Contest Of Challengers

LACK OF MOMENTUM •A Challengers business fact: If a comic sells very well for us, it is usually ignored by the mainstream. •John Allison is very smart. •The missing “A” cover of Invincible Iron Man #4. •Checking-in PRH replacement books. •Patrick is on Episode 825 of Car Con Carne (https://carconcarne.com/2023/03/14/challengers-comics-celebrates-15th-anniversary-at-club-lago-episode-825/) plus other interviews. •Manage Comics has 2 really great changes this week that make life easier! Thanks, Brian (and team!)! •Spay Illinois (https://www.spayillinois.org/) •There’s are the comics we are excited about from this episode: WHERE MONSTERS LIE #4, GREAT BRITISH BUMP-OFF #1, BATMAN ONE BAD DAY RA’S AL GHUL, HAIRBALL #1, NIGHTWING #105. Contest of Challengers #629

YOU’RE THE WORST PART OF COMIC COLLECTING •Really good comics: INDIGO CHILDREN; NO/ONE and (hopefully) PARASOCIAL. •All the Variant Covers for March 15th. Also, the last time we complain about variant covers on this podcast. •Chargeback BS from a Pumpkin-Headed D!p$#!t with no shame. •The Fables Wellness Chart. •The sewer pipe in our trash room is possessed. •Patrick in Publishers Weekly (and on Car Con Carne)! •RJ City has some new names for Dal (RJ City does not appear on this podcast)! Contest of Challengers #628

2 BUGS MAKE A RIGHT •Removing an item from the Shopify register during the payment phase. •Extra-large transactions cause large bugs. •Guns! •The X-23 Deadly Regenesis solicitation is a large paragraph of nothing. •2 Kickstarter campaigns of note (yes, we can be bought)! •Fast food apps. •Funko woes. •Upcoming books of note: Neighbors #1 (BOOM!), Indigo Children #1 (Image), Rock Gods of Memphis, Tennessee (Dark Horse). •Patrons! •Lonesome Hunters signed bookplates! Contest of Challengers #627

IN YOUR MIND CALENDARNo time for notes—we’re already late! Contest of Challengers #626

SOMEWHERE BTW SKEPTICAL & AMBIVALENT •”You look like you work in a comic shop!” •3 Shopify support tickets at one time. •What Shopify considers a “discount”. •”The trick was… sort of pedantic.” •UPS BS •Our website is now a webstore. •Sale aftermath. •Marvel releases for May 2023. •Challengers’ social media audit. Contest of Challengers #625

SCREAMING INTO THE DARK with TIM SEELEY • It's a full-on comic industry takedown with Tim Seeley! Join 2 grizzled comic industry veterans as they talk about the state of things today while remembering all the wonderful nonsense they’ve been a part of these past 21 years. •Why are we doing this if it benefits no one? •The death of experience. •Screaming into the dark. •Too early or too dumb. Colt Noble TV commercial: https://vimeo.com/8249958 LOCAL MAN #1 is out Febryary 22nd!! Contest of Challengers #624

WE’RE NOT GETTING IN YOUR WAY •A Mystery Project is coming together… •Working with Creators on store projects. •It’s SALE time!!!!!! •Manage Comics, ever improving. •Thanks, Patrons! •The WINGER Analogy. •Placing Final Orders during the Holidays causes problems in February. •Weekly comic book release schedules are horribly unbalanced. •Net Pricing is NOT Retail Pricing! •Lunar vs Diamond when it comes to Overages.  Contest of Challengers #623

HUMMUS YOUR TIME •When T-Shirts went mainstream. •Our self-made day-to-day accountant. •”All Ego” Ethan Page vs Karate Man. •The confusion behind the collected release of Wonder Woman Historia The Amazons. •Pre-Ordering thru our vendors. •We do not ship internationally. •Last-minute event changes. •PR companies wanting events at the shop that we don’t think will work for them. •Finding new artists (@jettilalewis) is always exciting! •TITANS by Tom Taylor and Nicola Scott is going to be huge for us!!  Contest of Challengers #622

ABDICATION OF VALUES •Would you want text messages from Challengers? How much contact is too much? •Finding a good Filtering/Sorting tool for our new website. •Building ‘Collections’ for the new site. •comiXology no more! It’s so weird to have been a store for the entirety of their digital comics platform. •Ordering DC Comics during the Dawn of DC. •The Great British Bump Off! •Prices for Bags and Boards are rising again. •There are still too many covers per issue per week. •Problems with this week’s Instagram video. •Buy EVERYTHING Kyle Starks creates!! •Stephanie Phillips will be signing on Wednesday, January 25th!! Contest of Challengers #621

