The Brief

Not even a superhero could save two of Los Angeles's oldest comic book stores.

Torrance's Geoffrey’s Comics and Hi De-Ho Comics in Santa Monica are closing at the end of the year.

Owner Geoffrey Patterson II said that ever since the pandemic, many comic book fans moved from purchasing their comics in person to online. For his stores, that meant losing half of his customer base and more than half of the profits.

But the pandemic was just the last straw.

“It's also just as it has become mainstream, that other places are now selling comic books that weren't selling them before,” he said, citing big retailers like Target. “It went from being only in comic book stores to everywhere. So the customers now have 100 choices for where they pick up a comic book story, and that just kept shrinking and shrinking our customer base.”

The stores

Geoffrey’s Comics was first started by Patterson II’s father, Geoffrey Patterson Sr., in 1979. Patterson II shares ownership of Hi De-Ho Comics which was founded in 1977, with some of his friends.

Geoffrey Patterson II passing down his love of comic books to his son, Geoffrey Patterson III, as they work together with pricing a new comic book collection.

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Courtesy of Geoffrey Patterson II

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The stores have been around to host some of the comic scenes’ greatest legends like Stan Lee, Geoff Johns, former CCO and President of DC Entertainment; Rob Liefield, the co-creator of Deadpool, and many others. Patterson II recalled a fond memory of comic book fans lining up outside of the stores when the man of steel passed away.

“When Superman died, we literally had a line that was half a mile long down the street. And people just needed to get that comic book. It was the craziest the store has ever been.”

Patterson II also recalled when they had Robert Liefield hold a signing at Geoffrey's Comics for the first issue of the Youngblood series.

"One of my very good friends Danny Miki was working for us at the time, and he showed Rob his art, and Rob hired him on the spot."

Since then, Miki has hidden Geoffrey's Comics as an Easter egg within the background of various comics like in X-Men, Hulk, Spawn, and others.

Their lasting influence

Latinx comic book writer Henry Barajas held his first big comic book signing at Hi De-Ho to celebrate the release of his comic, La Voz De M.A.Y.O.: TATA RAMBO, a graphic memoir about his great-grandfather.

"It's really hard to see that shop who has treated me so well, and has supported my work as a Latino/LatinX comics writer, while there are not that many of us. They really spotlighted me and in ways that I can't really find elsewhere. And selfishly, I will be very sad to see them go.”

Loyal customers are also mourning the loss. Patterson II said that a customer told him “it was like a part of his childhood was closing down.”

What's next

Though the physical locations will close down, the online store will remain along with their eBay shop and pull services, where customers reserve books to be picked up or delivered to them every month. Patterson II also plans to start hosting pull parties where customers can come in person to pick up their books and hang out and chat with fellow comic book enthusiasts.

“That's always been my favorite part of the business, just talking about these fun and bright, colorful stories that we sell,” Patterson II said. "My dad liked to say that everybody who came into the comic book store went out happier than they came in. And that's something that we always believed, and probably a part of the reason that we ignored the writing on the wall about how different the economy was.”

Though Barajas said he is disheartened about the loss of these comic stores, he said that L.A. is one of the best cities in the U.S. to find local comic book stores.

“Thankfully, there are other places like Golden Apple Comics, Pulp Fiction. I am confident that at least in Los Angeles, that the other stores within the surrounding area will pick up the slack and keep comic book readers in tuned in to what's happening.”

Hi De-Ho Comics and Geoffrey’s Comics are set to close on Dec. 31. Books are already on discount at both locations, and Patterson II said he plans to hold a party at each location that week for a final goodbye.

The University of Southern California board of trustees has appointed interim president Beong-Soo Kim to be its 13th full president.

Kim was named as the interim leader in February 2025 and began the role this summer. He most recently served as USC’s senior vice president and general counsel, and as a lecturer at the law school. Prior to joining USC, he worked at Kaiser Permanente and was a federal prosecutor for the Central District of California.

Kim succeeds Carol Folt, who was brought on to stabilize the university following a series of scandals under the administration before hers. She formally stepped down from her role in July, following criticism of her ability to handle student protests and concerns over fiscal stewardship.

