| Comic Book Men | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Reality |
| Developed by | Kevin Smith |
| Starring | Kevin Smith Walt Flanagan Bryan Johnson Mike Zapcic Ming Chen |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 7 |
| No. of episodes | 96 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Kevin Smith Elyse Seiden Charlie Corwin Brian Nashel |
| Camera setup | multi-camera |
| Running time | 60 minutes(season 1) 30 minutes(season 2–7) |
| Production companies | SModcast Pictures AMC Studios |
| Original release | |
| Network | AMC |
| Release | February 12, 2012 (2012-02-12) – April 8, 2018 (2018-04-08) |
Comic Book Men is an Americanreality television series which aired on theAMC network from 2012 to 2018. It is set atKevin Smith's comic book shop,Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash, inRed Bank, New Jersey.
Filmmaker Kevin Smith was drawn to television through his love ofpodcasting, through which he says he realized his true calling: telling stories with words rather than pictures.[1] His website,SModcast.com, features a number of podcasts, includingI Sell Comics!, hosted by Mike Zapcic and Ming Chen,[2] andTell 'Em Steve-Dave!, co-hosted byWalt Flanagan andBryan Johnson.[3] The latter was the inspiration forComic Book Men.[1] Brian Quinn, the third co-host ofTell 'Em Steve-Dave!, was unable to be featured in the series due to the conditions of his contract for theTruTV seriesImpractical Jokers.[4]
NJ.com reported in July 2011 that AMC was interested in the TV show that was being developed by Smith, which was set at Smith's store, and described as "Pawn Stars for geeks". The series would be part ofAMC network's active entry intoreality television.[5] AMC decided to pick up the show to followThe Walking Dead. The working title wasSecret Stash,[6] before it was finalized asComic Book Men.
The first season ran for six one-hour episodes,[7] the premiere of which aired on February 12, 2012, following the return ofThe Walking Dead's second season.[8][9][10]
On May 9, AMC announced thatComic Book Men was renewed for a second season of 16 half-hour episodes.[11] Season 2 premiered October 14, 2012, initially following the third season ofThe Walking Dead with its first 8 episodes; the second 8 episodes spearheaded AMC's new "Real Original Thursdays" lineup along with two new series,Freakshow andImmortalized.[12] On its new night, it initially aired at 9:00 PM EST (with repeats at 10:30PM and 12:00 Midnight EST), but after a month was moved to 10:00PM EST with a repeat episode airing at 10:30 PM (and repeats of both episodes at 1:00AM and 1:30AM EST, respectively)[11][12]
AMC commissioned a third season in April 2013.[13] Season 3 premiered October 13, 2013, following the third season ofTalking Dead.[14]
A fourth season was commissioned in March 2014.[15] It was also announced that guest cast member Robert Bruce would be the focus of a companion series that will follow him as he searches for collectibles at sales, auctions and flea markets across the country.[15] AMC announced in October 2014 they were cancelling all unscripted shows except forComic Book Men andTalking Dead and, as a result, Bruce's show did not progress past the pilot stage.[16]
Season five was confirmed on June 7, 2015, premiered on October 18, 2015, and ran through 2016.[17]
In May 2016, Smith confirmed that the series was renewed for a sixth season.[18] It began on October 23, 2016.
A seventh season was confirmed in May 2017 by Kevin Smith.[19]
On June 24, 2018, Kevin Smith confirmed the show was cancelled.[20]
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| 1 | 6 | February 12, 2012 (2012-02-12) | March 18, 2012 (2012-03-18) | |
| 2 | 16 | October 14, 2012 (2012-10-14) | April 4, 2013 (2013-04-04) | |
| 3 | 16 | October 13, 2013 (2013-10-13) | March 30, 2014 (2014-03-30) | |
| 4 | 16 | October 12, 2014 (2014-10-12) | March 22, 2015 (2015-03-22) | |
| 5 | 13 | October 18, 2015 (2015-10-18) | April 4, 2016 (2016-04-04) | |
| 6 | 16 | October 23, 2016 (2016-10-23) | April 23, 2017 (2017-04-23) | |
| 7 | 13 | October 22, 2017 (2017-10-22) | April 8, 2018 (2018-04-08) | |
Comic Book Men is a companion television show to Award Winningpodcast, titledTell 'em Steve Dave and the lesser knownI Sell Comics, which is hosted on theSModcast network. During the first season ofI Sell Comics, some podcast episodes were pre-recorded during the filming of the show, while others were recorded live on the SModco Internet Radio station (S.I.R.) directly following the first airing of an episode, allowing the audience to participate by calling in to the show. For the show's second season, the episodes were all recorded in the Secret Stash and hosted by Ming Chen, occasionally joined by some of the others from the show including Walt, Bryan, Mike, and frequent series contributor (and "pop culturalist") Rob Bruce.[25][26]
As of December 2012, Metacritic scores the first season 55 out of 100 based on 7 professional TV critics.[27] Ellen Gray ofThe Philadelphia Inquirer remarked, "Comic Book Men may not be as complicated asRubicon, but it's smarter than it looks at first."[28] Mike Hale ofThe New York Times opined that the series is an authentic portrayal of post-collegiate American life, and concluded, "It’s diverting, a little sad, a little boring, full of geeky macho posturing and ultimately pointless, much like a Wednesday afternoon in a comic-book shop."[29]David Wiegand of theSan Francisco Chronicle called the show an "amusing geekfest".[30]