Today@Challengers

Today @ Challengers… This is what it looks like every week...

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:24:49 -0500

Today @ Challengers… This is what it looks like every week when we clean out our customer Hold Box. Every week this much merchandise is abandoned by the very people that asked for it in the first place. And this is not subscription member merchandise, either. That would be a whole different… larger… pile.

ONE DAY SALE - May 11th

Sun, 05 May 2013 12:07:21 -0500

Today @ Challengers… SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!

C2E2 and Free Comic Book Day may be over, but Challengers has one more event to make your spring overloaded with comics: a special ONE DAY SALE on Saturday, May 11th!

For one day only, we’ll have a special selection of graphic novels at 25% off. And not a couple old books, either. Hundreds of copies of Walking Dead, Fables, Sixth Gun, Peter Panzerfaust, Superman, Batman, X-Men, Iron Man, Hulk, Green Lantern, Locke & Key and much more.

Sale starts at 11am Saturday, May 11th, and ends at 5pm the same day. First come, first served. We won’t be setting books aside ahead of time, and we won’t hold books for purchase on a later date.

25% off on some of the best books we’ve got for one day only! We know you can fit a few more comics into your spring!

Today @ Challengers… Elio was amazing as Storm, in a...

Sat, 04 May 2013 21:18:39 -0500

Today @ Challengers… Elio was amazing as Storm, in a costume he made JUST FOR US! And Mike’s Ultimate Spider-Man (Miles Morales; not pictured) was the highlight of all the kids’ day! THANK YOU BOTH, so very much. Find out more at: MikeAndElio.com.

mikeandelio:

Elio as Storm for the Free Comic Book Day. We were working for a comic book store called Challengers Comics. This costume was made to wear only for this day. So…yup Exclusive lol.

Today @ Challengers… We are happy to present some great...

Thu, 02 May 2013 12:28:35 -0500

Today @ Challengers… We are happy to present some great new books we got direct from their creators… Jason Brubaker’s REMIND vol. 2 and the first 2 issues of AW YEAH COMICS by Art Baltazar, Franco, Denver Brubaker and plenty more! And… all of the books are signed by the talented folks involved. Happy reading to us all!

Today @ Challengers… It’s a great day for bookplate...

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 15:46:30 -0500

Today @ Challengers… It’s a great day for bookplate fans! This week alone saw the release of 2 brand new EX LIBRIS CHALLENGERS editions, both inexpensive hardcovers! MIND MGMT by MATT KINDT and GOD HATES ASTRONAUTS by RYAN BROWNE.

EX LIBRIS CHALLENGERS is the name of our bookplate program, and what that means is you get a limited, signed and numbered print for buying the book. Each print is signed by the book’s creator and limited to only 200 copies. And they come free with the book. Neat, right? Thanks. We thought so.

Today at Challengers… we got in our new Ex Libris...

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 13:37:04 -0500

Today at Challengers… we got in our new Ex Libris Challengers bookplate! Beautifully designed by Matt Kindt for MIND MGMT Volume 1: The Manager, this full color 5.5”x8.5” print is signed by Matt (in silver!) and limited to 200. It’ll be included free with all MIND MGMT Volume 1 purchases while supplies last, only at Challengers. In-store sales start this Wednesday, April 10th. Online sales at ChallengersComics.com start April 17th.

Special thanks to Matt Kindt for totally, completely killing it on this print. No, Matt, you rock.

Today at Challengers, it’s the release day for Lucy...

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 11:30:27 -0500

Today at Challengers, it’s the release day for Lucy Knisley’s RELISH: MY LIFE IN THE KITCHEN… but only because we got it from a non-Diamond distributor. See, because RELISH is being published by First Second, we could get it directly through MacMillan (their parent company/imprint/whatever) for sale on the book’s actual release day of April 2nd. If we’d only ordered it through Diamond, we wouldn’t get it until April 9th and we couldn’t sell it until April 10th. And this is from the largest comic distributor in the U.S.!

tl;dr We have RELISH and you can buy it from us today. And you can get it signed by Lucy on April 10th during her event!

