Comic Book Men Season 7 Premiere

In the season 7 premiere of AMC’s Comic Book Men, the gang discusses apocalypse survival methods and The Walking Dead comic just in time for its televised counterpart’s season premiere.

For the uninitiated (like me), Comic Book Men is what happens when Kevin Smith, Mike Zapcic, Ming Chen, Bryan Johnson and Walt Flanagan chat through comics in a semi-podcast style setup, broken up with some rare issue buying and selling a la LCS meets Pawn Stars. While kicking it at Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash–Kevin Smith’s comic and merchandise storefront in New Jersey–some of the crew also engages in a few “what would you do if” style conversations, the best of which was when Bryan described using a Tie Fighter to mow down zombies. Goals, Bryan, goals.

Some of the issues brought through the shop on this episode include Walking Dead #100, which introduces everyone’s new favorite villain, Negan, as well as the issue that introduces Michonne, the katana-wielding badass who Kevin posits HAS to make it to the end of the show.

I appreciate that Walt doesn’t lean too far into the Pawn Stars’ schtick and is upfront and to the point with his customers. When it comes to a dude selling his signed Walked Dead omnibuses because he has a baby on the way, the price gets bumped up after being bumped down because….babies, man. I didn’t realize that dudes actually sold their comics once they were expecting babies but kudos either way.

My favorite interaction for the show was between a young woman and Ming. She comes in asking about a Greg Nicotero sketch because his work on The Walking Dead has inspired her life’s passion of pursuing special effects makeup professionally. Walt suggests that Ming, a self-proclaimed Walking Dead superfan, give the girl a quiz in order to win a discount on the price. I was about to be annoyed that even a show run by Kevin Smith devolves into this ever-present female-geek proving ethos, until the girl answered Ming’s questions before he could even finish them. Scripted or not, this was satisfying.

This episode was my introduction to AMC’s late night geek chat series and I’m excited to follow the guys through the next episodes. You can catch Comic Book Men late night Sundays on AMC and you can catch me here with Geek Chic Elite in case you miss a moment or two.