AMC’s Comic Book Men is a ratings success in its post Walking and Talking Dead time slot, but it still gets flak. One of the oft-cited issues with the show is that by the very title, it represents an obviously outmoded way of looking at the comic book industry. To wit, women are flooding into the comic book field as readers and creators and already make up about 40% of the potential audience.
Perhaps to reflect the wider audience—and to add a different look from the generally middle-aged white guy cast members—the show is putting out a casting call for women to come in and sell their geeky items for the upcoming fourth season. CBM has become a geekier Pawn Stars/Antiques Roadshow (as so many shows do) so this is a great chance to sell those Yogi Bear jelly jars* you’ve been hoarding all those years.
Info is in the attached flyer, but you can go to http://comicbookmencasting.com/ to apply.
Produced by Kevin Smith, the show features the employees of Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash in Redbank, NJ, which Smith also owns. The show generally features folks coming in with some item of perceived nerd value, and being quizzed “What did you want to get for it?” by manager Walt Flanagan. And then the cast sits down and argues about comic books. Pretty simple stuff, so those interested should go for it.
*This example is in no way based on personal experience.
Photo Credit: Ben Leuner/AMC
Diversity is a wonderful thing, but if I was a woman, I wouldn’t go anywhere near this show. Hell, as a man, I want nothing to do with this show. Icky.
I hope that this time they treat the women better than they treated Zoe when the show was first starting out. See the update on this article for her less-than-welcoming experience with casting on Comic Book Men: http://www.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/02/08/are-you-ready-for-comic-book-men-hell-is-anyone
Truly horrid show. I can only hope that shop gets flooded with every crackpot too stupid to hock their collection/collectible on ebay. Which is what every shop with any common sense tells people when they walk into their shop wanting to unload a box of 90’s schlock.
It could have been good. I would have like to have seen that hour spent interviewing creators and promoting comics instead of perpetuating stereotypes and being a ‘geek’ version of Pawn Stars. What a waste.
I think the show is enjoyable. Baffled over the level of bashing that gets thrown at this show though (i.e. “horrid” and “icky”).
From what I understand, in order to appear on the show, you need to submit a YouTube video of yourself, then audition, and travel to the show location on your own dime. You are not paid for the appearance, and your segment may or may not be aired.
But if that’s what you really want to do, the tv exposure could work for you in some way, I guess.
You want to know what over a million people want to watch; an hour of comic book promotion and interviews with comic book creators. When CBR or Newsarama does do that, the barely get 5000 hits. How could a show on a Major Cable Network make it work.
I’m just happy to have anything to do with comic books on TV, and thank god Bryan Johnson is on the show.
#ant4LYFE
They couldn’t pay me enough to be mocked on TV for ratings.
I was on season 3 and it was a good experience. I’m an artist so I was going to be at Baltimore Comic Con that weekend anyway. You could tell I was nervous lol.
It’s not a bad show in its current format. In fact, as someone who has visited dozens and dozens of comic book stores around the world during the past 40 years, I was quite surprised how watchable the show was. Generally, comic book stores are boredom warehouses, where everyone keeps to themselves.
If they would have opted to mess with the cast to appease the diversity crowd, they’d have most likely screwed up the chemistry and this show would have died a quick death. After all, it appears these guys were all friends, and throwing in outsiders to check off demographics boxes would have been dumb.
They instead opted to attack the diversity issue through the guests, but even that could backfire if the process becomes too contrived.
Personally, I hope the show sticks around. I regularly watch Pawn Stars, American Pickers, American Restoration, and Antiques Roadshow, and this show falls in there nicely.
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