Contest of Challengers

Sticking to our weekly routines. Still NO new comics, When the Illinois stay-at-home is lifted, what will be better for us… A. Opening back up BEFORE Diamond resumes shipping new comics? B. Opening back up AFTER Diamond resumes shipping new comics? C. Opening back up AT THE SAME TIME Diamond resumes shipping new comics? Marvel and DC delay their digital releases, for a bit… Diamond's financial woes. What would a (hypothetical) future without Diamond/single-issue-comics look like for Challengers? Comic Hub as a point-of-sale program. Comic Hub as a digital comics platform.

Part of this was recorded as Patrick and Dal hand-delivered comics to people in Chicago! And by "hand-delivered" we mean left on porches at a respectable distance. Some comic book publishers are trying to work around the fact that printers are shut down and Diamond is no longer accepting comics. How Blackmask, TKO Studios and Vault are helping retailers. Thanks, Patrons! Some very supportive people have recently bought Challengers Gift Cards online. We have yet to see the money from those purchases. Here's why.

No More New Comics A new episode immediately after the previous new episode! Things are changing THAT RAPIDLY. Diamond Comic Distributors dropped a HUGE announcement about the immediate future of the comic book industry. David Harper, SKTCHD.com, and Daniel Warren Johnson lend a hand. Yes, we'll have New Comics this week, and we want to get them to you. Dal did not, no matter what we say in this episode, get a turtle. Are we changing over to Comic Hub? Um, maybe?

Speculator demographics. Artists Writers and Artisans released their first 4 comics on the same day. More super-upbeat and not-at-all-depressing Covid-19 talk. We're shut down! ALL of Illinois is. What can we do about it? How are Publishers helping Retailers during this time?

This episode has basically 2 main topics. What we're doing as a result of the Covid-19 Coronavirus and Bad Idea comics. Trust us, there is plenty of ground to cover with both topics.

A Challenger Loves Ya (Contest of Challengers) Who are we and what is this podcast? Challengers loves ya! Well, *A* Challenger loves ya. The spread of coronavirus Covid-19 is, understandably, wreaking havoc on comic convention schedules. Paying rent shouldn't be this complicated. Implementing ideas that we got from Comikaza's Jackob Sareli, including Final Order Instagram posts and a Challengers Subscribers Facebook group. Volunteer Help Wanted. Curating the Chicago Board Game Café's graphic novel section. DECORUM #1 comes out this week. You'll probably want to buy it.

Wednesday in-store anecdotes, recorded as they happened. The final week of selling C2E2 2020 tickets! Yay! All the way from Tel Aviv, fellow retailer Jackob Sareli joins us on the frozen, late-night streets of River North! River North also got a visit from the Fallen Angel, AEW wrestler Christopher Daniels! Our Friday at C2E2. Surprising information about the new AEW wrestling action figures. What did we buy at the show? Thanks, Patrons!

This is the week that C2E2 ticket sales reach a frenzied level. The ComicsPRO Annual Meeting s happening RIGHT NOW in Portland. And we're not there. BOOM! Studios presentation at ComicsPRO says all the right things. Turning the $1.00 spinner rack into a Reprint spinner rack. What if we just stopped stocking variant covers…? The results of 2 Twitter polls conducted this week. Batman #89 and how DC Comics has found a new playbook for the future of comic sales, and why that is horrifying. Dan DiDio is no longer the Co-Publisher of DC Comics. Why does another medium have to validate comics? Why can't they be lauded for what they are?

Transportation to Store #2. How'd our only storewide sale of the year turn out? New store banner woes. Using and abusing Instagram. The new Signing Wall in River North. Phantom titles in Diamond's system. It's a great week for new books this coming week! DC got all of Dal's letters and is making a Legion of Super-Heroes 5 Years Later omnibus!

There's a new publisher in comics, full of familiar faces, and they have a whole new take on today's publishing market. References to AWA (Artists Writers Artisans) and TKO. Who's up for a 5-issue Juggernaut series? We predict our sales numbers for the series. Y'all are flocking off of Batman (and Amazing Spider-Man). Is Dark Horse's BANG! The next big speculator book? What about DC's new character, Punchline? Thanks, ladies!