In 1994, Kevin Smith turned the world of cinema upside down when his film Clerks, which was shot for under $28,000, was awarded the Filmmaker’s Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival, and was picked up by Miramax. The little indie flick became a massive success and Smith parlayed that success into a 20-year filmmaking career, which in turn helped him have successful runs in the comic book industry, produced a number of wildly successful podcasts and land on reality TV with his series, Comic Book Men. Yet, despite his success there have been constants that permeate his work – his friends and his love of comic books.
This evidenced most famously with his Tell ‘Em Steve-Dave! podcast which features his longtime friends, Bryan Johnson, Walt Flanagan, and Brian Quinn. Smith used Bryan and Walt as inspiration for two of his most famous characters, Bryan is the basis of Randal Graves from Clerks, and Brodie from Mallrats is based off Walt. Since its debut in 2010, Tell ‘Em Steve-Dave! has released over two hundred episodes and airs every Friday on Smith’s podcast website, Smodcast.com. The popular podcast became the basis for Comic Book Men, a reality series that takes place at Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash, Smith’s very own comic book store in Red Bank, New Jersey. Originally pitched as a geeky version of Pawn Stars, the show has since evolved into a real life version of Clerks.
While promoting the shows fourth season, Bryan and Walt spoke with press at the New York Comic Con about the rise of geek culture, adapting their own comics into films, and going from “Kevin Smith’s friends” to television stars.
There was a time where you had to really earn the pain and suffering of reading books and collecting. You earned your knowledge as opposed to looking on Wikipedia and saying oh issue such and such is when this happened. Does that play into the bandwagon ears? Does that frustrate you a little bit?
Walt Flanagan: That’s actually a banter that came up this season — with new fans picking up their favorite book the information and the continuity is at their fingertips. When we got into comics you had to find back issues and you were basically doing it by yourself. None of my other friends were reading comics so it was kind of a lonely hobby; that’s not the case anymore. I’m sure there’s never been a more frequent time that there’s been kid’s into comics, well maybe the ’30s.
Bryan Johnson: There’s no hunt anymore. I wanted to reread Foolkiller from the early ’90s and I didn’t have to go to little shows in church basements to try and find the issues. I went on eBay, issues 1 through 10, $12 bucks, boom done. So if you have that hunter instinct like Walt or Mike then I guess that would be a little frustrating, but you can get personal satisfaction from it.
Walt: People like just the ease factor. It shouldn’t be a hobby that’s that hard and you have to hunt for things.
Bryan: Well you can stab your mental wounds by assuring yourself you’re O.G. [laughs].
So Bryan you mentioned comic book movies. You’ve written a number of comic books. Are there any that you have considered turning into a movie.
Bryan: Walt and I have talked about it, but the stuff we do doesn’t lend itself to a low-budget. Everything Walt draws looks like it would be almost impossible to CGI for less than millions of dollars. The only one that I thought would be interesting and maybe able to do on the cheap would be Karney and we have American Horror Story: Freak Show, which I was like, ‘Oh well there you go. Now will never do it.
You both appeared in a few of Kevin’s past films. Did you ever think that you would be doing press for your own show one day?
Walt: Definitely not. I never would have thought there would be an interest or TV series based on buying collectibles, but as soon as you saw some of the other shows that Comic Book Men is based on that became really popular it became almost a no-brainer that there is so many people into this geek culture that our show just focused on bringing in comics, toys, and stuff from people’s past. It seemed like it was going to definitely happen at some point.
Bryan: So why not us. [Laughs]
Walt: Why not us.
Bryan: I remember when we first started, we do a podcast called Tell ‘Em Steve-Dave! and when I first proposed that to Walt there was of course that feeling like “Well we’re Kevin Smith’s friends are people really going to care?” Because Kevin was the guy and we are the guys behind the guy. So we were unsure if anyone would even listen to the podcast. So once that sort of took off that was shocking to us. So to be on weekly show that’s a series that’s gone four season’s now — [To Walt] if I even suggested like a couple years ago you would have slapped me in the mouth to ground me. So it’s surprising.
With the show there’s a huge cult following now. Have you in time had store owners come to you and say how much The Secret Stash, the exposure, and showing what goes on behind the scenes affected them or the store with more of a turn out?
Walt: I haven’t heard from many other store owners, but I have had so many people call the store from other parts of the country and say that the show, Comic Book Men, reignited their passion for comics and they’re going on a weekly basis to their local stores and they want to call and thank the stash for reintroducing them to comics. That’s a good thing for the industry. If we can turn a couple people a week into weekly junkies for comic books and haunting their stores, I’m sure a lot of store owners would be happy with that.
