Guilty Pleasures: Comic Book The Movie

This weekend we will see the release of The Avengers. It’s a great time to be a geek right now. Just ten years ago no one would have guessed we’d live in a world where superhero films were acceptable to the point that not only was there an Avengers film but Thor, Iron Man and discussions on Dr. Strange and Antman.

Bizarrely enough, Mark Hamill predicted these changes back in 2004. In his direct-to-DVD mockumentry Comic Book: The Movie Mark plays Donald Swan, a history teacher/comic shop owner and in charge of the official fan club for Commander Courage. Due to the popularity of the Spider-Man movie a major studio is making a film on Commander Courage (inspired obviously by Captain America) and have hired Donald as a creative consultant.

However since September 11th they’ve decided to update Commander Courage from a Nazi fighting patriot into a Terrorist killing soldier named Codename Courage. Donald hates this change where they’ve made Courage more modern, edgy, took away his secret Identity and changed his sidekick Liberty Lad into the sexy Liberty Lass.

The studio gives Donald an opportunity to film a documentary about the Codename: Commander announcement at Comic Con, while Donald tries to use this opportunity to prove to the studio that they should make a Commander Courage film that’s a period piece with him fighting nazis.

The film is amusing enough to kill an hour and a half but what’s far more impressive is how Hamill nailed the future of Comic Con before it occurred. The movie executive going with Donald to the Con could careless about the comics or the fans of the character. He just wants to show up, make an announcement and leave.

Mark also takes this opportunity to write a true love letter to fandom. He captures the entire comic con experience with plenty of cos-players, screaming Troma characters, lots of free stuff and the parents keeping their kids awake to ensure they don’t miss any panels. Donald gives a passionate speech about how his favorite aspect of fandom is the passionate arguments between trivial things like “How’s better Gray or Green Hulk”.

The film doesn’t always hit but it does have it’s moments. The cast is basically made up of voice actors and celebrity cameos (including Stan Lee, Hugh Hefner and Kevin Smith). Kevin Smith parodies his infamous Superman Script incident discussing how his first draft of Commander Courage the studio demanded a Giant Mechanical Spider and also has the line “Nazis are better than terrorists, they have an easier to make fun of accent”.

Donald Swan even discusses how much better Pearl Harbor would be had it been a Commander Courage film. But the funniest character in the film and scene stealer is Ricky the Camera Guy played by Jess Harnell (Animaniacs). Ricky is a rocker/stoner who just wants to meet the Hulk while at comic con. Donald takes him under his wing to try to teach him how beautiful the world of Comic Con truly is.

The film didn’t get much critical review due to being a Direct-To-DVD film, however the fan ratings on rottentomatoes averaged out to a pitiful 38%. The fact is the film is made for a very specific person (a comic book fan), you need to understand this world to appreciate this world. With that in mind, watch this before seeing the Avengers.

Comic Book: The Movie is currently available on Netflix Instant Watch

When he’s not watching straight to DVD movies Matt can be found tweeting, writing in his blog Pure Mattitude and hosting is podcast The Saint Mort Show.