Street scene with a crowd of people gathered outside The Metro Hotel, a colorful van, and neighboring buildings with signage and apartments.
Street scene with a crowd of people gathered outside The Metro Hotel, a colorful van, and neighboring buildings with signage and apartments.
Three men sitting at a table surrounded by comic book posters and artwork on a wall.
A bookstore storefront with large windows displaying books and posters. Outside, there is a purple signboard with a moon and cat illustration and a quote about comics, and a red book cart filled with books on sale.
Three people sitting at a table, signing books at a comic book event. A fourth person in the background stands near a magazine rack.

A Home for Comics, Creators, and Community.

A man with long hair, a beard, and sunglasses wearing a dark blue shirt and black pants is standing in an open doorway of a shop. The shop has black framed windows with colorful posters and awards displayed inside. A cartoon dog figure is visible through the window on the left.

Comix Experience isn't just a comic shop—it's a gathering place for people who love stories. Since 1989, we've helped generations of readers discover the books, creators, and ideas that make comics such a unique and exciting medium. From groundbreaking graphic novels to tomorrow's rising stars, we're always searching for the next great read and sharing it with our community.

We're readers first, and everything we do starts there. We believe comics should be accessible, welcoming, and endlessly surprising. That's why we focus on thoughtful curation, supporting creators, and creating opportunities for readers to connect with the people and stories behind the work. Nearly forty years later, we're still doing what we've always done: helping people fall in love with comics.

Certificate of Honor issued by the Board of Supervisors, City and County of San Francisco, dated April 1, 2019, with a gold seal, signatures, and an image of a government building in the background.

A cornerstone of San Francisco’s comic community since April Fools Day, 1989

Comix experience art direction

Browse nearly 40 years of flyers, posters, and original artwork celebrating the creators, events, and community that make Comix Experience special.

Tilting at Windmills

Brian Hibbs has been writing a long time (decades!) about comics retailing and we have the earliest years archived here on the Tiliting Windmills Page! New editions of TaW are produced at The Comics Beat.

Book cover for 'Tilting at Windmills' by Brian Hibbs, featuring cartoon characters, a horse, and a large windmill in a desert landscape at sunset.
Logo for The Beat Comics Culture blog with bold yellow and black text

Savage Critic

Vintage comic-style poster with the title 'Can anyone withstand... The Savage Critics,' showing a scale of critics' reactions from 'Crap! Awful! Eh! Okay! Good! Very Good! Excellent!'

Brian once ran a comics review site with many talented writers; it has since been shuttered, but we wanted to make sure the content didn’t get erased, so we have it all right here for you while away an afternoon or three.

Our windows have stories

Over the years, we’ve worked with many great local artists to make our window displays a work of art. Scroll through the gallery on the right to view decades worth of artwork.

5th Anniversary Magazine

Way back in 1994 Comix Experience published a 24 page magazine to celebrate our fifth anniversary, featuring new art and comics from Dave Sim, Matt Wagner, Neil Gaiman, Terry Moore and many many others. We’ve lovingly scanned our sole remaining copy (yes, you can even see the wrinkles and stains it has gotten over the years) for your joy and entertainment.

Decades of Memories

Not everything fits into easy categories. There are odds and ends, and many of them are here. Such as Thundercat for Bass Player Magazine! Shot right here at Comix Experience!

Your Team of Experts

Head Cheese - Brian

Brian Hibbs, owner of Comix Experience in San Francisco
Brian Hibbs, owner of Comix Experience in San Francisco

Born in Boone County, Missouri, pre-teen years spent in Brooklyn, New York, Brian still somehow vainly believes that he's actually a San Franciscan. Must be the hair. Brian opened Comix Experience at the ridiculously young age of 21, on April Fool's Day, 1989. Brian lives with his luscious wife, Tzipora, and his son, Ben, in sunny Noe Valley.

5 of Brian’s All-Time Favorites:

  1. Matt Wagner’s Mage and Grendel

  2. Neil Gaiman’s Sandman

  3. Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s Preacher

  4. Dave and Sim and Gerhard’s Cerebus

  5. Way more stuff than fits into a list of five, damn it, but since we have an arbitrary number, can we just say “Pre-Crisis DC Comics?”

Charlie

Comix Experience staff

Charlie’s a San Francisco native, which is a rarity these days! He’s been bookselling well before working at Comix Experience, and he’s experienced in chatting about books that are scary, set in galaxies far far away, or that contain dysfunctional mutant teams. On his days off, you can catch Charlie building LEGO sets with his friends, being accident prone on his bike, and nerding out over the amazing-ness of space travel.

5 of Charlie’s favorites:

  1. Zatana: Bring Down the House

  2. Primordial

  3. Vision the Complete Collection

  4. Daredevil Yellow

  5. Umbrella Academy

Jordyn

Comix Experience Staff

Jordyn’s been in SF for a whole decade, but grew up in the East Bay. She has been a customer since 2022 and now has joined the team! Jordyn loves stories with superheroes, Spooky vibes, Magical girls, Manga and her all time favorite story is Dungeons and Dragons. When she is not at the shop, she’s making embroidery art and hanging with her family!

5 of Jordyn’s favorites:

  1. Something is Killing the Children

  2. Detective Beans

  3. Monstress

  4. Inuyasha

  5. D&D Dungeon Club

Ollin

Person sitting under a tree in a park during daytime, with sunlight filtering through the leaves.

Ollin has been living in the Bay Area for nearly 9 years now, but originally grew up in Los Angeles, Califiornia. Ollin joined the team in early 2026, and has been supporting with sales and artwork as they can! Ollin loves comics that have a good blend of horror, sci-fi, and supernatural mysteries, and of course some good queer romance is always welcomed. Ollin has been a lover of all things animated, super heroes, and Manga since they were a child. When Ollin isn’t selling comics you’ll find them making art, raving, or teaching art to our city’s youth!

5 of Ollin’s favorites:

  1. Astroboy

  2. Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees

  3. The Summer Hikaru Died

  4. All-Star Superman

  5. Witch Hat Atelier

Our Community shares praises

A video from our 21st Anniversary Party in 2010. Looking back at moments like these reminds us how fortunate we've been to be part of this incredible community.

Thank you to everyone who shared such wonderful memories and kind words about Comix Experience over the years.

Do you have a favorite memory with us? We'd love to hear it! Leave us a review on Google and help other comic fans discover our shop and the community we've built together.