Contest Of Challengers

It’s a Christmas episode! Just by the fact that it’s recorded in late December. Also, Santa has a cameo, and so does Stan Lee. Another long-running comic shop is calling it quits. Santa came to hang out and spread some Holiday Cheer this Wednesday, and he made a video to remind subscribers to pick up their comics. And then we decided to share it with other stores… Marvel’s Stan Lee tributes make selling those comics just a little bit harder. New Comic Releases for the next 2 weeks are kind of weird; the content and the actual shipping dates. An audio transcript of the ‘Email Primer’ we’re giving out to all subscribers in 2019. The Christmas Eve release of the newest Dogman graphic novel. #joinin And, unlike the Aquaman movie, this episode has a post-credits scene! (Aquaman has a MID-credits scene, but not a POST-credits scene)

Why, as a small, retail business, would you not offer gift cards? Once again, our Peoples Gas account was swiped by a condo resident in our building. The Record Store in Howell, NJ, is going out on their own terms. Oh, Border Town... (This segment is what this episode’s title refers to). “TKO does things a little differently than most publishers.” True, but that isn’t necessarily different GOOD.

I dunno, how do YOU swipe credit cards thru the card reader? An update to a prior subscriber story, and Patrick’s 2 favorite ways to overreact. Sending comics to prison. For inmates; not to punish the comics themselves. Our lateral back issue filing cabinets are now fully functional. The Avengers Endgame trailer is out and Patrick will not watch it. But Dal will. And did. The effect of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on Marvel Comics. There is going to be a 3rd Conan series, and he’ll be in Avengers No Road Home.

400 episodes of this? Damn. We “acquired” 2 new back issue cabinets. After days of work, they’re not what we expected. November was not a great sales month and it ended on a really bad week. Construction + snow = a less than $100 day (for the first time in many years). Patrick’s car need over $1900 of work done in November. Subscriber visits over the Holiday season and the GoFundMe for Cave Comics. Speaking if subscribers, it’s time to drop more of them out of our pull and hold service. The Mutiny, a Chicago icon dive bar, is closing after 30 years. The new Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic looks pretty good. Publisher output the week of Christmas is not that great this year.

Working Hard vs. Hardest Working This episode was recorded immediately following our 2018 Black Friday sale. We never seem to sell out of the stuff we want to get rid of. Getting burned when subscribers have books on hold for months that they never wanted. Reminding subscribers, in person, the value of our weekly emails. The detailed account of either a subscriber losing 2 comics or us making 5 mistakes 2 months in a row. How Monday pick-up was taken away from us. Are customer attitudes regional or national? One final Lumberjanes Day reminder. Christmas shopping as customers, not retailers.

Rest in Peace, Stan. Recorded live from the show floor of ChiTaG, the Chicago Toy and Game Fair, the worst we have ever done at a convention. This one almost broke us.

The level of engagement we feel defines Challengers. When trivial information becomes exceedingly useful. “+ Conversation” doesn’t apply to movie theories. Selling some 1978 Marshall Rogers Detective Comics for 99¢ we didn’t know we had. Store signage only works if people are willing to read signs. Or see them. Changes to our personal work schedules for the first time in years, and why. ChiTaG is one week away and we THINK we’re ready. Grant Morrison’s Green Lantern #1 came out this week. Lumberjanes Day is coming up! So is our Black Friday Sale and more events!

The Isola collection available in comic shops doesn’t have the prologue story that the Barnes & Noble edition has. Somehow we missed ordering 3 issues of Die! Die! Die! The 50 Most Favorite Comic Shops in the US (not the Best; the most Favorite). Sincere regards to Barry and Jayme of Southern Fried Comics as they’re choosing to close their shop. Patrick has 2 similar ideas for plastic and tote bag usage in the shop. We now have an actual comic book spinner rack of $1 comics. What if we really made a go of Halloween Comicfest in 2019? We have a new Lumberjanes Event coming on December 1st with multiple creators. The Mark Waid Legal Defense Fund.

Patrick talked to Aubrey Sitterson and Chris Moreno about The Comic Book Story of Professional Wrestling. And the recording turned out to be virtually unlistenable due to technological issues. So… Patrick recreates the conversation entirely in his voice, minus most of his actual dialog. Sound weird? It is! But it was too good of a conversation to not share. Now it’s a monologue! Bonus: the actual nigh-undecipherable interview is included. Sorry, Aubrey! Sorry, Chris! Curse you, Pamela (the program; not a person)! Including: The democratizing of opinion sharing; “Worth”, their previous graphic novel collaboration; pro wrestling, of course! Not mentioned: Aubrey and Patrick each wrote dialog for Mike Norton’s “Battlepug” and for the same characters!

