Contest Of Challengers

At the time of recording, Patrick and Dal have seen Thor Ragnarok a combined 5 times. This episode’s title has no actual bearing to the episode, but it is mentioned, so it counts, but “A piece of water” is just as accurate. Rian Hughes, our favorite logo designer, has a book of his logos coming out in April. Should we care about eBay exclusive Marvel Comics variant covers? More egregious nonsense that’s only negative, x3. We sidestep our own accountant to handle this year’s incorporation paperwork. Marvel Universe Live: Age of Heroes was SO FUN! And we DO wind up talking about Thor Ragnarok, a little.

What Chicagoland comic shop has been open the longest? Patrick really wants to read a history of Chicago comic book retail stores. Halloween Comicfest just happened and we don’t know if we promoted it correctly. We received a graphic novel this week that had no data in Diamond’s system, yet we had customers’ orders for it. This is the story of getting Diamond to help us with it. Some subscribers are really taking advantage of our subscription service. It’s perfectly fine if you don’t know the pop culture references we use to pitch books.  

Marvel’s movie-based collections don’t really work for us. That leads into talk about Thor: Ragnarok. The sharp drop-off of mini-series sales numbers. The saga of one man looking for the first issue of Aftershock’s Fu-Jitsu #1. $6,000.00 of dental work vs. one extra comic book. We’re now Facebook verified! Sean Dove has been added to our Halloween Comicfest event! The difficulties of explaining Dark Nights Metal to people 3 months into the event’s run. The New Age of DC Heroes vs. Challengers subscription pre-orders.

Patrick fixed an issue with the receiver (so you can hear the new FOZZY CD “Judas” on ALL 6 store speakers!!). Dal won’t watch “Mei and the Kitten Bus.” Comixology is ditching their Pull List functionality (more than a year after we already ditched it). We’re featured in the new book “Comic Shop: The Retail Mavericks Who Gave Us a New Geek Culture.” Subscriber copies vs. shelf copies on any given week. Patrick is interested in getting into the Revoltech line of Marvel figures. Halloween Comicfest is a-comin’! We held a surprise Friday the 13th 13% Off sale! Marty DeRosa helped us out with something we really need for an upcoming event. We go over category percentages between Jan-Sep 2016 vs 2017.

How far is too far from the blue line? Some comic retailers still cannot handle diversity in comics. The first 6 pages of Doomsday Clock are online and Dal likes it more than expected. A whole bunch of news from the New York Comic Con. A whole bunch.

Should we change our store hours? How a 1981 episode of WKRP in Cincinnati resonates with today’s comics industry. Why we don’t sell vintage books. Hugh Hefner vs. Dr. Seuss Measuring yesterday’s comics thru the lens of today. Marvel Legacy is finally here! Patrick went to the eye doctor. Upcoming Marvel Avengers and Venom crossovers. A letter from a fellow retailer. Why did we recently buy a used toilet bowl for Challengers? And a post-outro National Comic Book Day anecdote from Dal.

Who would win in a fight, Captain America or Spider-Man? We’ve read some more Legacy issues. Dal is upping our numbers. Man do we hate those PDF watermarks. Our inability to push new Image titles is disappointing. Why did anyone ever think the Internet was a good idea? Harley Quinn Day preview! Rick and Morty Art Show recap. When permission becomes secondary to want. Or, Our Rick and Morty Art Show vs. Emporium’s Upside-Down bar. Patrick gets lost in a BBC Radio 1 anecdote (but gets back to it at the very, very end).

We got another Secret Shopper report, and some new Google reviews. A brief football interlude as we check in on the Bears and the Chargers (sorry). Dal hosted our first Challengers Game Night! How did it go? Patrick got a lovely Challengers coaster in the mail. Looking ahead to the ‘new’ Marvel Legacy titles, as we’ve read a few of them so far. Fox News has a problem with Superman saving people from an automatic weapon-wielding killer. Dal liked Eugenic #1 (upcoming from BOOM!) a lot!! And Sean Gordon Murphy’s Batman: The White Knight. Dal is behind on the current X-Romances. Events! We always have events!

No Dal this week, so Patrick goes it alone. After 27 years in comic retailing, Patrick has made ALL his friends thru comics. All Star Comics in Melbourne, Australia is a swell show run by swell folks. Walking Dead #171 has a variant variant cover. Marvel Super Hero Adventures seems like a step backwards. Hurricanes are not good for the sustainability of the comics retail community. Comic Shops are not Sex Shops. Thank You notes for new customers.

It’s a Secret Empire post mortem, and then a look-ahead to Marvel Legacy. Dal wants to start hosting gaming nights. First up, Marvel Munchkin! Kirby Centennial and John Siuntres event recaps, and a brief look at all of September's events. There are a lot. Patrick (and Jon Drawdoer, Tim Seeley and Ryan Browne) talked to the mentors of Chicago HOPES for Kids to help them understand how to use comics in their mentoring of underprivileged kids. SPINNING is out now! Perfect for those just growing out of Raina’s books. August 2017 sales are up the tiniest bit over August 2016. Over 10 minutes of *bonus* Moviepass conversation.