PIG 8008 •Comics and Comics Retail is like a broken exercise bike. •Patrick was on Off Panel with David Harper! It was… dark…? •UPS deliveries, all day, every day! •Are you caught up with all your comics? •A ¢hange for $aga. •Why customers can’t pre-order ratio variants from Challengers. •Helping creators help retailers. Contest of Challengers #620

ISBN13+5 •New Challengers Website—Coming Soon! Like, after the Sale, soon.      •Commerce-focused      •Advanced filtering/searching! •How many Holiday cards did not get picked up in December? •Searching “Marvel TP” in inventory is like just searching for “a”. •Dal’s dream version of Manage Comics. •Aside from this one, Patrick recorded 2 other podcasts this week! That guy LOVES hearing himself talk!! Contest of Challengers #619

5/90/2/2/2 •Instagram videos vs Instagram reels. •2022, a full year without ComicSuite. •Entering 2023 WITH Manage Comics. •Thanks, Patrons! •Answering questions for a Sorbonne Nouvelle University student. •Mission Statement (which should have been at the start of this episode)! •What we’re looking forward to in the 1st quarter of 2023! •So many events already planned! Contest of Challengers #618

WEIRDO HEADWINDS •March solicitations from DC and Marvel. But mainly DC. •What the cold has done to the store and Patrick’s car. •Next week is HUGE, but not as huge as we originally thought… •Will Final Order Cutoffs ever get easier/quicker to do? •Fun with the shop printer. •Santa came to Challengers! •The aftershocks of Aftershock. •Rumiko Takahashi. •When promotions don’t land. Contest of Challengers #617

THE HAMMOCK GETS DEEPER •Holiday sales have yet to really be a thing. Thanks, crappy weather!! •IT TOOK LUKE is on a bunch of 2022 “Best Of” lists! •There’s no news at the end of the year. •Boxing up out Variant Covers. •Too much off-the-sales-floor overstock!! •Manga volume sales are hot or cold, rarely warm. •Taking the wheels off the Drama shelves. •”Christmas x3” by The Divorce Gun!! (You've been warned...) Contest of Challengers #616

IT’S NOT SLAPDASH •Address-ing the situation. •DC 1st Issue Special vs Marvel Premiere. •Dal has read Batman/Spawn for you! But not TO you. •Kyle Starks is on a roll! • AI art in place of human artist art. •Doctor Strange returns. •Starting over at #1. •Stella Challenger probably has more books on her Pull List than you do. Contest of Challengers #615

CARDED •A podcast by any other name… •The 2022 Challengers Holiday cards are in! •Clearing out lapsed subscription dividers. •The publishing imbalance of a 5-Wednesday month. •When Stocky reporting goes wrong. •Haphazard discounts with Shopify and the Manage Comics Order Helper Tile. •Dal’s 2 biggest retail holiday pet peeves. No, Patrick is not 1 of them. •Marvel’s Voices Family SNIKT! Contest of Challengers #614

OUT BY WEEK 1 •Recorded on Black Friday! •Decorating for Christmas. •Just what are Variant Covers (by Chip Zdarsky via his Substack). •Laying out the New Releases each week. •Eminem’s exclusive Spider-Man cover. •WHERE MONSTERS LIE by Kyle Starks and Piotr Kowalski is highly recommended! •Wait, did someone say KYLE STARKS?!? •Gift ideas from Challengers! Contest of Challengers #613

BEFORE THE DAWN •Too many Spawn variant covers. •The “DAWN of DC.” •Refunding website orders. •The Manage Comics Order Helper Tile is LIVE! •Initial order fun. •AMC (the channel) Comics. •Bad Egg Comics. •Ultimate Fallout #4 cover scam? Contest of Challengers #612

OH YES, COMICS •Our visit to the EXCELSIOR! Art Show opening! •Why it’s harder to recognize new subscribers. •James Acaster! What? This is a comic podcast and he’s a comic! •We just saw Black Panther Wakanda Forever and really liked it! •Why Shopify keeps pushing back the approval of the Manage Comics Order Helper Tile. •Dealing win non-subscriber special order requests. •Which graphic novels look to be this year’s best Holiday gifts? •Happy 10 ½ Anniversary to Aw Yeah Comics in beautiful downtown Skokie! Guest-starring store manager Joe Crohn!  *Art Baltazar is not on this podcast despite being in the episode photo* Contest of Challengers #611

WE HUNGER •Will Morris starts us off! Thanks, Will!! •Image has several upcoming books we are REALLY looking forward to. •Batman/Spawn is coming! It’s after Final Order Cutoff, but its Final Order Cutoff period was only 3 days. •Final Order Cutoff windows are getting longer AND shorter! •DC has just announced 10 DC/Spawn covers and half of them FOC this weekend! •Galactus hungers… Contest of Challengers #610