Recording star Poppy did NOT come to Bucktown today. The making of our 1979 man-on-the-street Sale video. January 2020 sales vs 2019. Ryan Browne signed at both stores this week! Please stop asking us for donations. The reality of River North. Consignment update. What are we going to do for Free Comic Book Day with 2 stores? Thanks, Patrons!

The first wave of McFarlane DC Multiverse figures are in, and we have thoughts! Ordering Marvel Legends for the rest of the year, with no real information. More frustration with our Point of Sale system. April 2020 DC and Marvel solicits. More $10 80th Anniversary specials! So many Empire crossovers! More X-Men titles! What would you rather buy, 6 X-Titles that ship twice-a-month? Or 12 X-Titles that ship once-a-month?

A 1-star Yelp review + Reddit + the UK website The Poke = quite the internet week for Challengers. One more round of identity theft, because having the last one back in October is just too long ago. Patrick is going to be on David Harper’s OFF PANEL podcast next week. Voice-over cameo by Jeanna Challenger!

When business is slow in Blue vs Red The second change to Blue’s layout in a month. How we work our Back Issues. The Local Artist section really needs to be re-sorted. Marvel’s Outlaw series announcements. And Empyre. Remember the Kree/Skrull War? A look back.

Thanks, Matthew Rosenberg!! NO subscriber complaints! We mean BY us, not ABOUT us. But we still complain about 1 customer interaction… Top 100 Comics sales notes. Top 100 Graphic Novels sales notes. Overall 2019 sales notes. Thanks, Patrons! Some events are coming up, including our one store-wide sale… and speaking of that particular sale’s T-Shirt… the artist is…

Retail sure is weird this time of year! Spending New Year’s Eve at Challengers (Red). Christmas makes us feel like we carry all the wrong things. Club members are responding positively to our tighter subscription enforcement. Diamond is not making it easy to give subscribers the information they need to keep their lists current. The really great 2 days of Christmas sales. Matthew Rosenberg wants to help us sell Hawkeye Freefall #1. 2 different color stores means 2 different color sale t-shirts. Dal has a strict rule about getting the different colors. Patrick liked Marvel’s “Incoming” special. What did Dal like this year in Comics?

Dal is very hungry. You can hear the tension between Dal and Patrick at the start of this episode.  Profanity warning for around the 21 minute mark. Theft! Things were stolen today. A chase ensued. There is no happy ending to this story. Sales just really don’t go up that much because of Christmas anymore. The process of buying presents, and the obligation therein. How easy this first month of the new location should have been, and the external reasons it isn’t. R.I.P. Steve Johansson and thank you for all the joy. Merry Christmas to you.

Commuting between the 2 stores is all new to us. We’re still learning our new routines. Potential changes to Blue’s layout, already. Changes to the way we enforce our subscription rules for 2020. No changes to the way the subscriptions work, but we’re no longer giving any slack. Plenty of computer issues with Diamond. Still. Almost insurmountable changes… we’ll see… How warped the market is for Marvel Comics, with a hat-tip to Brian Hibbs for doing all the research. This upcoming week of comics is H-U-G-E. It is impossible to give every comic coming out the attention it deserves.

Patrick was on the news talking about Chicago’s new bus lanes. “If you think like Patrick Brower, you’d be wrong!” Johnny Cadillac Marvel is NOT releasing too many comics…? What would it take for Image to be a tastemaker again? DC’s new iteration of the Suicide Squad is really good!! The new store has put Dal in performative mode. The distance of River North. I don’t remember what that means, but it was written down in the show notes, so I added it. And I also changed from third person narration to first. This is all over the place!!

The counters arrived!! We made it. We are now a chain! 2 stores! Hear about the final week of prep and the first day of sales. No Black Friday Sales this year. Batman is your friend, but only when no one else is listening. Challengers-exclusive Diamond problems for the week. 2 of ‘em! Industry-wide Diamond issue for the week. Protect that data!! Dark Knight The Golden Child vs China. Arrgh! Here there be (internet) pirates! Thanks, Patrons! We’ve added another 2-Store/1-Day creator signing! With… **** ******!

