I had hopes that the new AMC show, Comic Book Men, would be entertaining. I enjoy Kevin Smith’s movies and some of his comic writing.
But about three minutes in the premiere on Sunday night, I was done with it. It was as if the writers had a checklist of every stereotype about male comic book readers and was determined to put each one into the show.
During the course of the show, the men:
1. Argued about which heroine is the hottest. (Though one of them did have the good taste to say “goggles” Catwoman, the revamp by Darwyn Cooke.)
2. Talked about how hard it is to get girls.
3. Made fun of the only female customer, who was no more obsessed with her possession than they are with their comics.
4. Made sophomoric (and homophobic) jokes about eating “weiners.”
And to add injury to insult, the show was hopelessly boring.
The small bits that were entertaining focused on the collectible items brought into Smith’s Secret Stash comic book store. However, it seems to me far too much coincidence that graded comics, a Bob Kane sketch, and a Thor poster would all be brought in to the store in so short a time. Obviously, there was some editing (forgivable) or planting of items (less forgivable).
If the show was thirty minutes shorter and focused more on the collectibles ala Pawn Stars plus discussion of what makes comics so interesting beyond “hot women,” it might be worth watching.
As it is, Chumlee of Pawn Stars has more charisma than all of the guys on this show put together.