Bryan: Comic store owners aren’t they bitter by and large. I’ve heard rumors.
Walt: You just watch The Simpsons too much [Laughs].
Bryan: I’ve heard rumors that some store owners are annoyed because people now bring in so much stuff in to buy. Because everyone finds something and they want it to be that one thing that’s worth ten grand rather than a dollar, and it rarely ever is.
Walt: The stories of finding an Action Comics #1 are few and far in between, but I will tell you since the show has started there have been little old ladies who have come in with their kid’s comics — a big box of them and there has been an Incredible Hulk #181. It doesn’t happen every week, but it has happened. The only reason she brought it in was because she said she saw the show. So it can happen.
There is a saying going around that the geek shall inherit the earth. It’s sort of like the nerd culture has become pop culture. [At] cons there are a lot of older fans that feel jaded about that because these young folks got it easy. [Being called a nerd] is a badge of honor now.
Walt: I imagine that the same people that people are complaining about, the young crowd, flash forward twenty years and they will be complaining about the younger crowd. It’s an endless cycle. When you get older you just bitch. [Laughs]
Bryan: About the younger generation. You’re 100% right.
I noticed on a lot of episodes when people would bring in these great collections of golden or silver age books you don’t say “alright I want to buy them all,” you say “you should get these graded or put them in an auction.” I always wondered why didn’t ever fill the Stash up with all these rare books or did you just want to make sure these people received the best value possible.
Walt: It may sound like a story, but I have always been that way. Before there were TV cameras there if someone brought in something really really expensive I would always try to steer the person to get the most possible that they can for it and to explore every avenue that they can to maximize whatever those books are worth. If they were like “oh I don’t feel like doing it, I don’t feel like going through the hassle just make me an offer” then I would do it. Then I would make an offer. I would always like when people brought in some really early EC’s, long before there were cameras I would do the same spiel and tell them how to definitely get the most bang for the buck out of their books.
So it’s like the anti-Pawn Stars. [Laughs]
Walt: Again, I don’t know if you will believe it, but I never seen the show. I’ve heard about it a million times. Do they look like predatory on Pawn Stars?
Bryan: Pawn Stars? Sometimes. Well, Hardcore Pawn.
Walt: Hardcore Pawn I’ve seen and they’re predatory.
On Pawn Stars they usually want the item because it will draw people in and that’s obviously something you want as well and you have mention it before on the show. I’ve always noticed that instead of ripping people off you try to set them in the right direction, which is great.
Walt: Oh thank you. Like I said it’s something that is always been the way me and Mike operated at the store. Like I said a grandma brought in a box of comics has Hulk #181 in it and I flat out tell her right away. I show her what it’s worth. I show her what it could be worth if she goes and gets it graded. I also tell her if it’s not worth getting graded. It’s just the way we roll to try and get as much good karma as we can.
Bryan: Also if you’re not a grandma there’s so much information out there that if you know anything about the computer you can access it so he’s really being tested too like you may not know it. [Laughs]
We’re in a landscape that Stan Lee, Neal Adams that these creators are getting a lot of attention, but there is also a lot of creators out there like Bill Finger that doesn’t get a lot of attention or even George Romero that doesn’t get as much attention as perhaps he should. Who are some of the people you wish had been celebrated or would be celebrated more?
Walt: In Comics?
Comics. Film.
Walt: I mean there’s an endless list of artists that I just adore that if I mean I was in charge of production of Comic Book Men I would be like “let’s have a Don Perlin day” because I loved his art so much growing up.
Bryan: And I would say what? [Laughs]
Walt: And for a lot of people watching unfortunately you have to have this sexier name to celebrate on a TV show. We only have eighteen minutes.
Bryan: [Laughs] the first time Neal Adams has been referred to as a sexy name.
That jacket is pretty hot.
Walt: But also Neal’s body of work is exquisite. Extremely sexy. A drop dead 10. It’s historical too. A lot of the work he did will go in the comic book hall of fame. Whereas a lot of people that I adored are great artists, but they just don’t have that signature book or that signature character, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t want to just get them into The Stash and smoother them with affection for all that they gave me.
AMC’s Comic Book Men airs every Sunday at Midnight.
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Al Mannarino is the music editor for Pop-Break as well as the host of the News Over Brews Podcast. He graduated Rowan University with a degree in Radio/TV/Film & History and is currently a Promotions Assistant for Clear Channel Media + Entertainment. When he isn’t writing he is either trying to build his own TARDIS or taking a nap. Follow him on Twitter: @almannarino
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