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.

"Carny 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.

Minimizing Chances of Failure Wearing a coat in July. Seven Sagas vol 1’s. Patrick is working on the last Marvel Comics order from Diamond. Our (probable) switchover to Manage Comics looms ever closer. I’m sorry, but we’re out of Pokémon cards. Again. Still. The face of your disappointment. New Challengers Greeting Card, singular. Our new carpet installation has been pushed back by 1 week. Who makes money in Comics?

Spatial Considerations So many plans for updating the look of Challengers, but no time to implement them. Challengers needs a deep cleaning! As we get closer to the potential switch-over to Manage Comics, we’re finding more hardware we’ll need to upgrade. Still hoping to change our Penguin Random House payment terms before we start ordering Marvel single issues. As pop culture fans we sure buy a lot of pop culture stuff.

Parse That Data Comics as commodities. Manage Comics 2.0 is looking good for us. The last word on Challengers Blue. Finally… new carpet! And we can use your help moving all the shelves. Say 10 things nice to 1 thing negative.

Eternal racking questions. How many covers is too many (hint: more than 2). So many shipments from so many distributors. June sales totals (an overview). Water damage. Primordial #1 (by the Gideon Falls team). Don’t miss out on The Nice House on the Lake!

Yotsuba&! is returning! Calling back after we call you. The weirdness of no masks. Is it good or is it Spawn? Patrick really digs Vinyl from Image. Addressing the Warren Ellis in the room. Hoarding the new Hawkguy collection. The new Amazing Spider-Man writing team. A controversial new figure from DoomCo Designs and Crocodile Jackson. Introducing Felix Challenger.

This is a Dull Podcast Upcoming DC books—more hits than not! Prose writers writing comics. Updating our Gift Cards on the website(s). Marvel Legends prices are rising and may rise more. Have you heard about Phonation? 10 Chicago podcasts on vinyl! LOKI is a fun show. Nick Spencer is leaving Amazing Spider-Man. New work from Fiona Staples, but not new Saga work. Signings! Upcoming, new, and unannounced! Where to eat after visiting Challengers?

Space Ghettos Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow. How’d our Six Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton signing go? Hint: Awesome. Our new in-store mask policy. Asking for a Spider-Man collection is really asking for _______________? New week, same ComicSuite running errors. Still learning how to order thru Penguin Random House. The non-death of Bad Idea. W.E.B. of Spider-Man #1 was this week’s most annoying comic. A Yelp review from a year and a half ago resurfaces. Bonus! See if you can count the times Dal leaves the recording studio to take a phone call while Patrick fills.

Green Lantern after Geoff Johns volume 4. So many damages from our distribution partners. Problems with single issue comic backorders. EVERYTHING is in short supply right now (not just comics) and it’s making people go insane. The different mindset of the suburban comic shop. More advance PDF’s please! Dal really liked Made in Korea and Patrick is totally on board for Vinyl (from the team behind Plastic). How long will we keep wearing masks in-store?

Black Lives Matter What’s in Patrick’s pocket? Delaying the Batman/Fortinite reprints is annoying. New DC solicits (Batman the World). Signings are back at Challengers! Kyle Starks & Chris Schweizer, Michael Moreci, Tim Seeley, and Dave Scheidt, for starters. Maybe we’ll have plans for FCBD after all… Black Lives Matter. Thank you for all thinking so highly of us.

It’s a Linear Path Friday afternoon dranks. Bad artists can really make you stop reading a book. Losing John Paul Leon and David Anthony Kraft. We have current comic bags available again! Working with other comic shops. Or not. What became of our unsold Hank Howard copies? Low Marvel print runs on Disney+ properties. New Marvel sales terms from Diamond. Also from Diamond, new shipping fee structure. DisCovery.

A Frictionless Process Tech support working on ComicSuite all day Friday. Upcoming potential ComicSuite patch to make importing ALL publishers easier. Hachette’s (one of our new regular distributors) refund issue. DC Comics Final Order Cutoff is still 4 weeks out. Street date for new D&D hardcover! Comic bags from Chenxin. We seem to have mis-ordered some recent new DC titles in a big way. *UPDATE ON THE BETA RAY BILL INTERNATIONAL SALES BATTLE!!* More love for the upcoming 6 Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton! “What/Who makes us money” Marvel’s last minute variant cover artist switches. Who’s up for Ed Piskor’s Red Room #1 next week? Magic the Gathering allocations.

