Happy Birthday Challengers!!!!!

I couldn't let today go by without acknowledging the SIXTH anniversary of Chicago's greatest comic book store-Challengers Comics + Conversation. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GUYS!!
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Comic-Con Day 2 wrap up! The winner is...

These 2 guys!!

That's right kids, Challengers Comics + Conversation won the Will Eisner Spirit of Retailing award for Best Comic Store Friday night at the VERY end of the show (dear Eisner guy, would it kill you to announce this award earlier in the evening? I was REALLY freakin' tired by the time the award was presented) !!!!! A HUGE congratulations go out to owners Patrick Brower & W. Dal Bush!!! These two guys literally built this store with their own 2 hands, (OK, 4 hands) and have over the last 5 years that Challengers has been in business taken the city of Chicago by storm. Also, they are two very close friends of mine, who have helped and supported me greatly over the past 20 years. I've been a part of the Challengers team for a little over a year, and it's been an honor and privilege to work with them, just like old times. But now, in a HEALTHY work environment. Again, congratulations to them, and all my fellow Challengers!!!
-Now, beyond that, after reviewing the news coming out of SDCC yesterday, I have to declare the (2nd) place winner of the day..............................

BY. A. LANDSLIDE!!! First, Mattel held it's Mattypalooza panel, focusing on it's Masters of the Universe Classics, Ghostbusters, DC Comics, Watchmen and more. Revealed on the panel were some long awaited MOTUC figures, including the Horde Troopers!!!

And PLUNDOR!!!

Moving on to Ghostbusters, the best toy EVER was announced-An Ecto 1 that is in scale with the Matty Collector 6 inch line that comes with Ray and Peter figures with removable backpacks!!

But later on, the BEST TOY EVER was announced at Mattel's DC Panel. Ladies and Gentlemen........................MICHAEL KEATON BATMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!

 I have been waiting for a Michael Keaton Batman figure that actually LOOKS like Michael Keaton since 1989!!!!!!!!!! I am SOOOOOOO F'ing excited for this!!!
-So, there you have it. Day 2's winners were Challengers and Mattel. What if they joined forces? Hmmmmmmmmmm.
-No time for a recap on other stuff today, but I'll be back tomorrow with coverage of day 3 (and it's gonna be pretty damn awesome). See you tomorrow!!

I believe the children are our future

This past week, my friends, Patrick Brower and W. Dal Bush opened Chicago's first comic store for young readers. This was a labor of love and a long time coming. Let's face it, your "typical" comic store has a clientele of ALL ages, and it's time that someone focused on the younger crowd. A former employer of mine once told me "It doesn't matter what you put on the children's rack, kids will buy anything!!! They don't care!!" Boy, is THAT wrong. I've come to notice from all my years in comic retailing that kids DO care about what they buy. And now they have a place all there own. Ladies & gentlemen, boys & girls, children of all ages-SIDEKICKS IS HERE!!



A lot of love and careful planning went into this store, which is located INSIDE Challengers Comics +  Conversation located at 1845 N Western Avenue in Chicago's Bucktown neighborhood. The space was originally The Rogues Gallery, but has now been converted into a fantastic place where kids can come and know that they have their OWN comic book store. There's tiny little chairs where they can sit, read and check out what comics that they'd like to buy, and for any parents that are concerned, this-just like Challengers-is NOT your typical comic store. It's well lit, clean, organized and features a very friendly staff that is ready to answer any questions that might come up.
-For people that will miss The Rogues Gallery, fear not, while the month long art exhibits won't be going on anymore, Challengers will STILL HAVE ART SHOWS. They'll be one night only shows, but they have some great stuff planned for the future, so sign up for their newsletter to keep yourself in the know.
-I've said this a million times, and it's always dismissed, but I can't stress enough on how proud I am of my two "brothers" for what they've accomplished since opening Challengers. They've won countless awards, are MULTIPLE Eisner nominees and just plain all around great guys. This year they celebrate 5 years of being in business, with all signs pointing to them being awesome and providing Chicago with the BEST comic store experience for countless years to come. And hey, they were smart enough to bring on yours truly last year, so you KNOW they're doing something right!! ;)
-So, grab your kids, nieces and nephews, and anyone else and get over to Sidekicks and let them have some fun. They'll love it and they'll love you for bringing them there.

