here.

Turns out the New York City Sherman Anti-Trust guys called not DC Comics, but their owners Warner Bros which had earlier absorbed Kinney Corporation.

In about a week DC Comics was announcing new terms which allowed the then existing DM distributors to offer all their sub-distributors direct shipping out of Sparta.

The bogged-down in court New Media lawsuit all of a sudden also settled. It had been getting almost no where for a year and a half Phil Seuling's Seagate near-monopoly which had been severely hindering expansion growth for some years now was broken.

Contrary to what ever you read any where else, this is how I broke Seagate's monopoly on DC comics due to what the Donahoe Brudders had brought about in 1974 mentioned earlier.

To his dying day Phil Seuling ceased acknowledging I was breathing air in the same room we would occupy from time to time till he died in 1984.

I took a few arrows in the back on that one - but the DM began - finally - to grow big time.

That summer's San Diego Comicon 1979 also saw Marvel hosting a special meeting initially brainstormed between Chuck Rozanski and Jim Shooter which saw then new Marvel President James Galton come out to introduce himself which had that firm then jump head first two feet in to the deep end of the Direct Market.

There were about 60-80 of us at that first gathering of the inner core of the Direct Market as it then existed. At some point in to this meeting Galton asked if there was any thing "we" needed to grow this Direct Market which in 1979 was still only 5% of Marvel's net sales we were told.

There was a cacophony of voices which saw William Schanes's older brother Steve Schanes shouting over the din, "Give Us A Book!"

The room hushed almost immediately Galton looked right at Steve asking him what he meant
Steve shot back, "Give us some comics exclusive not available in the ID news stand system which due to affidavit return fraud was strangling the Code publishers.

We all took up that thought, almost chanting, "Give us a book!"

Early in 1980 Marvel gave us 3 "exclusive" to the DM comic books which included Bill Sienkiewicz's Moon Knight #15 onwards. Marvel had begun to engulf and tried to take over the DM thru the 1980s.

The myriad origins of the Direct Market have never been properly told in most any comics history book to date. Am working on it again with hopes it ends up explaining its evolution properly. I got side-tracked distracted by some cruel twists of "life" fate for some years. It is a tale which with a bit of help from my friends who were also "there," all the proper nuances are being unfolded in truth.
Old 10-06-18, 01:47 AM
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Re: DC partners with Walmart

A 100-page Swamp Thing Giant has been showing at various Walmarts alongside the other titles. This is apparently some push for the Halloween season, not an ongoing thing.
Old 10-06-18, 02:41 PM
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Re: DC partners with Walmart

They're going to release a Holiday special one-shot next month as well.

Last edited by The Valeyard; 10-06-18 at 02:46 PM.
Old 10-06-18, 02:52 PM
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Re: DC partners with Walmart

Originally Posted by PhantomStranger
A 100-page Swamp Thing Giant has been showing at various Walmarts alongside the other titles. This is apparently some push for the Halloween season, not an ongoing thing.
Originally Posted by The Valeyard
They're going to release a Holiday special one-shot next month as well.
I may dump the regular four titles soon, but these specials are right up my alley. Hopefully remembering to hit a Walmart tonight.
Old 10-10-18, 06:32 PM
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Re: DC partners with Walmart

I did find the Swamp-Thing #1 special (in it's own separate display box, probably 10-12 copies), but Superman #4, & Justice League #4 should have been out on 10/5 right?
Old 10-11-18, 01:37 AM
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Re: DC partners with Walmart

They're out this weekend.*

Update: October 13 - These two titles (Superman and Justice League) have been officially delayed until next week. Currently, they are scheduled to arrive with the Batman and Teen Titans Giants. Potentially, 4 titles next week.

I guess Andy Kubert can't keep up with a 12-page a month schedule. (I kid. I kid)

Last edited by The Valeyard; 10-13-18 at 01:38 PM.
Old 10-23-18, 02:35 PM
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Re: DC partners with Walmart

I haven't seen issue #4 of any titles or the Swamp Thing special at any of my Wal-Marts. Seriously, couldn't DC have chose a worse partner for this project?
Old 10-23-18, 03:10 PM
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Re: DC partners with Walmart

Originally Posted by Red Hood
I haven't seen issue #4 of any titles or the Swamp Thing special at any of my Wal-Marts. Seriously, couldn't DC have chose a worse partner for this project?
Well they could have chosen Toys R Us...

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