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

ALL THE COOKIES •Late deliveries. •Fun toys. •Special guests (in the store, not on this episode). •SDCC comic announcements (so far). •BOOM! Studios Kickstarters. •Other stuff, we promise. Contest of Challengers #595

SITUATIONS ARE FLUID •Friday’s (not at all heavy) rain causes more grief. •Another SQUARE outage. •We hope this podcast (as a whole, not just this episode) is informative yet also entertaining. •The recovery of Patrick’s comics… •More comics industry theft (but not at Challengers) •We’ll work with anyone if it’s good promotion for us. Contest of Challengers #594

YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE THE ENDING! •Another AT&T story! Who could have seen this coming? •Where has Dal been?!? •A shattered window and alarms going off in the middle of the night! •A JENNY FRISON signing with a violent outburst! •A Dal HUEL interlude. •An ending we never saw coming!!   Contest of Challengers #593

AN ORGANIC VALUE All these topics are discussed in this episode, BUT in a different order than they are listed here! Why? Because I wrote my notes BEFORE we recorded, because I am a G-D professional!! •Thief? •Great news for the creators of EIGHT BILLION GENIES! •June sales (-30 on Wednesday). •It’s two weeks after Patrick’s comics were stolen, and he has an update from the detective on the case. •Answering questions for David Harper. •Patrons! •(Many) New bookmarks! Contest of Challengers #592

OH YEAH, THAT’S A THING •Burritooooo! •The new DC and Marvel catalogs are (kind of) out, for product shipping in September. •License shifting between publishers. •It’s one week after Patrick’s comics being stolen.  •IDW Originals: Dark Spaces Wildfire #1. •Shifting special order item codes between ‘New to Order’ and Shipping make it almost impossible to get people their orders. •We’re so excited for you to finally get to read Chip Zdarsky’s PUBLIC DOMAIN. •Dal has very good things to say about the huge Marvel crossover A.X.E. Judgment Day #1. •”Hey dipshit, don’t be a dipshit.” Contest of Challengers #591

The meat of this episode is a harrowing tale of the worst thing that can happen to a lifetime comic book collector. And then, Patrick visited a trio of comic shops in Asheville, NC over the past weekend. Sadly, there were no T-Rex’s. Contest of Challengers #590

SOMEWHERE WITH A T-REX This one’s a mystery! Who’s on it? What do they talk about? WHO KNOWS?!? Okay, we know that it’s Dal and MJ, and they’re probably talking about store stuff and distributors and comics and what not. But actual specifics? Well, neither of them write these previews, and I haven’t listened to their episode, so let’s all be surprised together! Contest of Challengers #589

CR-APP-TACULAR •Not Free Shipping!! •The recipient files the claim. •Shopify app update chaos. •We’re not wearing masks anymore (for now). •Donating to Little Libraries. http://littlefreelibrary.org •Tim Seeley’s just-announced new Dark Horse comic THE ROADIE looks fun! •Adding to a ‘complete’ summer crossover checklist after-the-fact. •Working with Image for our exclusive cover wasn’t as straightforward as we’d have liked. Contest of Challengers #588

“I DON’T READ MY EMAILS!” •Trying to make our store as tech-forward as we can. •Don’t get mad at us for trying to help you. •Negative interactions can ruin your whole week. •Getting handmade thank you comics from kids can save your week. •Chicago Podcast Day. •Aftershock’s A CALCULATED MAN is a good read! Contest of Challengers #587 Header image photo by Ana Everling

“NAH; I DON’T WANT TO” •Our FINAL AT&T story (we hope), in 2 parts. •When prices rise with no added value. •Marvel Comics August solicitations. •Black Adam #1 is surprisingly good. •Patrick no longer wants to stock one-shots (he’s looking at YOU, Last Shadow Hawk). •Perry White! $5 for 7 new pages. •Updating security camera apps. •Way more PRH shipping damages. Contest of Challengers #586

“BIG-HEADED” •Chicago Podcast Day is next week! •No more sponsorship. •We’re big-headed now, we guess. •Free Comic Book Day wrap-up (with special guests)! •It’s May, so of course the shop is in the 80’s (degrees, not decade). •Metal bookmarks, anyone? •Buy our Exclusive covers (please)! Contest of Challengers #585

“AND” CONVERSATION, NOT “OR” •More problems with AT&T. This time with a 2nd account! •No, sorry, we’re still noy doing consignment. •What is this “Free Comics Book Day” all about? •Sometimes it’s hard to get people to pick up their free t-shirt. •Begging for reviews is a bad look. •Manage Comics updates—they’re all good! Contest of Challengers #584

I WILL THROW YOUR COMICS IN THE TRASH •A broken Bat Grappling gun •Thor Love and Thunder Marvel Legends are out now! •Fixed costs (I told you I’d keep it in).  •Comics for out-of-touch old men. •Cyclical sales (or was this what I was keeping in? I can’t remember) •Simon & Schuster billing fun. Seriously delinquent fun. •Dal really enjoys using Stocky to maintain Challenger’s graphic novel inventory. Contest of Challengers #583

