Bendis on Batman! King on Superman! And MORE! — DC Comics on Friday morning announced a stunning new publishing initiative in tandem with Walmart. Officially launching July 1 – that’s less than two weeks from now – the publisher will kick off a slate of four monthly titles featuring new stories by some of its top talent, as well as relatively recent reprints: Superman, Batman, Justice League of America and Teen Titans. And it all comes under the banner 100-Page Giant, with trade dress that harkens back to the 100 Page Super Spectaculars of the 1970s. Not just that, the line will include a new Batman run by Brian Michael Bendis and a new Superman arc by Tom King. The price will be $4.99 each and, yes, they will only be available at participating Walmarts. “We are extraordinarily excited about working with Walmart to expand the reach of our books,” Dan DiDio, DC’s co-publisher, said in a statement. “These new monthly books combine new and accessible stories with reprints of classic comic series. It’s a great way for new readers to get into comics and follow the characters they’ve grown to love in TV and film.” I gotta tell you, this is a startling move and, if successful, one that has the potential to shake up the industry in seismic fashion. For the first time in decades, one of the major publishers is focusing substantial brick-and-mortar effort beyond comics shops with new, mainstream superhero material by major stars. (Dan Jurgens, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Tim Seeley and Andy Kubert are among those also in the mix.) The books themselves take their cues – to some degree – from European comics that publish American stories. Overseas, DC titles are typically anthologies. Superman and Aquaman may have their own titles here, for example, but in Spain, Superman may have his own book while Aquaman serves as a back-up. (Those comics, however, don’t usually carry reprint material.) There are some open questions: Will these new stories connect at all to DC’s direct-market titles? What if you don’t have a Walmart near you? Will there be other options to get these stories? Will they be collected? What about digital versions? What days of the week will these pop up? This is going to play out in the weeks and months ahead and we’ll be...