I’M NOT EVERYBODY •Dented packaging. •Charging delinquent subscribers interest…? •DC’s 5-book release week. •FCBD output. •California’s Earth-2 is closing, and their reasons make perfect sense. •Results of the ComicsPRO Retailer Survey. •Patric
BLACK TIE •The Future Of Comic Book Retail •Apparently we are not a “Legacy” shop. •”Marcus” and his comic book. And a black tie. •People keep asking to have signings at Challengers. •3 new X-Titles and X-Men ’92 vs X-Men ’97. •Waaayyy too much
ENTHUSIASM OVER KNOWLEDGE •A very full inbox. •Leaving tasks for the other person. •Upcoming Events with: Brian Azzarello, Stephanie Phillips, Sarah Becan, Sage Coffey, Bianca Xunise (and more!)! •Publisher price changes are always a surprise.
IN SEQUENCE •We have now officially been open for 16 years! Yow! •Keeping the “local” in local events. •C2E2 is fast approaching. •Wanting to refresh every aspect of the shop. •Some of the many books being published in June. •Thanks, Patrons! •
XVI •Sixteen years in the same building but with many different building owners/managers. •Hmmm, can Patrick get Kip Winger to come out for our 17th Anniversary next year…? •Looking back at the comic shops of Chicago over the past 16 years. •Da
X-CHANGES •Sorry, we don't price-match with Amazon, because we don't have a market cap of $1,820,000,000,000. •Single issue sales attrition as evidenced on the sales floor. •The future of the X-Men comic universe has been revealed! •A massive D
CALL AN AMBULANCE •The many, many ways comic shops can sort comics for their subscribers. •How we think distributors ship their books, geographically. •”You called?” •Patrick broke his 3rd exercise bike. •”Can you call me an ambulance?” •Comics
INCENTIVE TO BUY •The fresh scent of Challengers. •February sales are a Challengers record (not a good record). •Refreshing our Reward program. •Thanks, Patrons! •Cancelling wrestling action figures from Diamond. •Pre-order amounts. •DC’s Absol
FLAT-RATE •Diamond announces new Flat-Rate shipping pricing. •The ComicsPRO Annual Meeting is happening right now! And we are not there. •DC announcements: Wednesday is officially New Comic Day starting in July. A new line of Themed t
FIT TO PRINT •Thank you for sharing any of our posts and for liking what we do! •How is our 25% Off Sale doing…? •It’s a Brand-New Dal!! •Lack of Channel 4 advertising revenue. •What is Tik-Tok for, really? •You can’t subscribe to books like
IN-SALE STORES •Final Order Cutoff emails. •A Man with a Hat. •SALE!!! •No Wednesday holds. •January’s final sales numbers. •Thanks, Patrons! •Credit card processing fees. •Comic talked about in this episode: MAN’S BEST ASHCAN Contest of
FEELING THE IMPACT •Low January sales. •The future of vaulting subscriber credit cards. •Ghost Machine -Publisher support -Issue readability •No retailer support for Returnability. •Shopify/Google email compliance. •Spotify/Patreon RS
DEAD POWER •Dead Strange •Chainsaw Man’s Power •Neca product returns. •No bags (this is in my notes but as I’m typing this, I have no memory of what it means, yet we only recorded 2 hours ago). •An almost Scott Kurtz signing. •And the t-shi
YOU SHOULD HAVE CALLED •Patrick’s experience as a retail customer. •2023 number fun!! Now in percentages! •Positive consumer financial positivity (via AP and Axios). •Turning lemonade into lemons, featuring Ultimate Spider-Man #1! •A new home f
A BURDEN TO SURVIVORS •Arielle Free is in Chicago and Patrick had no idea (non-comics). •Remembering the contributions of George Brower III (Patrick's Dad) to the early days of Challengers. •We got our WTBW bookplates!! •DC as a company = Villa
20 = 1 •Happy Christmas! •Nick Piterra’s AX-WIELDER JON is here! •December’s messed-up New Release lists. •WHERE THE BODY WAS bookplate update. •Diamond’s retailer calendar for 2024. •DC’s Batman “Returnability.” •Are you excited for Image’s G
THE PIPELINE •New Marvel Legends for early 2024. •Hasbro is feeling the same issues as the comics industry. •Advent calendars. •LUCY KNISLEY is coming back to Challengers and we’re working with BFF Bikes for that event! •WHERE THE BODY WAS week
FALLING OVER ON THE SLOPES•So many semi cab horns! •Less of a Palace than you’d hope. •Share the GOOD, not just the bad. •PINE AND MERRIMAC #1 is SO GOOD!! •A disturbing lacy of Body bookplates. •If only new comic shipments came on the same day
I GUESS YOU COULD ALSO JUST KILL ME •Comic shops undergoing changes. •The reality of store events. •Event Spaces •No more Back Issues? •Thanks, Patrons! •Mile High’s Chuck Rozanski responds to Phil Boyle. Dal responds to them both. •Comics disc
HOW MUCH MORE ROPE? •Post-Thanksgiving retail sales. •Retailers talking about the Biz. •A new 1-star review. •All we’re really asking is for you to pay for the books you asked us to buy for you. Contest of Challengers #660
TOON IN WITH US •What we sell vs what we buy as consumers. •Vintage shops vs not. •Wouldn’t it be fun to sell comic book trading cards again? •Our adventure on Toon In With Me. •Broken web links. •The free comic books for 2024’s Free Comic Boo
COME BACK! GET EXCITED! •The Marvels was pretty fun! •Some comics are just bad. •LOTS of retailer chatter this week about the state of comics. •What big names can revitalize the Big 2 publishers? •Imagine trying to run a shop today with only cy
A LITTLE LESS HAPPY •Reading publisher previews on Box.com. •Most comic retailers have been at this a long time. •Thanks, Patrons! •The What and Whys of Draft Orders (as promised!!). •Comics talked about in this episode: Crave Titan