Comic Book Men - Fourth Season

You know what I got to get in here?

- What's that? - A gong.

- A gong for what? - Remember

that TV show, the gong show?

Yeah, I remember that.

When I hear a bad idea or a stupid topic...

Gong.

Within a week Mike's at the ear doctor.

Let's say it's not just at work.

Let's say it's at home, too.

Are you telling me you don't think you

would ever get gonged at home?

Some of the ideas you proud that you talk about here?

Oh, I thought you meant certain performances.

And performances.

Well, I mean, yeah.

I'm pretty good but I can't be 100% all the time.

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Comic Book Men,

the only show that finds a clown way scarier than a bat.

I'm your host, Kevin Smith.

- Bryan Johnson. - Walt Flanagan.

- Mike Zapcic. - Ming Chen.

Now you know I don't care if you ever make money

in this store, but I do care that you have stories to tell.

So what happened this week?

Something pretty cool came into the stash.

- Guys. - Hey, how you doing?

- Good. How are you? - Ooh, what is that?

I have a set of Star Wars

newspaper comic reprints drawn by Al Williamson.

They're autographed.

They are limited edition.

There was, like, 25,000 printed.

This is number 1,735.

Ooh, this is rare, man. I've heard of these.

I've actually never seen this, though.

Do you mind if I pop it open,

take a look and see at one of the volumes?

- Oh, by all means. Go right ahead. Mm - Hmm.

These are from the actual '70s, right?

- Right. - These strips?

Like, at the height of Star Wars mania?

Oh, yeah, '70s, '80s.

To just take you right back to you're 12 years old.

You got the newspaper out.

Look, I mean, some days it was just two panels.

That's where our generation learned the virtues of waiting.

Now it's all, like, instant gratification, man.

We're better than everybody. We really are.

Oh, I loved these Star Wars comic strips.

It was a destination in childhood.

Like, in the boring ass newspaper,

full of words that had no meaning to a kid.

Suddenly you would turn this magical page

and suddenly it was like, "that's... that's for me!

That's for me! There are drawings!"

And when I was a kid, I was such a Star Wars fan.

I'd cut 'em out and put 'em in a photo album

one under the other so you could sit there and read the story.

Oh, that's sweet.

I used to cut out the family circus.

And then I'd burn it.

I know today's youth can't understand how important buying

the daily newspaper was, just to read those funnies.

I lived and died for the Sunday paper.

So did I. Did you read the Sundays as a young girl?

I still read the newspaper comics on Sundays.

- Really? - Mm-hmm.

Favorite strip?

As a child, snoopy.

And I liked Heathcliff too.

- Heathcliff? - Mm-hmm.

The poor man's garfield.

Heathcliff?

He was cute and he was... I love cats, so...

So why are you looking to sell it?

Well, I'm going to be moving in with my boyfriend soon,

me and my daughter,

and I could really use the money to help fix up her room.

I'll miss it, but my girl's more important.

All right.

What are you looking to get for it?

I was hoping around $500.

Hmm.

The slipcase does show some signs of its age.

I mean, it is over 20 years old,

so got to take that into consideration.

I don't think I could do $500.

Okay.

How 'bout $225?

I was really hoping for more.

Could you maybe stretch it up to $250?

All right.

- I'll do $250. - Okay.

Okay. $250 it is.

All right, thank you so much.

Thank you! Have a great day, gentlemen.

- All right. Good luck. - Bye.

Mmm-mmm-mmm.

- How you doing? - Hey guys, how you doing?

Obviously you're Batman fans, right?

- Yeah. - A little bit.

I got a piece of '66 Batman history

you guys might be interested in.

Yeah, sure. What is it?

Actually kind of heavy for me to bring in, guys.

- Can you step outside? - It's too heavy to bring in?

- Yeah. - All right.

- All right. - I'm intrigued.

- Yeah, let's check it out. - All right, let's go.

Lead the way.

All right, so let's see this piece of history.

All right, come on over.

This is it?

- You guys ready for this? - Yeah.

It's a one of a kind item.

- Oh, no way! - Place went out of business,

and I guess somehow this one survived.

This is probably the only time you're gonna get a chance

to get something like this.

What the Heck is this?

This is a Ming puppet, man.

Just like Ming, it just wants to be a real boy.

So let's see this piece of history.

- All right. Come on over. - This is it?

You guys ready for this?

- Yeah. - It's a one of a kind item.

- Oh! - Oh, no way!

A piece of sidewalk!

This is one of those plaster casters

from those Chinese theaters, right?

Yeah. Something like that, yeah.

This is the original Adam west/burt ward handprint,

footprint, and autograph.

Here's actually a photo of it taken to prove it

back from 1981.

You lifted this from Mano's theater in Hollywood?

No, actually. It came from Orlando, Florida.

Stars hall of fame.

It was a wax museum, and their handprints

and footprints lined the sidewalk.

The place went out of business

and I guess they junked everything.

And somehow this one survived. And I picked it up

from a buddy of mine that's a memorabilia dealer.

How'd they go out of business, slip and fall?

I mean, jeez...

I envisioned maybe we'd chisel out

the front of the store,

and we'd lay this block in there.

Maybe we start a little theme down broad street, you know?

All the way down broad street we'll have celebrities.

And one day a child will be like, "when did this start?"

And that child will be told,

"when somebody threw this out

and then it was bought by the secret stash."

Didn't seem to work for stars hall of fame...

what chance do you have?

Might be weird for some people.

Like, "were they ever here?" We're like, "no,

but they were in Orlando!"

"Three decades ago."

Wow. That's absolutely insane, man.

I mean, this has got to be, without a doubt,

the most unique piece

that's ever been brought down to the stash.

Oh, easily.

Do you mind we, uh, size our hands up?

Go 'head. Help yourself.

It's like, go on.

It's like pulling Excalibur

- out of the stone. - Not quite.

Do you know how many birds have crapped on that

since he did that, and you're acting like it's an honor?

I mean, I have to.

- That's pretty close. - It's close, but no cigar.

- I think I might be more Robin. - Come on, old chum!

I can't imagine you're selling this.

- Yeah. - Really?

Yeah, I'm gonna part with it.

I got a whole room dedicated in the house to Batman.

Costumes, autographs, comic books... everything.

- I have a '66 Batmobile I built. - Really?

Yeah. And I'm in the middle of making a '66 Batboat now,

so I was gonna pick up a little extra cash.

Wow.

So what, do you have a Batcave too?

Yeah, I got a problem.

- I do have a Batman problem. - Oh, all right.

Bats in the belfry, as they say.

I mean, I want it, man. I definitely want it.

I think it would look awesome right there.

- People walk in, you know. - Fall. Sue you.

So what are you looking to get for it?

I'm looking to get $1,500.

$1,500. Wow.

One of a kind, though.

There's not another one and you couldn't get these guys

to do this now for under $1,000.

Yeah, you're probably right.