Contest Of Challengers

It’s next week’s episode of Contest of Challengers six days early! Another midnight release event? Um, pass. Koyama Press is ceasing publication in 2021, but Annie Koyama will still be an important patron of the comic book arts. Bongo Comics is also ceasing publication, in October. Watching new-to-comic-shops customers discover Challengers is pure joy. Comedian Jim Jefferies went to San Diego and filmed a piece about diversity… American white people don’t like being called “White people.” There’s yet another new comic-con in Chicago, ACE, in October. We announce a new Ryan Browne event here, first! For more information (or to maybe donate) about the Alzheimer’s 5K Patrick is participating in in September, go to http://rememberingfrances.com

Zach Lehner joins Patrick in a very echo-y room to talk all about his brand new Oni Press graphic novel “Junior Brave of the Apocalypse Book 2: Out of the Woods.” This conversation gets deeper than either of them expected as they dig way beneath the surface of comic book creation and the importance of Calvin and Hobbes. Also, they play amateur detectives and explore their abandoned surroundings. Zach is signing at Challengers all day on Wednesday, August 8th from 11am to 7pm (along with “Girls With Slingshots” creator Danielle Corsetto from 4pm -7pm, but she is not on this episode). Bonus! Dal pops in to talk briefly about the New Japan Pro Wrestling G1 Special!

Sneaky secret shoppers are apparently a thing. It’s the time of year where more mentally challenged people roam Chicago streets. The San Diego Comic-Con is happening as we record, so we’re going over a bunch of new comic news. Or, other news that has an impact on our business. Wizards of the Coast are raising prices on Magic the Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons product. IDW will be publishing all-ages comics featuring Marvel Comics characters. Apparently Marvel doesn’t know how to make comics for kids. Kelly Thompson is writing Jessica Jones. Gasp! We had NO idea! Donny Cates is overseeing the new Marvel Knights MK20 line. There are a ton of new Spider-related Marvel comics and Batman-related DC comics heading our way soon. Oh, that DC Universe “Titans” trailer… Just lots more announcements and what we think of them.

Whoops, that header is a mistake. It should read, “DIE!DIE!DIE! by Robert Kirkman. Darn typos. “That’s not what I would do if I put a gun to your head.” is an actual quote from this episode. Lots of FF #1 covers are coming out. We’re not ordering them. Marvel has several non-announcement teasers leading into San Diego. So many good comics came out this week! X-23 #1! Superman #1! She Could Fly #1! Amazing Spider-Man #1! Nancy Drew #2! New event announcements! Mike Norton “Lil’ Donnie” signing and Word Balloon recording! Batman Day 2018! MURDER FALCON! That title says it all. As predicted on this very podcast 2 years ago, a major publisher stealth-launched a brand new comic book series by big-name creators! But… did it work?

The “proper” way to display comic books on shelves. Daring to tell creators how to design covers. What a time for weddings. Kitty and Colossus. Mr. and Mrs. X. Garnet (Steven Universe). The Bat and The Cat. We talk all the weddings and there are SPOILERS. We’ll tell you when, so be ready (starting at 22:50).

This is the second episode #378 we recorded for you today. Technical difficulties caused us to lose a full 1-hour & 4-minute episode, and, professionals that we are, we immediately recorded another, completely different episode for you. It has a little bit of recap from what Dal calls “The Lost Episode” but aside from that it’s all new material. If Galactus was going to devour the Earth in one year’s time, and he will not be stopped, would you want to know? What comic creator would you want to be trapped on a desert island with? And plenty of other stuff, but I’m not doing a full breakdown because I’ve already lost too much time this week.

Two new waves of Marvel Legends figures have been selling very well. If you overlooked The Hard Place in its 6-issue run, the trade is out now and it’s worth a look. 3rd week in a row we talk about Game Stop-- they just keep giving us reason to! How video games are played vs. how comic books are consumed. DC Comics is selling original Tom King Superman and Brian Michael Bendis Batman comics exclusively in Wal Mart stores. How do you think we react to that?? DC’s Black Label books will not necessarily be in traditional comic book formats. We may hate to admit it, but stocking the DC “B” covers has been beneficial. Lots of Merchandise restock is on the way… posters, pins, buttons, single issue all-ages comics, as well as a NEW Challengers bookmark! We’re really happy with it (but we’re ALWAYS happy with them). The monthly ordering process is really disheartening for Patrick.