Recorded with a Q-Mic! Can you hear the difference? We say we’re not going to talk about Blue this week, but we totally talk about Blue this week. This was recorded on Dal’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Dal! We’re very excited for our Glow signing to happen because we’re fans of the creators. We’re MORE excited for our Glow signing to happen so all of the phone calls will stop. Denying yourself something until you feel you’re earned it, instead of living your life. Daniel Warren Johnson is the first creator signing at BOTH locations in the same day! Whereas Brian Crowley will be the first signing we host at Blue. Are the comics coming out the week of Christmas enough to make people want to make the trip in on a holiday week? Dal digs Image’s Olympia. It feels like less “Conversation” happens in Challengers pertaining to actual comic series. The theme of Tom King’s Batman, as succinctly summed up by Dal. Diamond has a lot of programs to help new stores/new locations, and Dal got to figure them all out! R.I.P. Tom Lyle.

Recorded in Challengers River North! We’re actually pleased with our progress thus far. Less than 2 weeks until opening day! R.I.P. Tom Spurgeon. Orbital Comics in London has stopped carrying single issue new comics. There was a time when we considered that, too.

An update on the first week of prep for Blue. Boy, no Chicago news source cares about a new comic book shop. Subscriber emails vs. subscribers actually reading emails. The reactions for Dawn of X #1’s. Superman is coming out! Where should we advertise the opening of Blue? Are we having a Black Friday Sale (at Red) and if so, what’s on sale?

This is the 2nd biggest announcement we could possibly have. This is huge. This is Blue.

Does Dal always believe in Patrick? A few in-store customer anecdotes. Do people use the New Release monitor we have mounted over the New Releases? Patrick went to DoomCo Designs “Survive” art show opening reception. TV on in the store vs music. And that transitions into a discussion about the disappearance of previous media formats. When looking for an exact specific thing that a stores doesn’t have, do you buy a different thing instead? Interesting customer requests today. Marvel’s Jan 2020 output vs DC’s (thanks to Ryan Higgins of Comics Conspiracy for crunching the numbers). New Year’s Day’s new comics, and maybe a Midnight release…? You know Patrick and Dal, but do you know Pat and Will? Do not miss next week’s episode…

Do you have Faith? Are you watching Stumptown? We like it. The X-Men #1 Midnight Release was a fun success. That leads us to remember the fandom that once saw us go to midnight events outside of the comics industry. More people are adding all 6 Dawn of X titles, but will they STAY on them? DC Comics January 2020 new announcements. Kevin Feige is the new Chief Creative Officer (or Ossifer) of all Marvel. Movies AND Publishing. Is it a paradigm shift?? We, and the comics industry as a whole, owe Jeff Smith a huge thank you. Netflix making a Bone show is a good start. Chicago Teachers Union—we support you!! We went to West Town Academy to help a TV Production class. Tickets for our AJ Mendez/Aimee Garcia signing are available here: http://tinyurl.com/glowsigning Kent Fremon has a vinyl toy art show at Galerie F on Friday, October 25! More info here: https://www.facebook.com/events/546222529466484/

The Batman’s Grave #1 is good. Doctor Doom #1 is also good! X-Men #1 is out next week (at midnight) but what are the other Dawn of X books going to be about? We don’t know. Luke Healy is coming to teach a fun cartooning workshop at Challengers! We have a date for our AJ Lee & Aimee Garcia GLOW vs The Babyface signing! And a time! What is DC Comics’ 5G? Fifth Generation? Marvel uses the ghost of Stan Lee to take shots at comic book continuity. Marvel took a ton of flack for Sam Wilson Captain America, Riri Williams Iron Man (Heart), etc., won’t DC encounter the same? Who replaces whom? We’re excited for Legion of Super-Hero flight rings! But not excited to explain who the Batman Who Laughs is. This week’s Amazing Spider-Man has checklists for both Absolute Carnage and 2099. How many Spider-Events can happen at the same time? Or just events, plural from one publisher?

