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Summary: Comic book historian/geek/shop owner Donald Swan (Mark Hamil with glasses and very bad hair) is hired by a major motion picture company to promote their launch of "Codename: Courage" a big budget spectacular based off the re-launched/updated (and despised) version of the classic golden age comic "Commander Courage". As events and comic icons swirl around the 2003 San Diego ComicCon, will Donald be able to hold up his fannish ideals in the face of a Hollywood marketing machine?
Review: Not exactly a history, not exactly a parody, not exactly a documentary, Comic Book: The Movie is an odd duck. Filmed on video on a shoestring budget around the real ComicCon, CBTM is mostly Hamil's love letter to the comics he grew up reading, and the men who created them. Real life comic book writers, artists, and editors (including Hugh Hefner!) are interviewed by "Swan" gamely pontificating on a classic character that never actaully existed, while around them the actors (played mostly by voice artists who have man-centuries worth of work recorded, but whose faces have never been on screen before) keep up the pretense while invoking giggles from passersby.
CCTM is at it's heart a lighthearted look at the sometimes checkered history of comics (a few of the WWII era "Commander Courage" books shown have blatently racist covers), and the forces that shaped them. Using "Commander Courage" as something of shield, it allows these professionals to give the audience a look at the politics and occasional bickering that normally stays in the background. Not to mention the dedication of comic book creators who love their creations, even while the rest of the world derides them for making "Funny Books" (or worse, makes crappy movies about them.)
I'm going to have to be blunt say that CCTM isn't really a great movie. Laughs tend to be few, and somewhat dependent on a wink & nod knowledge of the business and history, and faux interviews with such luminaries as Ray Harryhausen, Stan Lee, and Paul Dini are something of a mixed bag. But if you're a comic's fan, they're there, and worth your time. Even without watching the film itself, Mark Hamil's commentary track is worth listening to just to catch a glimpse of his knowledge of the industry, and the extras have such goodies as a 40-minute interview with Hefner (who started as a comic book artist before doing the Bunny thing), several mini-interviews with such people as Kevin Smith, Peter David, and Matt Greoning, and a nifty "Radio Play" with the voice actors from such cartoons as Futurama, Spongebob Squarepants, and Justice League and (narrated by Gary "Roger Ramjet" Owens).
Rent it or borrow it, before deciding to buy it.
Review: Not exactly a history, not exactly a parody, not exactly a documentary, Comic Book: The Movie is an odd duck. Filmed on video on a shoestring budget around the real ComicCon, CBTM is mostly Hamil's love letter to the comics he grew up reading, and the men who created them. Real life comic book writers, artists, and editors (including Hugh Hefner!) are interviewed by "Swan" gamely pontificating on a classic character that never actaully existed, while around them the actors (played mostly by voice artists who have man-centuries worth of work recorded, but whose faces have never been on screen before) keep up the pretense while invoking giggles from passersby.
CCTM is at it's heart a lighthearted look at the sometimes checkered history of comics (a few of the WWII era "Commander Courage" books shown have blatently racist covers), and the forces that shaped them. Using "Commander Courage" as something of shield, it allows these professionals to give the audience a look at the politics and occasional bickering that normally stays in the background. Not to mention the dedication of comic book creators who love their creations, even while the rest of the world derides them for making "Funny Books" (or worse, makes crappy movies about them.)
I'm going to have to be blunt say that CCTM isn't really a great movie. Laughs tend to be few, and somewhat dependent on a wink & nod knowledge of the business and history, and faux interviews with such luminaries as Ray Harryhausen, Stan Lee, and Paul Dini are something of a mixed bag. But if you're a comic's fan, they're there, and worth your time. Even without watching the film itself, Mark Hamil's commentary track is worth listening to just to catch a glimpse of his knowledge of the industry, and the extras have such goodies as a 40-minute interview with Hefner (who started as a comic book artist before doing the Bunny thing), several mini-interviews with such people as Kevin Smith, Peter David, and Matt Greoning, and a nifty "Radio Play" with the voice actors from such cartoons as Futurama, Spongebob Squarepants, and Justice League and (narrated by Gary "Roger Ramjet" Owens).
Rent it or borrow it, before deciding to buy it.
