Contest of Challengers
From Challengers Comics + Conversation in Chicago, this is Contest of Challengers, a podcast about the business of running a comics shop. From publishers to distributors to the sales floor itself, each episode deals with the issues of the week and how they affect the way Challengers conducts business, and that includes the actual comic book issues themselves. Hosted by Patrick Brower and W. Dal Bush. Thanks for listening. Keep Reading Comics!
- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 68 minutes
- Episodes
- 750
- Years Active
- 2009 - 2025
THE CONVERSATIONALIST
THE CONVERSATIONALIST •It's an all Pizza-and-Beer episode! So, of course that means no Dal. •Hailey is back! https://instagram.com/chicomic_girl/ •Fancy, wooden comic book storage boxes! •Tattoos! …
BOOBIE-ROCKETS, AWAY!
BOOBIE-ROCKETS, AWAY! It’s a 3-man announce team this week as Patrick and Dal visit one of their all-time favorite comic creators (and human beings)! WHO is it? WHAT do they talk about? WHY are they…
MAIN COVER B
MAIN COVER B •Plugged ears make recording an audio project so fun! •Just announced Batman Spawn covers. •Shopify missteps: Active vs Draft •Being ghosted by new Subscribers. •Curating in reverse. •An…
VIRTUE & VICE
VIRTUE & VICE •Surprise! Now we’re BOTH sick! •Sep 2022 sales are down from both Aug 2022 and Sep 2021. Sigh. •HEART EYES #2 is excellent! •Why do 2nd issue sales fall so far from #1’s? Like, 80% far…
NOTHING SPECIAL
NOTHING SPECIAL •Dal returns! Sorry? •Challengers is/has “nothing special.” •Dal visited Fantom Comics in DC! •Dark Horse is leaving Diamond! •DUCKS by Kate Beaton! •Batman Day 2022 is history. •Libr…
A LITERARY COMPONENT
Patrick is joined by @chicomic_girl, Hailey Dezort! Hailey is a wonderfully excited comic fan who has an unparalleled enthusiasm and a penchant for sharing her comic book love via Instagram/YouTube/L…
WIL MOSS
WIL MOSS Patrick is joined by Marvel Editor WIL MOSS! They talk about Wil becoming a comics fan, going to college in Chicago and his journey to comic book editing super-stardom! It’s a fun conversati…
FULL CIRCLE
FULL CIRCLE •It’s AEW All Out weekend in Chicago, so we start with some rasslin’ talk. Sorry. Not a lot, though. •DC Comics are now available from a second distributor! •In this post-covid retail lan…
ADDITIVE TO THE PROCESS #600!!
ADDITIVE TO THE PROCESS•The 4th Invincible Compendium! •Why DON’T we buy dirty coins and sports photos? •”I had to ask!” No, you did not. •New Marvel Legends packaging. •We do not ship storage boxes.…
TERRIBLE LONG-TERM STRATEGY
TERRIBLE LONG-TERM STRATEGY •Tom Palmer R.I.P. •Visiting the Bill Sienkiewicz art exhibit in Libertyville. •New difficulties getting into our own store! •The November 2022 solicits are… plentiful… •V…
MANUFACTUTRED COLLECTIBLES
MANUFACTUTRED COLLECTIBLES •The audio quality of last episode. •This week’s Manage Comics Thoughtstream. •Hachette credit hold. •Tom Brevoort’s Substack is pretty fun. •99¢ BACK ISSUE SALE! •Freebies…
ACTIVATION!
ACTIVATION! •Patrick, Dal and MJ talk about C2E2 in a car with shitty audio. It was a 20-minute conversation in which 10 minutes were completely unlistenable. We have GOT to turn off the phone Blueto…
YA(wn)
YA(wn) •SILVERLINE is out now! •We are years late in making a Young Adult section. •Manga is a Medium, not a Genre. Except, it is a Genre. •The eventual return of a Discount Graphic Novel section. •W…
ALL THE COOKIES
ALL THE COOKIES •Late deliveries. •Fun toys. •Special guests (in the store, not on this episode). •SDCC comic announcements (so far). •BOOM! Studios Kickstarters. •Other stuff, we promise.
Contest of…
SITUATIONS ARE FLUID
SITUATIONS ARE FLUID •Friday’s (not at all heavy) rain causes more grief. •Another SQUARE outage. •We hope this podcast (as a whole, not just this episode) is informative yet also entertaining. •The …
YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE THE ENDING!
YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE THE ENDING! •Another AT&T story! Who could have seen this coming? •Where has Dal been?!? •A shattered window and alarms going off in the middle of the night! •A JENNY FRISON sign…
AN ORGANIC VALUE
AN ORGANIC VALUE All these topics are discussed in this episode, BUT in a different order than they are listed here! Why? Because I wrote my notes BEFORE we recorded, because I am a G-D professional!…
OH YEAH, THAT’S A THING
OH YEAH, THAT’S A THING •Burritooooo! •The new DC and Marvel catalogs are (kind of) out, for product shipping in September. •License shifting between publishers. •It’s one week after Patrick’s comics…
THEY STOLE A LIFETIME
The meat of this episode is a harrowing tale of the worst thing that can happen to a lifetime comic book collector. And then, Patrick visited a trio of comic shops in Asheville, NC over the past wee…
SOMEWHERE WITH A T-REX
SOMEWHERE WITH A T-REX
This one’s a mystery! Who’s on it? What do they talk about? WHO KNOWS?!? Okay, we know that it’s Dal and MJ, and they’re probably talking about store stuff and distributors and…