How was business on this first Friday in October? Let’s say B+. Local Comic Shop Day returns this November, and while we took 2018 off, we’re back at it… for one amazing reason. Mack-eh-WITZ? Thanks, Patrons! A whole bunch of new comics for 2020, as announced at the New York Comic Con! That’s literally half the episode, but there are some pretty big announcements in here! And, some clunkers!! Bonus Saturday evening postscript!

Patrick is an old and more-broken-than-before man. But he breaks for you. Raina’s GUTS is the best-selling BOOK in the country. Graphic Novels are dead—all hail Graphic Books!! Graphic Books return to the New York Times best-seller lists! Huzzah! Diamond Comic Distributors restructures. How Patrick’s love for BBC Radio 1 got Challengers a new customer. Too many new comic publishers releasing too many new books. Why can’t Challengers find success with the new Chris Ware RUSTY BROWN book? Please vote for Challengers for Best Comics Shop in the Chicago Reader Best of 2019 Survey! http://chicagoreader.com/vote in the ‘Buy Local’ section. The new Batman creative team!

DC is making a Svengoolie/MeTV promo comic. How can we get a store signing for that? Thank you for all the ALZ5K donations! Patrick survived. Some titles just shouldn’t ship in the same week as other. A follow-up on last week’s discussion on damaged comics. The ridiculous math that is Diamond Comic Distributors’ shipping fees. Seriously, we throw out some actual numbers—see if you can follow along. We can’t. A disconnect between the WWE Network and iTunes subscriptions. We wrote a few pages in a new comics retail guide, “Selling Comics.” It’s like people think we know what we’re doing, or something. Gustavo Duarte is coming back to Challengers, all the way from Brazil!! What does Dal really think of the JJ Abrams “Spider-Man” #1?

Why isn’t every new comic on the racks in 10.0/Mint condition? The closing of ComiXology digital storefronts. What’s been as good for retailers as House of X? Sales ALWAYS slow down in September. Why can’t DC get readers interested in a line-wide Event? Year of the Villain just isn’t cutting it. When should a publisher start over at #1? More Transformer Card Game events are heading our way!

It's an extra episode of Contest of Challengers for the week! We start mid-pitch as Eliot is explaining the premise of his new Aftershock comic series Midnight Vista to a prospective buyer on the Challengers’ sales floor. The other voices on this episode are Customer Brian K. and Eliot’s friend (and birthday boy) Mike. There are other ambient voices in the background as this was recorded on a Saturday afternoon. The background music gets turned down 8 minutes in (sorry Fozzy). This is a very personal story for Eliot and after listening to it you’ll most certainly want to read MIDNIGHT VISTA!

We just had a Battlepug cookout! Where were YOU?? You can make it up to us on Batman Day. Local Saturdays. Our thoughts on the upcoming DC 100-Page Giants. Publishers talking honestly to retailers. The 80/20/5 Rule. Sales expectations for the Dawn of X titles.

Why don’t we do more store videos? We can always do more promoting. Of new comics, of events, everything. Road construction in front of the shop is always fun! What are Doom Code Signs? I may have gotten that name wrong... Making vinyl toys from comic books. Spider-Man Life Story may be THE graphic novel for the gift-giving season. A consistent set of ongoing titles that bring new readers in to stores. Thank you for all the 29th Anniversary congratulations! No gatekeeping!! Equating popular comics to popular music. The spiritual sequel to Watchmen.

D23 is happening right now! What does “D23” stand for, anyway? We don’t know. Have you seen Marvel’s solicits for November? They get bigger every month (as Patrick gets angrier). 2nd, 3rd and even 4th prints being offered before the 1st print comes out. Can Spider-Man #1 sell more than House of X #1? We sure don’t think so. What made everyone (read: speculators) want Batman #77 and Powers of X #3 this week? The difference between the content in a Marvel graphic novel rated “Teen +” vs a Marvel graphic novel rated for a 10-year old is… nothing. A Glow signing? Maybe.

