Kevin Smith's Comic Book Men on AMC

[The Mike]

So basically Walt runs the store with Mike and Ming and Bryan are there for "flare" compared to those two? (Mike is rather boring and I forgot he was there most of the time) That should have been the first sign of trouble, since Bryan looking like the lead singer of the Spin Doctors was the only really attribute worth noting as he came of stale and Ming was personalityless.

I thought the show would be better served if they hired someone new and then we watched them become involved in Smith's world with the shop and all the other things that entail it. This though was just really bad and gets worse the more I think of it.

 

[TheObsoleteMan]

I thought the show would be better served if they hired someone new and then we watched them become involved in Smith's world with the shop and all the other things that entail it. This though was just really bad and gets worse the more I think of it.

As I recall hearing about the show during the early pre-production stage, they were going to hire a new girl to work in the shop, and that was going to be part of the "plot," but I guess that idea didn't make it.

 

[jonny88]

A show taking place in a comic shop is the main problem. Nothing exciting really happens in those places.

 

[Darth Caedus]

I'm a huge fan of Smith and I enjoyed the show (except for the swap meet part, I wasn't a fan of that). I will agree with some of you that they could have cut the meet part out and left it a 30 minute show.

I'll give it a few more watches just to see if it changes up a little bit.

BTW.....that women in the corset selling the chucky doll was FREAKY !!!!!

 

[TheObsoleteMan]

A show taking place in a comic shop is the main problem. Nothing exciting really happns in those places.

My memories of my days frequenting comic shops is a handful of people, at most, wandering around like zombies quietly flipping through books. They should've focused more on the podcast style discussion portions with the comic shop segments as a backdrop to lead into the next discussion.

 

[Darth Caedus]

My memories of my days frequenting comic shops is a handful of people, at most, wandering around like zombies quietly flipping through books. They should've focused more on the podcast style discussion portions with the comic shop segments as a backdrop to lead into the next discussion.

That's actually what I thought it was going to be about. Like a Dinner For Five, mixed in with some relevant segments about what happened in the comic shop.

 

[jonny88]

My memories of my days frequenting comic shops is a handful of people, at most, wandering around like zombies quietly flipping through books. They should've focused more on the podcast style discussion portions with the comic shop segments as a backdrop to lead into the next discussion.

Kevin smith could make a great funny movie taking place in a comic book store, but reality is a 180 from that.

 

[The Mike]

Actually life in a comic shop could be interesting if you have the right clientele. My an LCS that was around when I was younger, there were guys who were there all the time, they didn't work there but just were always there. The heated arguments and the way that spoke, I mean beating on chests, slapping heads, really spazing out would have been fun to have recorded back then just for the sheer lunacy of it. I'm sure following those guys around would make for funny tv when edited right especially considering what their homelife must be like.

 

[DarthNeil]

I didn't mind the show--- It wasn't groundbreaking but it was OK. I'm such a geek though as I kept wondering which of the 3 3/4" Indy figs those were that Bryan was selling on his swapmeet table.

Such a geek...

 

[jonny88]

Actually life in a comic shop could be interesting if you have the right clientele. My an LCS that was around when I was younger, there were guys who were there all the time, they didn't work there but just were always there. The heated arguments and the way that spoke, I mean beating on chests, slapping heads, really spazing out would have been fun to have recorded back then just for the sheer lunacy of it. I'm sure following those guys around would make for funny tv when edited right especially considering what their homelife must be like.

Well comic book geeks are no different then people here who get into arguments over characters and what is/are better, but those are rare overall so they would need to film and wait a while before catching actual conversations like that on film in the book store. It would take too much waiting and before you know it the arguments would have to be skitted for the show. Which would make this show even more ____ty.

I say Kevin Smith should move this show in a whole new direction like having geeky type celebrity guests (they are out there) on the show every week and talk about not only comic books, but games, movies and other geeky stuff. One example would be Vin Diesel could go there for an episode and talk about Dungeons And Dragon (which l hear he plays all the time) and other things like that. Now that l would watch.

Someone should email Kevin Smith and tell him to do this and change the diirection of his show before it gets cancelled.

 

[The Mike]

Well comic book geeks are no different then people here who get into arguments over characters and what is/are better, but those are rare overall so they would need to film and wait a while before catching actual conversations like that on film in the book store. It would take too much waiting and before you know it the arguments would have to be skitted for the show. Which would make this show even more ____ty.