Today @ Challengers… We got some pretty great stuff in the...

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:24:23 -0500

Today @ Challengers… We got some pretty great stuff in the mail! LUCY KNISLEY’s artwork for her upcoming one-night-only RELISH Art Show!

We don’t want to clutter up this post w/ too much text, so we’ll leave the details for that event here: LUCY KNISLEY RELISH PARTY! Just look at the pretty artwork above.

Today at Challengers… we’re getting ready for...

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 14:41:26 -0500

Today at Challengers… we’re getting ready for tomorrow’s release of our newest Ex Libris Challengers book: THE MASSIVE Volume 1 by Brian Wood, Garry Brown, Kristian Donaldson and Dave Stewart. Similar to other Ex Libris Challengers books, our copies of THE MASSIVE will include an exclusive free, limited to 200 bookplate signed by writer Brian Wood and artist Garry Brown. These go on sale ONLY at Challengers starting Wednesday, March 20th.

Harlem Shake - Comic Shop Style

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 12:11:00 -0500

Harlem Shake - Comic Shop Style:

Today @ Challengers… We proudly unveil our—wait, “proudly”? THAT’S the word we’re going to use? I think someone doesn’t know what that means…

Uh, anyway, here is yet another in a long line of mock-able occurrences, from your pals at Challengers.

http://youtu.be/ufH0b83RY1M

Harlem Shake video performed by Challengers Comics employees and customers.

Thank you, George, Parker, Ashly, Nicole, Paul, Molly and Lizzy.
Recorded Sunday, March 10, 2013.
(Totally Ashly’s idea…)

Challengers Comics + Conversation
1845 N Western Ave • Chicago, IL 60647
773.278.0155
ChallengersComics.com

Today @ Challengers… The I LOVE YOU BUT I’VE CHOSEN...

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 13:00:47 -0600

Today @ Challengers… The I LOVE YOU BUT I’VE CHOSEN COMICS t-shirts are in! If you earned one during our sale of the same name, one is here waiting for you! If you are a club member at Challengers, that means it’s already in your club box for you. Everyone else, we’ll be calling.

Thanks again to the very talented Sean Dove for crafting this year’s design. Check out his website here: http://andthankyouforflying.com/

Today at Challengers… we got this awesome gift from Dave...

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 15:58:27 -0600

Today at Challengers… we got this awesome gift from Dave Roman! Dave’s got a new volume of Astronaut Academy, Re-Entry, due out from First Second on May 15th, and he sent us this signed (and personalized!) cover ‘cause he knows what huge fans we are. Look at that golden goodness up there! We should really do something the next time Dave and Raina are in town…

Hint!

Today @ Challengers… We got in our shipments of CHRISTINA...

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 12:40:06 -0600

Today @ Challengers… We got in our shipments of CHRISTINA HENRY’s new book, BLACK CITY (as well as restock of her previous works). It is volume 5 in the BLACK WINGS series and Christina will be here one week from tonight for a Q&A and Book Signing! We are lucky enough to have had Christina here once before and she is a delight. Don’t take our word for it; come find out for yourself.

Former Agent of death Madeline Black may have been stripped of her wings—but she hasn’t lost her purpose…

When Maddy finally killed her father, Azazel, she thought his depraved experiment died with him. But now Chicago has been infested with vampires immune to the effects of the sun, and the bloodbath is worse than she could have ever imagined. While the Agency refuses to interfere with other supernatural courts, Maddy is determined to do everything within her power to save her city—wings or no wings.

