(For part one of this article, please click here.)
Kendall Brown also commented through Facebook.
“The shows angle was decidedly focused on the reality that this shop just doesn't have any woman employees. AMC and the cast all felt that to shoehorn a woman just for the sake of appeasing a focus group would hurt they dynamic. After all these guys have known each other in some cases for more than 25 years. A stranger they've never met just wouldn't have worked.”
Kendall, I agree with you. That dynamic is really the only thing the show (or at least the first episode) is built around.
Carol Ciampa White (through Facebook) commented on me pointing out the store didn't appear to have customers.
"They have regular customers, but I'm sure the regular customers don't need to be shown to know they're there. The store has been open since 1995/96 it's making money, it's grown through the years."
Any comic shop that's been open since 1995 should be applauded. And studied by economics courses! Especially when you consider that 1995 was right around the end of the early 90's comic speculator boom, actually opening the doors then and still being open is pretty amazing.
However, that doesn't change the fact that the show doesn't show anybody actually buying anything. If the show is going to appeal to people who aren't already Kevin Smith fans, it wouldn't hurt to actually show some customers buying books so casual viewers could see what the store is supposed to look like. Or even just show people flipping through a few comics and reading them. I don't think we saw that on the debut show.
I love Kevin Smith, but I disagree with his theory that he's already got all the fans he's ever going to have, so he doesn't need to advertise, explain, or reach out to new ones.
Armando Contreras (from Facebook) said "I for one was VERY offended at the way other all white cast members incessantly picked on the one Asian cast member. Subtle racism at its finest. Shame on Kevin Smith."
I didn't see it that way, Armando. It seemed to me that they were picking on everybody, especially Bryan. He appears to be the prime mover when it comes to messing with people, and the interaction is really the most fun part of the show so far.
And that really underscores one of the problems with how quickly Comic Book Men got started. We don't really know anything about the characters yet. Unless you follow the podcasts, most of the characters are still blank slates. First-time watchers don't know if Ming gets singled out, or if it was just his turn.
I got this message through Facebook, from Robert Bruce.
"your kind of a tool too!"
Robert was the pop culture expert and appraiser who actually appeared on the first episode, which brings me to my first rule. If anyone from a show I'm writing about, or from Kevin Smith's extended entourage wants to make fun of me, I let them. Thanks for the comments, Robert.
Finally, Amy Chu, co-creator and founder of Alpha Girl Comics commented through Twitter, and also her blog.
"I won’t really get into the whole treatment of women in comics thing. Anyone who has gone to a comic convention lately will laugh at you if you claim that women/girls have no interest in geek culture. And any comic book store with a modicrum of marketing sense know having women on their staff certainly does not hurt sales. I’m not sure why keeping the original lineup with Zoe Gulliksen (@bookishbelle on Twitter) would have made it any less authentic than it already was. If Kevin Smith doesn’t believe women in comic book shops is a reality, well he needs to shop at other stores besides his own."
Thanks to Amy and everyone else who commented. The second episode is coming up this weekend, let’s hope for a ratings jump for this week, since the show won’t be airing opposite the Grammys.
-- Reid Kerr paid fifteen bucks to watch Kevin Smith talk on a movie screen for three hours, and enjoyed it greatly. Follow Reid on Twitter and yell at him.
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