Former Pittsburgh Steelers QB Landry Jones joins the XFL! Wait—that doesn’t belong here… Caroline Cash (Girl in the World) just signed at Challengers! She was a delight and we sold books! But… Trade-waiting! Is it by subscribers or non-subscribers? The current trend of comic shops making videos. Destroying this week’s copies of Superman #14 (even though Patrick routinely says #13 in the episode) and Supergirl #33 (that one he gets right). Okay, look, I did a crappy job of taking notes for this episode, I admit, so there’s way more on this podcast than noted here. We got a brief mention on Cartoonist Kayfabe!

Patrick is a broken old man. We so desperately want new carpet! And window blinds! Making the consumer pay the credit card processing fee. Paying for “convenience.” #10 in Sri Lanka, bay-bee! AWA announced the first book in their new superhero shared universe. Referencing Brian Hibbs’ latest ‘Tilting at Windmills’ column (on ComicsBeat.com) about stores buying their graphic novels from more than just Diamond. When a major publisher doesn’t support the biggest release they’d had in years. Or, why we’re sold out of House of X #2 already. We got a brief mention on NPR's See, Hear, Eat!

Remember Superman Unchained? Dal doesn’t. Keepin’ them back issues in order! When books disappear from your mindset (i.e. Morning Glories). Thanks, Patrons! What are the best Event Books, in enjoyment and in money earned? Surge pricing and the people that merit it. Happy 10th Anniversary, CoC!

We’ve got a (potentially) big event happening tomorrow and neither of us know what to expect. It’s a surprise drop of the comic book tie-in to Dreamville and J Cole’s “Revenge of the Dreamers III”. We tell you how this came about and what we’re expecting for the day. And if you don’t know Dreamville or J. Cole, it’s okay; we didn’t, either. House of X #1 was released this week! It’s exactly what we wanted it to be and doing what we wanted it to do! But… will the next 6 books in the “Dawn of X” era do the same? Patrick got a new toy and you get to hear it. Listener question about story arcs vs stand-alone mini-series. Brian Michael Bendis was on the Late Late Show with Seth Meyers. Caroline Cash is coming to Challengers! And also some guy names Nike Morton. Or something. We may not be sure of his name but we know he sure likes pugs. Apple is changing the classifications for several podcast categories, including ours! And… and UPDATE to the Dreamville event! Okay, you know what? Shove it up your arse.

Want vs need. Rewarding you for sharing in our ecosystem. Captain Marvel #8 is what the swarm went for this week. Customer databases. Information integrated into your life. Top-selling books for the nation vs @ Challengers (Black Cat vs. Dceased). How many young reader imprints can the market bear? The first of the Comic-Con International San Diego publishing announcements.

We start with several new comic series announcements—it must be time for Comic-Con! A serious question about second prints. With all the demand over the Walking Dead #193, we missed out on TMNT #95. Additional June sales commentary. Which comics sold better after a TV adaptation? 39 questions from an interviewer that we do not want to type out.

How can we make this podcast better? Puppies. Walking Dead #193 came out the day of recording, and it reminds us of everything we hate about comics retail. Oh, we have a LOT to say about this. Wanting to engage with the product is a huge part of what we do. June sales numbers. Why did June suck? It’s a deep dive into the differences between June 2019 and June 2018, and what that means for us. It’s basically a 2-topic episode, but both of those topics get a lot of bandwidth. Come meet Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo on Friday, June 12th! Thanks, Patrons!

