by Todd Allen

Over at the Books-A-Million website, on the magazines page, DC’s “New 52” is being highlighted.  “Action Comics,” “Justice League” and “Batgirl” are rotating in the middle slot at the top of the page, sandwiched between magazines like “Vogue” and Maxim.  At the bottom of the page, filed under “special interests” are Batman, Action, Batgirl, Wonder Woman, Detective, Supergirl, Green Lantern Corps and Batman & Robin.

The offers themselves are a little goofy.  Some titles offer both subscription and single issues.  Some, like Detective and Action, only offer subscriptions.  Some, like Green Lantern, are single issue only (even though Green Lantern Corps is subscription only).

The pricing is consistent with DC’s subscription page: $24.99 for titles with a $2.99 cover (30% discount) and $29.99 for titles with a $3.99 cover (37% discount).  You only get 10% off single issues. (But no “buy 4, get the 5th free offer.”)

The selection appears to be the same as DC’s subscriber card, minus the “T+” rated titles.  So no All-Star Western, I… Vampire, Blackhawk, Catwoman, Animal Man, etc.

Over on the Marvel side, there’s an eclectic selection, seemingly much more limited than Marvel’s online subscription form and not quite as good a deal: Marvel’s standard deal is $26.97 for the first title and 24.97 for each additional.  Granted, that starting baseline of 43% is higher than DC, but over at Books-A-Million, I’m seeing New Avengers (no “regular” Avengers), Uncanny X-Men (the only X-title), Captain America and Amazing Spider-Man at 12 issues for $27.00.  Essentially the same unless you’re buying multiple titles.  Amazing Spider-Man also has 36 issue option that’s $49.97 at Marvel’s site and $59.97 at Books-A-Million.

It’s questionable how a person is even supposed to find those Marvel books, short of randomly typing titles into the search box, but a few of those DC titles are actually getting some promotion on the magazine section page.