Contest Of Challengers

The Challengers website has been streamlined. Comic shop employees make terrible Club Members. Macho Man Randy Savage died (sad). Our pal JVO wrote a book. I guess this episode description is just a string of sentences.  Also, that ‘peasant joke’ is actually about lepers and is from an MST3K Hercules movie. “The lepers are revolting!”  “I’ll say!”

Youth in Revolt! Party without books! Margaritas! Whose opinion do you really want? What makes a store event good? Are these even the right topics for this week’s episode? I can’t remember! I guess we’ll all find out together! Also, I completely forgot Dal’s episode title (it’s in there somewhere), so I had to pick something else.  Sorry, Dal.

Free Comic Book Day 2011 was amazing. And here we tell you why.

How do you know where to find the Graphic Novels you’re looking for at Challengers? Dal proposes a new racking system and he and Patrick debate its merits. It’s a question without a complete answer and it is beaten to death in a frank and open discussion. And the return of the completely random post-podcast segments!

Ha! I thought this was episode 13. We’ve had 2 ‘lost’ episodes in recent weeks, so my internal numbering is off. Anyway, this whole episode gets away from us and becomes darker than we planned. What started as a “we’re not complaining, but…” episode, turns into an hour of outright publisher bashing. But, man do I feel better!

It’s an all-podcast crossover episode with Contest of Challengers, Comics Slumber Party, Comic Geek Speak and Word Balloon all represented!  So let’s go back to Season 1 numbering as we talk to Becky Cloonan.

This episode is called “The Hammer” for reasons that were edited out. But the name stuck. What you DO get is a C2E2 wrap-up, reasons why Becky Cloonan is pretty f’n awesome and the promised listener mail answers! Buckle up; it’s a long one!

We don’t mean it to, but this episode is chock full of our C2E2 thoughts, set-up, plans and goals.  Not all at once, mind you, we spread it out for you. And Dal has some pretty great thoughts about the way digital comics should be made. See you at C2E2!

Like a new line of clothing on the runway, this week Patrick and Dal trot out a list of reasons why they do/don't do the things they do/don't do. Less industry wide/more of a Challengers-specific focus. And the answer to the Riddle of the Ages!

Oh man, this one has it all—and LESS! We go from having nothing to talk about to having TOO much to talk about in the span of an hour. We get mad at each other and tensions rise, but we work thru it because we are pros. PROS!  Here’s a brief rundown: MSU’s Comic & Visual Narrative class; the end of DC’s First Wave line leads into Dal’s ultimate super-hero publishing plans; Marvel’s ‘new’ direction for the Marvel Adventures line; more on Ted Adams' Keynote Address from the 2011 ComicsPRO Conference; our secret shopper grade, and less… because we lost our first 5 or so minutes, including Patrick’s first-ever attempt at a disclaimer.  Dal says it all (at 24 minutes and 9 seconds in), “God, this one’s gonna be a winner.”

This week on the ART OF WRESTLING podcast, host and pro-wrestling icon COLT CABANA talks about support for the show and the possibility of a live recording in the spring.  Elsewhere, Dal’s mind completely freezes and there is talk of Border’s effect on the current comic-buying climate. And... a bonus phone call from Jimmy P$ Hayes!

Man, are we on a roll! So much so that for the second time in 2011 we've had to increase our monthly podcast storage memory to accommodate our more-than-regular schedule! This one is a little shorter as we've already hit you with a Season 1 episode this week, but there's always a little something worth talking about in comics! Featuring Fear Itself vs. Flashpoint and a brief analysis on trying to sell 33 million convention tickets.

What? Season 1 numbering? What's going on?!? It's the return to the interview format (and thus Season 1 numbering) as Patrick happily welcomes Samantha LaFountain to Challengers! What gets a 9-year old girl from the wilds of rural New Jersey interested in comics? Where do you even get comics in rural New Jersey? These questions and many, many others are answered in our giggliest episode to date!

This week, the microphone faces Dal so Patrick is a mere echo! We had to wait a full day to post this, our 5th CoC in as many weeks, because we went over our monthly-allotted storage space w/ Libsyn, but it’s not our fault; comics never stand still, baby! Also, “insert show content here.” Ha! That was a joke! We actually talk about not having to like comics, but WANTING to, the Creators Front for Diversity in Comics, and why we don't stock variant covers anymore. 

Hey kids, remember a thing called the Comics Code Authority? Well, it's dead and we can't seem to care. This week we talk about rating systems for comics, Once A Week (a new internet resource of creator-owned comic information), isocahedral comics, and so very much more. Also, Lady Gaga and Savage Dragon! Um, not "Lady Gaga AND Savage Dragon." Lady Gaga and also Savage Dragon.

Cullen Bunn. Brian Hurtt. The Sixth Gun. A thourough and comprehensive discussion on art and art galleries.

We're back in less than a week--someone call Guinness!  The world of comic book publishing never slows down, and neither does the news that comes out of it.  This episode Patrick and W. Dal talk about the editorial hierarchy at Marvel; all of the worthy candidates for 2 ComicsPRO industry awards; the return of letter columns, and more.  There is also a tribute to Y&T bassist Phil Kennemore, dueling Michael Caine impressions and Verizon iPhone talk in a record 20 minutes of after-podcast talk.  Oh, you’ll know when you’ve listened too long.

New Season! New Format!  It's 2.0, baby, and in this pilot episode, Patrick and W. Dal talk about getting a breather on Wednesday mornings, the viability of all-ages material in the direct market, the Architects, red rage and so much more.  Welcome back to the podcast you only thought you missed.  We're here to prove otherwise!

This episode, the recording, editing and posting, was the most time-consuming experience I have had yet with Contest of Challengers.  So much so that this is a completely different version that the one I just spent an extra hour re-editing.  As a result, I have nothing else to say here.