Contest Of Challengers

Speculator demographics. Artists Writers and Artisans released their first 4 comics on the same day. More super-upbeat and not-at-all-depressing Covid-19 talk. We’re shut down! ALL of Illinois is. What can we do about it? How are Publishers helping Retailers during this time?

This episode has basically 2 main topics. What we’re doing as a result of the Covid-19 Coronavirus and Bad Idea comics. Trust us, there is plenty of ground to cover with both topics.

A Challenger Loves Ya (Contest of Challengers) Who are we and what is this podcast? Challengers loves ya! Well, *A* Challenger loves ya. The spread of coronavirus Covid-19 is, understandably, wreaking havoc on comic convention schedules. Paying rent shouldn’t be this complicated. Implementing ideas that we got from Comikaza’s Jackob Sareli, including Final Order Instagram posts and a Challengers Subscribers Facebook group. Volunteer Help Wanted. Curating the Chicago Board Game Café’s graphic novel section. DECORUM #1 comes out this week. You’ll probably want to buy it.

Wednesday in-store anecdotes, recorded as they happened. The final week of selling C2E2 2020 tickets! Yay! All the way from Tel Aviv, fellow retailer Jackob Sareli joins us on the frozen, late-night streets of River North! River North also got a visit from the Fallen Angel, AEW wrestler Christopher Daniels! Our Friday at C2E2. Surprising information about the new AEW wrestling action figures. What did we buy at the show? Thanks, Patrons!

This is the week that C2E2 ticket sales reach a frenzied level. The ComicsPRO Annual Meeting s happening RIGHT NOW in Portland. And we’re not there. BOOM! Studios presentation at ComicsPRO says all the right things. Turning the $1.00 spinner rack into a Reprint spinner rack. What if we just stopped stocking variant covers…? The results of 2 Twitter polls conducted this week. Batman #89 and how DC Comics has found a new playbook for the future of comic sales, and why that is horrifying. Dan DiDio is no longer the Co-Publisher of DC Comics. Why does another medium have to validate comics? Why can’t they be lauded for what they are?

Transportation to Store #2. How’d our only storewide sale of the year turn out? New store banner woes. Using and abusing Instagram. The new Signing Wall in River North. Phantom titles in Diamond’s system. It’s a great week for new books this coming week! DC got all of Dal’s letters and is making a Legion of Super-Heroes 5 Years Later omnibus!

There’s a new publisher in comics, full of familiar faces, and they have a whole new take on today's publishing market. References to AWA (Artists Writers Artisans) and TKO. Who’s up for a 5-issue Juggernaut series? We predict our sales numbers for the series. Y’all are flocking off of Batman (and Amazing Spider-Man). Is Dark Horse’s BANG! The next big speculator book? What about DC’s new character, Punchline? Thanks, ladies!

Recording star Poppy did NOT come to Bucktown today. The making of our 1979 man-on-the-street Sale video. January 2020 sales vs 2019. Ryan Browne signed at both stores this week! Please stop asking us for donations. The reality of River North. Consignment update. What are we going to do for Free Comic Book Day with 2 stores? Thanks, Patrons!

The first wave of McFarlane DC Multiverse figures are in, and we have thoughts! Ordering Marvel Legends for the rest of the year, with no real information. More frustration with our Point of Sale system. April 2020 DC and Marvel solicits. More $10 80th Anniversary specials! So many Empire crossovers! More X-Men titles! What would you rather buy, 6 X-Titles that ship twice-a-month? Or 12 X-Titles that ship once-a-month?

A 1-star Yelp review + Reddit + the UK website The Poke = quite the internet week for Challengers. One more round of identity theft, because having the last one back in October is just too long ago. Patrick is going to be on David Harper’s OFF PANEL podcast next week. Voice-over cameo by Jeanna Challenger!

When business is slow in Blue vs Red The second change to Blue’s layout in a month. How we work our Back Issues. The Local Artist section really needs to be re-sorted. Marvel’s Outlaw series announcements. And Empyre. Remember the Kree/Skrull War? A look back.

