It is time for Comic Book Men to be cancelled

[JayT]

Okay, some thoughts, because I think we sometimes forget we are talking about comics books .

 

 

Well. Let's be very clear, even with the name of show being what it is, this is a Kevin Smith and friends show, not a comic book show, no matter where it's filmed at.

 

And I'm not saying that to knock it, but you could have this exact same show with the exact same people doing the exact same thing except Kevin Smith is not associated with it, and this show does not exist. There's a reason why he's in every episode very briefly during the roundtable and that's because his brand is the draw, and people can say what they want about Smith, he''s got the personal brand thing pretty much down and has made a healthy living off of it.

 

I think some of the examples posted above about perfect shows, and you see it in other places too not just here, are pretty much not sustainable. The reason is not enough people even read comics to sustain even a borderline not cancelled midnight Sunday tv show on cable that led into by the biggest show on cable.

 

What does the top comic sell again? And lets pretend they all sell at the shops and lets pretend none of them are being purchased by the same people (which of course is ridiculous). This is a hobby that had to have Star Wars return with dozens of variants to get million + purchases (not buyers). A million viewers/subscribers is a very healthy youtube channel.

 

If you have a comic book tv show, amidst all the competition of great tv now, that just talked comics and the comic market and new comics, you'd be off the air before the first word in your pitch.

 

It's difficult to sustain gaming shows and the video games industry probably spends comic book sales #'s as right offs for lunch.

 

Now, I get it, it could be said mix it up with current pop culture with comics being the biggest thing in cinema but you already have people doing that, and doing it pretty well, for free (to the audience) on the internet. Even Kevin Smith. If you look at things like Collider, io9, or Screen Junkies, they are very comic/nerd centric and i'd imagine do very well for themselves (though I suspect Collider Videos is for now or just coming out of being a loss leader for Complex). I think youube is probably where it could happen, the problem is that kids gravitate to youtube (a plus) but not to comics.

 

It's why you see long running podcasts that are relatively popular fade because these people grow up and need to make real money from a hobby taking too much of their time, there's just very little money in talking about and reviewing comics, or rather there are only a few spots, and they are taken. There is no giant gorilla here like a Gawker, whose owner could probably eat a $120 million Hulk Hogan decision and still not be broke if he had to. For years I've seen podcasts inflate their numbers when they talk about them, and when they fade you know why.

 

 

[eastbayrudy]

I actually enjoy this show. It's low budget so I don't expect much. I'm just glad I have a comic/pop culture show like this to look forward to. I find them entertaining and some episodes are definitely better then others. It's either this or nothing so I will take it. I have only watched through season 3, and I must say it does get worst as the season's go on. They have a great idea and I agree with some people on here that it's bad execution. If they show was more about comics that would be awesome. Looking forward to watching the rest of the episodes soon.