Just like episode #177 from 4 years ago, Patrick is recovering from surgery so Dal has to work every day. That leads to asking if time away makes one like comics more or less than being at a store all the time? If we become millionaires (outside of comics retail, of course) would Challengers still exist? Trying to keep all-ages single issues in stock. So far there are 2 Christmas gift-worthy graphic novels for the season. There are so many Tillie Walden books available! 2 comics of note this week are Exorsisters #1 and Shuri #1. If you like Monstress, do you want more books like Monstress? Or just more Monstress? We held 3 events in the past week. Dal recaps his Ace Comic Con experience. Are you excited for DC’s new creative teams on some of their core characters? Is John Byrne coming back to the X-Men?

This episode does not contain an interview with Aubrey Sitterson and Chris Moreno from The Comic Book Story of Professional Wrestling, and we tell you the unfortunate reason why. Hopefully, the end of the continuing story of Challengers and our alarm company. Paperwork and bureaucracy! Ace Comic Con Chicago is happening. Great for celebrity photo ops! No so much for, you know, comics. Jook Joint #1 is pretty brutal, but certainly worth the read. It’s pretty ballsy of Marvel to pay tribute to Ghost Rider creator Gary Friedrich.

Good news-- we did not get broken into this week! So that's 1 week in a row! The continuing story of Challengers and our (for now) alarm company. Add that to our wonky A/C bent front door and we have 3 too many maintenance issues at the moment. More security measures will be put into place. The New York Comic Con was going on as we recorded this, so we talk about some of the announcements that had been made. And then… things take a slightly dark turn as we’re not really excited by the slate of announcements. And by ‘not really excited’ we mean pretty much straight up angry.

Dark Matter has a new retail coffee shop right across the street from Challengers. We got broken into and robbed… again. We loved Heroes in Crisis #1 and don’t understand people that are so anti-Tom King. Dal is looking forward to Gran Morrison’s Green Lantern. Patrick, not so much. More love for Man-Eaters #1, now that it’s actually on sale! Doctor Strange has been really good and just had a neat twist. Batman Damned is now quarterly and #1 is not being reprinted at this time. We hope that decision changes…

It’s almost time for our health insurance plans to be cancelled! If you complain that comics cost too much, maybe reevaluate your buying choices. What if a creator you love did something you have a serious moral objection to? And yes, there is a comic that shows Bruce Wayne’s penis. If you want it for that reason alone, just own up to it.

The new DC Universe streaming service started today. Did we subscribe? If we did, did it work? The full Batman Day 2018 rundown, and comparisons to past events. Also, looking to 2019 and Batman 80th Anniversary. Also, Patrick cannot count… or add. Batman Damned #1 comes out next week and it’s already sold out. Marvel stealth-cancelled the brand new Vision mini-series before we could even turn in our orders for #1. Something smells bad in comics retail… And maybe we do know what we’re doing after all.

From the sound of glass shattering you’d think “Stone Cold” Steve Austin was on his way to the ring, but NO! It’s a break-in at Challengers. And, unrelated, identity theft! It’s a great week for criminals at Challengers’ expense! And we do mean ‘expense.’ Hear how we deal with these types of highly disappointing, yet not wholly unexpected, occurrences. Plus, the aftermath of the Ryan Browne GHA hardcover release party.

Recorded mere moments before it’s posted, this episode is almost completely unedited. Time the pauses! Count the “ummm’s”! Do you want your receipt? No more signatures for chip card purchases? Paying it forward for younger readers? Probably not. Some DC news out of this weekend’s Fan Expo Toronto. A brief interview with “Ryan Browne.” Lots of new events!

Friday started with a Disaster Pizza (™ & ©). Maybe not comic news, but it happened IN a comic shop, so it counts. Patrick is suddenly very excited for Marvel’s 2019 Conan the Barbarian comic. …but… Patrick is also furious with Marvel for a variety of reasons. All of said reasons are discussed, don’t you worry. What’s going to happen in Batman #55? We honestly don’t know. Do you? Are current political comics cathartic or just too much of a reminder? West Coast Avengers #1 and Amazing Spider-Man #4 are examined.

When should we have Daniel Warren Johnson in to sign for MURDER FALCON #1? There are several new Image comics we’re excited about… MAN-EATERS, CEMETERY BEACH and MCMLXXV (1975). We’ve gotten to read them and are excited for them all, to differing extents. Also, Black Crown’s LODGER. Closing a second location vs. closing an original location. Is Marvel going to kill Honey Badger? Mike Norton and Ryan Browne will be at Challengers this upcoming week. You should be, too.

It’s the Gen Con Road Diaries, featuring a bunch of guest stars! 0:03:40 Brad Rooks from Oni Press. 1:05:39 Cory Casoni from Table Titans. 1:12:00 Gabo, artist of “Dead of Winter” and “The Life After.” 1:16:23 Kory Bing, creator of the webcomic Skin Deep. Plus, occasional check-ins from Patrick and Dal about their first time at “The Best Four Days in Gaming” and a rundown of the games they played after-hours (spoilers: Kyle Starks won almost everything and Patrick always came in dead last).