Market Data 
If you’re looking to acquire a Roblox-ready version of Frankie “Playtime” Follis’ favorite, and most unlikely, weapon from Minor Threats, the neo-noir comic from actor/comedian Patton Oswalt and former American Dad producer Jordan Blum, it’s too late.
The digital gizmo, a “Jack in the Box” gun that Frankie uses to dispatch enemies with percussive force, debuted today on FreshCut, a “social community” that creates Roblox adventures and experiences with brands and companies, and quickly sold out. It is the first in a string of digital collectibles inspired by the first four-issue volume of Minor Threats to be offered on FreshCut. The first issue of the comic book’s second volume also debuted today.
The Jack in the Box gun proved a big hit on its first day of release, with all the available versions quickly snapped up by fans. They’ll be able to wear the gun on their avatar across the sprawling digital platform’s 70 million or more digital experiences.
For latecomers, the good news is that Oswalt, Blum and FreshCut have more notable digital assets coming weekly for the rest of the month, along with coupons for a copy of the first issue of the first volume. To get the goodies, players have to complete specific FreshCut “loot quests.” It’s all designed to help promote the next volume of Oswalt and Blum’s project, which is distributed by Dark Horse Comics.
“It’s like a slightly gamified but authentic experience that Gen Z (Roblox) players would do,” said FreshCut CEO James Kuk. “They can go learn about Minor Threats. We have a ‘watch this video first’ with Patton. A 15-year-old sees the Patton avatar, they immediately get it. This is a great way to introduce comics and two Minor Threats volumes.”
The appearance on Roblox is a first for Oswalt, who’s otherwise busy prepping his next hour-long comedy special with a stand-up tour, and recently appeared in Apple TV+’s Lincoln assassination series Manhunt as well as the latest Ghostbusters feature, Frozen Empire. But he was excited about the initial reaction on the platform to his comic book creation.
“Any writer, any creator wants their stories to be experienced by other people,” Oswalt said. “If it’s a way to reach them with creativity, I’m all for it. As a comic book fan, it’s pretty surreal to see items you created show up (on Roblox). You see parts of your world in other worlds.”
Kuk said Roblox is attracting numerous owners of major intellectual properties, musicians, artists, even AAA-quality video games. And it’s a potential new audience for Minor Threats and other indie comics that have proliferated in recent years but may struggle to reach wide audiences.
“This is a big wave that’s happening before our eyes,” Kuk said.
Owners of the Minor Threats digital articles can resell them after a 30-day “hold’ period, Kuk said, which could lead to a secondary market.
“Some FreshCut items have resold for $30 or $50,” said Kuk, who likened some items’ after-market interest to that of non-fungible tokens. Most don’t do much after an initial sale, but some become hotly sought after.
Oswalt said he and Blum, his writing partner, are grappling with the many possible ways to expand Minor Threats beyond its comic-book home base and Roblox. Part of the plan is empowering others to create their own comic stories that live within the Minor Threats universe.
“We definitely have a long-term vision about how we want to adapt this into other mediums,” Oswalt said. “We’re adding to the universe as it is. We’re doing a comic book version of what Roblox does (with outside creators). We don’t 100 percent know what’s next, and I can kind of like that.”
Minor Threats tells the story of some garden-variety super villains dealing with a world-ending super-super villain who’s ruining their business opportunities and drawing the attention of authorities. They band together to try to defeat the super-super villain.