Wrestling mouthpiece Jimmy Hart is coming to Challengers this Saturday! This was almost the week that Patrick retired from comics retail. Nancy Drew and By Night are 2 new excellent comics that both started this week. Marvel resurrects both Iceman and the Unstoppable Wasp, both with their previous writers. Exactly what pushes each of our retail buttons. Oni’s “Quick and Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns” is a great resource in comic form! What does the (possibly) looming UPS strike mean for future comic deliveries? More on the Game Stop comic experiment. Ultimate Comics in North Carolina had all 3 stores robbed in the same night. Marvel is set to be producing 3 monthly Conan comics in 2019. Geoff Johns is out as CCO of DC Entertainment. Perhaps due to AT&T buying Warner Bros.? Tom King’s upcoming “Heroes in Crisis” mini-series looks completely amazing.

The new Divorce Gun album “The Waning Days of the World” is available now! iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon, Spotify, 7Digital, iHeartRadio, Napster, Tidal, Rdio, Deezer, Pandora, Shazam, and in-store at Challengers! Diane Nelson has stepped down from her role as President of DC Entertainment. Spider-Geddon seems way too soon to have yet another Spider-Crossover. Game Stop is going to start selling monthly comic books. Maybe. I mean, they haven’t officially announced it, but it’s a thing we talk about. Looking back at Steve Geppi’s Keynote Address from this year’s C2E2 Diamond Retailer Breakfast, was he trying to tell us something? And how would we survive if Diamond went away? As ever, we have a few new events to talk about, including asking your opinion on a Mike Norton event for the LIL’ DONNIE collection. DC is relaunching their Vertigo imprint. We’re so excited for it that almost don’t even mention it.

Comixology will be producing original, creator-owned comics on their digital platform. We talk about the Forbes article about it. We’re not opposed to in-store promotion of characters that have a current media presence. If you could only hear the sounds Patrick makes when reading the monthly Previews catalog for the first time each month. We got a sweet Eisner “For Your Consideration” package in the mail. It’s great when parents and kids engage with comics as a family. It’s not great when parents ignore their kids and let them run screaming around the store. Thanks, Patrons! Did you miss our Adventure Time Art Show? I mean, you probably did… FLAVOR from Image is real good! So is MAN OF STEEL. We ordered a bunch of different Action Comics #1000 covers (yay!) and Amazing Spider-Man #800 covers (not yay!). We’re probably not doing that again… We end with a random Divorce Gun song from the upcoming album “The Waning Days of the World.”

Obligatory Mach Kick (Transformers) reference! There may be one every week moving forward! An in-depth discussion about a new Yelp review, and the responses we chose not to send. When comic fans become comic creators, and the role comic shops play in them getting there (via Joe Field’s Twitter, @FlyCoJoe). We have a Kids Comics Workshop (with Gabi Mendez and Sheika Lugtu). Announcing the Challengers Correspondence Club, hosted by Letter Writers Alliance co-founder Donovan Challenger! Patrick really enjoys Image’s “Skyward” and Brian Michael Bendis’ “Man of Steel” #1 (out this week). Some of the current weekly titles aren’t doing as well as we were hoping. GDPR- the new European Union security rules! We’re sure you’ve gotten a ton of emails about this. Does it affect Challengers? Once again a store credit card got hacked. Is paying at the gas pump to blame?

Hyping up the Nerd Cred! This episode is an official Public Meeting. The new West Coast Avengers comic looks great! The Kessel Run vs the Kobiashi Maru (and I am not looking up the actual spelling of those). Some of the new Marvel #1’s look great. Some do not. Thundercats Roar is a thing. Thundercats + OK K.O.! + Adventure Time + Steven Universe. What Dal wants from the DC CW shows next season. The Dark Nights Metal soundtrack is still happening. Soundtracks to comics can be fun. You know, like Acid Washed. Mark Millar wants the first (and only) printing of The Magic Order #1 to be a collector’s item. At any rate that comic will look great. This is our last chance to pitch our SPECTACLE Release Party with Megan Rose Gedris. We close with Acid Washed performing “Acid Washed” from the ACID WASHED EP.

