Dal immediately starts talking about Star Wars The Last Jedi (which he hadn't even seen at the time of this recording—but don't worry; he's seen it plenty since then). The pros and cons of Disney acquiring Fox. And, of course, Net Neutrality. A follow-up to last episode's Patreon discussion. What a difference a week makes. A rundown of 2018's gold tier Free Comic Book Day comics. They look good.

Patreon has changed the way fees are paid, and no one likes it. Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Solstice/Festivus Gift Ideas for the comic fans on your list! Yes, we talk about buying Taylor Swift concert tickets. "Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors" looks wonderful and we're excited for it.

Occasionally we get asked for advice on opening a comic store. This episode is our real-world advice to someone asking us questions about opening their own store. Lessons we've learned; lessons we haven't learned; lessons we're still learning. We may joke about our 'success' but you can't be in business for almost 10 years by not knowing what you're doing.

Three events in five days! We run 'em all down. Doomsday Clock #1 11:57pm Release Event. Black Friday 50% OFF Comics (Comics; NOT graphic novels) Santa's Husband Signing. The diversity of these three events give us plenty to talk about, for sure. Oh, and don't worry; we do find time to talk about the Wolverine.

Holiday decorations come early, for a specific reason. WGN News stopped by to film a segment (or 5) on Local Comic Shop Day at Challengers. Don Cardenas talks about his Packs of the Lowcountry Kickstarter. Axel Alonso is out as Marvel Comics Editor-In-Chief. CB Cebulski is in. We're having a BIG Black Friday Sale!

It's the biggest comics news story of the year, and we make you wait over 30 minutes before we start talking about it. First we talk about Funko's Initial Public Offering disaster. New themed displays in-store, including Thor Ragnarok and the Justice League. X-Men Red. Looking at possible new locations, just in case we have to move. DC Comics has signed Brian Michael Bends to an exclusive contract. The timing of entertainment announcements, using Doctor Who and Superchunk announcements from this week as a guide post. Men in comics are no better than men in Hollywood.

At the time of recording, Patrick and Dal have seen Thor Ragnarok a combined 5 times. This episode's title has no actual bearing to the episode, but it is mentioned, so it counts, but "A piece of water" is just as accurate. Rian Hughes, our favorite logo designer, has a book of his logos coming out in April. Should we care about eBay exclusive Marvel Comics variant covers? More egregious nonsense that's only negative, x3. We sidestep our own accountant to handle this year's incorporation paperwork. Marvel Universe Live: Age of Heroes was SO FUN! And we DO wind up talking about Thor Ragnarok, a little.

What Chicagoland comic shop has been open the longest? Patrick really wants to read a history of Chicago comic book retail stores. Halloween Comicfest just happened and we don't know if we promoted it correctly. We received a graphic novel this week that had no data in Diamond's system, yet we had customers' orders for it. This is the story of getting Diamond to help us with it. Some subscribers are really taking advantage of our subscription service. It's perfectly fine if you don't know the pop culture references we use to pitch books.

Marvel's movie-based collections don't really work for us. That leads into talk about Thor: Ragnarok. The sharp drop-off of mini-series sales numbers. The saga of one man looking for the first issue of Aftershock's Fu-Jitsu #1. $6,000.00 of dental work vs. one extra comic book. We're now Facebook verified! Sean Dove has been added to our Halloween Comicfest event! The difficulties of explaining Dark Nights Metal to people 3 months into the event's run. The New Age of DC Heroes vs. Challengers subscription pre-orders.

Patrick fixed an issue with the receiver (so you can hear the new FOZZY CD "Judas" on ALL 6 store speakers!!). Dal won't watch "Mei and the Kitten Bus." Comixology is ditching their Pull List functionality (more than a year after we already ditched it). We're featured in the new book "Comic Shop: The Retail Mavericks Who Gave Us a New Geek Culture." Subscriber copies vs. shelf copies on any given week. Patrick is interested in getting into the Revoltech line of Marvel figures. Halloween Comicfest is a-comin'! We held a surprise Friday the 13th 13% Off sale! Marty DeRosa helped us out with something we really need for an upcoming event. We go over category percentages between Jan-Sep 2016 vs 2017.