5 sentence review of Comic Book Men

by General Tso

Season 1, Episode 1

5. “Comic Book Men” is exactly what you would expect it to be: Grown men discussing comic books, making a few jokes and enjoying a genre that mainstream culture loves to consume, especially at the movies, but equally likes to marginalize by dismissing aficionados as “geeks,” “nerds” and “fanboys.”

4. Kevin Smith is probably the most famous “fanboy” in popular culture, with most of his films peppered with homages to his favorite entertainments, so it seems fitting AMC would turn to his New Jersey comic book store, Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash, to give viewers an inside look of fandom from the other side of the counter.

3. The show is mellow and friendly, in a way that reminds me of my favorite shops in Des Moines, from Cup of Kryptonite to Mayhem to Jay’s CD and Hobby, with elements of “Pawn Stars,” as people hawk their valuable comics, toys and posters to shop manager Walt Flanagan, one of Smith’s cohorts from youth.

2. There’s a competition to sell off old junk in the back of the story at a local flee market, an effort won by Ming Chen, a story employee who appears to be the low man in the pecking order, if there is such a thing in a comic book store.

1. Full disclosure: I like, buy and read comics and have for most of my life, so I found “Comic Book Men” pleasant and mildly amusing — a nice cool down from the intense “The Walking Dead” — but I don’t know how accessible viewing would be for people who currently don’t or haven’t previously consumed comic book culture.