All reality TV is edited beyond belief. Watch Big Brother After Dark to know how absolutely ____ty that show would be if we just watched what was rolling. The editors and writers craft something worth watching in every show, create characters as they have done with Survivor, The Amazing Race, The Real World, etc, etc. They could have done that with this or maybe they did and this is the best we've got.

 

[SixMillionDollarMan Guy]

Well, at least a Six Million Dollar Man figure changed hands.

But that was about it.

 

[Michael Crawford]

Yea, this was pretty bad.

Obviously scripted, and the podcast segment spent most of it's time either stating the obvious or ripping on their own customers. I've grown tired of the self hate far too many geeks seem to harbor.

It's also trying to hard to be Pawn Stars. And in that format, it just can't work. I thought the 'bring in the expert' bit was particularly hilarious. Why exactly did you need to do that, other than trying to be like Pawn Stars? On that show, someone brings in a WWI infant gas mask, and I get why they need to get someone involved who might know something about it - it's a very unusual item. But a Aussie Dawn of the Dead poster and some UK lobby cards? Seriously? Nobody there knows how to use Google?

The best part was when the same 'expert' shows up at the local flea market to give $23 to Ming for a table of land fill. But when they get a chance to actually use an expert - to help verify an autographed Tomb of Dracula - they don't take the time.

Smith is entertaining, and Brian is funny in that way where someone simply puts down those around him as his schtick is funny. Mike and Walt do nothing to entertain me, and Ming is probably the smartest of the group but gets to be the butt of the jokes. It's heavily scripted, and unless they do something to improve the format, I don't expect it's going to be much of a hit.

I do know of someone that is trying to do a more traditional collectibles show - interviews with creators, collectors, segments on classic lines and licenses, updates on the current industry, etc. -and are shopping it around right now. It will be interesting to see if they can get any traction though in the current world where every show has to be a Pawn Stars or American Pickers clone.

 

[The Mike]

What sucks is that kind of show a real collectibles show will be hurt by the "Swing and Miss" of Toy Hunters and this.

 

[Batty]

Yea, this was pretty bad.

Obviously scripted, and the podcast segment spent most of it's time either stating the obvious or ripping on their own customers. I've grown tired of the self hate far too many geeks seem to harbor.

It's also trying to hard to be Pawn Stars. And in that format, it just can't work. I thought the 'bring in the expert' bit was particularly hilarious. Why exactly did you need to do that, other than trying to be like Pawn Stars? On that show, someone brings in a WWI infant gas mask, and I get why they need to get someone involved who might know something about it - it's a very unusual item. But a Aussie Dawn of the Dead poster and some UK lobby cards? Seriously? Nobody there knows how to use Google?

The best part was when the same 'expert' shows up at the local flea market to give $23 to Ming for a table of land fill. But when they get a chance to actually use an expert - to help verify an autographed Tomb of Dracula - they don't take the time.

Smith is entertaining, and Brian is funny in that way where someone simply puts down those around him as his schtick is funny. Mike and Walt do nothing to entertain me, and Ming is probably the smartest of the group but gets to be the butt of the jokes. It's heavily scripted, and unless they do something to improve the format, I don't expect it's going to be much of a hit.

I do know of someone that is trying to do a more traditional collectibles show - interviews with creators, collectors, segments on classic lines and licenses, updates on the current industry, etc. -and are shopping it around right now. It will be interesting to see if they can get any traction though in the current world where every show has to be a Pawn Stars or American Pickers clone.

I thought the exact same thing. It didn't make sense.

 

[The Mike]

Gave it second chance, the whole thing felt more scripted than the first episode. Mewes was on it, he was the most entertaining thing on in the past two weeks and he was only on for about 10 minutes. From the Batmobile to the Empire Lightsaber which happened to walk in to even Mewes showing up it was very bad and they even joked about how sitcom/staged him showing up would be.

 

[pixletwin]

I hated Clerks. I can't imagine this show could be any better than that.

 

[TheObsoleteMan]

I also gave it a second chance, and yeah, it felt super scripted. The Batmobile segment, Mewes, that stupid hockey game, it was all painful to watch. Once again, the podcast style discussion was the only entertaining part.

 

[Batty]

I watched about 15 minutes...and that was enough. It seemed worse than last week's episode.

It's too bad. They really do nothing but reinforce the comic book geek stereotype.

 

[pixletwin]

I watched about 15 minutes...and that was enough. It seemed worse than last week's episode.

It's too bad. They really do nothing but reinforce the comic book geek stereotype.

That, in a nut shell, is pretty much why I hated Clerks and wasn't open to trying this show out. KSMith's writing sounds so targeted towards that demographic that it really comes off as condescending and patronizing.