by Mike Hansen
Kevin Smith at somebody's else's comic book store. (Image via Wikipedia)
I liked this show.
I’d guess it’s mainly because I’m a Kevin Smith fan, and his recent Q&A/standup specials have been downright brilliant. Having worked in a comics shop, it seemed pretty accurate to me – with trying to find stupid stuff to do during the frequent downtime, the freaky customers who come in trying to make money off their junk, and the employees making fun of customers (and each other) when nobody else is around. Most comics shops are really unprofessional, and to me that’s part of their charm – I mean, who wants to hang out at, say, Walmart?
The “Pawn Stars” moments were definitely overdone, and obviously staged – it’s not like the cameras everywhere are hidden! I wish the people in the show would just acknowledge them, like on great mockumentaries like The Office or Life’s Too Short.
I’d agree that it’s not a good way to get the general public interested, but it was pretty truthful, even if the truth hurts…
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All Day Comics 
I’ve been enjoying the series in spite of the obviously-staged “pawn stars” moments (I hadn’t thought to call them that, but you’re dead on). I have never worked in a comic shop, but I have hung out there with friends who did work there (I even pinch-hit as a counter monkey one night when my buds had dates and were desperate for someone to watch the store for “just an hour before closing” so they could fail at their attempts to get laid.
I think the main thing that this show has going for it is that the “stars” are likable enough that you want to spend an hour a week with them and see the cool comics and stuff that people bring in.
BTW: Anyone else out there playing “spot the cover” in the background so you can guesstimate in which month a particular episode was filmed?
Ha! I haven’t tried “spot the cover,” though I’ve noticed a lot of Walking Dead and Kevin Smith comics.
Kevin Smith did an interview on G4TV’s Attack of the Show in which he said that all of the Pawn Stars-type scenes were all filmed in one day.
I tried watching this show but it bores me. Why not have interviews with Comic Book Writers, Artists, going to Conventions, Comic Book History, i mean this show is so limiting in it’s format. This is not good Geek material. Japan has more on Comics then we ever will in the US. Keven Smith may be a “Geek” (not my kind) but it seems centered more around him then anything.