My Boyfriend is a Bear is out now and really fun!! Spectacle by Megan Rose Gedris is out in 2 weeks and we’re having a circus-themed release party for it! Free Comic Book Day 2018 is over, so of course we’re working on Free Comic Book Day 2019. Ideas come out organically in this very discussion. Contest of Challengers has a new logo… borrowed from a current DC comic. DC is starting to offer incentive variants and we’re not really on board with this plan. More and more people are wanting just the DC variant covers each week. We’ve had more people ask for this week’s Suicide Squad variant than we can sell of issues off the shelf. How does that even happen? Young Animal is ending in August. We’ve heard rumors of a few new DC titles and creative team changes. Bud Plant will no longer exhibit at San Diego, after 48 years. Random House is starting their own all-ages graphic novel imprint, and our friend Gina Gagliano is heading it! This is amazing news for the comics industry! John Barber is the new Editor-In-Chief

Free Comic Book Day 2018 is history! Hear our complete rundown of how the day went. Plus! The new BCW Comic Book Bin storage box. And, ONI’s My Boyfriend is a Bear!

Ever wonder just how the comics find their way onto our shelves and into your subscription box? This episode is an in-depth look at how Patrick and Dal spend their Tuesdays, from driving to the warehouse to putting books on the racks, and every step in-between. Plus, Kent Challenger introduces you to Tarbus the Tardigrade.

Probably the last time we’ll talk about Action Comics #1000. This time, how the Midnight Release went, and how it compares to previous midnight releases. It sure seems like Marvel wants a piece of DC’s Action cover success with all their upcoming Amazing Spider-Man #800 covers (with still more to -be-announced). Too bad they’re going about it in a way that doesn’t help build excitement. X-CLASSIFIED, written and drawn by CLASSIFIED starring CLASSIFIED sure isn’t the way to solicit a title. We really like Esad Ribic’s art, but not his cover to Fantastic Four #1. Lots of new customers in this week couldn’t find our New Releases. INFIDEL #2 is as good as #1, and THE DAMNED #9 is so good! As is BE PREPARED. Michael Kupperman has “All The Answers.” We think our Book Party book club revival is already coming to an end. Helping a colleague work thru his upcoming venture’s early issues as part of a brain trust. Genre-racking was as good of an idea as we hoped it would be.

Action Comics #1000 is out this Wednesday (at 12:01am). How many covers do you plan to buy? Are you ready for the Bendis era of Superman? Superman’s past 5 years have been kind of rocky… Nick Spencer and Ryan Ottley’s Amazing Spider-Man looks like it’s going to be great. Their Free Comic Book Day issue is a lot of fun, as is Jason Aaron’s Avengers. Don’t miss these new series. Also, Oni’s Shadow Roads and Transformers Unicron. Catching up on new comic announcements, such as the new creative team and cast for Astonishing X-Men and Joëlle Jones’ Catwoman ongoing. This week’s Domino #1 is wonderful, fun, and a solid book about female friendships. Planning a hypothetical signing on a holiday. Hypothetical. The most adorable bat-symbol we’ve ever seen.

It’s a busy week as we talk about the Diamond Retailer Summit, C2E2, a new BOOM! Studios retail initiative, two Richie Kotzen concerts, filming the “My Comic Shop Country” documentary and, of course, BaconFest Chicago. Strap in as this one is over 2 hours!

We proudly announce our creator line-up for this year’s Free Comic Book Day. What comic-themed gift can you get for someone that works in a comics shop? Protecting the privacy of our customers (from other customers). Challengers has been in business for 10 years! A brief history of how Challengers started and what it took to get the doors open for business. Our main takeaways from 10 years. Thank you for being part of our first decade!

It’s been a week. How have the new changes been received? As a consumer, do you want to be immediately help in a store or left alone? It’s time for new Challengers business cards! Coleen Doran gives a brief history of the direct market (via Twitter). Meltdown (a 25-year-old comics shop in L.A.) is closing their store. We don’t think it’s due to sales. May is going to be SO EXPENSIVE for shops AND fans. SO MANY COMICS!! Some new Marvel comics have match-to levels up to 350% of previous issues in order to get a sales break. Would we rather have free copies overshipped for a new title, or returnability of bought copies? Gene Luen Yang talks about teaching with comics.