Contest Of Challengers

The Time Dilation of C2E2 •Checking in with Jeanna! •C2E2 2021 •C2E2 Pandemic protocol •Consignment woes •What we bought at C2E2 •Checking in with Molly Jane

Finalizing Code •It’s a Blind Bag, uh, unbagging! And there’s an advent calendar! •The Manage Comics functionality we’re hoping for. •A NEW (recurring??) segment! •Letter carrier blues. •The good and bad and egregious packing of comic book shipments. •Product condition salability in the bookstore market. •Making sense of alternate vendor billing statements. •The surprise roadblock of PRH’s ‘first of the month’ invoicing. Treat yourself: https://youtu.be/gIxi9ZqOzAw Thank you so much Ashleigh & Drew for bringing Clydene in!!

Space is Flexible •It’s “Old Wound” Friday! •Rule #1 of Challengers was in FULL EFFECT lately. •It’s a MASSIVE week for both Marvel and DC and both of those deliveries arrived today. •Decorating for Christmas. •Reporting the full number of packing/shipping damages from PRH just isn’t worth it. •How we can keep the same amount of graphic novel shelf space with so many new graphic novels coming out every year. •The story of the 1-foot grid wall shelf. •CRIMSON CAGE is so good!!

•The evolution of Pullbox (a precursor to its impending death). •Creating items in Manage Comics. •It’s been a rough week for the comics industry but a VERY rough week for justice. •Putting in the FINAL order numbers for X Lives of Wolverine #1 BEFORE initial orders have been placed. Wait, what?? •Nightwing #87 is going to be amazing!! •The vocal 5%. •The Wolf Maria stopped by and signed some of her covers. •Holiday Hours are coming next week.

Ransomware No wrestling toys were bought during the recording of this episode. (That is a lie) •Invoicing inconstancies between the various comic publishers. •A ransomware attack on Diamond Comic Distributors and how it affected EVERYONE in comics retail. •The complete lack of 1st pressings of the What’s the Furthest Place From Here 7” vinyl editions. •Adding invoicing to our Hold policy. •Most new in-store signs are up! •Almost having a commercial shot in Challengers and having to close for 2 days for it. •We’re using the Marvel Unlimited app (90% for the “It’s Jeff” comic strip). Thanks again to Markisan Naso (“By The Horns”, “Voracious”) for this episode’s segment break.

“Gentrifiers!!” Not subscribing people to Soul Plumber. We do not want to hang your flyer. Prepare for new in-store signage! Giving our gaming section a facelift. The different types of comic book buyers. Upcoming Image releases. So very many annuals on DC’s Final Order Cutoff list this week. Thanks again to Markisan Naso (“By The Horns”, “Voracious”) for this episode’s segment breaks.

"A Basic Level of Competence" •Ordering comics for Local Comic Shop Day. •Marvel Legends restock. •Data conversion for Shopify from ComicSuite. •Tuesday’s massive delivery. •Patrick got to unpack a Penguin Random House Marvel shipment. •New books we’ve read: Radio Apocalypse #1 and Robins #1. •Generating excitement for what has yet to come out. Huge thanks to Markisan Naso (“By The Horns”, “Voracious”) for this episode’s segment breaks.

"Cary Pieces of $#!T" Adventures at FedEx Office. Some people who want to buy Pokemon cards are really great people. Others, however… Week 2 of not being allowed to sell certain Image titles. Some retailers give us all a bad rep. No 2nd Prints for Image Comics moving forward. 3 days between initial orders and final order cutoffs seems to defeat the purpose. Upcoming comics we like and/or really like or have read:      Dark Knights of Steel, DC Vs Vampires, Newburn, Regarding the Matter of Oswald’s Body, Catwoman Lonely City, Robin & Batman, Task Force Z Supply chain issues for Bad Idea. Zoop-ing the John Paul Leon “The Winter Men” Artist Edition. We’ve restocked ALL of Rachel Bard’s comics!!

"Thirsty For Them Robins" •Pokemon Celebrations allocations were so steep we didn’t even have a chance to order. •Ch-ch-ch-change… as in coins. •Social content and platforms that just aren’t for us. •New DC books for January. •An impromptu skip week for Image Comics. •ComicSuite seems to break more each week, and ordering DC books for December is currently a nightmare. •Manage Comics can’t come soon enough, and is, hopefully, getting better every week. •Week 2 of getting Marvel Comics from Penguin Random House.

"Don’t Make Us Choose Between Your Money and Satan" Wait… ARE we devil worshipers?? A full week of Molly Jane Challenger! And she did…? This store is for the young at heart. The first experience receiving Marvel Comics from Penguin Random House. It was…? Marvel has changed their Final Order Cutoff lead time. Getting Challengers to be what we hoped it could be. Working with artists for store projects is an amazing thing to get to do.

