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Tuesday 11am - 6pm Wednesday 11am - 6pm Thursday 11am - 6pm Friday 11am - 6pm Saturday 11am - 6pm Sunday 11am - 5pm

Isotope - The Comic Book Lounge

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Isotope - The Comic Book Lounge

A place for comics & graphic novels, and the people who love them, in the heart of beautiful Hayes Valley, San Francisco. We love you, SF! Sorry, no toys.
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Our thanks for voting us “Best Comic Store” for a full 20 years straight by the readers of the SF Bay Guardian. A place for comics and the people who like them. Selling a wide variety of comics, graphic novels and mini-comics for all ages. Featuring author/artist events and classes for the next generation of comic making superstars. Best Comic Store 2002 - 2016 - SF Bay Guardian
Best of San Francisco - San Francisco Magazine

07/25/2026

TODAY @ ISOTOPE: Come meet Steve Horton, author of BOWIE: STARDUST, RAYGUNS & MOONAGE DAYDREAMS, the greatest David Bowie biography ever! 3pm-6pm.

07/20/2026

Come celebrate our 25th birthday anniversary with Isotope Comics - San Francisco’s iconic destination for comic books & graphic novels and those who love them.

Featuring Rick Remender, writer of so many of the industry’s best comics (including THE SACRIFICERS, ESCAPE, BLACK SCIENCE, DEADLY CLASS, TOKYO GHOST, THE SEASONS) and mad architect behind Image Comics’ GIANT GENERATOR imprint.

An all-ages daytime signing plus a 21+ evening event for the old school nightowls. Isotope, run by the duo of Kirsten Baldock & James Sime, celebrate a delightful career with a unique comics loving community & lifelong friendships made.

“The stars align! Isotope’s very first event back in 2001 was a team up with Rick Remender. So there’s a beautiful symmetry in re-teaming with our quarter-century friend Rick for this 25th anniversary celebration. Plus, he is utterly brilliant, slightly insane, and totally hilarious!”

Also featuring:

THE GIANT GENERATOR ZIGGURAT permanent installation debut dedicated to Rick Remender comics.

A 2026 update on our popular HOME OF WUVABLE OAF window display by Ed Luce.

Garage, punk, new wave, psyche and funk on the soundsystem with DJ Bearzbub. And once-in-a-lifetime Remender-themed liquid arts by Kirsten Baldock.

Remender says:

“Twenty-five years ago, I was a dirt-poor writer/artist struggling to pay rent for the rotting garage I called home in the Sunset District of San Francisco.

When James Sime, a young whippersnapper in a W***y Wonka zoot suit with hair like the bride of Frankenstein, opened the Isotope comic book store down the street from me, it seemed fated by the rat god of punker nerds.

Pretty soon, I was there a couple of times a week. James and I would spend hours talking about old hardcore, new wave, post-punk, skating, and the strange business of attaching one’s life to the comics business.

Isotope quickly became my home away from the black-mold dungeon I was living in. At a very uncertain time in my life, when there appeared to be little hope I’d feed myself, much less accomplish my dreams, Isotope gave me a home base and a safe harbor. James was always generous with encouragement and advice, not only supporting the books but throwing parties around them.

When you’re dead broke, working yourself to death while receiving very little positive feedback, something like this can encourage you to continue. In my case, it sure did. It was the kind of support that made me feel like I was part of a community, and it offered a glimmer of hope that the dark tunnel had some light down the road.

As James and I were reminiscing a few months ago, it turned out that I was one of the creators featured at Isotope’s first-ever signing event, where I drew Black Heart Billy on a toilet seat, beginning a long-running Isotope tradition that hundreds of artists have contributed to since.

So, returning to San Francisco to celebrate Isotope’s 25th anniversary and 25 years of Giant Generator is a true homecoming.

We’ll be using the occasion to launch a permanent Giant Generator pop-up shop inside Isotope, featuring our full library of compendiums and limited-edition oversized hardcovers, along with giclée prints, rare single issues, signed posters, and more.

If you’re in the region, or feel like traveling to my favorite city to come hang out, we’d love to see you. You’ll find me sitting in a corner, reminiscing with ghosts and wondering how the f**k it’s been a quarter of a century. You can toss pebbles at my head.

Nothing bigger than that, though, as my old bones have become quite brittle.”

RICK REMENDER + ISOTOPE COMICS
25th Anniversary Celebration
Saturday, August 8th, 2026
All Ages Signing: 3-6pm
21+ Afterparty: 7pm
Isotope Comics, San Francisco

06/17/2026

MONSTERS IN LOVE: A PRIDE ANTHOLOGY features an all-new 8-page comic by WUVABLE OAF’s Ed Luce (w/ Josh Trujillo )... Ed signed up all our copies - Let us know if you want one! And we got this great Ed Luce paparazzi pic with Isotope’s own Ken Kneisel & Isotope’s DJ BEARZBUB . What a photo! Happy Pride!

