Hi.

I'm Bill.

But enough about me.

I just got word from John Munn, owner of Comic Book Ink over on Tacoma's East Side, that his store has received its fourth Eisner nomination. For you non-comic-book geeks, the Eisners are the comic-book world's Oscar equivalent. It's a big deal.

John is headed to the San Diego Comic-Con – that's the big one, the show Hollywood descends upon every year for "new" movie ideas. In a ceremony this Friday, John will find out if his store wins the Will Eisner Spirit of Retailing award. His is one of about two dozen stores nominated for the award, from more than 4,000 comic book stores around the world.

"It's just mind numbing to be nominated a fourth time," John said on the phone today.

But there's another bit of news in all of this. John says he's planning to open a second Comic Book Ink store. He won't divulge the location, but Comic Book Ink – Volume 2 should open in October 2009 but no later than May of 2010. John, an October baby, said he'd like to follow in George Lucas' tradition of opening in his birthday month. Comic Book Ink opened Oct. 22, 2002. But May holds Free Comic Book day, so that might work for a grand opening, too, he said.

"It'll be a smaller store, a satellite store," John said. "I've always dreamed of having two stores, and possibly a third down the road, so this is the next phase of all that."