WHO ARE THESE BOOKS FOR? •All Gwenpool, all the time! •Handling collected editions. •Why we collect what we collect. •Why are these comics being made and who are they for? •Why we find it difficult to stock variant covers. •We can’t order everything… •Oh, backorders. When will you fill? •Marvel Legends pricing is going up (again). OUR SPONSOR: MANSCAPED The Best in Men's Grooming https://www.manscaped.com/ Use the code CHALLENGERS at check-out for 20% off! National Art & Trade Tuition Opportunity (NATTO) Scholarship http://nattosoup.com/scholarship http://nattosoup.com/scholarshipkit Contest of Challengers #582

•Chipotle SHOULD sponsor us. •Manage Comics functionality we’re still hoping for. •Marvel in April. Not so many comics… •Remembering disbursement (that’s what my notes say). •Missing solicitation/press release information. •IDW’s 9 new originals. •A weird PRH delivery from this week. OUR SPONSOR: MANSCAPED The Best in Men's Grooming https://www.manscaped.com/ Use the code CHALLENGERS at check-out for 20% off! National Art & Trade Tuition Opportunity (NATTO) Scholarship http://nattosoup.com/scholarship http://nattosoup.com/scholarshipkit Contest of Challengers #581

DRAWN FROM COMICS •Stealth Marvel cancellations. •Thanks, Patrons! •Google sure seems to have their sites set on us! •Minor store changes. •The strange allure of POP Vinyl’s.  •Jon Bogdnaove sold some major art! •Bookscan numbers for 2021. •Raise your hand if your school held Scholastic Book Fairs! •We’ve got some great signings headed your way! We’ve also had some other great signings that did not go so well… •Dal suggests you check out BOOM!’s Grim #1 and Image’s Bone Orchard Mythos Passageway graphic novel. OUR SPONSOR: MANSCAPED The Best in Men's Grooming https://www.manscaped.com/ Use the code CHALLENGERS at check-out for 20% off! National Art & Trade Tuition Opportunity (NATTO) Scholarship nattosoup.com/scholarship nattosoup.com/scholarshipkit Contest of Challengers #580

FOURTEEN-TO-LIFE •We tuned 14 on the day this episode was recorded! •A week’s worth of AT&T problems (and no phone). •Follow-up to our FCBD layout. •Sometimes calling someone out on the podcast is a GOOD thing. •Toy Hunting in Kokomo, Indiana! •Comic Shop hunting, in the same city. •Sorry in advance, but it’s a Recorded-in-the-Car episode. •Shout out to MJ and Stella for handling all the in-store problems today (they’re not on this episode, but we just wanted to thank them, again). OUR SPONSOR: MANSCAPED The Best in Men's Grooming https://www.manscaped.com/ Use the code CHALLENGERS at check-out for 20% off! Contest of Challengers #579

FILTER THE SEARCH •Running a modern comic shop without internet. •Receiving product using only your phone. •Zestworld, the new Substack. •Checking In with a Challenger! •We have a sponsor! •Who would we want to advertise on Contest of Challengers? OUR SPONSOR: MANSCAPED The Best in Men's Grooming https://www.manscaped.com/ Use the code CHALLENGERS at check-out for 20% off! Contest of Challengers #578

DO A EXCLUSIVE COVER •DO A POWERBOMB! That’s one of the things we were hinting at last episode. •We have a Challengers Exclusive cover or 2 on the horizon. •Diving back into Store Events      BY THE HORNS signing March 30      WEST OF SUNDOWN signing April 6 •How to layout the shop for FCBD this year…  •Checking in with Stella! •Erroneous Google reviews. •The power went out! Yet business was not interrupted.  •Another PRH call. •Most of our Substacks are coming to Image Comics this summer. Contest of Challengers #577

ANYTHING BUT INNOVATIVE •Too much vague talk about thigs we just can’t tell you yet. •Patrick talked to/at 5 wrestlers today, for… reasons… •We’re really excited by one of favorite creator’s new comic project, to be announced next week. •Our Hero Initiative JLA/Avengers raffle is underway! •Patrick’s video call with PRH •Potential new shipping boxes (we like them). •Calling us “innovators” makes us uncomfortable.  •Checking in with Andrew. DONATIONS: • https://www.heroinitiative.org/ Contest of Challengers #576 

BUYING A SOLUTION •Rowing Home with Jordan North. Congratulations, Jordan!! •Where we’ve been donating this week (links below). •UPS (too) Early-morning delivery. •Why the crazy (online, not instore) demand for AVENGERS FOREVER #3? •New Releases are always a limit of 2 (unless you preorder). •Why a Hold Box can’t work with an online inventory (not subscriptions; a take-it-off-the-shelf hold). •A phone that never rings (if only!). •You say you want a(n) (AEW) Revolution… •Advance reads: Rogues #1 (again), Shadow War Alpha. •Last week’s Marvel graphic novels are still missing… •Thanks, Patrons! DONATIONS: • https://canvas-story.bbcrewind.co.uk/jordan/ • https://give.unrefugees.org/220224ukr_emer_d_4983/ • https://gmgunion.com/ Contest of Challengers #575

