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-adding existing subscribers to a new/companion title is not a quick task.

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 CAGE, STEP BY BLOODY STEP, and RADIANT RED.

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 notes, but there’s plenty more stuff. •We totally forgot we were going to talk about the 2021 best sellers. Whoops. •You can also catch Patrick on this week's OFF PANEL podcast with David Harper!

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 Comics/Stocky/Shopify •We’re really on board with Manage Comics and it’s better for all of us. •Thanks, Patrons!

Next Week: The other half of Manage Comics! The user interface!

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 breaks.

•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 just about Manage Comics time!! •New and exciting issues with Diamond’s POS system. Visitors in town for C2E2.

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

Finalizing Code •It’s a Blind Bag, uh, unbagging! And there’s an advent calendar! •The Manage Comics functionality we’re hoping for. •A NEW (recurring??) segment! •Letter carrier blues. •The good and bad and egregious packing of comic book shipments. •Product condition salability in the bookstore market. •Making sense of alternate vendor billing statements. •The surprise roadblock of PRH’s ‘first of the month’ invoicing.

Treat yourself: https://youtu.be/gIxi9ZqOzAw Thank you so much Ashleigh & Drew for bringing Clydene in!!

Space is Flexible •It’s “Old Wound” Friday! •Rule #1 of Challengers was in FULL EFFECT lately. •It’s a MASSIVE week for both Marvel and DC and both of those deliveries arrived today. •Decorating for Christmas. •Reporting the full number of packing/shipping damages from PRH just isn’t worth it. •How we can keep the same amount of graphic novel shelf space with so many new graphic novels coming out every year. •The story of the 1-foot grid wall shelf. •CRIMSON CAGE is so good!!