Last night, Comic-Con handed out its Eisner Awards, named after legendary comics creator Will Eisner and known as the Oscars of the comics industry.
If you don't have a badge for the pop culture event then you can visit one of San Diego's comic book stores and seek these out.
"Anytime the awards come up and nominations go out, we get an uptick in sales for these books," explained Lucky Bronson, co-owner of Comickaze on Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
He said "Human Target," which won the Eisner for Best Limited Series, is a great read. "Definitely something I voted for," Bronson said.
Each comic shop has a slightly different personality and focus. Comickaze is known for its extensive collection of graphic novels and collections. Meanwhile, Now or Never Comics in downtown San Diego prides itself on accessibility.
"We want to make stuff as easy to find as possible," explained Aaron Trites, owner of Now or Never Comics. "So we have stuff organized by genre instead of just alphabetically. We have specific sections for key issues, and first appearances. If you're a diehard comic book fan you may know that information but there's a lot of people that don't know that stuff, and so we try to make Now or Never as accessible as possible to all readers, whether it's new stuff, old stuff, whether it's people reading monthly floppies, whether it's trade paperbacks, whether it's manga."
Comic book stores create a loyal cliental because every week they have new comics that fans subscribe to and pick up. So when you see the same people every Wednesday, customers start to see the shops as more than just a business.
"When the shop was first opening, the kind of guiding light philosophy for us was to be the 'Cheers' of comic book stores," explained Trites of the five-year-old Now or Never Comics. "I always wanted to have that kind of, like, 'Norm!' So getting to know customers on a personal basis, being able to connect with people and community really is the number one goal for the shop."
Now or Never Comics also has the distinction of being the only comics shop within walking distance of Comic-Con.
"We see an enormous amount of traffic from Comic-Con," Trites said. "It's far and away our busiest week of the year. It's been really interesting seeing so many folks leave Comic-Con and they didn't find the thing that they were looking for, and they still want to hunt for it. They've had the kind of big show floor experience ... and they want something a little bit more old school comic shop."
"We do see people who are looking for a quieter place from Comic-Con after a couple days of that and still want to look at comics," said Didi, co-owner of Comickaze. Didi only goes by his first name. "So we can definitely introduce them to things that they may not have seen short of walking around Small Press or Artist Alley at Comic-Con. We have a smaller version of that."
Nuclear Comics North Park is the newest comic book store in San Diego at just one year old, but its owners have run a shop in Orange County for more than 30 years. They have also run a booth at Comic-Con for two decades.
"We've been wanting to open another store here for years," said Kim Lemire of Nuclear Comics. "It just finally ended up coming to fruition. When we do Comic-Con, we specialize in our trade paperbacks graphic novels. At the shop we specialize in trying to have a good selection and a good variety and a lot of independent comics that maybe people haven't heard of before but are interested in trying something new or diving into something different."
One of the great things about these comic book shops is that they have extremely knowledgeable staffs that can help you find almost anything or make great recommendations for what to buy as a gift for someone.
Comic-Con ends on Sunday but these comic book shops provide a celebration of pop culture all year long.
