Contest Of Challengers

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

•Welcome to the brand new Challengers Podcastitorium! •Diamond Replenishment shipments. •Reminiscing over ChallengeJR’s (ChallengeJuniors). •ALL AGAINST ALL #1 is really good! •Diamond Best Practice Awards. •January solicitations. •”What a shithole!” Contest of Challengers #609

THE CONVERSATIONALIST •It's an all Pizza-and-Beer episode! So, of course that means no Dal. •Hailey is back! https://instagram.com/chicomic_girl/  •Fancy, wooden comic book storage boxes! •Tattoos! •The ideal comic book shop! •Actual social media experts working with comic shops. https://romanyhouseboxes.com/  10% Off Promo Code: CHICOMICGIRL Kaye Publicity Retailer Rx: https://kayepublicity.com/retailers/ Contest of Challengers #608

BOOBIE-ROCKETS, AWAY! It’s a 3-man announce team this week as Patrick and Dal visit one of their all-time favorite comic creators (and human beings)!  WHO is it? WHAT do they talk about? WHY are they there? 1. You’ll find out a few minutes in. 2. Lots of stuff! Mazinger Z (or, as it was called in the US, Tranzor Z), baseball, NYCC, and a whole lot about their current, mega-successful, one of the year’s best, comic series! 3. Football, actually. 4. There was no fourth question. Contest of Challengers #607

MAIN COVER B •Plugged ears make recording an audio project so fun! •Just announced Batman Spawn covers. •Shopify missteps: Active vs Draft •Being ghosted by new Subscribers. •Curating in reverse. •An update about GIANT DAYS on Kickstarter. •Dan and Jason were the best! •Marketing to the Sidekicks crowd. Contest of Challengers #606

VIRTUE & VICE •Surprise! Now we’re BOTH sick! •Sep 2022 sales are down from both Aug 2022 and Sep 2021. Sigh. •HEART EYES #2 is excellent! •Why do 2nd issue sales fall so far from #1’s? Like, 80% far. •Getting our Holiday plans underway (we started weeks ago). •GIANT DAYS on Kickstarter. •The legend that is Carlos Pacheco. •Marvel Legends news from Hasbro Pulse. •Thanks, Patrons!  Contest of Challengers #605

NOTHING SPECIAL •Dal returns! Sorry? •Challengers is/has “nothing special.” •Dal visited Fantom Comics in DC! •Dark Horse is leaving Diamond! •DUCKS by Kate Beaton! •Batman Day 2022 is history. •Library wreaths. •MJ loves Batman/Spawn?? •More covers now than ever before!  Contest of Challengers #604

Patrick is joined by @chicomic_girl, Hailey Dezort! Hailey is a wonderfully excited comic fan who has an unparalleled enthusiasm and a penchant for sharing her comic book love via Instagram/YouTube/Livestreams/Podcasts. Her fandom is infectious, and this conversation only scratches the surface of her knowledge and dedication to this amazing artform we all love. After listening to Hailey talk about comics, you’ll love them even more. Plus, you know, Patrick is there, too. Follow Hailey: https://www.instagram.com/chicomic_girl/ https://linktr.ee/chicomicgirl Contest of Challengers #603

WIL MOSS Patrick is joined by Marvel Editor WIL MOSS! They talk about Wil becoming a comics fan, going to college in Chicago and his journey to comic book editing super-stardom! It’s a fun conversation with 2 people on different sides of the comic book industry united by the love of comics!! Comics are the best and Wil is/was Editor for some of THE BEST comics (Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, anyone?)!! Contest of Challengers #602

FULL CIRCLE •It’s AEW All Out weekend in Chicago, so we start with some rasslin’ talk. Sorry. Not a lot, though. •DC Comics are now available from a second distributor! •In this post-covid retail landscape, prices keep going up!      Including: Magic Cards, Backer Boards and POP Vinyls. •Ordering from Southern Hobby. •Fantastic Four Full Circle. •Thanks, Patrons!  Contest of Challengers #601

ADDITIVE TO THE PROCESS•The 4th Invincible Compendium! •Why DON’T we buy dirty coins and sports photos? •”I had to ask!” No, you did not. •New Marvel Legends packaging. •We do not ship storage boxes. •Recommending new series. •ALZ5K 2022. •Politics in-store. •How great is Rachel Bard?? •32 Years!! Contest of Challengers #600!!

TERRIBLE LONG-TERM STRATEGY •Tom Palmer R.I.P. •Visiting the Bill Sienkiewicz art exhibit in Libertyville. •New difficulties getting into our own store! •The November 2022 solicits are… plentiful… •Visiting 2 other comic shops. •The tragic end to our safety pin banner. •X-Terminators #1 = Fun! •Trying to keep up with new subscribers/subscriptions. Contest of Challengers #599

MANUFACTUTRED COLLECTIBLES •The audio quality of last episode. •This week’s Manage Comics Thoughtstream. •Hachette credit hold. •Tom Brevoort’s Substack is pretty fun. •99¢ BACK ISSUE SALE! •Freebies vs Collectibles.  Contest of Challengers #598

ACTIVATION! •Patrick, Dal and MJ talk about C2E2 in a car with shitty audio. It was a 20-minute conversation in which 10 minutes were completely unlistenable. We have GOT to turn off the phone Bluetooth before we record in the car. Sorry. Bad parts are edited out of the official release, but left in for the Patreon Raw Audio release. •The Art Institute lions have a dark history with Patrick’s feet. •Lunar Landing! •A “C” mask at Disney (thanks, Suzie!!). •The first in a series of IG videos for the new releases. •Whatnot, and how we don’t understand it. •Thanks, Patrons!

YA(wn) •SILVERLINE is out now! •We are years late in making a Young Adult section. •Manga is a Medium, not a Genre. Except, it is a Genre. •The eventual return of a Discount Graphic Novel section. •We wish we were better at promoting the comics we enjoy reading. All of them. •Manage Comics 2.0 functionality we’re looking forward to. •Next week is our Wes Craig singing, a Lunar Distribution seminar and C2E2! Contest of Challengers #596