Digest-sized collections! They’re what’s hot in 2024, thanks to DC’s Compact Comics, which will release in June. And now, Dynamite is getting in on the action with a new, digest-sized collection for Disney Villains: Maleficent.
In fact, the collection of Soo Lee’s singular take on the classic baddie will hit before Compact Comics, with the full collection hitting comic book stores this March. Also unlike the Compact Comics line, which will be 5.5″ x 8.5″ and cost $9.99, Dynamite’s collection will be 6″ by 9″, a little bit larger than both your regular softcover novel size and a manga volume. Versus the Compact Comics, which will retail for $9.99, Dynamite confirmed to Comic Book Club that the softcover trade will go for $13.99, while the hardcover will cost $19.99.
The book, part of Dynamite’s rapidly expanding Disney Villains line, was one of Comic Book Club’s Best Comics of 2023 — and for good reason. Lee’s book is gorgeous, set in the misty woods as a series of increasingly powered-up heroes/antagonists try to take down Maleficent and fail. It’s dark, and moody, with gorgeous art reminiscent of classic Disney storyboards from around the time Sleeping Beauty was originally released, and unlike anything else on the stands.
Clearly, fans and stores responded. Proving Dynamite is on a roll between this and the 170,000 copies ordered of ThunderCats #1, the publisher revealed that the first issue of Disney Villains: Maleficent clocked 90,000 orders for the first issue. That’s a lot more than most Marvel and DC comics sell in a month and shows how Dynamite’s licensing strategy is really working out. Great job, licensing strategy!
Along with Lee, the 130-page book features letters by Jeff Eckleberry, covers by Jae Lee, and perhaps most interesting for printing nerds such as myself, will be released simultaneously as a paperback and a hardcover. Both editions will be 6″ by 9″, and as a personal recommendation, either is well worth adding to your collection.
Disney Villains: Maleficent Preview
These pages and covers have been previously released, but if you’d like to check them out below, here you go:
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