Contest of Challengers

"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 inventor...

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.mansc...

•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...

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 no...

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...

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 #...

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 no...

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 u...

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 p...

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...

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 Pr...

•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 Substac...

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-a...

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 CA...

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...

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 Comi...

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 br...

•Retail at Christmas. •Somewhere in the episode will be the yearly playing of Stan Lee's "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" and a new Holiday song from The Divorce Gun! •Random shipments all throughout the week make it hard to plan your day. •SO MANY boxes (inside of boxes), as well as bubble wrap. •Reporting damages via Hachette's new online portal. •Christmas traditions. •Are you ready? It's jus...

The Time Dilation of C2E2 •Checking in with Jeanna! •C2E2 2021 •C2E2 Pandemic protocol •Consignment woes •What we bought at C2E2 •Checking in with Molly Jane