Why was last episode a day late? Genre-racking graphic novels, one year later. The polarizing business strategy of Colorado’s Mile High Comics. The future DC Comics rebranding and a brief look back at all their previous imprints. Comics growing with you as you age. War of the Realms and the current state of Marvel’s Event books. How to summarize your comic book. Contest of Challengers Bingo continues! https://bingobaker.com/play/2017273

The marketing genius of Taylor Swift. J.J. Abrams’ Spider-Man. 37,000 photo views? No, X-Men Grand Design X-Tinction #2 did NOT come out this week. Getting an 8th-grader to work for school credit. Marvel Comics #1000+1 Superman Year One Really fun Teen Titans Raven signing announcement. Contest of Challengers Bingo continues! https://bingobaker.com/play/2017273

Mistaken identity! Thanks, Patrons! Making money vs. making people happy. Buncha new comics news! Legion, Flash, Harley & Ivy, King Thor, etc. Absolute Carnage post-credit scenes. The DC Artgerm Poster Portfolio. The Comic in a Box game we haven’t played. Upcoming events! Contest of Challengers Bingo continues! https://bingobaker.com/play/2017273

Markisan Naso joins Patrick for a wide-ranging conversation that covers it all! Designing a comic-themed beer! Earlier years of comic book journalism and Darwyn Cooke. Of course they plug Challengers’ upcoming Voracious signing with Markisan and Jason Muhr on Saturday, June 22 (11am – 3pm). I mean, they’d be fools NOT to!! What IS Voracious about, anyway? Eating dinosaurs? What? How Markisan and Jason became a creative team. Which animals have you eaten? Taco Bell, and wrestling. The inspirational properties of Grant Morrison. And mead. The great runs of Thor. Finding the perfect color artist. Free stuff you can get at the above-mentioned signing!

We 100% value you, our Wednesday Angels (Wednesday Angels ™ & © 2019 Challengers Inc). A not-short story about trying to buy a new car (but it relates to comics retail, we promise). The follow-up to last week’s Tom King news. Soliciting orders for a 2nd print before the final orders are due for the 1st print. White Trees = D&D Dream Daddy. One great solicitation blurb, and then a not-great one. You know, for comparison. Reinterpreting Vampirella. Contest of Challengers Bingo continues! https://bingobaker.com/play/2017273

All the upcoming concerts that will cause some adjustments to the CoC recording schedule. Dal’s (very brief) visit to Sarasota. Okay, so we have a lot of speculation about Tom King leaving Batman. A mere 1 day later, so much more of DC’s future Bat-Plans have come out, but we didn’t know that when this was recorded, so bear that in mind when listening to this part. DC’s attempted revitalization of their core characters. If we thought the July catalog was rough… The season finale of DC’s CW shows. HBO’s Barry is SO GOOD. Sure that’s not comic-related, but it’s still a great show. Our future Back Issue plans. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is ending at #50. British writers rally against Brexit (and the next day Theresa May resigns—man, a lot happened from Thursday to Friday!!) Contest of Challengers Bingo continues! https://bingobaker.com/play/2017273

Just your average episode with 2 comic shop owners talking about business! How we now order DC “B” covers. Ordering for July is soul-crushing. The difference between schilling and imparting information. Filling requests by any means necessary. Reporting all damages, shortages and overages. An alternate take on Free Comic Book Day. When the deep discount offer just isn’t worth it, even if you qualify. Is it time to stop hosting signings and events? Contest of Challengers Bingo continues! https://bingobaker.com/play/2017273 Co-hosted by Mitchell Davies from All Star Comics in Melbourne, Australia!

What is Marvel Comics #1000? I’m sorry, we mean WHY is (it called) Marvel Comics #1000? How do we keep track of customer wants when they ask for books that don’t yet exist? We’re looking at YOU, 3 Jokers… Baker & Taylor, our secondary distributor, no longer wants our business (or that of any independent bookstore). Oni Press and Lion Forge are merging. That’s causing layoffs and some employees are not taking it well. Should they? Well-known DC Comics artist Patrick Gleason has just signed an exclusive contract with Marvel. Is he the last of the 1-company artists? We survived our first (and last 12-hour Free Comic Book Day! Did YOU have fun? Contest of Challengers Bingo continues! https://bingobaker.com/play/2017273

