If you've ever been to a Free Comic Book Day at the Isotope you already know how we serve up an extra heapin' helpin' of FCBD goodness, for you to get some true sequential art satisfaction, baby! And this year we've got a gut feelin' we will be quenching those uncontrollable urges, because we're featuring the 9 year old comic creating sensation Basie and truly SF's finest digital music jockey on the wheels of steel... the one, the only DJ Bearzbub!
Come celebrate the new darkly-exhilarating, mind-altering, genre-expanding graphic novel from comic creating genius Dash Shaw, BODYWORLD at the Isotope on April 27, 2010 7pm-midnight.
BODYWORLD presents a dystopian future in which the Hunter S. Thompson of botanists, Professor Paulie Panther, descends on the bucolic Boney Borough to research a newly discovered psychedelic alien plant that induces telepathic body-swaps when smoked. Shaw, the well-known comics visionary behind BOTTOMLESS BELLY BUTTON, THE UNCLOTHED MAN, and MOTHER'S MOUTH, bends the genre even further this time as his art dives head-first into the psychotropic experiences of his characters. Neither his characters, nor the reader will come out the same.
Come take the head-trip that is BODYWORLD with us!
This was the Isotope's absolute favorite WonderCon weekend ever... and a goodly part of that is thanks to the several hundred of you who came out for our post-con bash with Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti and Darwyn Cooke!
Thanks to our amigos iFanboy, Bay Area Derby Girls, NorCal Pirate Frest, SF's Tiki Bars, all of you, and to my special guest host the Reverend Dave Johnson (100 BULLETS, PUNISHER, SUPERMAN: RED SON) for making this year's tour my favorite one ever.
And a special thanks out to Dyami Serna for providing the photographic proof with these great photos.
With just over 150 passports handed out, hordes and hordes of pirates, and my email in-box filled with the thanks of appreciative tiki bar owners... I honestly don't know how we're *ever* going to top this one!
The Isotope and iFanboy have dropped some *serious* cash promoting our WonderCon weekend events... TIMES SQUARE! Surely this is the Biggest News in Comics!
In celebration of the Alternative Press Expo the Isotope proudly presents a rare west coast appearance by Dean Haspiel!
This Brooklyn-based author, artist, and rockstar in cartoonist's clothing behind Eisner and Ignatz Award celebrated works like THE QUITTER, OPPOSABLE THUMBS, AMERICAN SPLENDOR, and THE ALCOHOLIC makes a rare West Coast appearance in honor of IDW Publishing's hotly anticipated ACT-I-VATE PRIMER hardcover, a collection of some of the best strips from the ACT-I-VATE webcomix collective. Come and meet the man... and witness live art as the one and only Dino can serve up!
In honor of James Robinson and Mark Bagley's up-coming run on JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, the Isotope, along with our friends at Details Magazine and Warner Brothers, are taking over the entire second floor of San Francisco's legendary Bloomingdale's for a massive bash of truly monolithic proportions. Yes... you read that correctly!
Join us for an evening of cocktails, DJs, gourmet finger foods, and fabulous high fashion. Witness Christopher Nolan's screen-used Batman suit as well as the Catwoman, and Two-Face costumes straight from the silver screen. And best of all...
... come meet James Robinson, author of SUPERMAN, JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRY FOR JUSTICE, NEW WORLD OF KRYPTON, and STARMAN! And don't forget to pick up James and Mark Bagley's first issue of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA the very next week!
Isotope & Details Magazine Present: James Robinson @ Bloomingdale's Wednesday, October 14th 2009 San Francisco www.bloomingdales.com
The Alternative Press Expo is coming... make your plans now for the most fun weekend of the entire year!
It's our biggest, it's our best, and it most certainly is our favorite. The can't-miss annual APE afterparty tradition with the Isotope and 1000 of your closest amigos!
