Finally, an episode for the nerds of Chi-town. This week, IYFC host and self professed "geek girl" Marissa Chastain checks out the two best Comic Book shops in the city; Quimy's Bookstore and Brainstorm. As luck would have it, those two awesome establishments are only a short 5 minute walk from eachother. So next time you're in the mood to get your geek on, why not hit both places in the same afternoon?

Now before any of you nerds write us any angry letters, we know that Quimby's is really more of a bookstore than a comic book shop. But it's been one of my favorite places in Chicago for many a year so we just had to include it on the list. Besides, where else can you go to find SO MANY locally produced books and zines?

As for Brainstorm, well that one was a no-brainer (pun intended.) I was there a loooong time ago and finally used this episode as an excuse to go back. What's funny is that after all these year's they're STILL playing Britsh TV shows on the tv up front. When you find somethig that works I guess you gotta stick with it.

This episiode is kind of special since it was actually the very first one we shot. Think of it as In Your Face, Chicago's lost pilot. It's also notable because it had the highest budget of any episode so far; about $200! I know what you're thinking, $200 is sort of high. Where did the money go? Well, most of it went to the guy who put a boot on my car that day!! Damn you boot guy!!!

When you watch the episode you're going to wonder who did the music. The song you hear is Nerd Life by the King of Nerdcore, Ytcracker. If you like Nerd Life you'll love the rest of his music. You can find more of it here: ytcracker.com/

Big thanks to all the cool people who talked to us and let us film in their shops. No thanks to the owner of what was supposed to be our third favorite comic book shop in Chicago, Vigilante Press. After jerking us around for like 20 minutes he told us to come back on a saturday. He was embarrased that his store didn't have any customers and that his floor was dirty. We would have gone back but having a surly "comic book guy" style owner behind the counter knocked Vigilante Press out of our top three!

Here's the location/contact info for the shops we did feature this week:

Quimby's Bookstore
1854 W. North Ave. Chicago, IL
773/342-0910
quimbys.com/

Brainstorm Movies, Comics and Gaming
1648 W North Ave. Chicago, IL
(773) 384-8721
brainstormmcg.com/