Guilty Pleasures: Comic Book Villains
Do you know your comics? Would you know it if your life was on the line? What would you be willing to do for the ultimate collection of comics? Comic Book Villains is a movie I’ve heard both praise and despise towards for raising these questions. Not unlike Big Bang Theory people argue that this film either ‘is done by true geeks and filled with knowledge and love’ or ‘an awful insulting look at comic book fans’.
The film is about two rival comic shops. The mom and pops shop owned by Raymond McGIllicudy (Donald Logue) and the corporate shop owned by the Link family (Michael Rapaport & Natasha Lyonne). Our main character Archie (DJ Qualls) gets caught up in an a violent warfare between the shops when a shopper of both stories (Conan played brilliantly by Danny Masterson) let’s some information out that a long time collector has died. His collection is the holy grail of collections, first prints, first editions, first appearances… everything. Regrettably his mother wishes to not sell her son’s things.
Greed comes over various collectors. Each one of them sees the potential in these books. The Link’s who see dollar signs while Raymond sees it as a collector’s dream. Furthermore you have Carter (Carl Elwes), a past acquaintance of Raymond who he hires to do his dirty work. The body count rises over this collection with Archie and the recently deceased collector’s mother caught in the middle. The film eventually hits a level of darkness in it’s comedy that’s beyond unsettling. I’d rather not disclose some of the darker points (which basically means I can’t mentioning anything Carter does in the film).
I think that there is a reason this film as polarized so many that have watched it. The film is accurate in the way it depicts the individual shops. Raymond’s comic shop (while messy) definitely depicts the mom and pop shop I attend. It’s filled with people looking for rare back issues getting into these in depth conversations about which character they’d sleep with and such.
Norman’s shop on the other side is a clean and open shop, but there lacks dialogue. You see mother’s and kids inside the shop browsing but no one looks like a genuine collector (except for Conan who shops at both stores). Sure it’s possible for a director to make an accurate assumption, but it seems more like it stems from genuine past experiences.
Is this insulting to comic collectors? Absolutely. There’s a few too many jokes about fat comic readers dying of heart attacks. There’s plenty of moments that are insulting (Raymond crying after seeing the collection comes to mind). The idea that this collection drives them to murder even seems a little insulting (more even more insulting because you can actually believe someone would). That being said, I think the insulting aspect is purposeful.
You see Archie is the key character in this film. He has no family. He’s lived in the same town and comics are his life. But he wants to escape. He develops a relationship with Ms Cresswell (The collector’s mother) and she sees her son in Archie. She wants Archie to live a long and healthy life, not waste it like her son did. In the end (SPOILER ALERT! IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE MOVIE AND WISH IT TO REMAIN A SURPRISE FOR YOU STOP READING THE ARTICLE UNTIL YOU’VE SEEN IT YOU’VE BEEN FAIRLY WARNED) Ms Cresswell is murdered but not before she’s able to give the collection to Archie in secret. Archie sells the collection and uses the money to leave town and explore the world.
This is what the film is truly about. Comics are great. They’re great for escapism and they’re a wonderful form of entertainment. However when you make them your life, they are deadly. Ms Cresswell’s Son, Raymond and to an extent Archie have all given up girlfriends, living alone, work and other things to focus on comics. The message is it’s okay to love things and be passionate, but those things runs your life it stops being healthy.
It’s a shame that the people who most NEED to see this film are the very ones who will immediate write it off as insulting. It’s not a perfect movie, but it’s definitely better than the 29% on Rotten Tomatoes it has.
