Contest Of Challengers

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.

But, what? What is changing? Fine, we’ll tell you. We’re making some pretty big layout changes, while not moving any of the furniture. We’re about to turn 10 (but please don’t congratulate us until it happens)! We get pretty detailed as to how these changes were made, all the math behind the scenes. We voted early! We hope you’re going to vote, too (if you live somewhere where voting will occur). There are a few more new title announcements this week (yup, again), including a new round of DC/Hanna Barbera crossovers that look SO fun! Why is the new Laura Kinney (All-New Wolverine) comic called X-23?!? Patrick thought we’d briefly mention Toys-R-Us and then move on, but that turns into, like, 20 minutes on them. 2 new really good horror books this week, INFIDEL from Image (really moody and creepy and modern) and VAMPIRONICA from Archie (just fun, and gorgeous). Horror comics are the new black.

No, not YOU; someone else. But we’d do it if we could. Fridays, amirite?? We start off the episode with a quick reminder of how subscriptions work, because some people still don’t get it. You’re not an @$$hole for asking questions. The 2018 Sale shirts are in! Why don’t we order ALL our graphic novels from Diamond? Also, HOW we order our graphic novels from Diamond. More observations about selling C2E2 tickets. We think DC’s Black Label imprint will live up to its name. If Toys-R-Us stores all close, will we order toys differently? So many great #1 issues came out this week!!

Suddenly it feels like last week’s episode was a 2-parter. More new Marvel ‘Fresh Start’ title announcements. Several DC announcements from Emerald City Comic Con, including 4 Neil Gaiman-adjacent books and 2 new non DCU Brian Michael Bendis books. Why we do not relish selling C2E2 tickets in-store. February sales numbers are in. March event round-up.

We’re not in Portland. Or ARE we? It’s the Comics PRO Annual Meeting this weekend. Any news? Diamond Comics’ new PreviewsWorld Pullbox has a lot of people talking. Is it just an updated version of ComiXology’s old subscription service? Speaking of Previews, DC Comics is leaving Diamond’s Previews catalog and starting their own. The Image Expo was also this week, so here’s a quick rundown. Marvel is promoting A Fresh Start for their publishing line, but is it really a fresh start?

After years of thinking Challengers didn’t need a women-specific comic-themed meet-up, Samantha Challenger proves us so very wrong. The ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ of this type of event. The short-term and long-term goals of the night. Plans for the next meet-up. And, Samantha lists her current favorite Manga graphic novels, pro wrestlers and current comic series, and we completely missed the boat by not having her mention her favorite drag queens!

Patrick is worried about the snow affecting business during the yearly sale. Dal is not. DC Comics has to new younger reader graphic novel imprints. This episode has very little editing to show you what these conversations really sound like. We think there are too many Infinity Countdown-related books in Marvel’s immediate future. DC wisely doesn’t try to tie their current comics into their current movie properties. So many movie and TV show trailers were released this week. January sales were way down. Announcing a Writing Workshop with Michael Moreci! And an interview with Nakama Toys owner, Mary Warren!

Feeling ownership of the city you live and work in, and putting money back into that very community. Thanks, Patreon patrons! Dal wants us to do Patreon-exclusive episode. Big changes at Valiant this week. Some really big DC news out this week: DC Nation #0 and the new Action Comics and Superman plans. More weekly series are going to make ordering that much more challenging. The New Age of DC Heroes comics that are centered around the artists, all seem to be losing their artists. There is yet another Superman-less Superman TV show on the way. SO many February events!

Misconfigured microphone settings can’t keep us from talking to one of our favorite comics retailers, BRIAN HIBBS of Comix Experience in San Francisco! Brian’s been in the comics industry longer than we have, and his insight is invaluable. Looking at the state of the industry vs. the quality of today’s product. Comix Experience has an amazing graphic novel club. You will not believe what Brian’s favorite comic book is… let’s just say Dal was ecstatic.

You will not believe what came in Saturday’s mail. The 1990’s X-Men cartoon is responsible for getting so many people interested in comic books. Marvel putting out 4 new Wolverine-adjacent mini-series strikes us as a bad idea. DC’s Action Comics #1000 strikes us a s a good idea. Dan Slott is leaving Spider-Man for Iron Man, and Marvel signed Kelly Thompson to an exclusive contract. We like both of those ideas. Dal really wants a Jane Foster Thunderstrike book. Women’s Comics Night, Challengers Movie Night and Challengers Book Party are all on the schedule for February!

Well, we finally heard back from our landlord… We talk about what that means for the future and potential changes. The pros and cons of genre racking graphic novels. How we read or single issue comics. We’re not excited for the New Age of DC Heroes. We may be stocking *gasp* open order variant covers. Happy Birthday, Lucy Knisley! More community-oriented events are coming to Challengers.

Welcome new listeners! Are you ready for a serious look at 2017’s sales? We were down 6.8% from 2016 and we discuss the numbers, trends and percentages. We’re down over $21,000.00 in single-issue Marvel Comics sales. This became an international news story and got a lot of people talking. Too many, you might say. 94 Subscribers did NOT come in for their comics in December. We bought product from 113 different vendors/manufacturers/creators/distributors in 2017. We’re planning a lot more events outside of signings in 2018.

Those 6 days of Christmas sales were nice. Not as good as 2016, but still nice. We got some real nice 5-star reviews recently, and a head-scratching 1-star. Getting people to leave their homes for entertainment is hard to do. How do we get comic reviews to be as sales-boosting as game reviews? Patrick writes a comics commercial on the spot. Women’s Comics Month 2018 is shaping up to be great with 14 participants already scheduled. We have a great guest coming in for Free Comic Book Day in May, but we won’t tell you who just yet. Making sure subscribers don’t miss crossovers. It’s been over 4 weeks since we put Holiday cards in subscribers’ files. The number that have not been picked up seems to be high. What are we excited for in 2018? You should check out BOOM! Studios’ JUDAS #1.

This special mid-week bonus episode is an interview recorded in Challengers with Onrie Kompan and Dan Dougherty, creators of the new real life historical graphic novel MARX: A Tale of Neglect. It was recorded just before Christmas, so forgive a few Holiday well-wishes that are merely a week old. This graphic novel is the story of what Onrie’s grandfather went thru during World War II. Find out how it came about, how Dan got involved and what the whole book means to them both. And we talk about their other work in comics.

Christmas finally has a positive effect on sales, and it’s fun to go to work when people want to buy comics! There is a brand new reason we’re excited to stay in our current location (if we can). Marvel is stealth-cancelling a bunch of titles. Some Marvel Legacy titles we really like. Is Dan Slott leaving Amazing Spider-Man? Who can replace him? “Surviving Creativity” is a great podcast. We sure wish we could sell statues and more comic-themed merchandise. Customer requests at the Holidays.