DC has announced a new Walmart exclusive release program to replace its 100-Page Giant anthology titles which, while now available through Direct Market retailers, were initially released only as print copies available in Walmart stores.
With their new plan, DC will revive a grand comic book tradition easily recognizable to fans old enough to remember buying comic books on road trips, at grocery stores – or even at Walmart back in the heyday of the 80s and 90s – with 4-packs of DC titles that also include special backer boards.
The backer boards feature members of the Justice League, drawn by Ivan Reis, which combine to form a full image, as seen here.
According to DC, the 4-packs won't stay Walmart exclusive long. Though they debut Sunday, June 21 at 2,900 US Walmart stores, the publisher is "working toward" making them available to Direct Market retailers in September.
DC doesn't list what titles will be available in the 4-packs, nor what the release schedule of the packs will be. It's unspecified if they are a one-time release, or if new 4-packs will be released.
Multi-packed comic books were a newsstand and bargain bin staple at grocery stores and other outlets for years, with most being compiled by third party distributors who bought often low-selling or surplus comic books for wholesale prices, then packaged them together in a polybag and re-sold them at low prices, often only a few dollars. In those packs, buyers could receive titles from any number of publishers – often several publishers in one pack, even both Marvel and DC.
Of course, DC's 4-packs are likely to contain multiple recent DC titles - perhaps compiling an entire story-arc or a sampling of greatest hits.
