Comic Book Men Season 7 Episode 2

This week’s Comic Book Men opens immediately with a Stranger Things reference and launches right into the appropriate Halloweekend spoopy. The guys decide to update Dracula by turning him into a different animal than a bat and Bryan wins “Best Pick” this week again with the suggestion of a Shark. Shark vampires would be metal AF and I would watch the hell out of that movie.

Later, the guys surprise Ming for his birthday by inviting on his favorite horror actors to the shop. Ming excitedly yells “You got me Freddy Krueger for my birthday!” Fortunately for Robert Englund, gifting actual humans is still largely frowned upon in Western society. Englund kicks it with the guys in the shop for most of the episode, telling behind-the-scenes stories and eating cake with his Krueger claw glove. Englund also talked about what physical influences he meshed together to give Krueger his signature posture and silhouette–everything from mobsters to Fosse to Clint Eastwood. In the world of trivia fun, apparently Englund and Mark Hamill were roommates at the start of their careers and it was Englund who came back from set one day after seeing the Star Wars casting call and said “Mark, buddy, you gotta do something about this” (not those words exactly, but the sentiment was there).

When a customer brings in a complete set of Universal Monster figures in practically mint condition, Walt busts out his gatekeeper attitude and shames the guy for selling them. In a show where people’s reasons for buying and selling their nerdy paraphernalia is almost more compelling than the objects themselves, it’s no surprise that the guy had a unique reason for parting with the figures.  The seller wanted some extra money to go to a Steampunk Convention, but unfortunately that’s not good enough for Walt, who tells him that if he had those figures he would never sell them and then low balls him on the offer so hard that the guy walks.

The episode wraps with Walt and the guys taking on the “challenge” of a Ouija board. A brief flashback sequence reveals that Walt’s demonstrated some “psychic prowess” in the past. Maybe he shamed the Universal Monster figure-owner so hard because he could see in the future that the convention wouldn’t be worth it–who knows.

You can catch Comic Book Men Sunday nights, late, on AMC and if you miss it, I’ll be here recapping with Geek Chic Elite.