Along with the Isotope's planetarily famous after-APE hospitality, we will once again be featuring the TOP SHELF HAPPY HOUR w/ Top Shelf Productions co-publisher Brett Warnock and his surprise variety of brilliant Top Shelf special guest stars from 8 to 9pm.
And let's not forget the single best reason to leave the house all year long, the awarding of the seventh annual ISOTOPE AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN MINI-COMICS at 10pm! This year's celebration will be featuring 2008's grand prize champion and rising mini-comics star Jonas Madden-Conner. Who will take home the most sexy (and dangerous) prize in all of comics?!
The Isotope's biggest and best party of the year with body-grooving tunes spun by one of SF's finest maestros on the wheels of steel, DJ Bearzbub. This party gets insanely crazy, but don't just take my word for it witness it for yourself, true believers. Bring your spare liver!
APE AFTERMATH 09 @ Isotope 326 Fell St @ Gough 8pm - 2am Never a cover 21 and over after 11pm, please
On behalf the Bay Area Derby Girls, our Whip It friends, and the entire Isotope staff... thanks to everyone who came out for last night's amazing bash. So, so much fun!
We had a trio of great photographers documenting the bash, so expect to see tons of photos to come!
Come meet your favorite Derby Girl at the Isotope this Friday!
You don't just blindly believe everything you read in the paper, do you? For shame! Didn't your mother tell you to only trust what you read in comic books? Ours did!
Bay Area Derby Girls @ Isotope Friday, September 25 2009 7pm - Midnight
Well we can't help you with those first ones, but the always fab Babs from Comic Vine (we adore her) conducts a live interview with the rather awesome Mister Layman straight from the Isotope's front door. You'll definitely want to take time out of your busy schedule to watch this great interview!
Click here to indulge your eyes in nearly 150 amazing photos from the Isotope's Blackest Night in-store event w/ Geoff Johns by the wonderful Dyami Serna, and while you're at it go ahead and watch this great interview with the man of the hour by the rather fabulous Babs from Comic Vine. You rock, Babs!
Kicking off DC's biggest comic launch of 2009 in the highest of high style. Come celebrate BLACKEST NIGHT with us and series author Geoff Johns!
We'll have free buttons for all thanks to our amigo Ferocious J and the Isotope's resident bartendrix Kirsten Baldock will be serving up a selection of jaw-dropping Lantern Corps cocktails... could life be any better?!
This year, why not forget the frilly pink aprons, the Teflon coated pans, and the boring scented bath salts... why not get mom something she really wants this year? Why not dazzle her senses with the gift of Spock, Kirk, McCoy, Uhura, Lieutenant Sulu, and the rest of the USS Enterprise crew? Why not join us for "A Star Trek Mother's Day" and see the summer's hottest flick in high style?
Isotope, the 10 time "Best of the Bay" awarded comic shop, will be hosting Trekkie trivia and a duo of jaw dropping futuristic fashion shows and costume contests at both the 7 and 9:30pm screenings. Prizes of wonderous epicurean delights, gift certificates, worldly goods, and special treasures await! The Balboa's lobby will be terraformed into an Isotopic outpost with a hand-selected cornucopia of amazing science fiction graphic novels and award-winning comics for yourself and the mothers in all our lives.
Our amigo, the fantastic Chuck Nicklow of Costumes on Haight is fully stocked up with all sorts of sexy Trek gear for your high-future fashionista movie viewing needs, but supplies are sure to go fast! Don't be shy. Stop in, tell Chuck we said 'hi', and get geared up!
A Star Trek Mother's Day @ The Balboa Theatre 3630 Balboa St (between 37th & 38th Ave) THIS SUNDAY! 7pm and 9:30pm screenings
Witness the spectacle, experience the excitement, indulge in the resurrection of a true icon of nerd Americana with your sweetheart, your most fun amigos, and perhaps even your mother too... the Isotope will be gifting free Vulcan Ears for all moms in celebration!
