Contest of Challengers

Recorded mere moments before it's posted, this episode is almost completely unedited. Time the pauses! Count the "ummm's"! Do you want your receipt? No more signatures for chip card purchases? Paying it forward for younger readers? Probably not. Some DC news out of this weekend's Fan Expo Toronto. A brief interview with "Ryan Browne." Lots of new events!

Friday started with a Disaster Pizza (™ & ©). Maybe not comic news, but it happened IN a comic shop, so it counts. Patrick is suddenly very excited for Marvel's 2019 Conan the Barbarian comic. …but… Patrick is also furious with Marvel for a variety of reasons. All of said reasons are discussed, don't you worry. What's going to happen in Batman #55? We honestly don't know. Do you? Are current polit...

When should we have Daniel Warren Johnson in to sign for MURDER FALCON #1? There are several new Image comics we're excited about… MAN-EATERS, CEMETERY BEACH and MCMLXXV (1975). We've gotten to read them and are excited for them all, to differing extents. Also, Black Crown's LODGER. Closing a second location vs. closing an original location. Is Marvel going to kill Honey Badger? Mike Norton and Ry...

It's the Gen Con Road Diaries, featuring a bunch of guest stars! 0:03:40 Brad Rooks from Oni Press. 1:05:39 Cory Casoni from Table Titans. 1:12:00 Gabo, artist of "Dead of Winter" and "The Life After." 1:16:23 Kory Bing, creator of the webcomic Skin Deep. Plus, occasional check-ins from Patrick and Dal about their first time at "The Best Four Days in Gaming" and a rundown of the games they played...

It's next week's episode of Contest of Challengers six days early! Another midnight release event? Um, pass. Koyama Press is ceasing publication in 2021, but Annie Koyama will still be an important patron of the comic book arts. Bongo Comics is also ceasing publication, in October. Watching new-to-comic-shops customers discover Challengers is pure joy. Comedian Jim Jefferies went to San Diego and...

Zach Lehner joins Patrick in a very echo-y room to talk all about his brand new Oni Press graphic novel "Junior Brave of the Apocalypse Book 2: Out of the Woods." This conversation gets deeper than either of them expected as they dig way beneath the surface of comic book creation and the importance of Calvin and Hobbes. Also, they play amateur detectives and explore their abandoned surroundings. Z...

Sneaky secret shoppers are apparently a thing. It's the time of year where more mentally challenged people roam Chicago streets. The San Diego Comic-Con is happening as we record, so we're going over a bunch of new comic news. Or, other news that has an impact on our business. Wizards of the Coast are raising prices on Magic the Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons product. IDW will be publishing all-...

Whoops, that header is a mistake. It should read, "DIE!DIE!DIE! by Robert Kirkman. Darn typos. "That's not what I would do if I put a gun to your head." is an actual quote from this episode. Lots of FF #1 covers are coming out. We're not ordering them. Marvel has several non-announcement teasers leading into San Diego. So many good comics came out this week! X-23 #1! Superman #1! She Could Fly #1!...

The "proper" way to display comic books on shelves. Daring to tell creators how to design covers. What a time for weddings. Kitty and Colossus. Mr. and Mrs. X. Garnet (Steven Universe). The Bat and The Cat. We talk all the weddings and there are SPOILERS. We'll tell you when, so be ready (starting at 22:50).

This is the second episode #378 we recorded for you today. Technical difficulties caused us to lose a full 1-hour & 4-minute episode, and, professionals that we are, we immediately recorded another, completely different episode for you. It has a little bit of recap from what Dal calls "The Lost Episode" but aside from that it's all new material. If Galactus was going to devour the Earth in one yea...

Two new waves of Marvel Legends figures have been selling very well. If you overlooked The Hard Place in its 6-issue run, the trade is out now and it's worth a look. 3rd week in a row we talk about Game Stop-- they just keep giving us reason to! How video games are played vs. how comic books are consumed. DC Comics is selling original Tom King Superman and Brian Michael Bendis Batman comics exclus...

Wrestling mouthpiece Jimmy Hart is coming to Challengers this Saturday! This was almost the week that Patrick retired from comics retail. Nancy Drew and By Night are 2 new excellent comics that both started this week. Marvel resurrects both Iceman and the Unstoppable Wasp, both with their previous writers. Exactly what pushes each of our retail buttons. Oni's "Quick and Easy Guide to They/Them Pro...

