Comic shop owner Patrick Brower returns to the podcast to talk about 2017 in comic book retail. Brower discusses why the last quarter of the year lagged so badly in his shop, what he thinks triggered the downturn in 2017, the volume of comics being produced, what worked in his shop, the Rickmobile, the impact of in-store events, what didn’t work in his shop during the year, society’s impact on sales, why pull list customers disappeared in December, his take on what’s driving fans away, what’s causing Marvel’s struggles, the devaluation of artists at Marvel, the dip in graphic novel sales, the impact of comic book culture going mainstream, the lack of impactful marketing in the industry, the shop’s plans for 2018, and more.

Thanks for listening to this week’s podcast with comic shop owner Patrick Brower. You can find his shop, Challengers Comics + Conversation, on Twitter, on Facebook, on their website, and in their Eisner-winning shop in Chicago.

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Big thanks to my patrons, including – but not limited to – Ford Gilmore, David Baroldy, Evan Blasor, Andrew Scott, Brian McCray, Ira James Udaskin, Benjamin Birdie, Henning Ahlers, Modern Magic Stories, Nick Hall, Bruno Batista, Abraham Riesman, Adrian Diaz, Bobby Angus, Bjorn Basen, Darren Neely, John Hendrick, Steve Anderson, Michael Perlman, Phil Knall, Ian Maxfield, Cliff Chiang, Benjamin Schipper, Colin McMahon, Chris Palmer, Maxwell Schmidt, Dan Lee, Scott McGovern, Nathan Fairbairn, Cat McKenzie, Lou Iovino, Christopher Carter, Nicholas Keslake, Brian Dickerson, Greg Rucka, Ryan Mayle, Adam Highfill, Nicholas Gardner, Andrew Corrigan, Fiona Staples, Chris Morris, Chris O’Hollaran, Mark Abnett, Mike Murphy, Michael Shirley, Tom Barnett, Jim Demonakos, Norbert, Nick Lowe, James Kaplan, and Mission: Comics and Art in San Francisco. You’re all the best.

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Header image is of Challengers Comics + Conversation in Chicago. Intro and outro music is Vulfpeck’s Outro from their album Vollmilch. Thanks to the band for letting me use the track.