We're encouraging everyone who attends tonight's event to share their photos in our Flickr feed and post in the just-created Tiki Tour twitter... and we'll be streaming the madness right here for you!
Kicking off a month long 100 BULLETS gallery show of Dave Johnson's original cover art at the Isotope with one hell of a huge bash. That's right... 30 days of 100 BULLETS covers will be gracing the Isotope's gallery, and we're launching it off in high style with Brian Azzarello and Dave Johnson.
If you've been to one of our events in the past you know how we do what we do. Not suggested to folks who don't like crowds.
This was such a great event! Enjoy with us some of these stolen moments from the Isotope's launch party for MYSTERIUS: THE UNFATHOMABLE with author Jeff Parker, artist Tom Fowler, DJ Bearzbub, and dry ice cocktails by Kirsten Baldock.
Thanks to Jeff, Tom, DJ Bearzbub, and everyone who came out and had a great time with us. What a way to kick off 2009!
Yep, this Friday is Jeff Parker & Tom Fowler @ the Isotope, and in celebration... the entire neighborhood is throwing a bash (grin)! I adore Hayes Valley, don't you?
Remember the Isotope's first event of 2009 I told you about? There have been a couple new developments.
#1. The flyer just got twice as big! It now looks like this:
#2. The Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association is hosting a block party to coincide with this event (gee I wonder how that happened? Ha!) We are kicking off 2009 in high style, ladies and gents!
In honor of the upcoming new series launch of pure psychotronic phantasmagoria Mysterius: The Unfathomable... the Isotope's first event of 2009. And look at Parker glow... glow, baby, glow!
Our mad cocktail slinging scientist has secluded herself in her haunted lab for several moons concocting some of the most unusual alchemical elixirs and tastebud hypnotizing potions ever invented. The natives are growing restless and local villagers have been whispering about things quite unnatural. Quite Mysterious and unfathomable!
Join us for an event that will truly never to be repeated anywhere ever again. This is going to be a good one!
Could any of us have asked for a better event last weekend than Whitney Matheson and Tim Sale's amazing Pop Candy Meet-Up?
This was an event we'll always remember, as we jam-packed the shop with a wild mash-up of super nice Pop Candy readers, Heroes fans, and our usual fare of local comic personalities and sexy nerds and nerdettes. Whitney turned on tons of folks who are new to the world of comics to armloads of great reads while Tim wowed the crowds with jaw-dropping original inkwash sketches. The event felt a bit like watching 4th of July fireworks as people let out the "oohs" and "ahs" at our gallery which was filled with 16 pages of original art from the Heroes tv show. And the big surprise hit of the night was these jaw-dropping souvenirs and the cocktails that came in them. I'll treasure mine forever!
I honestly can't think of a better way we could have possibly celebrated two of my favorite comic people in the world. Both Mr. Sale and Ms. Matheson are two of the most fun and sincere people you could ever ask to meet and quite literally brought tears of joy to my eyes while I read their write-ups on their respective websites. Check them out:
I want to express my thanks to the wonderful crowds of cool people who came out to the event. My staff and I met so many friendly new people and from the look of my in-box they had as much fun with us as we did had having them in. Thanks to one and all!
And for those of you who aren't subscribed to Twitter, you can check out the micro-blog of minutiae during Tim and Whitney's stay over the past weekend from my feed here:
Not a Pop Candy Addict Yet? Let Us Introduce You To Whitney
This Saturday night, the Isotope will be filled to the rafters with scores of comic book fans and friends all raising a glass to our favorite pop culture queen, Whitney Matheson. For those of you who are already addicted to her daily Pop Candy blog on USAToday, you know exactly why we're so thrilled to have her in. For those among you who are asking yourself "who is this person?" allow me to give you the 411.