But when the leader of the vampires requests that she turn herself in or risk more deaths, Maddy becomes a target for the very people she’s trying to save. Left with no other choice, she turns to Lucifer, the one creature who has the power to help her. But her grandfather’s aid has always come at a price…

For more about Christina Henry, visit her website: http://www.christinahenry.net/

Man, okay, LOOK. Yesterday, we posted our decision to give 100% of our profits off Orson Scott...

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 13:15:19 -0600

Man, okay, LOOK.

Yesterday, we posted our decision to give 100% of our profits off Orson Scott Card’s issues of Adventures of Superman to the Human Rights Campaign. This was our decision based on Card’s viewpoints, with which we highly disagree, as well as our desire to take something that could profit a bigot and allow it to fund a worthwhile cause.

So, naturally, shortly after we made our post, we had folks who disagreed with us. They used the same two arguments that ALWAYS get used on the Internet when someone acts according to their conscience: “You have to have boycotted (or donated, in our case) everything he’s done or you’re a hypocrite” and “You’ll have to boycott (or donate) everything ever by everyone” aka The Slippery Slope Argument. We’d like to respond to both those arguments here.

1) Why start with this book? Did you carry his other books? Isn’t it hypocritical to start with this Superman one?

We’ll plead ignorance on this one. We didn’t know that Card was a board member for an organization that opposed same-sex marriage back when his other comics were released. Knowing that now? We’ve decided to use his book to fund an opposing agenda. Had we known then, when we were carrying Ultimate Iron Man or Red Prophet or the Ender books? We’d have made the same decision as we have today, we’d like to think. Either way, it’s moot, as we don’t regularly stock those older graphic novels any longer, due to low sales. Most likely we won’t be restocking them, but in case we need to by a customer’s request, we’ll donate those profits as well.

2) If you disagree with Card’s politics, you’ll have to do the same thing for everyone else you disagree with. What about (slightly offensive artist) or (outspoken writer)? You’ll have to donate whatever money you make off of them, or you’re a hypocrite.

Oh, Internet, where the world is only 1s and 0s, yes and no, Nothing Is Good Enough or Do As Thou Wilt. Come on. We are people, and we made this decision as people. We are not trying to win a Flawless Victory over the Internet, nor are we trying to pass a bulletproof piece of legislation. This ONE GUY behaved PUBLICLY in a way we were unable to support as retailers without trying to take his homophobic lemons and make equality lemonade. We do not intend to run through the CV or Facebook page or Twitter feed or Google search history or goddamn trashcan of every contributor of everything we carry at Challengers. But, man, that doesn’t mean that if it comes to our attention that a writer of a book PUBLICLY serves on the board of an organization we think is wrong, that we can’t say, “This thing we need to do something about.” If someone else does something publicly? We may make the same decision. If someone privately does something, or is rumored to have done something privately? We may not.

We know that, with the Internet, it’s compelling to use ever more constricting parameters of hypothetical situations to expose the opposing side as too zealous, too apathetic, or (amazingly) both. We think, in the real world, we can all agree that life is a series of decisions, not a carved-in-stone credo that must be defended at all costs. This time, with Orson Scott Card on Adventures of Superman, we decided that we wanted to take our profits from his book and give them to the Human Rights Campaign, to offset the money Card stood to make, and a little more besides. This is A decision we made today. We may make others like it in the future, we may not. Let’s all keep an open mind.

All Things Being Equal

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 16:37:35 -0600

Today @ Challengers… We don’t often publicly mix our personal beliefs with the business side of running Challengers. We do it privately; of course we want to run our business in accordance to our personal morality, but we usually don’t broadcast it or get involved in Internet disputes or pilings-on. That being said…

DC Comics is releasing a new anthology series, ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, which features a story by sci-fi author and vocal gay-rights opponent Orson Scott Card. The book will be released digitally first with a printed edition to follow. As you can imagine, there is quite the comics community uproar over Mr. Card’s personal beliefs. In fact several stores are boycotting the book altogether. We are not going to do that. Instead, we are offering you the choice to buy this book from Challengers, knowing that if you do, we will donate 100% of our profits from each sale to the the Human Rights Campaign.