Thanks, Matthew Rosenberg!! NO subscriber complaints! We mean BY us, not ABOUT us. But we still complain about 1 customer interaction… Top 100 Comics sales notes. Top 100 Graphic Novels sales notes. Overall 2019 sales notes. Thanks, Patrons! Some events are coming up, including our one store-wide sale… and speaking of that particular sale’s T-Shirt… the artist is…

Retail sure is weird this time of year! Spending New Year’s Eve at Challengers (Red). Christmas makes us feel like we carry all the wrong things. Club members are responding positively to our tighter subscription enforcement. Diamond is not making it easy to give subscribers the information they need to keep their lists current. The really great 2 days of Christmas sales. Matthew Rosenberg wants to help us sell Hawkeye Freefall #1. 2 different color stores means 2 different color sale t-shirts. Dal has a strict rule about getting the different colors. Patrick liked Marvel’s “Incoming” special. What did Dal like this year in Comics?

Dal is very hungry. You can hear the tension between Dal and Patrick at the start of this episode.  Profanity warning for around the 21 minute mark. Theft! Things were stolen today. A chase ensued. There is no happy ending to this story. Sales just really don’t go up that much because of Christmas anymore. The process of buying presents, and the obligation therein. How easy this first month of the new location should have been, and the external reasons it isn’t. R.I.P. Steve Johansson and thank you for all the joy. Merry Christmas to you.

Commuting between the 2 stores is all new to us. We’re still learning our new routines. Potential changes to Blue’s layout, already. Changes to the way we enforce our subscription rules for 2020. No changes to the way the subscriptions work, but we’re no longer giving any slack. Plenty of computer issues with Diamond. Still. Almost insurmountable changes… we’ll see… How warped the market is for Marvel Comics, with a hat-tip to Brian Hibbs for doing all the research. This upcoming week of comics is H-U-G-E. It is impossible to give every comic coming out the attention it deserves.

Patrick was on the news talking about Chicago’s new bus lanes. “If you think like Patrick Brower, you’d be wrong!” Johnny Cadillac Marvel is NOT releasing too many comics…? What would it take for Image to be a tastemaker again? DC’s new iteration of the Suicide Squad is really good!! The new store has put Dal in performative mode. The distance of River North. I don’t remember what that means, but it was written down in the show notes, so I added it. And I also changed from third person narration to first. This is all over the place!!

The counters arrived!! We made it. We are now a chain! 2 stores! Hear about the final week of prep and the first day of sales. No Black Friday Sales this year. Batman is your friend, but only when no one else is listening. Challengers-exclusive Diamond problems for the week. 2 of ‘em! Industry-wide Diamond issue for the week. Protect that data!! Dark Knight The Golden Child vs China. Arrgh! Here there be (internet) pirates! Thanks, Patrons! We’ve added another 2-Store/1-Day creator signing! With… **** ******!

Recorded with a Q-Mic! Can you hear the difference? We say we’re not going to talk about Blue this week, but we totally talk about Blue this week. This was recorded on Dal’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Dal! We’re very excited for our Glow signing to happen because we’re fans of the creators. We’re MORE excited for our Glow signing to happen so all of the phone calls will stop. Denying yourself something until you feel you’re earned it, instead of living your life. Daniel Warren Johnson is the first creator signing at BOTH locations in the same day! Whereas Brian Crowley will be the first signing we host at Blue. Are the comics coming out the week of Christmas enough to make people want to make the trip in on a holiday week? Dal digs Image’s Olympia. It feels like less “Conversation” happens in Challengers pertaining to actual comic series. The theme of Tom King’s Batman, as succinctly summed up by Dal. Diamond has a lot of programs to help new stores/new locations, and Dal got to figure them all out! R.I.P. Tom

Recorded in Challengers River North! We’re actually pleased with our progress thus far. Less than 2 weeks until opening day! R.I.P. Tom Spurgeon. Orbital Comics in London has stopped carrying single issue new comics. There was a time when we considered that, too.

An update on the first week of prep for Blue. Boy, no Chicago news source cares about a new comic book shop. Subscriber emails vs. subscribers actually reading emails. The reactions for Dawn of X #1’s. Superman is coming out! Where should we advertise the opening of Blue? Are we having a Black Friday Sale (at Red) and if so, what’s on sale?