Is the modern comic book market spiraling back into the speculator madness of the 1990s? Patrick Brower, co-owner of Chicago’s award-winning Challengers Comics + Conversation in Bucktown, joins James in the car to break down today’s comics retail landscape. Together,…

In this episode of Car Con Carne, James VanOsdol catches up with Chicago comic artist and musician Dan Dougherty at Hamburger Heaven in Elmhurst to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Dougherty’s award-winning comic series, Beardo. Dan looks back on the…

I’ve been reading comics since I was a small child. I’m pretty sure, without exaggeration, that I learned how to read largely because of comics. Like anyone in the hobby, I’d fallen in and out of it through the years….

Kingdom Come is a four-issue DC Comics graphic novel miniseries that came out in 1996. Mark Waid wrote it, Alex Ross envisioned it and painted it, and this epic story continues to ripple through not just the comics industry but…

$100 for a Randy Quaid autograph? The bullshitter’s full.

Award-winning creative duo DJ Corchin and Dan Dougherty are currently crowdfunding “Shut Up and Feel: An Adult Picture Book on Emotions,” a book that’s “relatable, hilarious, and has a lot of swears. A bold, picture book approach to the messy…

This episode sees the return of longtime friend and Challengers Comics + Conversation co-owner Patrick Brower! For this conversation, we met at Club Lago in River North (331 W Superior St, Chicago, IL 60654). Owner GianCarlo was kind enough to…

Comic creator BILL SIENKIEWICZ (Sin-KEV-itch) is an Eisner Award-winner for his work on DC Comics’ The Sandman: Endless Nights. He’s also a two time Emmy nominee for his production and character design on the TV series Where In the World…

Small businesses… big companies… entrepreneurs… it seems like the demand for branded podcasts is at an all time high. In a panel recorded at Chicago Podcast Day in May, 2022, I was joined by Patrick Brower (Contest of Challengers) and…

ATOMIKA: GOD IS RED, the independently-created graphic novel by Sal Abbinanti, is being compiled in a new Omnibus edition. Jump on the Kickstarter of Atomika while you can: It closes soon, and there are all kinds of cool extras and…