The new Divorce Gun album "The Waning Days of the World" is available now! iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon, Spotify, 7Digital, iHeartRadio, Napster, Tidal, Rdio, Deezer, Pandora, Shazam, and in-store at Challengers! Diane Nelson has stepped down from her role as President of DC Entertainment. Spider-Geddon seems way too soon to have yet another Spider-Crossover. Game Stop is going to start selling mon...

Comixology will be producing original, creator-owned comics on their digital platform. We talk about the Forbes article about it. We're not opposed to in-store promotion of characters that have a current media presence. If you could only hear the sounds Patrick makes when reading the monthly Previews catalog for the first time each month. We got a sweet Eisner "For Your Consideration" package in t...

Obligatory Mach Kick (Transformers) reference! There may be one every week moving forward! An in-depth discussion about a new Yelp review, and the responses we chose not to send. When comic fans become comic creators, and the role comic shops play in them getting there (via Joe Field's Twitter, @FlyCoJoe). We have a Kids Comics Workshop (with Gabi Mendez and Sheika Lugtu). Announcing the Challenge...

Hyping up the Nerd Cred! This episode is an official Public Meeting. The new West Coast Avengers comic looks great! The Kessel Run vs the Kobiashi Maru (and I am not looking up the actual spelling of those). Some of the new Marvel #1's look great. Some do not. Thundercats Roar is a thing. Thundercats + OK K.O.! + Adventure Time + Steven Universe. What Dal wants from the DC CW shows next season. Th...

My Boyfriend is a Bear is out now and really fun!! Spectacle by Megan Rose Gedris is out in 2 weeks and we're having a circus-themed release party for it! Free Comic Book Day 2018 is over, so of course we're working on Free Comic Book Day 2019. Ideas come out organically in this very discussion. Contest of Challengers has a new logo… borrowed from a current DC comic. DC is starting to offer incent...

Free Comic Book Day 2018 is history! Hear our complete rundown of how the day went. Plus! The new BCW Comic Book Bin storage box. And, ONI's My Boyfriend is a Bear!

Ever wonder just how the comics find their way onto our shelves and into your subscription box? This episode is an in-depth look at how Patrick and Dal spend their Tuesdays, from driving to the warehouse to putting books on the racks, and every step in-between. Plus, Kent Challenger introduces you to Tarbus the Tardigrade.

Probably the last time we'll talk about Action Comics #1000. This time, how the Midnight Release went, and how it compares to previous midnight releases. It sure seems like Marvel wants a piece of DC's Action cover success with all their upcoming Amazing Spider-Man #800 covers (with still more to -be-announced). Too bad they're going about it in a way that doesn't help build excitement. X-CLASSIFI...

Action Comics #1000 is out this Wednesday (at 12:01am). How many covers do you plan to buy? Are you ready for the Bendis era of Superman? Superman's past 5 years have been kind of rocky… Nick Spencer and Ryan Ottley's Amazing Spider-Man looks like it's going to be great. Their Free Comic Book Day issue is a lot of fun, as is Jason Aaron's Avengers. Don't miss these new series. Also, Oni's Shadow R...

It's a busy week as we talk about the Diamond Retailer Summit, C2E2, a new BOOM! Studios retail initiative, two Richie Kotzen concerts, filming the "My Comic Shop Country" documentary and, of course, BaconFest Chicago. Strap in as this one is over 2 hours!

We proudly announce our creator line-up for this year's Free Comic Book Day. What comic-themed gift can you get for someone that works in a comics shop? Protecting the privacy of our customers (from other customers). Challengers has been in business for 10 years! A brief history of how Challengers started and what it took to get the doors open for business. Our main takeaways from 10 years. Thank...

It's been a week. How have the new changes been received? As a consumer, do you want to be immediately help in a store or left alone? It's time for new Challengers business cards! Coleen Doran gives a brief history of the direct market (via Twitter). Meltdown (a 25-year-old comics shop in L.A.) is closing their store. We don't think it's due to sales. May is going to be SO EXPENSIVE for shops AND...

But, what? What is changing? Fine, we'll tell you. We're making some pretty big layout changes, while not moving any of the furniture. We're about to turn 10 (but please don't congratulate us until it happens)! We get pretty detailed as to how these changes were made, all the math behind the scenes. We voted early! We hope you're going to vote, too (if you live somewhere where voting will occur)....