Soon after his term began, Kim oversaw the university’s effort to manage a $200 million deficit, which also led to hundreds of layoffs.

“We did have to make some difficult decisions last year with respect to our budget and layoffs,” Kim told LAist. “And I'm really pleased that as a result of those difficult decisions, we're now in a much stronger financial position and really for a number of months have been really focusing on the opportunities that we see on the horizon.”

In a call with LAist, and joined by USC board chair Suzanne Nora Johnson, Kim touched on bright spots and some of his priorities. He also touched on the relationship between USC and the Trump administration before a sudden ending to the call.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

LAist: You've talked about addressing the mass layoffs and budget challenges. What do you see as the way forward?

Beong-Soo Kim: Our research expenditures have actually been going up over the last year, over the last couple of years. We're focusing on: How do we provide the best possible educational value to our students? We're focusing on how to maintain and strengthen our academic culture of excellence, open dialogue and engagement with different viewpoints.

And we're also really kind of leaning into artificial intelligence and asking questions as a community about how we incorporate AI responsibly into our education, into our operations, into our research. And there are obviously a lot of important ethical questions that we're working on, and it's really an quite an exciting time to be in the position that I'm in.

What are you excited for?

Well, a couple things that we're really looking forward to are, as part of the anniversary of the United States, we're going to be hosting a National Archives exhibition [of] founding documents in late April. We're also looking forward to helping host the L.A. Olympics in 2028. We have our 150th anniversary coming up in 2030 as a university.

So there's a lot that's on the horizon. We also have the Lucas Museum opening up across the street later this year and, of course, George Lucas is one of our most beloved Trojan alumni. So there's so much vitality, so much energy on the campus right now.

USC has, for the most part, avoided the sort of conflicts that the University of California system and elite private institutions across the country have had with the Trump administration. What can you share about how you plan to manage USC’s relationship with the federal government?

Well, we really make an effort to engage with all levels of government, as well as foundations, the private sector, community groups. That kind of engagement is really more important nowadays. Universities can't just go off on their own. It's important for us to partner and find opportunities to work with others. And that's what we've been doing.

And that's part of the reason why I think that our research has continued to go strongly. And I give a lot of the credit to our faculty and researchers who can continue submitting grant applications and continue to do research in areas that are critically important to the benefit of our community, our nation, and our world. And I think that we -—

Suzanne Nora Johnson: —Actually I'm so sorry, but we have to complete the board meeting, and we've got to run. Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. We'll be in touch. Bye. Thanks. Bye.

Huntington Beach will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision striking down the city’s controversial voter ID law.

What’s the backstory?

Huntington Beach voters approved a measure in 2024 allowing the city to require people to show ID when casting a ballot. That contradicts state law — voters in California are asked to provide ID when they register to vote but generally not at polling places.

The ensuing court battle

The state and a Huntington Beach resident promptly sued the city over the voter ID law and won an appeals court ruling striking down the law. The California Supreme Court declined to review the decision earlier this month. The state also passed a law prohibiting cities from implementing their own voter ID laws.

Then, the City Council voted unanimously this week to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in.

Does the city have a shot?

The Supreme Court gets 7,000 to 8,000 requests to review cases each year. The Court grants about 80 of these requests, so the city’s chances of getting the court’s attention are statistically slim.

There’s also a question of whether or not the city’s voter ID case meets the Court’s criteria for review — SCOTUS addresses questions of federal law. Mayor Casey McKeon said it does, in a news release, noting a 2008 Supreme Court decision that upheld a state’s voter ID law — in Indiana. But Huntington Beach is a city, and the question in its voter ID case is whether or not a city can implement its own requirements for voting, even if it clashes with state law.

Go deeper

• Huntington Beach's controversial voter ID law is illegal
• Huntington Beach clashes with California over voter ID requirement in court
• HB Mayor defends Voter ID measure as Gov. Newsom seeks to ban it
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  The Trump Administration wants your confidential voter data. What’s behind their battle with CA and other states?