201202210244.jpg

Actually, we were out Sunday night and forget to set the DVR. Oops. Here’s a mostly positive recap from TV Geek Army. It seems the boys went for a spin in the Batmobile and Jason Mewes showed up and stole someone’s credit card. Just another day on the job. By all accounts, this was a better episode than the first.

Meanwhile, over at Comics Alliance, Chris Sims wrote a fairly harsh review of the first episode; in particular, he called Bryan Johnson, the Alan Moore-type guy who hangs around the store, a “smarmy alpha nerd prick.” While we would not necessarily pin that sobriquet on Johnson, it is a great phrase for THAT GUY, you know the one. The one you try to avoid down at the local.

Well, Johnson read the piece, and took issue with it, and went toe to toe with Sims:

You’re like every other elitist comic book reviewer out there. You know how the show SHOULD have been made but shockingly no one approached YOU to make one. Nor did you have the juice to get in a room to pitch one. And by golly, I’m sure the conversations you and your buddies used to have when you worked in a comic book store were just scintillating and put ours to shame.


File this under: when nerds collide.

ALSO, in our own review of the first episode, we misstated one crucial piece of information. The show was NOT Kevin Smith’s idea. Rather, AMC came to him to help put together a show. Other than that, our interpretation of the show’s development stands.

Finally, while searching for a picture of Johnson, we found his official “cast member” page on AMC.com. For some reason, that, more than anything else about this show, kind of blew our mind.

1 COMMENT

  1. “…called Bryan Johnson, the Alan Moore-type guy who hangs around the store, a “smarmy alpha nerd prick.” – actually I kinda agree. Plus, short or long? Pick one, please, you can’t have it both ways! (UGH! LOL what IS with that beard/hair combo?)

  2. does the Beat employ editors? if the author can’t be bothered to check the article for typos, how much is the information in the content worth?

  3. I’m not an elitist comics reviewer. What I am is a woman who has been reading comics for more than 50 years, and who has been working with comics in libraries for almost 30 years. And Bryan Johnson’s attitudes toward customers and the other cast members offends me, enough that I will not watch Comic Book Men any more.

  4. The cast member page at amctv.com was indeed interesting.

    “Although he is not officially an employee at Secret Stash, on most days Johnson can be found holding court on the stool behind the front counter.”

    Not officially an employee? They just have this guy sitting behind the counter to chase off customers?

  5. “You’re like every other elitist comic book reviewer out there. You know how the show SHOULD have been made but shockingly no one approached YOU to make one. Nor did you have the juice to get in a room to pitch one.”

    I love the assumption that having a reality TV show constitutes the pinnacle of human ambition.

  6. Oh for Gods sake get over it , if you don’t like it ….. don’t watch it. I personally love the show and so do 90% of my customers, including a large number of my female customers. Too many whiny people here on the Beat forum i think….

  7. I didn’t catch the second episode, but maybe I should give the show another chance.

    The first episode seemed disjointed. First the guys were on the radio or a podcast, then they were in the shop and people were wandering in off the street like in those Pawn shows.

    Something in Episode 1 definitely did not work for me.
    I think it was the combo of the overly cheery bright comic coloured walls and the everyday dynamics of the guys. Or the pacing.

    Like I said, maybe it needs another chance.

  8. This show is a total success.

    Totally successful at illustrating why comic stores are intimidating to many non-regulars and why I am always anxious when I visit a new store.

    I love going to comic stores and love talking with lots of people who work and shop in them…and then there’s the subset of people this show presents, who make it tough to recommend comics to anyone outside the geek circle.

    To a lot of people who’ve never been there, New Jersey is totally populated by idiots like Snooki and the Situation.

  9. missed last week but caught this week. this seemed more like an episode of Pawn Stars. totally set up situations with poorly “acted” characters.

    but this show lost me when one of the store clerks said he had “vaguely” heard of Crisis on Infinite Earths.

  10. matthew southworth said: to a lot of people who’ve never been there, new jersey is totally populated by idiots like snooki and the situation.

    you mean it’s not? c’mon! :)

    as far as the show, i feel the only interesting parts are when folks walk in (yeah, i know it’s staged) and try to sell some kind of a collectable to the store. the cool items, the pricing, the haggling, is what collecting is all about (tho’ these guys do a lot of low-balling with the money they offer). what i didn’t like was a scene in the first show that had a woman come in the shop trying to sell her chucky doll and the shitty comments made about her choice of what she likes to collect and her devotion to collecting dolls and chucky dolls in particular, yet in another scene these same yahoos are fawning over a six million dollar man doll with the same kind of zeal that the woman had for the chucky doll. hypocrites.

    and please tell me that whole uncomfortable mess with jason mewes in the second episode was part of the act. ’cause if it wasn’t…..holy shit!

  11. “You’re like every other elitist comic book reviewer out there. You know how the show SHOULD have been made but shockingly no one approached YOU to make one. Nor did you have the juice to get in a room to pitch one. And by golly, I’m sure the conversations you and your buddies used to have when you worked in a comic book store were just scintillating and put ours to shame.”

    Nerds, taking it personal and making it personal since the dawn of the net! If only we could run cars on sarcasm.

  12. I’m a fan of Kevin Smith so I love the show. Second show was better than the first. Looking forward to #3.