Exclusive Retail Comics Need to STOP

I created this thread to hear what you all have to say on this topic. Walmart & now Target are doing this Exclusive thing that I just am not fan of at all. I mean if they release the stories in trades at some point than I will certainly cool down on it, but right now it is a headache.
Not everyone hasa Target or Walmart in their area and if they do not everyone shops at those places, so you are telling fans that if you want these stories you have to go out of your way to go get them and in the case of Wamart you get 1 maybe two new short stories and a compilation of older stories.
I can understand this would be a way expand where comics are sold and that is great, not every city or town has a comic book store, but y making it exclusive you are limiting where its sold. The other reason I am not a huge fan of this idea is I spoke with a Walmart employer and they told me a vendor comes in every week (not always when they are supposed to) to add in and replace the comics they sell and Walmart themselves are not allowed to go in the back to get anymore, even if they are available. I don’t understand that. The way they have it set up too if the books are not visible at all, unless you are actively looking for them. Its not like they are in each aisle going up to the cashier, its at the very end on the left side of the first register and usuallu at the bottom.
I’d like to hear anyone else’s thoughts, maybe even someone who is part of the deal going on or working with one of the retailers who have a better understanding. I would love to see the collected in trades eventually and would feel even better about it going on as I would gladly get them in that form. Batman: Walmart Exclusives Volume 1, would go on my shelf.

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It’s great for business on DC’s end. The amount of Walmarts that carry the Giant line as well as the Target stores that have the Primal Age book allows their content to get in front of audiences that substantially dwarf the size of the comic store crowd, which is fairly small in most respects in all honesty. The more outlets they can get their material in is good for their financial longevity and that’s good for all fans, whether you read these specific books or not.

There’s always eBay if you can’t find the books locally. There are sellers that offer good deals and it beats missing out on them entirely for people whose Walmarts and Targets don’t carry these or for those who don’t have those chains in their cities.

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I would imagine it’d be easier to find a Walmart or Target than it is to find a comic book shop.

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You’re right nu52.

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Yeah if your town isn’t big enough to have a Wall-Mart then it is highly unlikely it can support a comic book store. I mean even small towns have Wall-Marts.

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It may be harder in some areas to find a comic book store, but know what you can get there you can get anywhere books are sold. as for ebay, I shouldn’t have to be forced to pa at least double because i cant get to a Walmart or Target. My issue isnt that Walmart & Target are selling comics, thats a great thing, but it that you can ONLY get it there. I mean if they release a trade thats a fair compromise I can get behind and I’ll even delete this thread if it happens.

As for the first response it is a good way to get it out there more, but only those that are available everywhere and again most Walmart seem to hide the comics, they don’t even put it with other books and magazines, which makes no sense

DC Comics desperately needs new readers. Comics use to sell in the millions per issue, decades ago.

Now readership keeps getting lower each year. Part of that is due to availability.

These ‘exclusives’ allow DC to show their characters to a much bigger potential audience than they would get otherwise.

If it wasn’t exclusive, the companies would not have accepted the books.

There seems to be a problem with the actual company that distributed and displays the books.

Most of the material in these books is reprints. There. Is very little new material in each books

If what people says in the threads here, most members either can’t afford the complete title lines each month, or don’t have the time or interest.

So most of us choose not to read everything DC produces each month.

So if it helps DC to get these books out to New readers, that’s fine with me. I have no interest in them, anyway.

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The exclusivity window probably will be limited. I expect to see most of this material surface in other venues eventually.

They’re going for at least a year, and these started in July of last year. It’ll be a long wait.

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Personally, I think DC should be selling comics everywhere possible. But to be competitive, they need to lower the cover price. And to lower the cover price and still retain talent, they need to lower the production costs. To lower the production costs, they should go back to newsprint and limited colors.

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The comics are kinda garbage the ones I picked up are like a 10 page exclusive and 4 random best sellers, I think they are a good way to get new readers.

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@harley that’s a good idea but the cost of paper is a historic low thanks to the popularity of mobile devices, I used to work for a company that was paper free. Everything the company and you would touch was digital we had tablets if we preferred to hand write and 99% of everything was in an email like message board.

The way to increase profit is to make “exclusive deals” same reason people do exclusive games on console and exclusive dlc to GameStop it’s money upfront to cover overhead.

One way to cut cost would be to cut pay in the print industry and I don’t wanna see that.

I say double the exclusive deals to cover overhead hell have an exclusive Amazon series.

You’re missing nothing with these books.

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They seem to be making DC money and are bringing new eyes to the comics, so even though I can never find them at Wall Mart I am for them, arguably it could lead to new interest and new fans who wanting more that Wall Mart will never be able to give (or Target) will then go to comic shops so may not be all bad for the direct market either.

Although the truth is printed media in general seems to be slowly dying out (although has had more of a life lately it seems) so anything that helps it out I am all for. I know that sooner or later digital comics will take over the market but I want that day to still be a long way off.

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The new content in these books is pretty darn solid (especially Superman and also the Wonder Woman story in JLA) so I’d say they’re absolutely worth picking up.

Plus, Jinny Hex of the new Young Justice ongoing made her debut in the Batman Giant series which also features a Bendis penned Batman story.

Teen Titans features Dan Jurgens penned material and is where Tim came back to the Robin identity (or debuted as Robin to be technical, since he was always Red Robin in New 52 and more recent continuity).

To each their own, but these are important books and not throw away material IMO.

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I actually disagree. By selling at Target and Walmart, they are actually expanding accessibility. And while yes, not everywhere has a Target or Walmart, it’s still more places carrying comics than before, and my hope is that by having these types of stores carrying comics, it will kick-start an even more accessible comics industry by encouraging other stores to follow suit. I also think this will help local comic shops by introducing a new audience hungry for more of their favorite characters :slight_smile:

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I’m enjoying the Walmart Giants, though I dropped Justice League and Batman because they were meh, I already read all the reprints in em so it wasn’t worth $5 for 12 pages.

Teen Titans and Superman did it right by including Sideways and The Terrifics, they are only like 5 months behind the floppy release so they are new material for trade waiters.

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I dig the Batman Universe story in the Batman Giant. There were some good moments between Batman and Green Arrow.

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Again everyone I am saying I don’t like that its EXCLUSIVE, meaning those stories are ONLY at Walmart & Target, from many of the comment it appears you all are thinking I don’t want comics at Walmart & Target at all and thats just not true. I just don’t like the idea that if I can’t get to a Target I’m screwed, they lost my business because I can’t get to that place. Whereas I can go to my LCS ask them to put it to the side & buy it when I can pick it up. If they offered it everywhere I would be very happy to see more places offering comics, but its NOT everywhere

I’m not a fan of “exclusively” either although it might have been part of the deal with said retailers. I know I don’t have the time or the gas money to drive 45 minutes to my nearest Walmart. I would be a little happier if at the end of each story arc they put that content on the DC Universe app. It might also make the department store readers more inclined to get a subscription to the service as well so DC would still come out on top.

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I think that both the public and DC would benefit by selling at CVS and Rite-Aid.

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