Comic Book Men - Fourth Season

Let's say Yoda comes to the stash.

He needs a new jedi apprentice.

He's like, "me look for jedi, I am."

You sound like Jar Jar.

- Okay, continue. - All right.

So what do you offer Yoda that he's gonna pick you, Mike?

I'm in shape for my age.

Will Yoda go, "me not looking for senior citizen"?

You could do a lot worse.

How about that? That's my pitch to him.

What are you offering Yoda?

The problem is,

Jedis are schooled to hold back their emotions,

not be emotional.

That's the problem?

Bro, there's no one less emotional than you.

Like, literally, C.3.P.O is more emotional than him.

You might be the strongest candidate,

but look at this guy right here.

He looks like a jedi.

Look at that. That's zen.

But there would be a greater than 50% chance

of me going to the dark side... almost 100%.

Ming, I think you're probably the jedi material at the table.

Come on, jedi. Let's go fold some shirts.

Can I use the force?

Hello.

Welcome to another episode of Comic Book Men,

the only show that did a threesome

with both aunt may and Ant-Man.

I'm your host, Kevin Smith.

- Bryan Johnson. - Walt Flanagan.

- Mike Zapcic. - Ming Chen.

Okay, boys, what blew your minds this week?

Every day, you know,

kind of reminded that it's a new world out here.

Legalized marijuana, gay marriage...

what are we talking about here?

You've got those two,

but at the top of the list for me,

it's got to be the Brony Movement.

Of course.

What a deep social impact this has made.

Hey, guys, I got some pony comics on my hands

I thought you might be interested in.

Pony comics.

Actually, this says Transformers.

It's a Botcon exclusive.

Botcon's, like, a Transformers convention?

Yeah, last year,

they had a my little pony comic, and it was a crossover.

It had pinkie pie and Optimus Prime on it.

This year they went with DJ Pon-3 and Soundwave.

And they decided to put it on a Transformers comic instead

since it was BotCon.

80% of Bronies are guys

who are between ages, like, 13 and 25.

I, myself, am one. Like, I go to BronyCon,

- and you see these people with... - BronyCon?

- BronyCon, yes. - What's that?

It's the biggest convention in the world for bronies

to meet, like, buy, sell, trade.

There's cosplay contests, lots of really cool stuff.

Those people who have no idea about this subculture of ponies,

they assume that this is geared towards

a five-to a ten-year-old child, right?

- I'll grant you that. - It's fair, right?

I grant you that.

I have devoted a very generous space

to the pony items in the stash...

right at the front of the store where the kids walk in.

$2.99, $3.99 comic book. It's an easy sell.

99% of the people buying those pony comics

are the parents of the little kids coming in.

This isn't aimed for the little kids.

No, it's not.

It's aimed toward the adults with the big wallets.

We don't sell high-ticket items featuring ponies though.

Maybe we should think about it.

Last year, we had a guy come in.

You know, he introduced us into the concept of the brony.

Is that a tattoo of a pony on your arm?

- Correct, sir. - That's crazy.

Do you guys know what a brony is?

Bronies?

Perhaps a member of the herd yourselves?

Anybody?

I don't think it's any secret

that Walt's maybe not the most open guy out there,

that anything that may seem strange

or weird to him, you know,

he immediately writes off.

So it sounds like you are maybe at best bro-curious,

but he is bro-committed.

So what are you looking to get for it?

Um, looking to get maybe $150 for this pair?

- $150 for the pair of these? - Yeah.

I mean, did this sell that well?

This was a con exclusive,

and it was limited to, like, 750 copies.

I just don't think it's...

it's for the stash, you know?

It's kind of a big-ticket item

that I just don't feel that we could flip.

- All right. - Sorry.

- Thank you anyways. - All right.

- Thanks, man. - Thank you.

You have a good day. Brohoof.

Brohoof.

He brings up an interesting point.

What interesting point does he bring up?

There are guys out there who will spend money on this stuff.

There's so much merchandise.

It's... it's crazy.

And costume contest.

Who would want to do that?

There's no way I'm going to a BronyCon.

Why?

Will you enter the cosplay contest?

Right?

You're gonna be disguised half the time.

A little vaudevillian action.

The two-person horse.

Oh.

To be honest, I've always wanted to dress

in one of those vaudevillian horse costumes...

the two-man horse costume.

You know I love to kick it old-school, um...

- in a horse costume? - That's really old-school.

I like to kick it like in the 1910s...

When two men in a horse suit was entertainment.

Doing the Charleston.

If I go, you got to be the horse's ass.

I mean, if that gets you down there...

that I got to be a horse's ass...

then I would do it.

- All right, I'm in. - I would do it.

But if we're dressing up, you guys got to dress up too.

Oh, something other than this?

Yeah. Let's do it then.

Well, I would say we're not in Kansas anymore,

but that'd be an understatement.

- Hi, guys. - Hi.

Um, I have some original comic art

that you might be interested in.

Oh, my gosh.

This is a Jerry Robinson Batman sketch

and a phantom sketch.

That is so cool.

Where did you get these?

Actually, they were my brother's,

and they've been passed down.

They've been in our family for about 60 years now.

He got them at a U.S.O. show in Korea in 1955 or '56.

They sent comic book artists

to entertain the troops back then?

- Yes. - Wow.

Who knew that the U.S.O. was like,

"let's bring comic book artists out to entertain the troops"?

It's amazing, and after their little demo,

they would go into the audience

and do some sketches for the troops.

What a lucky troop is this?

Like, over here, they've got jayne Mansfield,

and over here, they've got a guy drawing pictures.

We want Betty grable!

Like, "you got Bob Kane."

It says, "hello, Roy and Joyce!"

I am the Joyce.

- Oh, you're Joyce? - Okay.

"Brother Fred tells me here in Korea what swell kids you are."

Oh, that's nice.

I've found a picture in his belongings of them

actually on the stage at the fort.

- That is so cool. - It's hard to see.

But, yeah, it looks like he's drawing a Batman.

That's got to be Jerry Robinson.

Don't see a lot

of Jerry Robinson artwork come through the doors.

Almost never.

And the phantom.

He was like a superhero before superheroes were superheroes.

- Based in the jungles. - Mm-hmm.

He was Batman, but set in the jungle.

But Wilson McCoy... not that familiar with that artist.

- Jerry Robinson... big name. - Yeah.

Jerry Robinson is not drawing any more Batmans,

so this is rare.

Think about it... one of Batman's baby daddies...

guy responsible for some of the best things

about the Batman mythos...

Robin, the Joker...

- Mm-hmm. - Don't forget Alfred.

Alfred!

That... without Alfred, there is no Batman.

He's a dude alone in a cave,

and people feel sorry for him.

Any idea what you're looking to get for both of them today?

I was thinking about $850.

Is there any chance that you would take, um...