March 30–April 5: San Francisco, CA
Hi, I'm James Sime. I sell comics for a living.
For decades, I've been shopping at comic book stores, feeding an ever-hungry personal collection with everything from the most popular superhero titles to obscure mini-comics. Because I love comics, really a lot. A lot, a lot! My favorite books of all time are Daredevil, Preacher, anything Adam Strange or Doctor Strange, American Flagg, and the British anthology 2000ad (especially the ones printed on the supertrashy newsprint that get ink all over your hands). Like many of you, I always wanted to do something (anything, really) pertaining to comics with my life, but honestly never thought I'd ever get the chance. I'd traveled all over the country buying comic books from both famous shops and tiny mom-and-pop comic shops alike. Everywhere. I'd drive my old Mustang for hours just for the joy of driving and the quest for another comic store I'd never been to before. In the quick cash world of bartending, it was exhilarating to know that every one of those martinis I was shaking were invariably going to lead to me to a fistful of 20s by the end of the night…and that if I managed to not blow it all chasing down last call at the neighborhood dive, I was going to get up in the morning and go spend that money on comics. And I spent several days each and every week doing just that.
But what I really wanted in a comic store, I never found.
Maybe I'm just crazy, but this son of a high school chemistry teacher always wanted something different than your typical comic book store. Something more! I wanted someone to take that swanky lounge atmosphere that I'd been working in and apply it to the four-color world of funnybooks. I wanted an art gallery with constantly changing original comic art from my favorite creators. And I wanted something that would appeal to both lifelong comic nerds like myself and to folks dipping their toes in to the unfamiliar waters of the sequential art medium for the very first time. Why didn't somebody just combine all those things and make a place like that for me?
One day I just got fed up with waiting around for someone else to do it and just made it myself.
I opened the Isotope on Marilyn Monroe's birthday in 2001 and despite having almost no startup cash and definitely no business experience beyond making change for people at the bar, I had to give it a try and see if other people wanted the kind of comic store I did.
I'm blessed that so many other people out there appreciate what my staff and I do and to have a community of friendly comic fans who also love this weird kind of comic shop I created. My business has managed to grow over those few years and these days we can pretty much do whatever kind of ridiculous event I can come up with and with whatever creator I think my customers want to hang out with. The Isotope's gallery has been the host to original comic artwork from the four corners of the industry, from JH Williams III's Batman to Tim Sale’s amazing work from the Heroes TV show to San Francisco local Justin Hall’s Glamazonia. Currently on display are Dave Johnson 100 Bullets covers, which have never been seen anywhere outside Johnson's house before. Kinda cool! Anyway, all this has really been a dream come true for me, and I couldn't be happier. The shop has been showered with a number of very nice awards and has been celebrated in places I never expected to see, like Time magazine and USA Today and Ripley's Believe It or Not. And all that is really nice. For me, it's about the comics, and the people, and giving something back to the artform that has brought me so much joy in my life.
The Isotope isn't a job for me; it's my ever-evolving, constantly mutating, and always improving gift to people just like you and me…people who just love the funnybooks. If you're ever in SF, stop in and say hi…we'll talk about comics; it's my favorite subject in the universe.
—James
Isotope—the comic book lounge
326 Fell St (@ Gough)
San Francisco, CA
(415) 621-6543
Email: james@isotopecomics.com
Web: http://isotopecomics.com
Top 10 Graphic Novels
1. Air, Vol. 1 by G. Willow Wilson and MK Parker
2. Transhuman by Jonathan Hickman and JM Ringuet
3. The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack by Nicholas Gurewitch
4. Transmetropolitan, Vol. 1 Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson
5. Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall by Bill Willingham and various
6. Scalped, Vol. 1 by Jason Aaron and RM Guera
7. DC: New Frontier, Vol. 1 by Darwyn Cooke and J. Bone
8. Mother Come Home by Paul Hornschemeier
9. New Avengers: Secret Invasion, Vol. 1 by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos
10. Cool Jerk, Vol. 2 by Paul Horn
Top 10 Manga
1. A Drifting Line by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
2. Oishinbo a la Carte: Japanese Cuisine by Kariya Tetsu and Hanasaki Akira
3. Dororo, Vol. 3 by Osamu Tezuka
4. Monster, Vol. 18 by Naoki Urasawa
5. Naruto, Vol. 40 by Masashi Kishimoto
6. Black Jack, Vol. 3 by Osamu Tezuka
7. Abandon the Old in Tokyo by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
8. xxxHOLiC, Vol. 13 by Clamp
9. The Push Man and Other Stories by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
10. MW by Osamu Tezuka