-I thought some of you might enjoy some "before & after" pictures of Sidekicks. These never before seen pics show the transformation from The Rogues Gallery to Sidekicks.
                                                                         BEFORE:

                                                                   After:

2012! That year that was.......

....ok-ish. First off, I HATE HATE HATE year end review shit. Seriously. Why? Because I have the patented Hayes memory. I can't remember anything. Yes, I know my wedding date. Yes, I know dates of important events in my life. I remember stuff that's important to me and a lot of stuff that isn't. But, when pressed, I always come up WAY short on lists. So, this isn't so much a list, as much as it is a "I DO remember that this happened this year" type of thing. And I'm gonna TRY and come up with 12, but, well, we'll see what happens.

Skyfall: OH MY GOD SKYFALL!!!! I am a huge Bond fan, but I never thought that a James Bond movie would be as perfect as this. Never. It's got everything. All the classic hallmarks of a Bond film cranked up to 11. What surprised me most, was that this was an ENDING to the origin of James Bond. And I didn't even know I was watching it until the very last few minutes. Easily, my favorite movie of 2012.

REVIVAL: OK, I'll admit it. I'm the guy that hates Image Comics. SUPER hates them. I hate them so much, I'm totally indifferent to them. Except for one other comic that will come up later. So, what in the hell would make me even look at this book? First, it was the creators, Mike Norton and Tim Seeley. Then, I found out that it takes place in a town about 45 minutes north from where I grew up. You know what I found out? NOT ALL IMAGE COMICS SUCK!!! I absolutely LOVE this comic!! I'm not gonna go into a long diatribe about why here, but trust me when I tell you-it's fucking AWESOME!!! If you get the chance, seriously, read it-you're going to love it. Art is great, story is great, just an all around solid, comic. THE best ongoing title released this year, hands down.

THE AVENGERS: What can I say about this movie? Everyone, includiing me, LOVED IT! And, with good reason. I'm not a Joss Whedon fan, but this was GREAT!! Perfect amount of action, dead-on, true to the character dialogue, what more could you ask for? Nick Fury was a LITTLE too much of an asshole for my taste, but that was really the only complain that I had. And, it's a VERY minor one. Best summer movie, by far!

FRIENDS: In 2012 I found out who my TRUE friends were....and it was a giant kick in the ass. People that I THOUGHT were my friends, turned out not to be. Sad, but true. And, they made me appreciate my REAL friends even more. And for that, I am very grateful and blessed.

ERNIE CHAN: Sadly, we lost Ernie Chan this year. From Batman to Conan to Captain Carrot, he was one of my favorites. Both him and his work will be missed.

SCARLET SPIDER: Chris Yost and that A-Hole Ryan Stegman brought an all new Scarlet Spider to life!! And he's AWESOME!!!! The book is still going strong, but sadly, with out artist Stegman who has moved on to a great gig on the upcoming Superior Spider-Man!

GI JOE RETALIATION: Earlier this year, I and other GI Joe fans had the rug pulled out from under us when Paramount and Hasbro announced just WEEKS before it's release date that GI Joe: Retaliation was being pulled for 3-D conversion and that we'd have to wait almost an entire YEAR to see it. Well, that year is about 90 days from being up and I'm still excited about seeing it, but that was the day that all of us GI Joe fans collectively flipped out shit for 1 day.

CALL ME MAYBE: No comment.

DISNEY BUYS LUCASFILM: In what came as a HUGE shock to most people, The Walt Disney Company aquired Lucasfilm AND announced that Star Wars: Episode 7 would be out in theaters in less than 3 years. A great day for all Star Wars fans, true. With Disney owning Marvel, Lucasfilm as well as it's OWN treasure trove of characters, this is the year that Disney pretty much took over as the top studio in Hollywood.