Okay to Work With, But Mouthy It’s a pseudo anniversary episode: 1 year since Patrick’s TMNT injury and 2 weeks since Patrick and Dal received their 2nd vaccinations. How Bad Idea’s Whalesville button when terribly wrong this week. All the effort it will take to sell $1 copies of Bad Idea’s Hank Howard for 8 hours. Danhausen is very nice, very evil, and on an Image cover. If only it were easier to answer Pullbox questions. Dal envisions a world where there are NO standing orders for subscribers, only special orders placed every month. Don’t blame Diamond for your mistakes. Venting on the podcast as opposed to venting in-store.  

What’s the worst weather for the shop to be open during? Free Comic Book Day is not this Saturday. The pandemic is still a thing… especially if you’re trying to order Comic Supplies or Manga. Why are DC Final Orders now 4 weeks out instead of 3? “Worthless books” and why we’re not a mail-order store. There are no Sacred Cows in Comics Retail. Where oh where can all this backstock go? Bookshelves too full to make fun. Net terms.

Contest of Challengers #530 Cry Wolf Putting the Biz in Ness. Man-Bat’s Nite Fort .0 The Beta Ray Bill #1 International Sales Battle is mired in controversy. Future ordering. New DC and Marvel series for July. Fun with balloons… and the police. Wolf.

Of course “infrastructural” is a word. And we ARE relating to the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, such as Challengers Comics + Conversation. Time Before Time, another upcoming Image title, is definitely worth your… time. Running a comic shop vs running a comic business. New non-Marvel Legends toys. Having Invincible collections is invaluable, as opposed to not being able to get any Falcon and Winter Soldier collections. Penguin Random House is out of stock on our entire order? Upcoming website changes, but we’re in no hurry. Window quotes, in more ways than one.

Benhur’s safe is safe! Phew! Seriously, masks are still required in-store!! Sheesh. 7 months of Andrew. Woosh! Changes in the X-Men titles this summer! Snikt! New Marvel Legends action figures just announced! Bam! Bad Idea pins… *Sigh* “I Don’t Know” is Unacceptable. Humph. Image’s The Good Asian is an excellent detective (Chinatown Noir) comic! Ka-ching!* *Okay, so I felt a little weird using “Ka-ching” as the sound effect after The Good Asian. I was going for the sound of a cash register to emphasize how much we expect this to sell. To be safe I googled “noise a cash register makes” and both ‘cha-ching’ and ka-ching’ came up at the top, so I went with it.

6 Weeks of Aggravation This week has been a solid week of sales. Is it Easter? Spring Break? Our windows really need some attention! Bad Idea strikes again! Shopify online payment options.

So, anything interesting happen in the comics industry this week? The majority of this episode is about, of course, Marvel Comics leaving Diamond Comic Distributors in favor of Penguin Random House. This Wednesday is our 13th Anniversary. Volumes Bookcafe is closing their shop in our neighborhood (for now). Square and Wyze, 2 services we use all day long, both had server issues today. The 6 Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton is this year’s best comic book series.

It’s So Byzantine This year’s Sale t-shirts are in, but what if we made a 2nd shirt each year? Free Comic Book Day is still happening in 2021, in August, but what are we doing for it? Gregg Schigiel has designed our new book mark! He also designs great masks here: https://www.teepublic.com/user/hatterentertainment It’s been 1 year since Chicago shut down for the start of the pandemic. How has the nature of business changed in that time? Applying for PPP financial assistance. Remembering Ed Mroz (The Mutiny) and Gerri Miller (Metal Edge magazine). Coffee Shop AU. New and Upcoming Comics we’ve read, including TIME BEFORE TIME, NIGHTWING, DETECTIVE COMICS, BATMAN SUPERMAN, HARLEY QUINN and JUSTICE LEAGUE.

We seem to have broken yet another audio receiver. And by “we” we’re blaming Kent. Some people find our Rogues Gallery prints fairly valuable. Protect the Eisner at all costs, Dal!! Diamond allocations and the Prisoner’s Dilemma. With 6 months to go, the landlord at Blue is now even more frustrating to deal with.

New AEW figure announcements and signings! WandaVision pulling out all the stops (we had not watched Episode 9 before this recording so there are no spoilers at all). Just knowing a landmine is there only helps you avoid that specific landmine. The Joker #1, and a look at the cultural impact of the Joker. Checking in with the first of DC’s post Infinite Frontier books (Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman). Now that Bad Idea’s ENIAC #1 is actually out, what does selling Bad Idea comics really look like? Also, Eniac #1 is really good. So good we can’t be angry at it. Before you email us asking if we have something in stock, you can always check for yourself at shop.challengerscomics.com!