It’s an interview episode with Nicholas Aflleje & Sarah DeLaine from the brand new Image Comics graphic novel LITTLE GIRLS. Who are they? What is Little Girls about? How did it come about? They’re going to be at Challengers on Monday, May 13th, for a full on release party! Featuring LIVE MUSIC from both Kachi The Band and Gentle Heat! More info on all the music!! Kachi The Band: https://kachitheband.bandcamp.com/ Gentle Heat: https://gentleheat.bandcamp.com/ And check out the Little Girls Soundtrack: https://littlegirlsognmusic.bandcamp.com

Listener questions! You (2 of you) had questions (7 questions) and we have answers (way more than 7 answers). The Doomsday Clock collection plans. How much effort is a 25¢ comic worth to us? The upcoming Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane comics look excellent! Another retailer tries to co-opt our FCBD Facebook event page. What is going on with the Jensen Plating Works building? I mean, we don’t know! Contest of Challengers Bingo continues! https://bingobaker.com/play/2017273

New POP Vinyl’s… always new POP Vinyl’s. Why don’t we do more Patreon Exclusive episodes? 101WKQX did some filming in Challengers this week. The Little Bird #1 Sales Battle is over. X-23 is also over, along with all non-Hickman X-Titles. Marvel Comics’ July 2019 solicitations are insane. Valkyrie is a comic that needed to not be announced so soon. It looks great but it also ruins current storylines. Get hyped for our LITTLE GIRLS Release Party! Contest of Challengers Bingo continues! https://bingobaker.com/play/2017273

Never before in 11 years—a $0 cash day! Jumping thru hoops to be a part of the Wizards Play Network (for the Transformers card game). Bag-switching is still shoplifting, you know. Trying to change our payment terms with Diamond. Contest of Challengers Bingo continues! https://bingobaker.com/play/2017273 There are new safety protocols in place for picking up the weekly comics shipment at Geodis. BOOM! Studios stealth-launches a new Angel comic book series! Star Wars Celebration is bringing a bunch of new people into the shop and that’s really cool. WWE independent contractors Rusev and Lana say they are preparing to write the best-selling comic book of all time.

First! A conversation with CAKE (Chicago Alternative Comic Expo) organizer Jon Mastantuono about CAKE’s upcoming art auction and what to look forward to for this year’s show. Not recorded in a moving car! Dal played host to a group (gaggle? swarm? murder?) of Scouts in-store this Monday. 2019 has seen a sharp increase in donation requests. Contest of Challengers Bingo continues! https://bingobaker.com/play/2017273 The Comics Omnivore project from Coliseum of Comics. Wrapping up the Little Bird Sales Battle. Last minute product changes: Typos vs outright misinformation. Anticipating which books will garner speculator attention is a fool’s game. You just can’t trust comics retailers

We turned 11 today! It’s the return of everybody’s favorite— a recorded-in-a-moving-car episode (showing you why Car Con Carne is recorded in a stationary car). Bluetooth hijinks make listening to the first 36 minutes of this episode more challenging than usual! Up to the 36 minute mark. Contest of Challengers Bingo is a real thing! https://bingobaker.com/play/2017273 War of the Realms #1 may overshadow every other Marvel book next week, so why release Marvel Team-Up #1 and Major X #1 on the same day? A few more notes about C2E2 2019. Visiting Comics Cubed in Kokomo, Indiana. Kokomo Toys is large and filled with toys from your childhood.

Detective Comics #1000 is the new C2E2 tickets, for this week, at least. A minor (Challengers) controversy of an upcoming Previews cover featuring Wicked + Divine. Our C2E2 2019 recap. An Epic Photo Opp experience. The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega are actually on this podcast! Our early-morning Diamond/Marvel breakfast. Marty & Sarah tell you all about Champion’s Day!

Alternate episode title: “High-Fives from Dal!” C2E2 is just about here, and we cannot wait!! …to not have to sell tickets anymore this year. The week’s tally of publishers’ emails. If he didn’t work in comics but still shopped for comics, how would Dal do it? The fun of selling Little Bird #1. Dal built us a new website!! You should give it a look at http://challengerscomics.com Free Comic Book Day details and the announcement of our Little Girls Release Party! Any news come out of Emerald City Comic Con yet this week?