MACGYVER: THE COMIC BOOK: In October, Image Comics released MacGyver: The Fugitive Gauntlet #1. Written by series creator Lee David Zlotoff & Tony Lee and illustrated by Will Sliney, this book is AWESOME!!!!

SIX MILLION DOLLAR EVERYTHING!!!!: This year, Entertainment Earth released a TON of Six Million Dollar Man merchandise!!! Figures, coffee mugs, t-shirts, all this and more on the way. That, combined with Dynamite Entertainment's excellent comic book series made this year pretty damn Bionic!!! Still, part of me wishes for a 3&3/4 inch scale set of action figures. But, I'm not complaining. :)

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!! This year on March 2nd, after 2 long years spent on the Legally Prohibited from Selling Comics in a Store Tour, I was honored to join the team at Challengers Comics + Conversation in Chicago, IL. Run by two long time friends, it has been nothing but a pleasure spending the past 9 months as a Challenger. Thanks to them for the opportunity.

Bonus: I can't believe I came up with 12, let alone a 13th, item. Wow. I guess my memory isn't nearly as bad as I thought! Also, huge thanks to google. This one may be the most important one. This was the year, that I decided to go back to school to get a degree in Personal Fitness Training. It's something that I've been passionate about for awhile, and I decided that this was something that I could do to HELP people become better. As of today, it's not looking good for me to make the January classes for a number of reasons, but here's hoping I will. If not, then I will FINALLY start school in April. Here's hoping!!!

THE LIST for 11/28/12

I don't know about you, but here's what I'm excited for this week:

All New X-Men #2! I LOVE this take on X-Men! Bendis is great on this title and Stuart Immonan's art is AMAZING!!!

Superman Family Adventures #7: There is NO comic out right now that is as PURE FUN as this book.

Masks #1: ALL your favorite pulp heroes join forces! The Shadow! The Spider! The Green Hornet! Zorro!

The Savage Hawkman #14: Hawkman & Green Arrow!!! Together again for the first time!!!...in the New 52 at least.

Arrow #1: Speaking of Green Arrow. I love this show, I'll give the comic a read.

Cobra #19: Featuring those lovable Ruskies-THE OKTOBER GUARD!!

Aquaman #14: OCEAN! MASTER!

and finally.....MacGyver: The Fugitive Gauntlet #2: It's MacGyver!!!!!
-It's actually a HUGE week for comics, so get down to your local retailer and check out all the new books. If your in Chicago, you KNOW where to go!!! See you guys & gals at Challengers tomorrow!!

Guess who's having the BEST DAY EVER??!?!?!

Yeah, it's this guy. First off, check out the new blog header. Many thanks go out to Mr. Patrick Brower. He's the best of the best.

-Second, Dynamite swoops in outta nowhere and announces that they're doing TARZAN comics!!! How awesome is that? Here's one of the covers to the first issue

I have to admit, my love of Tarzan comes straight from the 70's/80's Filmation cartoon. Take a peak:

-This cartoon blew me away when I was a kid.

-So then, let's move on to comics. AQUAMAN #1 comes out tomorrow and if you're lucky enough to be in Chicago, you HAVE to go over to Challengers Comics and pick up a FREE GOLDFISH when you buy a copy!!!!.

Finally, my life long dream of being a GHOSTBUSTER becomes a reality!!! Tomorrow, Ghostbusters #1 goes on sale, and your collection is NOT complete without the Jimmy PS Hayes cover!!

It's being sold EXCLUSIVELY at Challengers Comics. Now, if you're not in Chicago, you can pick one up here. And you'll have my eternal gratitude. Oh yeah, on top of all this, there's a new HAWKMAN comic coming out tomorrow. For me, the only way it could get better is if scientist discovered the cure for diabetes was having sex with Paris Hilton.