All Star Comics fires shots from afar using someone VERY close to home. Keanu Reeves’ BRZRKR #1 arrives this week! Oh, USPS. Why do you only have 1 good mail carrier in our area? Everything new Bad Idea does makes it seem more about limited/collectability than about reading good comics. Stopping in at Chicago’s Vertical Gallery. A series of connected one shots vs. a mini-series. Too many themed cover options for one title! “Time Traveler” the movie. DC’s Infinite Frontier #0.

Pokemon Shining Fates was released today and… well, we carried all of it. For now… Rumors of a DC Comics buyout by rich fans. DC final order orders can be less final than we’d like. Buying comics for more than cover price. Bad Idea working with Diamond? New rules for publishers offering returnability thru Diamond. Todd McFarlane’s vision of the future of comics is… Image comics from the mind-1990’s.

Digging Our Own Grave DC is Digital First, Retailers Last. Affidavit Returns can be tricky when not everything is listed on your invoice. The books we wish were selling better. This year’s SALE was way more frustrating than ever before, with higher highs and lower lows. Plus, more procedures to pull it off with an online component. Ordering collecting supplies is more challenging than ever before. How you can use Final Order Cutoffs/Final Orders Due to your advantage! And also, New to Order!

Rip-Off Culture Friday customer interactions (no, we do not cut hair). Frozen water pipe BEFORE the Chicago Deep Freeze. It’s SALE TIME! The practice of music sampling (in a comics podcast??). Never attribute to Malice what you can attribute to Stupidity. Several new Bad Idea happenings this week alone! What will Marvel do about Immortal Hulk #43? Or really, HOW will they do it?

My Love for You is Like a Truck Just when you’ve got all of 2020’s taxes are sorted, 2019 rears its head again. Polite, thorough communications. Missing 1 Lunar box for next week’s DC books. The generous people of the internet. We will be carrying EVERY BRZRKR #1 cover. A new international sales battle! Good comics of your future, including: Fear Book, Orphan & 5 Beasts, Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters, and Silver Coin. Also, Nocterra.

On the Rocks. We join the recording in-conversation about the act of viewing Wandavision. We don’t talk about the show itself, but the art of trying to stay spoiler-free in today’s social internet age. Subjective not objective. The Bad Idea Preview Book dropped and it’s bringing out the worst in too many people. Our Bad Idea “Hero Trade” contest(s)! Possible monthly raffle drawings for some fun merch. New year; new accountant. Final orders for BOOM!’s BRZRKR (BERZERKER) #1. A year without in-store events.

Don’t Let Perfect be the Enemy of Good No, the Sale is NEXT month. Why do so many people need x2 copies of all the Future State books? Our new Instagram name. Tom Taylor is writing Batman? Santa must have gotten Patrick’s letters! Seriously, Kaijimax is SO SO SO GOOD. Previews Dal has read: Shadecraft, Orcs and Karmen. Slower sales in January. Shipping damages in the time of Covid-19. Sammy Hagar's Piece charity pizza.

Our yearly “I Love You But I’ve Chose Comics” sale is coming up and Anissa Espinosa designed this year’s shirt! The difficulty getting the Transformer “Scorponok” and other items. Week 1 of DC’s Future State is under way, so how are they doing? This week’s annoyance: Star Wars High Republic #1. Top Graphic Novel sales for 2020 (https://challengerscomics.com/index.php/announcements/item/2310-top-graphic-novel-sales-for-2020) Wrestle Kingdom 15 (at the very end).

Our Year, In Words.  It’s a look back at our 2020, in as chronological of an order as we can remember but seen thru the eyes of 2 people that have come out the other side with our business intact. So less of a “can you believe that??” look back and more of a “so that happened” reminiscence. There’s also a brief story about insurance, and the monthly Patreon thank yous. Also, just a tiny bit of wrestling talk, the tiniest of bits.

Spatial juxtaposition. Emotional dissonance. We’re Not Santa. It’s okay to ask us for help. We’re here to help you. Well, not HERE, but in the store. Mechanical engineering. Why we’ll never fully embrace Instagram. Comics of your future: ULTRAMEGA. FEAR CASE. Thoughts on WW84. #RIPBrodieLee

Post-Future (State) Current and future payment method protocol. More USPS shipping delays, you know, like everyone is facing. A week fraught with ComicSuite programming issues and the dedicated people who constantly try to improve its functionality. The Infinite Frontier of DC Comics’ future.