The Comic Bug

★★★★★

Open and inviting, with friendly staff and a wide, well-organized selection. New and recent releases take up an entire wall, broken down into kid’s books, media adaptations (find your Dr. Who and Star Trek comics easily, no matter who’s publishing them this year), DC, Marvel, Vertigo/Max, and indies.

They also have a large selection of paperbacks and hardcovers, though that’s a little harder to look through since some are filed by author, some by character, some by title, some by publisher and some by topic. If you can’t find something, just ask. And if they don’t have it, they’re happy to special-order it for you.

They don’t have much in the way of manga that I’ve noticed.

It’s also kid-friendly: if you have a child who’s too young to read the kids’ books without destroying them, there’s a toddler-sized table with one of those bead-track toys, and the back area where they do signings and games has a TV where they often show superhero cartoons or movies.

Did I mention signings? They frequently get artists and writers from the LA area to do signings, and I mean big names. Mark Waid was in a few weeks ago, and the first time I walked in the store there was a flyer for a Mike Mignola appearance.

I’ve been going to this store weekly for about a year and a half. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to review it.

The Game Hub

Update: They’ve expanded into the next storefront over for gaming events and supplies. Mostly collectible card games (Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, etc.), some tabletop.

More info at The Comic Bug.

Located at 1807 Manhattan Beach BlvdManhattan Beach, CA 90266 US