Mattel President and Chief Operating Officer Richard Dickson said the company was "very encouraged" by the initial sales on its DC Super Hero Girls line in Target in the conference call with analysts last week.  The figures just launched last month (see "'DC Super Hero Girls' Come to Target").  The first TV programming behind the brand, the Super Hero High one hour animated special, aired on Boomerang on March 19.  Cartoon Network is running some shorts on its app.

"[W]e’re really pleased right now with the early reads right now of the DC Super Hero Girls collection exclusive at Target Company, but we’ll have a broader roll-out in June," Dickson said.

Implying that performance would determine continued support, Dickson looked ahead to the future.  "And we anticipate continued momentum through the year and potentially a much longer franchise as they continue to introduce new characters into the mix," he continued.

Of course, with a retailer exclusive, there are dealers and collectors shopping at Target to get the figures before they hit broader distribution; we found 422 eBay listings under the search "DC Super Hero Girls," and those have to be coming from Target.  Regardless, it’s good to see this initiative off to a good start.

DC Comics will release its first original graphic novel in July (see "DC Launches Girls IP, Announces First OGN").