05/02/2026

Surprise special guests for this year’s Free Comic Book Day @ Isotope - all coming out to meet Amelie Anderson:

15-year old HUNTER D, the inspiration of millions! We have copies of his latest book LEG DAY in stock!

9-year old KAI, we will have fresh new printings of issues 1-3 of his ADVENTURES OF KAI comics!

8-year old JUNA, writer artist of BLACK BIRD!

25-year old BASIE — THE MASKED MUTANT creator makes his triumphant return to the Isotope! Basie was our legendary superstar all the way back in 2009-2011!

04/24/2026

Join us for Free Comic Book Day this year and get to meet 11-year old comic creator Amelie Anderson!

We will be debuting Amelie's fantastic new end-of-the-world romance comic, I'D SPEND MY LAST DAYS WITH YOU.

Isotope's long tradition of featuring the SF Bay Area's most exciting under-16-year-old comic creators on FCBD goes all the way back to 2005 (often with surprise unannounced superstar comic artists helping run our cash register) and we're thrilled to resurrect our favorite annual tradition with Amelie Anderson this year!

We've invited in some of our favorite creators to meet her and check out this talented newcomer's work, and delight some of our long-time FCBD customers. Sure would be fun to have some of those other kids in for a reunion!

Come on in, get yourself some free FCBD comics from our legendarily massive comics smorgasbord, buy a copy of Amelie's new comic, get inspired, support our indie local bookshop, and celebrate with us the next generation of comic creators!

04/15/2026

Save The Date: AMELIE ANDERSON returns to the Isotope this Free Comic Book Day to debut her all-new apocalyptic love story comic I’D SPEND MY LAST DAYS WITH YOU!

We are totally blown away by this 11-year old comic creator and love her deep characters and artwork. Her dreamlike surreal work reminds us of some of our absolute favorite artists, including Steve Ditko, Brendan McCarthy, with a hint of Paul Pope, and SF’s own Jamaica Dyer - gorgeous stuff! Come meet her and see why we adore her comics so much!

Free Comic Book Day, May 2nd 2026.

03/11/2026

Happy Sylvester Day! On this day in 1979 disco legend and San Francisco icon Sylvester was awarded the Key To The City by then-Mayor Dianna Feinstein and May 11th was declared Sylvester Day. We’ll be spinning “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” and “Over And Over” and other great songs in celebration all day!

A lesser-known fact is that in 1970s Sylvester lived at the Isotope address and threw some great parties here (or perhaps it was next door). As lifelong fans of Sylvester’s music it brings us a huge smile to know that one of our favorite San Francisco icons used to also call our location home. A neighbor told us they all called it “the Studio 54 of the West.”

Here’s to you on the 47 anniversary of your day, Sylvester!

03/04/2026

On Sale Now: THE ADVENTURES OF KAI #1-3, the world premiere debut by 9-year old comic creator Kai Mercedes!

Isotope is honored to get to be the first store anywhere on Earth to get to stock this new superhero book by the SF Bay Area’s newest debut comic creator. We know you will be as impressed as we are with Kai’s sequential storytelling, pulse-pounding plots, and exploding-from-the-page 3D lettering effects!

Kai has autographed the whole run of this first batch of issues #1-3 and also did random original art sketches on the back covers of select copies to surprise lucky Isotope customers.

Get ready for...

Transforming Robots! Fire-Breathing Kaiju! City-Destroying Giant Insects! Computer-Controlled Snakes! Superhero Punch-Ups! Training Montages! Time Travel! Exploding Planets! Don’t miss out on getting your hands on THE ADVENTURES OF KAI!

02/24/2026

Isotope proudly presents BLACK BIRD issue #1, the world-premier debut by 8-year old comic creator Juna!

We know you’ll enjoy checking out Juna’s first published work, an action-packed fantasy Bird World adventure starring the mythological planetary protector known as BLACK BIRD.

Juna tells us she is hard at work on issue #2 already - which has a surprise that made James say “Whoa!” (but we’re sworn to secrecy until it comes out) - we’re definitely excited to see more of this young creator’s work!

Juna signed a handful of this debut issue for us, but those signed copies are going to go fast, so be sure to stop by and get your copy soon!

02/04/2026

New printing of MARCH by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin & Nate Powell today. Perfect timing! Also ABSOLUTE BATMAN VOL 2 has arrived too.

Address

326 Fell Street
San Francisco, CA
94102

Opening Hours

Tuesday	11am - 6pm
Wednesday	11am - 6pm
Thursday	11am - 6pm
Friday	11am - 6pm
Saturday	11am - 6pm
Sunday	11am - 5pm

Website

http://isotopecomics.com/

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