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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

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.

09/10/2025

Meet 11-Year Old Comic Creator, Amelie Anderson!

Isotope Comics, beloved San Francisco staple in Hayes Valley, proudly presents the debut of AMELIE ANDERSON and her first comic called “SPEYEDER.”

We are doing a full gallery show of her original artwork at the Isotope over the next few months. And on Saturday we will be launching her new SPEYEDER comic with Amelie, who will be signing and sketching for each of you that day!

Some of Amelie’s limited-edition prints will also be available as well as some of her original artwork will be on sale. And, as is Isotope tradition, we take no cut from original artwork sales so that 100% of all art money goes directly into our featured artists’ pockets.

We are all *very* excited about this talented young artist’s work - her work reminds me of some of my absolute favorite surrealist and psychedelic artists inside comics, like Brendan McCarthy (STRANGE DAYS) and Steve Ditko (DOCTOR STRANGE), and also outside of comics, like Salvador Dalí and René Magritte.

SPEYEDER is a comic about young love and a girl who has to overcome the haunting floating-eye spectre of the “Speyeder” - the metaphysical manifestation of the “inner critic.”

Truly profound and powerful stuff from a comic creator of any age... but from an 11 year old?! Wow.

Come meet Amelie and help us kick off this talented creator’s art career in high style!

Bring in your kids to get inspired by her! And be inspired yourself to also bring your comic creations to life too!

HUNTER D, another incredibly talented SF Bay Area teen cartoonist (16) tells us he also might be in attendance, we definitely hope he can make it, as was a previous signing we did with Hunter for his CAMPFIRE comic that helped inspire Amelie to make her comics!

Seriously, what could be cooler than that?!

AMELIE ANDERSON
SPEYEDER Launch Signing
@ Isotope Comics
326 Fell st (between Gough & Octavia)
Saturday, September 13th 2025
1-3pm

See more of Amelie’s art on our instagram over the next few weeks at:
www.instagram.com/isotopecomics

08/27/2025

On The Counter At The Isotope! KNIVES original graphic novel by the incredible CRIMINAL team of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips! Hard to keep a new Brubaker / Phillips book in stock, these huge stacks won’t last long, stop on in and grab a copy of the best crime noir of 2025… !

08/20/2025

Don’t miss this one!

Our entire Isotope community is *so excited* for this next in-store signing, and to get to introduce everyone to 11-year old comic creator AMELIE ANDERSON and debut her *fantastic* new comic SPEYEDER!

SPEYEDER is a psych-drama story about young love and resisting the all-seeing and ever-present SPEYEDER, the metaphysical embodiment of the "inner critic" and self-doubt.

We’ve been watching this come together over several months and are just blown away by Amelie’s art and writing. One part Mariko Tamaki and Grant Morrison... and art that reminds us of our favorite surrealist artists in and out of comics, Salvador Dalí + Steve Ditko + Brendan McCarthy + René Magritte. Seriously cool stuff!

Come get a preview! We have Amelie’s original art and SPEYEDER production pages hanging in the Isotope’s gallery starting today! And will be adding additional pieces of her incredible art as we get closer to her signing!

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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