Known for unwrapping pop culture’s hidden gems with a taste for Andy Warhol, Converse low-tops, Battlestar Galactica, documentary film fests, Y The Last Man, mustaches, weird places to go on vacation, Jane Birkin movies, the theme song to the Garry Shandling Show, Joss Whedon, and countless nifty new bands to get all obsessive over, Whitney always serves up the perfect daily dose of the eclectic and the sublime. Between her Pop Candy blog and her oh-so sexy book about modern living in the 1950's Atomic Home, Ms. Matheson helps direct her readers to all that which is truly tasty.
One of the things I like best about her blog is the fact that over the last couple years she's been subversively turning her massive fanbase into the next generation of comic book aficionados. This is undoubtedly why she was selected to be an Eisner Judge last year, where we first met. I was totally blown away by her excellent taste in funnybooks!
Want proof? Check out this awesome series of Comics Crash Course columns she wrote recently. Personally, I think this just might be the single best list of 100 suggested comics I have ever seen.
Of course, this Saturday we'll be throwing a rollicking event with both Ms. Matheson and comics legend Tim Sale. Stop on in to say 'hi' and find out why everyone here at the Isotope adores her so much!
Most of you have probably already heard about this event over at USAToday and Newsarama...
USAToday's ultra-cool pop-culture goddess Whitney Matheson is bringing her popular Pop Candy Meet-Ups to San Francisco for the first time, and I'm just thrilled to get to play host to Ms. Matheson and her armies of super-friendly pop culture loving readers. If you aren't already a regular daily reader of Pop Candy like I am, you're definitely missing out.
And if that wasn't enough event to get pumped up about, we're also bringing in Ms. Matheson's person-she'd-most-like-to-meet artist Tim Sale! Mister Sale is the artist who did all the work on the Heroes tv show as well as a ton of some of the most beautiful comics I have ever seen like Batman: Long Halloween, Superman For All Seasons, and Daredevil Yellow,
It's a dream come true event. Honestly, what could be better?
from the Isotope & iFanboy's legendary Darwyn Cooke's New Frontier After-Party, featuring director Dave Bullock, designer J. Bone, and Mister Darwyn Cooke himself.
We packed in several hundred comic loving folks and many industry superstars into the Isotope over the course of the night. What an amazing time! Additional photos by DJ Bearzbub, Storm, and the lovely newlyweds Chris Vaccaro and Maranda Lee.
Thanks to everyone who came out for the truly great weekend we hosted, to our co-sponsors iFanboy, and especially to our special guests from both Saturday (Darwyn Cooke, J. Bone, Dave Bullock,) and Friday (Ben Templesmith, Antony Johnston).
For those folks who couldn't attend we've got hundreds more photographs and hours of video still to be declassified. Not to mention what Ron, Conner, and Josh from iFanboy scored. Watch this space over the next few days for lots more!
Our post convention bash kicks off at 9pm tonight in celebration of what was no doubt a huge reception and world-premiere screening of Darwyn Cooke's Justice League: The New Frontier. We suggest grabbing yourself something wonderful to eat before hand at one of the followingawesomeIsotope-approvedrestaurants.
Thanks to some brilliant co-scheduling, while you're waiting for the Isotope shindig to get happening I'm also going to suggest you all go check out the annual Prism Comics reading and mixer with queer comics creators starting at 7pm tonight only a few blocks away from our front door. Featuring readings from some of our favorite cartoonists Justin Hall, Paige Braddock, Andy Hartzell, Brian Anderson, and more. Very cool!
And then, starting at 9pm tonight...
Darwyn Cooke, Dave Bullock, and J. Bone arrive in high style at the Isotope for the Isotope's New Frontier After-Party! Co-sponsored by our super cool amigos at iFanboy. Featuring exclusive Darwyn Cooke art prints and jaw dropping glassware! Lots of original art for us to get all obsessive over! Delicious adult beverages by Kirsten Baldock! Swinging ultra-lounge from SF's own DJ Bearzbub!
But I don't have to sell you guys on this event at all, do I? It's Darwyn Cooke, baby, you know you wouldn't miss this for the world!
