Contest Of Challengers

"Don’t Make Us Choose Between Your Money and Satan" Wait… ARE we devil worshipers?? A full week of Molly Jane Challenger! And she did…? This store is for the young at heart. The first experience receiving Marvel Comics from Penguin Random House. It was…? Marvel has changed their Final Order Cutoff lead time. Getting Challengers to be what we hoped it could be. Working with artists for store projects is an amazing thing to get to do.

"Generally Managing" A brief, yet thorough, history of all past Challengers co-workers. After months of hints and clues, probably the 4th biggest announcement we could make… The futures of Challengers starts NOW! Thanks, Patrons! The performance aspect of selling comics to families.

"Multiples of the Normal Cost" Please wear your mask over your mouth AND nose. Patreon Free Comic Book Day questions (answered 1 month late). DC, Lunar AND FedEx all have the potential to upset our weekly DC receiving schedule. KickStarter survey woes. Diamond’s Retailer Best Practice Awards are back for 2021. Dal really like CRIMSON CAGE #1! Dal also read some other yet-to-be-released comics. IDW + PRH = acronym abundance!

"It’s Soul-Crushing" Playing with our new 1D, Bluetooth, cordless barcode scanner. The overallocation of both subscriptions and special orders in ComicSuite. Last episode we talked about having to do Final Order Cutoffs via Penguin Random House for the first time. This week we talk about actually having done them. Current Initial Order hurdles. Supply prices (bags) are going up AGAIN, as are Marvel Legends prices. Full days of work, at the store and not at the store. Trying to lessen the burden for the future.

"Weirder and More Stable" It’s the first week for Marvel Comics single issue Final Order Cutoffs thru Penguin Random House. Manage Comics’ most recent thought stream makes our excitement build, even if the release date is pushed back. Experimenting with Shopify’s point of sale system. Supplies and Funko Pops trade places in the shop.

"Please Choose Returnability" Still no DC data in ComicSuite means no one can subscribe to November’s DC books (UPDATE: DC books have been added to the system after we recorded). We’re kind of bad a promoting new comics and merchandise via social media. Cover I.D. I don't remember what this refers to, but it was in my notes so it's here. Have you heard about publishers printing multiple covers for the same comic?? Weird, right? Customer Service isn’t for everybody... Our new shirt Kickstarter campaign is in its last week! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/challengers/keep-reading-comics-t-shirt-designed-by-ali-cantarella

"Broken Links in the Supply Chain" The regular occurrence of graphic novels damaged in shipping. Patrick has been doing this for 31 years. Huge week for DC! So many stores did not get their new comics in time for Wednesday, AND DC is having to delay a lot of books for supply reasons. Ingram is on top of it all! 2 of our upcoming store signings have been cancelled (Dave Scheidt “Mayor Good Boy” and Allyson Lassiter “Star Beasts”). Trying to order Marvel graphic novels. Retailers industry wide are feeling the stress. We've still got a new shirt on Kickstarter right now! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/challengers/keep-reading-comics-t-shirt-designed-by-ali-cantarella

More Questions answered about Manage Comics. Store improvements this week: door leak guards, 2 new door thresholds, new carpet runners and 17 new window banners! Also new – Challengers Birthday card, I Love You But I’ve Chosen Comics enamel pin and the Patrick + Dal heads 2-pin set! Our Free Comic Book Day aftermath. Bad Idea’s latest disagreeable marketing decision. Substack! What is it? Which creators are using it? How will it impact comic shops? We've got a new shirt on Kickstarter right now! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/challengers/keep-reading-comics-t-shirt-designed-by-ali-cantarella

Carpet Diem Patrick is SO high strung right now. He can feel the cable starting to fray… Free Comic Book Day is NOW! Although it’ll be over by the time you hear this. Our last 7 days, in order. SO much stuff happened! The process of getting the carpet installed. Special thanks to: Kent Challenger Samantha Challenger, Vex and Steve Drew and Ashleigh Keith and Margie Tad And also… Felix Challenger Andrew Challenger Benhur Jackie Erik

"The Value Aspect" Introducing ‘new’ publisher MarvelPRH! A good idea from Diamond! Further adventures with Pullbox. What our subscription service is supposed to be vs what it’s turned into. “Curbside” vs “In-Store”. The pitfalls of celebrity signings. Our recommended offer to exchange. You should really add Ed Brubaker’s Friday HC to you want list. Our current stance on comic Kickstarters. There is no Challengers TikTok. People really want the “hot” Free Comic Book Day titles, but is it for the actual comic stories?