This episode is so much fun! Patrick is joined by Toonhound Stuidos’ Cory Casoni and Scott “PvP” Kurtz to talk about TABLE TITANS, their wonderful podcast SURVIVING CREATIVITY (Patrick’s favorite podcast), the KickStarter for BINWHIN’S MINIONS, and so much more! This episode is the reason Challengers is now branching out into gaming.

Quick recap of our Return Policy (we do not accept returns). Dal’s not having a good week with super-hero comics, even though our Metal Midnight Release was fun. Patrick is tired of doing things that benefit other people/business but not Challengers. So many events are happening! Non-spoilery talk about The Defenders on Netflix. Speaking of Nextflix, they bought Millarworld and we talk about it. We want to be an Amazon portal. You know, if you can’t beat ‘em… We’re dipping our toes into gaming (more on that next week). Wizard Magazine is back?? The new Runaways comic is really fun!

Patrick, Kent and Cristina continue their Crisis on Infinite Earths discussion in the final of our Crisis episodes. Tim Drake means a lot to Cristina, as does Dick Grayson. What drew Cristina to Challengers in the first place? The hidden humor of Crisis. We wonder what Batman history is still canon? No Man’s Land? Cataclysm? Azbats? The DC Archives vs. the Disney Archives.

What starts as a discussion about the long-term repercussions of DC’s seminal work of universe-condensing, Crisis on Infinite Earths, quickly digresses into myriad other classic comic tomes, and even some theories about the brand new, and excellent, Mister Miracle! Dedicated (and immensely knowledgeable) DC reader Cristina McCrystal joins Patrick and Kent in a special 2-part episode! There’s a reason Cristina has an encyclopedic knowledge of DC characters. Was Supergirl the best among us?

Welcome to another episode of “Patrick’s Ax to Grind.” Dal filmed for Pointy (don’t worry; we explain what Pointy is). Patrick had another rough Friday thanks to Google inventory-checkers. Our new New Release TV is up (thanks, Jack!) Weird phone calls, comic shop Google reviews and a cute kid story. The huge signing that wasn’t to be. We’re doing a Midnight Release for DC’s Dark Nights Metal #1. You should maybe take a look at Elsewhere (Image) and Mech Cadet Yu (BOOM!). Yes, we talk about both of those again. Dal is digging Arkham Knight.

Challengers’ lease is up next year and we don’t know if we’ll be able to stay where we are. Donovan took a really annoying phone call today. Will 25% of shopping malls close in the next 5 years? Patrick wants Challengers to be an experience of wonder and excitement, and he doesn’t think it is. Kent gave us a 42” monitor that you’ll all be viewing soon. Dal tells a riveting story about Headmaster Arcee figures. We’ve just opened an Etsy store, which feels weird because we have a store store and we sell things online via our website, but, you know, if it works… We (still) LOVE The Damned. And Kaijumax! We really hope people come out and buy art at our Jack Kirby’s 100th Birthday Charity Celebration. You should take a look at Mech Cadet Yu #1 this week, and Hi-Fi Fight Club #1 in a few weeks. And Angelic #1 after that.

It's an interview with former comics retailer and current Direct Market Representative at BOOM! Studios, MORGAN PERRY! Comic book retailers are industry professionals. Getting into comics via Star Wars and sci-fi fandom. Eating, sleeping, and breathing comics. Morgan’s path in comics is really similar to Patrick’s own path. There's plenty more, but why read about it when you can listen!

Our state-of-the-fictional-arts recording studio is back online! An interview with (Dal pretending to be) RYAN BROWNE about the Curse Words Van Tour! REDLANDS from Image is a reeeeaaaallllyyy good book, and you should think about checking it out. Also, MOONSTRUCK. And a few others. Take a Detour withDetour.com/Challengers! There are storm clouds forming over the comics industry and they’re called Marvel Legacy. Boy, oh boy, this is a topic, for sure. And we dig in. Across the industry, June 2017 comic sales are down 21% from June 2016. Have faith.

This one is pretty unique! It’s a panel discussion on narrative and process with 4 very talented Chicago-based creators. Coco Picard (“The Chronicles of Fortune”) Jessica Campbell ("Hot or Not") Anya Davidson ("Band for Life") Marnie Galloway ("In the Sounds and Seas") Moderated by Neil Brideau (Radiator Comics) We wanted to do something to celebrate the release of “The Chronicles of Fortune” and this is what Coco decided upon. This took place in Challengers (Sidekicks, actually) and Patrick was there for it, he’s just not part of this recording. Nor is Dal. See? Unique.

Bonjour! Parlez-vous français? Why didn’t we call this CONTENT of Challengers?? This week we go international without leaving Chicago. We spent last weekend running the French Comics Association booth at the American Library Association 2017 Annual Conference at McCormick Place. This is the who, why and how of that conference. We got to interact with several wonderful international comics creators; Guy Delisle, Marguerite Abouet, Pénélope Bagieu, Jérémie Royer, and David Etien, as well as the FCA staff themselves. Yes, there were croissants (pronounced “kuhWAH-sawnts”).