One of AMC’s longest-running programs has come to a close.
No, we are not talking about “The Walking Dead,” which will soon be marching into its eighth season.
“Comic Book Men,” which debuted in 2012, was one of the network’s hidden gems, and it quietly aired for an amazing seven seasons and 96 episodes.
Creator Kevin Smith announced recently through his social media platforms that AMC unfortunately will not be picking up the series for another season. Yet “Comic Book Men” remains the third longest-running series to air on the network, next to “The Walking Dead” and “Talking Dead,” the zombie program’s companion show.
AMC found success in original programming when it debuted “Mad Men” in 2007. The following year brought the highly rated “Breaking Bad.” The year 2010 saw the debut of the massive success that is “The Walking Dead.”
With the surprise success of those shows, AMC was quickly developing into a robust new network in the eyes of television viewers. What was once a channel for reruns of classic films was becoming a leader in original programming — and fast.
The trouble? AMC had only a handful of shows, and it needed to develop content quickly in order to remain a lead network.
The solution was to lean on unscripted programming, as those shows are cheap and quick to make. AMC then greenlighted more shows in 2012 and 2013, including “Freakshow,” “Small Town Security,” and “Comic Book Men,” which ended up the only program of the bunch to survive more than a few years.
When “Clerks” director Kevin Smith was approached with the opportunity to pitch a television show, something immediately popped into his head: “Pawn Stars” in a comic book shop.
It made sense. “Pawn Stars” was a monster success and comic book-related material was on the rise.
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Smith was given $10,000 to shoot a sizzle reel to give AMC an idea of what his series could be. To keep costs down, Smith filmed the sizzle reel at his own New Jersey comic book store — Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash.
Store manager and part-time comic book artist Walt Flanagan lead the pitch video, which also starred Smith friends and employees Mike Zapcic, Ming Chen and Bryan Johnson. Though they weren’t intended to be the eventual cast, AMC fell in love with the chemistry of the four men — Flanagan and Johnson had already cut their bantering teeth on a successful podcast called “Tell ‘Em Steve-Dave” — and ordered a six-episode first season of the show.
Though it changed time slots a handful of times and was eventually playing around midnight on Sundays, “Comic Book Men” always brought in a loyal audience and attracted big-name guests such as Dean Cain and Stan Lee.
The longstanding success of the program had a lot to do with the nostalgia factor of old items coming into the store — they buy and sell collectables — along with the celebrity guests, but the friendship among the four men was ultimately the beating heart of the show.
Flanagan and Johnson have known each other since fifth grade and worked together on various comic book properties, while Chen and Zapcic own a business and have been working together for years.
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Whether they were sitting around playfully insulting each other or working to make each other’s lives a little easier — such as when they toiled to replace Zapcic’s comics and collectables after he lost it all in Hurricane Sandy — the boys always had a bond that made “Comic Book Men” something special.
And in a world in which reality programming has been dominated by vapid celebrity antics, “Comic Book Men” was a show that highlighted a small business and how the people running it managed to find success in an age when hardcover books are underappreciated and overlooked.
With highlights such as rides in a re-created Adam West Batmobile and Marvel legend Stan Lee’s help on pitching a comic book idea, “Comic Book Men” was never boring.
Though it still had some mileage left and it’s sad to see it go, the program did manage to end with its most personal season yet.
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In one episode the boys were presented with the film “Shooting Clerks,” a movie about the creation of Smith’s “Clerks,” the film that made the store possible. Flanagan, Johnson and Smith were all portrayed in the movie.
And in what now serves as the show’s series finale, the guys came full circle and were morphed into official pieces of pop culture when they were all turned into Funko Pops toys. After years of wheeling and dealing in action figures, they’d become figures themselves.
Though it’s over now, “Comic Book Men” leaves behind nearly 100 episodes for anyone to enjoy — they can be found on Amazon or iTunes. For seven seasons it remained a work that highlighted true friendship and the ingenuity and passion it takes to succeed in today’s small-business world.
PopZette editor Zachary Leeman can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter.
(photo credit, homepage and article: AMC)
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