It’s Best of The Bay time again here in old San Francisco town, and repeating last year’s success, San Francisco’s Isotope won the readers’ poll for Best Comic Store, and Larry Young’s AiT/Planet Lar won the same poll for Best Local Publishing House. Al’s Comics won the Editor’s Choice for Best Comics Store:

It’s a familiar Mission District tale: Ratty, rundown, beloved vestige of the old hood gets its rent jacked. Pissed-off patrons sigh and gripe wistfully about the days before the bubble. Beloved vestige has a going-out-of-business sale. But in the case of Al’s Comics — until recently a hole-in-the-wall on Guerrero, tucked away between the whine of the tattoo needle (Sacred Rose) and the hiss of the espresso machine (Cafe Petra) — things may have worked out all right. After a rental-market roller-coaster ride, proprietor Al Kizziah has settled into a nice, roomy spot on the newly hopping stretch of Upper Market across from the Octavia Boulevard crawl, in good company alongside hipster spots like National Product and Grooves. More square footage means more elbow room to peruse Al’s expansive inventory of comics, graphic novels, posters, T-shirts, and collectible goodies, and there’s even enough room to hold the occasional author event. Voilà: a Mission tale with a happy ending.

Congratulations to all involved and, if you’re in the Bay Area, pick up the print version for a great photo of the Isotope staff.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 26th, 2006 at 11:19 am and is filed under Comic Books, Independent, News & Views, Retailers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.