FOLD-ER •Welcome to Contest of Challengers with Charles and Dale! •Archiving comics on our website. •UPS shipments. •Card game ordering, and lack thereof. •(More) New X-Titles! •Comics talked about in this episode: LAWFUL #1 GROMMET

GETTING A HANDLE ON FCBD

14 days ago 1h 3m

GETTING A HANDLE ON FCBD •What happened to our front door handle? •Smoke N Snack’s front window nightmare. •How was Free Comic Book Day? Contest of Challengers #684

INTELLECTUALLY?

21 days ago 1h 10m

INTELLECTUALLY? •Bad customer service. •Gotta get them Back Issues! •Setting up for FCBD. •Thanks, Patrons! •Our C2E2 experiences. Contest of Challengers #683

THE FUTURE OF COMIC BOOK RETAIL

28 days ago 1h

THE FUTURE OF COMIC BOOK RETAIL LIVE from Conference Room S403 at McCormick Place, it’s the C2E2 panel discussion, THE FUTURE OF COMICS RETAIL with Patrick, W. Dal, Katie Pryde (Books With Pictures, Portland), and Dimitrios Fragiskatos (Anyone

I’M NOT EVERYBODY

Apr 22nd, 2024 1h 12m

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

Apr 15th, 2024 1h 4m

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

Apr 8th, 2024 1h 7m

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

Apr 1st, 2024 1h 9m

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

Mar 25th, 2024 1h 13m

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

Mar 18th, 2024 1h 5m

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

Mar 11th, 2024 1h 12m

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

Mar 4th, 2024 1h 9m

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

Feb 26th, 2024 1h 3m

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

MUCHA LUCHA

Feb 19th, 2024 58m 7s

MUCHA LUCHA •Sidekicks is fun! •Sale shirts, redux. •Comic sales in Vegas. •Pop-Ups.•Madame Web. •Shopify tax forms. •The cost of window prints. •DC/Marvel Crossover omnibus editions! •Salt Shed’s Fret12 with Ready For Death! Watch It Here!!

FIT TO PRINT

Feb 12th, 2024 1h 3m

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

Feb 5th, 2024 1h 10m

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

Jan 29th, 2024 1h 9m

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

Jan 22nd, 2024 1h 7m

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

Jan 15th, 2024 1h 10m

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

ECONOMIC-CABAL

Jan 8th, 2024 1h 9m

ECONOMIC-CABAL •Oooohhhhh! Episode 666! Sooo spooookyyyyy!! •Stacked deliveries really suck! •More complaining about how Diamond ships out product. •Product Costs vs. Operational Costs •Kamen Rider toys vs AEW action figures. •60,000 copies of

A BURDEN TO SURVIVORS

Jan 1st, 2024 1h 2m

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

Dec 25th, 2023 1h 3m

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

Dec 18th, 2023 1h 19m

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

Dec 11th, 2023 1h 5m

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

Dec 4th, 2023 1h 16m

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