Fri: Ben Templesmith and Antony Johnston Sat: Darwyn Cooke's New Frontier After-Party
Coming up is one of my favorite weekends of the entire year, WonderCon Weekend!
And I'm sure you all know how much we like quietly surprising the comics world by throwing the biggest, craziest events all year long in celebration of it. Like last year we're teaming up with our pod and video-casting amigos at iFanboy and we've all been stealthily working behind the scenes to set up two of the most glorious Isotope events we've ever had the pleasure to host.
Australian artist of 30 Days of Night and Fell, Ben Templesmith, and the British writing sensation Antony Johnston, author of the excellent Wasteland and a personal favorite of mine The Long Haul, hit the Isotope in high style from 8pm until the witching hour.
Templesmith is bringing in several armloads of original art from Wormwood: Gentlemen Corpse for sale and Johnston will have limited edition printings of his Wasteand scripts created just for this event on hand. Truly an event not to be missed!
In honor of WonderCon's biggest event of 2008, the world premiere screening of Darwyn Cooke's Justice League: The New Frontier, the Isotope will be throwing a massive after-party along with Mister Cooke, Director David Bullock, and designer of the gods J. Bone.
And we (of course) have a few special surprises up our Isotopic sleeves, including the jaw-dropping Darwyn Cooke pint glass made just for this event, and a teeny tiny run of available nowhere else art prints. And in keeping with the event's theme, bartender Kirsten Baldock will be shaking up wonderful cocktails from yesteryear while San Francisco's famous DJ Bearzbub spins classic retro-future lounge over the Isotope's hi-fi.
February 15th begins what I can only promise is jaw-dropping 2008 in-store event schedule. Come join us as we team up with the fine folks at Notemine to kick off San Francisco's famed Animation On Display convention with a bang of atom-splicing proportions!
Animania-A-Go-Go features DJ MacMini spinning a selection of the sexiest nerdiest tracks to get your backsides in gear! Superstar Tommy Yune who you know from his work on Robotech and Speed Racer! The writer of Happy Tree Friends, LazyTown and classic CG cartoon ReBoot , madman Ken Pontac! And the beyond-legendary comics authoring architect of Teen Titans, Tomb of Dracula and Crisis on Infinite Earths... the one, the only... Marv Wolfman!
Nice!
Now go watch some cute and violent fuzzy critters get bloody: Happy Tree Friends.
Thank You From All of Us to All of You For a Halloween That Truly Rocked
It's been a crazy post-Halloween day here at the Isotope. With an outrageous interview for the up-coming issue of Punks: The Comic due and a live interview with Comic Book Talk Radio taking up a goodly portion of my day, So now I'm definitely ready for a nice relaxing dinner and a quiet evening at the Sanctum Sanctorum. But I had to take the time to thank all of you who attended last night's incredible Monster Mosh Halloween Party we threw with our friends at The Onion, Triple Cobra, Ms Monster, B-Minus Comics, and 12 Galaxies.
That was one hell of a great party!
We expected to pack the house to rafters and beyond, but honestly, we had no idea we'd be seeing upwards of 200 more people than our wildest expectations could have ever hoped for in attendance! And talk about the costumes! After seeing how so many of the major Bay Area Halloween costume hot-spots have been watered down year after year, it was really exciting to see so many amazing costumed SF sexpots out last night dressed to the nines. Everyone saw so many jaw-dropping outfits that there really was absolutely no doubt in anyone's mind why San Francisco is the greatest city on Earth, and it brought a tear to my non-Nick Fury patched eye when I was given a big hug and told "Yay! Halloween is fun again!" by a pretty young lady who I honestly have no idea if I have ever met before.
Because, yes. And yay. Halloween is fun again.
As my way of showing my appreciation to each and every one of you who came out and made that the great party that it was I'm going to thank you in one of the best ways I know how... with a trio of swoon-inducing Audrey Hepburn pictures.