Challengers Comics + Conversation has announced the opening of their second comic book retail location at 750 N. Franklin St, Suite #103, in Chicago’s River North neighborhood. Already open for just shy of 12 years in Bucktown, Challengers owners Patrick Brower and W. Dal Bush feel the time is right for expansion.

In the announcement, Brower said:

Comic books and graphic novels are better now than they’ve ever been, and the subject matter is so diverse that reading a ‘comic book’ is now an everyday occurrence for more people than ever before. Having started Challengers in Chicago and seeing so many people buy their first comic is such an amazing feeling that we want to do more of it.

Challengers is a comic book store, not a collectibles store. They don’t sell priceless artifacts; they don’t sell investments. They sell reading material; and, in their opinion, today’s comics and graphic novels are the best form of entertainment available.

Since opening their first location Challengers Red in March 2008, Challengers has received “Best Of” awards from the Chicago Reader, Chicago Magazine and Newcity, and was awarded the comic book industry’s version of the Academy Award in the form of the Will Eisner “Spirit of Comics” Retail Award.