"Changing the Calculus" Masks are once again required in-store. Will these rising Covid numbers change Free Comic Book Day (Aug 14)? DC = Doesn’t Care Constantly having to apologize to subscribers for computer errors we can’t control is exhausting. Talking about it every week, even more so. Thanks, Patrons! The ever-changing due dates for Final Order Cutoff numbers. We’ve finalized our new mid-windows banner design.

Minimizing Chances of Failure Wearing a coat in July. Seven Sagas vol 1’s. Patrick is working on the last Marvel Comics order from Diamond. Our (probable) switchover to Manage Comics looms ever closer. I’m sorry, but we’re out of Pokémon cards. Again. Still. The face of your disappointment. New Challengers Greeting Card, singular. Our new carpet installation has been pushed back by 1 week. Who makes money in Comics?

Spatial Considerations So many plans for updating the look of Challengers, but no time to implement them. Challengers needs a deep cleaning! As we get closer to the potential switch-over to Manage Comics, we’re finding more hardware we’ll need to upgrade. Still hoping to change our Penguin Random House payment terms before we start ordering Marvel single issues. As pop culture fans we sure buy a lot of pop culture stuff.

Parse That Data Comics as commodities. Manage Comics 2.0 is looking good for us. The last word on Challengers Blue. Finally… new carpet! And we can use your help moving all the shelves. Say 10 things nice to 1 thing negative.

Eternal racking questions. How many covers is too many (hint: more than 2). So many shipments from so many distributors. June sales totals (an overview). Water damage. Primordial #1 (by the Gideon Falls team). Don’t miss out on The Nice House on the Lake!

Yotsuba&! is returning! Calling back after we call you. The weirdness of no masks. Is it good or is it Spawn? Patrick really digs Vinyl from Image. Addressing the Warren Ellis in the room. Hoarding the new Hawkguy collection. The new Amazing Spider-Man writing team. A controversial new figure from DoomCo Designs and Crocodile Jackson. Introducing Felix Challenger.

This is a Dull Podcast Upcoming DC books—more hits than not! Prose writers writing comics. Updating our Gift Cards on the website(s). Marvel Legends prices are rising and may rise more. Have you heard about Phonation? 10 Chicago podcasts on vinyl! LOKI is a fun show. Nick Spencer is leaving Amazing Spider-Man. New work from Fiona Staples, but not new Saga work. Signings! Upcoming, new, and unannounced! Where to eat after visiting Challengers?

Space Ghettos Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow. How’d our Six Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton signing go? Hint: Awesome. Our new in-store mask policy. Asking for a Spider-Man collection is really asking for _______________? New week, same ComicSuite running errors. Still learning how to order thru Penguin Random House. The non-death of Bad Idea. W.E.B. of Spider-Man #1 was this week’s most annoying comic. A Yelp review from a year and a half ago resurfaces. Bonus! See if you can count the times Dal leaves the recording studio to take a phone call while Patrick fills.

Green Lantern after Geoff Johns volume 4. So many damages from our distribution partners. Problems with single issue comic backorders. EVERYTHING is in short supply right now (not just comics) and it’s making people go insane. The different mindset of the suburban comic shop. More advance PDF’s please! Dal really liked Made in Korea and Patrick is totally on board for Vinyl (from the team behind Plastic). How long will we keep wearing masks in-store?

Black Lives Matter What’s in Patrick’s pocket? Delaying the Batman/Fortinite reprints is annoying. New DC solicits (Batman the World). Signings are back at Challengers! Kyle Starks & Chris Schweizer, Michael Moreci, Tim Seeley, and Dave Scheidt, for starters. Maybe we’ll have plans for FCBD after all… Black Lives Matter. Thank you for all thinking so highly of us.