Everyone knows that I am a huge comic book/superhero movie fan. Comicbook: The Movie
Here is the movie that gets into the pants of what us comic collectors and true fans feel when a movie comes out that distorts the original works it is based on. League of Extrodinary Gentlemen had very LITTLE to do with the graphic novel it was based on. This peaved a LOT of LXG fans.
Here we have Mark Hamill playing a highschool history teacher Don Swan who also owns a comic book shop, and due to his fanzine “Once upon a Dime” he is considered the undisputed ultimate fan of a golden age comic book called Captain Courage.
As the ultimate fan, the studio recruits him to make a documentary about Captain Courage in hopes of promoting the new remake of the book Codename Courage, and the big budget Superhero Movie based on the ultra violent remake. The whole movie was filmed in and around the Sandiego ComicCon with a pile of cameos from the likes of Stan Lee and Kevin Smith. This was not a set, it was the ACTUAL Convention.
Comic book fans will love this movie. If you don’t collect comics, or you don’t understand why people do. Don’t rent this film. If you do collect comics, you are not a real collector until you have seen this.
On a side note, Comic Book Villians is another phenominal film about comic collecting that is a must see.
Unfortunately, I only could rent this for one night before facing fees of Blockbuster proportions. So, I only got to peek around. Mark Hamill was great and far more fun than what people would give him credit for. However, Jess Harnell stole the show. He’s the voice of Wakko Warner who looks like Howard Stern and kept a running commentary as the cameraman. He’s a riot.
What was especally fun was the DVD Extra that had the interviews with the Voice Actors. They had a diverse cast on stage for Q&As and come off with only a fraction of the pretenion of a Hollywood actor ;) Also neat was Katie Leigh (voice of Dumbo, Baby Rowlf, Shiela from D&D) being called up – it kind of shows the respect these guys have with each other…a welcome relief.
This is a must-see. I’m not a big Comic Book Guy, but it was still a blast to watch!