Phantom of the Attic comic book store in Oakland is among the 12 finalists for the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award, given to an individual retailer considered outstanding in its support of the genre in the community and within the industry.

The winner will be announced next Friday at Comic-Con International in San Diego. Shop owner Jeff Yandora won't be there -- he's working but store manager Wayne Wise will attend the ceremony.

Yesterday, Yandora seemed humbled by the nomination.

"We'll see what happens," he said. "There are lots of great comic shops out there, so if it ends here, that'd be fine. This is a relatively big award, and anything that promotes comic books, especially here in Pittsburgh, is great."

Phantom of the Attic has called Oakland home for 25 years. Yandora called its recent makeover in bigger digs at 411 S. Craig St. "a physical manifestation of our mission statement ... which is to support and promote everything involved in comic literature and art," meaning the shop is a haven for fans of superheroes and indie titles alike.

Online and mail-in nominations for the award can come from anyone. "This was initially customer nominated, then other customers jumped in, and you go through the process and before you know it, we're in the top 12," Yandora said.

A panel of industry judges selected the finalists, who were "subjected to an in-depth examination based on the award criteria," according to the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards guidelines. Nominees include three Canadian retailers and one each in Leeds, England, and Tel Aviv, Israel.

For more information, visit comic-con.org and click on Eisner Awards.