"Generally Managing" A brief, yet thorough, history of all past Challengers co-workers. After months of hints and clues, probably the 4th biggest announcement we could make… The futures of Challengers starts NOW! Thanks, Patrons! The performance aspect of selling comics to families.

"Multiples of the Normal Cost" Please wear your mask over your mouth AND nose. Patreon Free Comic Book Day questions (answered 1 month late). DC, Lunar AND FedEx all have the potential to upset our weekly DC receiving schedule. KickStarter survey woes. Diamond’s Retailer Best Practice Awards are back for 2021. Dal really like CRIMSON CAGE #1! Dal also read some other yet-to-be-released comics. IDW + PRH = acronym abundance!

"It’s Soul-Crushing" Playing with our new 1D, Bluetooth, cordless barcode scanner. The overallocation of both subscriptions and special orders in ComicSuite. Last episode we talked about having to do Final Order Cutoffs via Penguin Random House for the first time. This week we talk about actually having done them. Current Initial Order hurdles. Supply prices (bags) are going up AGAIN, as are Marvel Legends prices. Full days of work, at the store and not at the store. Trying to lessen the burden for the future.

"Weirder and More Stable" It’s the first week for Marvel Comics single issue Final Order Cutoffs thru Penguin Random House. Manage Comics’ most recent thought stream makes our excitement build, even if the release date is pushed back. Experimenting with Shopify’s point of sale system. Supplies and Funko Pops trade places in the shop.

"Please Choose Returnability" Still no DC data in ComicSuite means no one can subscribe to November’s DC books (UPDATE: DC books have been added to the system after we recorded). We’re kind of bad a promoting new comics and merchandise via social media. Cover I.D. I don't remember what this refers to, but it was in my notes so it's here. Have you heard about publishers printing multiple covers for the same comic?? Weird, right? Customer Service isn’t for everybody... Our new shirt Kickstarter campaign is in its last week! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/challengers/keep-reading-comics-t-shirt-designed-by-ali-cantarella

"Broken Links in the Supply Chain" The regular occurrence of graphic novels damaged in shipping. Patrick has been doing this for 31 years. Huge week for DC! So many stores did not get their new comics in time for Wednesday, AND DC is having to delay a lot of books for supply reasons. Ingram is on top of it all! 2 of our upcoming store signings have been cancelled (Dave Scheidt “Mayor Good Boy” and Allyson Lassiter “Star Beasts”). Trying to order Marvel graphic novels. Retailers industry wide are feeling the stress. We've still got a new shirt on Kickstarter right now! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/challengers/keep-reading-comics-t-shirt-designed-by-ali-cantarella

More Questions answered about Manage Comics. Store improvements this week: door leak guards, 2 new door thresholds, new carpet runners and 17 new window banners! Also new – Challengers Birthday card, I Love You But I’ve Chosen Comics enamel pin and the Patrick + Dal heads 2-pin set! Our Free Comic Book Day aftermath. Bad Idea’s latest disagreeable marketing decision. Substack! What is it? Which creators are using it? How will it impact comic shops? We've got a new shirt on Kickstarter right now! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/challengers/keep-reading-comics-t-shirt-designed-by-ali-cantarella

Carpet Diem Patrick is SO high strung right now. He can feel the cable starting to fray… Free Comic Book Day is NOW! Although it’ll be over by the time you hear this. Our last 7 days, in order. SO much stuff happened! The process of getting the carpet installed. Special thanks to: Kent Challenger Samantha Challenger, Vex and Steve Drew and Ashleigh Keith and Margie Tad And also… Felix Challenger Andrew Challenger Benhur Jackie Erik

"The Value Aspect" Introducing ‘new’ publisher MarvelPRH! A good idea from Diamond! Further adventures with Pullbox. What our subscription service is supposed to be vs what it’s turned into. “Curbside” vs “In-Store”. The pitfalls of celebrity signings. Our recommended offer to exchange. You should really add Ed Brubaker’s Friday HC to you want list. Our current stance on comic Kickstarters. There is no Challengers TikTok. People really want the “hot” Free Comic Book Day titles, but is it for the actual comic stories?

"Changing the Calculus" Masks are once again required in-store. Will these rising Covid numbers change Free Comic Book Day (Aug 14)? DC = Doesn’t Care Constantly having to apologize to subscribers for computer errors we can’t control is exhausting. Talking about it every week, even more so. Thanks, Patrons! The ever-changing due dates for Final Order Cutoff numbers. We’ve finalized our new mid-windows banner design.