It’s next week’s episode of Contest of Challengers six days early! Another midnight release event? Um, pass. Koyama Press is ceasing publication in 2021, but Annie Koyama will still be an important patron of the comic book arts. Bongo Comics is also ceasing publication, in October. Watching new-to-comic-shops customers discover Challengers is pure joy. Comedian Jim Jefferies went to San Diego and filmed a piece about diversity… American white people don’t like being called “White people.” There’s yet another new comic-con in Chicago, ACE, in October. We announce a new Ryan Browne event here, first! For more information (or to maybe donate) about the Alzheimer’s 5K Patrick is participating in in September, go to http://rememberingfrances.com

Zach Lehner joins Patrick in a very echo-y room to talk all about his brand new Oni Press graphic novel “Junior Brave of the Apocalypse Book 2: Out of the Woods.” This conversation gets deeper than either of them expected as they dig way beneath the surface of comic book creation and the importance of Calvin and Hobbes. Also, they play amateur detectives and explore their abandoned surroundings. Zach is signing at Challengers all day on Wednesday, August 8th from 11am to 7pm (along with “Girls With Slingshots” creator Danielle Corsetto from 4pm -7pm, but she is not on this episode). Bonus! Dal pops in to talk briefly about the New Japan Pro Wrestling G1 Special!

Sneaky secret shoppers are apparently a thing. It’s the time of year where more mentally challenged people roam Chicago streets. The San Diego Comic-Con is happening as we record, so we’re going over a bunch of new comic news. Or, other news that has an impact on our business. Wizards of the Coast are raising prices on Magic the Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons product. IDW will be publishing all-ages comics featuring Marvel Comics characters. Apparently Marvel doesn’t know how to make comics for kids. Kelly Thompson is writing Jessica Jones. Gasp! We had NO idea! Donny Cates is overseeing the new Marvel Knights MK20 line. There are a ton of new Spider-related Marvel comics and Batman-related DC comics heading our way soon. Oh, that DC Universe “Titans” trailer… Just lots more announcements and what we think of them.

Whoops, that header is a mistake. It should read, “DIE!DIE!DIE! by Robert Kirkman. Darn typos. “That’s not what I would do if I put a gun to your head.” is an actual quote from this episode. Lots of FF #1 covers are coming out. We’re not ordering them. Marvel has several non-announcement teasers leading into San Diego. So many good comics came out this week! X-23 #1! Superman #1! She Could Fly #1! Amazing Spider-Man #1! Nancy Drew #2! New event announcements! Mike Norton “Lil’ Donnie” signing and Word Balloon recording! Batman Day 2018! MURDER FALCON! That title says it all. As predicted on this very podcast 2 years ago, a major publisher stealth-launched a brand new comic book series by big-name creators! But… did it work?

The “proper” way to display comic books on shelves. Daring to tell creators how to design covers. What a time for weddings. Kitty and Colossus. Mr. and Mrs. X. Garnet (Steven Universe). The Bat and The Cat. We talk all the weddings and there are SPOILERS. We’ll tell you when, so be ready (starting at 22:50).

This is the second episode #378 we recorded for you today. Technical difficulties caused us to lose a full 1-hour & 4-minute episode, and, professionals that we are, we immediately recorded another, completely different episode for you. It has a little bit of recap from what Dal calls “The Lost Episode” but aside from that it’s all new material. If Galactus was going to devour the Earth in one year’s time, and he will not be stopped, would you want to know? What comic creator would you want to be trapped on a desert island with? And plenty of other stuff, but I’m not doing a full breakdown because I’ve already lost too much time this week.

Two new waves of Marvel Legends figures have been selling very well. If you overlooked The Hard Place in its 6-issue run, the trade is out now and it’s worth a look. 3rd week in a row we talk about Game Stop-- they just keep giving us reason to! How video games are played vs. how comic books are consumed. DC Comics is selling original Tom King Superman and Brian Michael Bendis Batman comics exclusively in Wal Mart stores. How do you think we react to that?? DC’s Black Label books will not necessarily be in traditional comic book formats. We may hate to admit it, but stocking the DC “B” covers has been beneficial. Lots of Merchandise restock is on the way… posters, pins, buttons, single issue all-ages comics, as well as a NEW Challengers bookmark! We’re really happy with it (but we’re ALWAYS happy with them). The monthly ordering process is really disheartening for Patrick.

Wrestling mouthpiece Jimmy Hart is coming to Challengers this Saturday! This was almost the week that Patrick retired from comics retail. Nancy Drew and By Night are 2 new excellent comics that both started this week. Marvel resurrects both Iceman and the Unstoppable Wasp, both with their previous writers. Exactly what pushes each of our retail buttons. Oni’s “Quick and Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns” is a great resource in comic form! What does the (possibly) looming UPS strike mean for future comic deliveries? More on the Game Stop comic experiment. Ultimate Comics in North Carolina had all 3 stores robbed in the same night. Marvel is set to be producing 3 monthly Conan comics in 2019. Geoff Johns is out as CCO of DC Entertainment. Perhaps due to AT&T buying Warner Bros.? Tom King’s upcoming “Heroes in Crisis” mini-series looks completely amazing.

The new Divorce Gun album “The Waning Days of the World” is available now! iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon, Spotify, 7Digital, iHeartRadio, Napster, Tidal, Rdio, Deezer, Pandora, Shazam, and in-store at Challengers! Diane Nelson has stepped down from her role as President of DC Entertainment. Spider-Geddon seems way too soon to have yet another Spider-Crossover. Game Stop is going to start selling monthly comic books. Maybe. I mean, they haven’t officially announced it, but it’s a thing we talk about. Looking back at Steve Geppi’s Keynote Address from this year’s C2E2 Diamond Retailer Breakfast, was he trying to tell us something? And how would we survive if Diamond went away? As ever, we have a few new events to talk about, including asking your opinion on a Mike Norton event for the LIL’ DONNIE collection. DC is relaunching their Vertigo imprint. We’re so excited for it that almost don’t even mention it.

Comixology will be producing original, creator-owned comics on their digital platform. We talk about the Forbes article about it. We’re not opposed to in-store promotion of characters that have a current media presence. If you could only hear the sounds Patrick makes when reading the monthly Previews catalog for the first time each month. We got a sweet Eisner “For Your Consideration” package in the mail. It’s great when parents and kids engage with comics as a family. It’s not great when parents ignore their kids and let them run screaming around the store. Thanks, Patrons! Did you miss our Adventure Time Art Show? I mean, you probably did… FLAVOR from Image is real good! So is MAN OF STEEL. We ordered a bunch of different Action Comics #1000 covers (yay!) and Amazing Spider-Man #800 covers (not yay!). We’re probably not doing that again… We end with a random Divorce Gun song from the upcoming album “The Waning Days of the World.”