THE WORD “NONE” •ChallengersComics.com has changed! •Why you should read EIGHT BILLION GENIES, I HATE THIS PLACE and BATMAN (starting at #125). •Our JLA/Avengers plans IF we get any copies. •Paint drinker. •Goddammit, please stop stealing our action figures!!! •Checking in with Jeanna, the ‘while driving’ edition. •Our modified Tuesday night email. •Just how well did our “NEW PRINTING” signs work?  Contest of Challengers #574

F*CK THIS EPISODE •Patrick has been saving up his Shopify questions for Dal until this recording. •Subscribers ordering duplicate covers and we get stuck with their mistakes. •Shopify’s new Customer page layout is not good. •Our website will be changing this week! Maybe even by the time you read this! •We love our new Challengers portraits by Georgeo Brooks! •Too many shelf signs: 1st Issue/New Print/New Last Week/Recommended By •The new, very limited printing of JLA/Avengers from the Hero Initiative. •Marvel theme park attractions: Universal vs Disney. •F*ck This Place by Kyle Starks is already stirring up controversy. •Upcoming books you should look at: BATMAN KILLING TIME and ROGUES. •Current books we’re really digging: JOE HILL’S RAIN, DIRTBAG RAPTURE and WHAT’S THE FURTHEST PLACE FROM HERE. Contest of Challengers #573

•Friday customer interactions. •How’s the Sale going? •INVOICING! And why we hate it. •A Manage Comics feature Dal would literally give a tooth for. •In interesting Sales Tax find. •Advance previews! Radiant Red (again), World’s Finest and West of Sundown. •DC’s upcoming crossovers and why we cringe at the very idea of them. Contest of Challengers #572

SNOW PROTOCOL •Fun with Facsimile Editions. •Questionable Creators vs the Characters they create. •Snow Protocol!! •Santa Clauses •Creating new items in Shopify vs ComicSuite. •Some minor Manage Comics quirks for the week. •Thanks, Patrons! •Patrick has no idea what Star Wars Crimson Reign is about. •Issue #1 of the upcoming Batman Killing Time mini-series is real good! •Looking at all the Substack comics that dropped this week. Contest of Challengers #571

Contest of Challengers #570 FRUGAL + VICIOUS = FRICIOUS •Compendiums vs Trades, as more publishers are going for the larger collections. •The comic shop mainstay that is MAUS. •A brief interlude about Joe Lycett. •What non-superhero trades will we always keep in-stock? •Publishers, it’s okay to let properties die. •Dal’s amazing Shopify hack! •The ease of using Manage Comics as a consumer. •Hand-adding existing subscribers to a new/companion title is not a quick task.

TREADING WATER •The story of an Avengers Endgame Iron Man Pop Vinyl online order. •Local Pick-Up is NOT Free Shipping. •The attempted installation of fiberoptic internet. •Shopify is changing how we pay them. •The Herculean task of January Initial Orders. •SAGA is back!!!! •A look back to our retailing philosophy of 2012. •Dal has read PDF’s of the up coming Image titles: LITTLE MONSTERS, GHOST CAGE, STEP BY BLOODY STEP, and RADIANT RED.

LADDER UP! •We have a new ladder and Patrick is very excited for it. •Why one fan does not like the current Buffy comics. •Getting next week’s Marvel Comics on Friday rather than Monday. •How to ring up subscriber purchases when Manage Comics goes down. •Another Amazing Spider-Man #1 is coming. •DC disappoints with their limiting availability of fun covers. •At this point I kind of stopped taking notes, but there’s plenty more stuff. •We totally forgot we were going to talk about the 2021 best sellers. Whoops. •You can also catch Patrick on this week's OFF PANEL podcast with David Harper!

NOT MORE DIFFICULT; WORSE (this episode's title is not in reference to Manage Comics) •We’re in our new Studiotorium (TM & © 2022 Challengers Inc) •Checking in with Andrew •How to do an exchange in Shopify •Thor #20. Ha ha. •Thank you, Bad Idea, and no thank you. •Manage Comics from the User side. •How many subscribers didn’t come in at all in December? Next Week: The Best-Sellers of 2021!

WE DID NOT STEAL YOUR PHONE •I promise you; we did not steal your phone. •Which of next week’s books have we read? “We” being Dal, as Patrick is so far behind. •This was the week we switched to Manage Comics, so there’s LOTS of Manage Comics talk! •Immortal Hulk vol. 10 collection misprint. •This is a timeline, not ‘greater than’ symbols:      ComicSuite/RMS>RMH/Pullbox>Shopify/Octopus>Manage Comics/Stocky/Shopify •We’re really on board with Manage Comics and it’s better for all of us. •Thanks, Patrons! Next Week: The other half of Manage Comics! The user interface!

A “Good Problem” is Still a Problem •Early solicits for April that we can’t do anything with yet. •Comic news websites. •Too much talk about Doctor Who. •We still don’t “get” social media. •Looking ahead to 2022. •Holiday decorations after Christmas. •Manage Comics Is. •Movie talk! Sorry. But there are no spoilers. Thanks to Markisan Naso (“By The Horns”, “Voracious”) for this episode’s segment breaks.