I think W. Dal Bush put it best when we were discussing this via email: “I’d rather take his book, that his royalties might go to anti-equality causes, and use it to fund pro-equality causes. Plus our profits per book are more than his royalties per book, so, like, double f**k him.”

For more on this comic: http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2013/02/three-more-stores-decide-not-to-stock-cards-superman-comic/

For more on the Human Rights Campaign: http://www.hrc.org/

And the alternate title for this post is, “Seriously, F**k This Guy.”

I LOVE YOU, BUT...

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 18:19:00 -0600

Today starts our annual “I LOVE YOU BUT I’VE CHOSEN COMICS” sale. We are not fans of devaluing the comics we sell, and the service we provide, by constantly discounting them. Always running sales, and plenty of stores are always running sales, sends the message that the comics you buy are not worth full price and if you wait just a week or two, they’ll be on sale again, so don’t buy them now. Thus we run ONE sale a year. We run it for a week and we use one discount across the board… 25% off everything. And when this week is over, our next sale will be this time next year.

Here is a conversation from someone taking advantage of today’s sale.

MJ: “We’re having our big sale starting today, so everything you’re buying qualifies for 25% off.”
Him: “Does anyone ever pay full price anymore??”
Me: “Sure. Most people.”
Him: “Well I guess they’re being nice.”
Me: …
Him: ”I’d love to buy things at full price, but when you can get it for 40% off, why would you? But for 25% off I can support the local guy.”

Gosh, thank you so much.

Today at Challengers… ANNOUNCEMENT! Lucy Knisley is coming...

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 14:55:50 -0600

Today at Challengers… ANNOUNCEMENT! Lucy Knisley is coming to Challengers on April 10th for a party! She’ll be signing copies of her terrific new book Relish: My Life In The Kitchen (I’ve read it! It is terrific!), hosting a slideshow, and hanging out with fans in a gallery decked out with her artwork. Beer and wine will be served, as well as Lucy’s recipes from Relish prepared by local fans. It’s going to be fun (potentially) on a bun!

Today at Challengers… I’m trying to remember if we...

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 15:39:49 -0600

Today at Challengers… I’m trying to remember if we showed everyone this year’s Sale T-Shirt design. Did we? It’s that one up there by Sean Dove (@andthankyou). I think it’s neat.

Wait. Hold on. Did you know we’re doing a sale? It’s called “I Love You But I’ve Chosen Comics”, it runs Feb 7 through Feb 13 each year, and you get 25% off everything in the store (except items marked New This Week, Local Artists books and any Held Items). It’s the only sale we do for the entire year, so don’t miss it.

Oh, and we do a t-shirt for the sale each year! That’s a thing. Anyone who spends more than $100 during the sale gets an exclusive, not-to-be-reprinted FREE t-shirt (delivery by the end of Feb), that you can only get by qualifying during the sale. Which, to bring it all the way back around, is what that new Sean Dove image is for. This year’s t-shirt.

I think (hope) that’s everything. It’s a busy day! I just wanted to make sure everyone knew about all this stuff. Thanks!

Today at Challengers… 6 new books from @bethhetland! You...

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 15:21:00 -0600

Today at Challengers… 6 new books from @bethhetland! You can get your copies of Fugue 1-3, Cycles, Coordinates and the anthology Lies Grown Ups Told Me at Challengers starting right this very minute!

Today at Challengers… My sign language is pretty rusty. I...

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 12:53:00 -0600

Today at Challengers… My sign language is pretty rusty. I took it back in high school but haven’t kept up, so when dealing with a hearing impaired customer, and after I fumble my way thru a few words, we usually resort to writing notes.

This photo is a note from today.

Like I said, I’m pretty rusty, but I can still say “Thank You.”

P.S. And now so can you…
http://mykidentity.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/thank-you-post.png