And that millionaire’s name? Probably Nat.
So my man in the street, Huggy Bear pal Nat, informed me a while back that the Dollar Tree chain of stores has been carrying Disney comics. And not old copies of, say, warehoused copies of unsold Gladstone comics or anything.
Instead, these are newly-published comics produced by a company called Peachtree Playthings, which appears to specialize in producing products based on various licenses.
Far as I can tell, these are repackagings of previously published material, such as the above DuckTales comic, which contains a story that originally saw print in the U.S., Italy and France in 2017. And then there’s Spy Power which, if I’ve looked this up properly on Inducks.org, was originally published in Germany in 2020.
These are standard comic book size, 24 pages plus covers, full color on nice paper. The only ads appear to be in-house. The covers are slick and thicker than your normal comic book’s. I’ve seen 2021 and 2022 copyright dates on these books.
Nat has noted that he’s not seen too many of these at any single Dollar Tree location…apparently they haven’t been at the store right across the street from where my store is located. But when he does find them, they’re only a couple in stock and they’re mixed in with the coloring books, so whether he’s finding them at the end of the sales cycle where only a few are left, or they’re not getting a lot in stock in the first place, who’s to say. And the copies Nat’s been finding have seen a little battle damage, so you mint hounds seeking out copies of these have your work cut out for you.
Some of these have apparently been around a bit…that Frozen up there is issue #5, and there’s a next issue ad inside for #6. Even the Spy Power comic has a next issue tag, and from what I see on Inducks I’m not even sure how much more material they have to reprint.
I’m not sure what the distribution is like on these. Just from Nat’s reports, it sounds like it’s pretty spotty but perhaps they’re available in more quantity and more consistently in other areas. And I was going to say something along the lines of these being relatively “rare” as Disney comics go, but again, I’m just basing that on local conditions. Plus, I don’t know what the print runs were like on, say, some of IDW’s Disney periodicals. But I think it’s safe to say anyone hoping to send these off to CGC is going to be disappointed, unless they find that Only Mint Copy in Existence and to them, I say “Congrats, New Millionaire.”
The first issues showed up at Walmart some time ago, but I never saw anymore. I still miss those DC giants.
So, these are selling for a dollar each? That’s a pretty good price point if so.
@Chris:
I’d assume they’re the $1.25 that Dollar Tree raised their prices to a year or so back. Which is still a good price.
(Unless they’re only at Dollar Tree Plus locations, in which case they could be more. While I haven’t seen any at either of the nearby regular Dollar Trees, I haven’t been looking.)
Yes, they’re selling for Dollar Tree’s current standard price of $1.25.
One thing that surprises me is that they’ve stuck with the Disney brand, and not done, say, some of the Disney-owned Marvel brand. Some of the Marvel Adventures material would probably fit quite well into the market. (But then you’re likely to get some roar from the retailers over Marvel making $1.25 books available to the Dollar Tree and not to them.)
Comics.org lists some other titles published by Peachtree, including Star Wars and Spider-Man. The Spider-Man issue appears to reprint stories/content from some comics originally published by Panini Comics.
Though, interestingly, they also published an issue of “Final Faction,” which is based on a line of GI-Joe-style action figures & YouTube cartoons made by Dollar Tree.
Not every Dollar Tree carries them, and months go by between issues.
I thought they were going with Disney properties to appeal to the youngest kids, but it’s also true the Disney has no current books in the comic shops and no one is going to object.
Brad, Dynamite has a whole line of Disney villain comics, plus Gargoyles. Fanta is reprinting classics stuff. I thought someone else had a license, too.
Why none of this is going through Marvel is beyond me.
Just to be clear, Final Faction was not published by Peachtree, despite what is said at comics.org. It’s publisher by Greenbrier International, Inc. … which IS Dollar Tree. Peachtree is a third party company which sells things to various low-price retailers.
They should’ve changed their name to “Dollar And A Quarter” Tree!
Matthew is correct in his citation of comics.org… unfortunately, comics.org is wrong about one thing:: Final Faction was not, in fact, published by Peachtree. Someone just assumed that because it was a Dollar Tree exclusive, Peachtree must’ve had a hand in it, but it’s not the case.