Search - Comic Book - The Movie on DVD

Keith A. (Keefer522)
Reviewed on 12/20/2013...

Mark 'Luke Skywalker' Hamill directed and stars in this hit-and-miss 'mockumentary' style comedy that satirizes both comic book fandom and Hollywood.

Hamill plays a lifelong fan of a 1940s superhero called 'Commander Courage,' which is about to be made into a big budget movie. The studio hires him to be part of the team promoting the film at the San Diego Comic Con, but when he finds out that the movie will feature a dark, gritty, ultra-violent 21st century update of the Commander rather than the wholesome old school version he grew up with, he tries to figure out a way to stop the film from being made instead.

Parts of the movie were filmed guerrilla style at the real San Diego Con and the film features appearances by tons of movie & comic personalities, including Stan Lee, Kevin Smith, Jim Cummings (the voice of "Tigger" and "Pooh"), Matt "Simpsons" Groening, Donna D'Errico, Billy "Futurama" West, Hugh Hefner and many more.

With the amount of talent involved, 'Comic Book' should've been a lot funnier than it is. The flick had a couple of good bits and lots of in-jokes that only diehard comic book nerds will get, but more than half of the gags ended up falling flat. I was hoping for a lot better.

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Comic Book the Movie the ultimate fan's fiction

Bruce Easley | Hollywood, CA United States | 12/04/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Mark Hamill is obviously a knowledgable and passionate fan of comics. He has made a movie for fans, about fans and starring fans. It's a hillarious look at what happens when a Hollywood studio tries to make a comic book into a film. Keeping the die hard fans happy isn't easy, especially when the world's biggest fan is working for you (but secretly working against you).This is a faux documentary a bit on the lines of Spinal Tap or Best in Show. It's loaded with guest stars like Donna D'Errico, Stan Lee, Tom Kenny, Kevin Smith, Matt Groening, Peter David, Bruce Campbell, Sid Caesar and Jonathan Winters."

A nice little movie

D. Hurst | Texas | 02/03/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a good little movie. The beginning is a little slow, and the ending is lacking a big emotional impact, but the middle part of the movie is a lot of fun, very enjoyable.The film follows our hero, Don Swan (Mark Hamill), a high-school teacher who also owns and operates a comic book store in Wisconsin. Swan is an expert on the fictitious Golden-Age comic book hero Commander Courage. (Is "fictitious comic book hero" an oxymoron? Oh well, you know what I mean.) A movie studio wants to make a movie about Commander Courage, but they want to use the darker, more modern version, Codename: Courage, and they've hired Swan to go to ComicCon where the studio plans to make their big announcement and film some footage which they can use on the DVD version to jack up the price of the DVD. Swan has a different idea, though, to drum up support and convince the studio to use the kindler, gentler Golden-Age version of Commander Courage.The movie is shot in the mock-documentary style most recently and successfully used by Christopher Guest in Best In Show, A Mighty Wind, and Waiting For Guffman. The actors only had a rough outline for a script, so most of the movie is improvised. One thought that occurred to me watching the movie is that this might have been better if it had been scripted a little more. While the cast is great and very funny, I don't think improvisation is their strongest skill.The beginning of the movie is hurt by an unnecessary interview with Hugh Hefner. Why Hamill thought this was necessary, I'm not sure. Hefner apparently wanted to be a comic book artist at one point. But this doesn't really advance our plot, and we don't really do anything with Hefner. The beginning is also slowed down with an interview with Kevin Smith, who (in the movie) worked on the Commander Courage screenplay at one point. This interview is too long, really, and in the end, again, seems pointless. Other comic book and cartoon writers and artists are interviewed for the movie, but their bits are short and to the point; Smith's interview really should have been along the same lines.The movie begins to pick up, though, when Leo (Billy West) enters the movie and our gang arrives in San Diego at ComicCon. Leo is the great-grandson of Jackson Whitney, who created the Commander Courage character. Leo has no idea about comic books or movies, he's a metal worker from the mid-west. Swan brings Leo along to convince him to side with him and pressure the studio to use the original Commander Courage; a humorous power struggle ensues over Leo, with the studio trying to keep Leo ignorant of things like "royalties". In the meantime, Ricky (Jess Harnell), Swan's cameraman, tries to get Leo to break out of his shell and meet girls at the convention.There's also a very funny interview between Swan and Bruce Campbell, who is being considered for the role of Codename: Courage in the movie. Swan is trying to win Campbell over to his side. Campbell is great, and plays the scene completely convincingly. Contrasted with the Kevin Smith interview earlier in the movie, Campbell's scene is integral to the plot and moves the story along.There are a whole host of star cameos at the convention which only comic book or cartoon enthusiasts will recognize. But even more entertaining are the scenes with real, ordinary people at the convention. This movie would have succeeded just as well, I think, if it had just been a straight-forward documentary of the ComicCon. Unlike the somewhat mean-spirited "Trekkies" documentary from some years ago, "Comic Book: The Movie" respects and affectionately admires the subjects of these scenes, and that's nice to see.The big ending, with Swan confronting the studio execs, is somewhat anti-climactic. After a humorous scene of Swan running through the convention floor in a Commander Courage costume, and picking up a few random costumed convention-goers like Flash and Aquaman along the way, Swan makes an impassioned plea to the convention audience to reject the movie's version of Commander Courage. But the speech just falls flat, to me. This is an example of what I said earlier: I wonder if the movie would have been better if this speech had been better scripted? Even a soundtrack might have helped.Overall, the movie is enjoyable because of all the little things in it: Don Swan explaining in excruciating detail the differences between Golden Age and Silver Age comics to a polite but indifferent Leo; Ricky's obsession with The Hulk; Derek's (a friend of Swan) son being dragged because he's just too tired to walk; Derek's son not wanting to open his new "collectible" figure; Jonathan Winters and Sid Ceasar improvising a scene; stuff like that. The bonus features though are also wonderful, and are worth the price of the DVD alone! The making-of feature, and a "Behind The Voices" feature filming a question-and-answer session at the convention with famous voice-over actors from your favorite cartoons, are priceless. Interviews and footage of convention sessions with Stan Lee are fun and informative, as usual. And in the deleted scenes, there is a wonderful scene of a real independent comic book creator hawking his book, "Robots R Cool, Zombies R Jerks". Overall, this gentle, good-humored, comedic look at comic books, Hollywood and cartoon voice-over actors is a nice movie, and I highly recommend it."

Too funny, too true

Madelyn Pryor | Mesa, AZ United States | 05/16/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A funny, laugh out loud inside look at comic book fandom, Mark Hamill's Comic Book: The Movie chronicles Don Sawn's (played by Hamill) quest to save his favorite Golden Age hero, Captain Courage, from being butchered by Hollywood in the upcoming big budget movie.



What Swan is hired to be a consultant on the film, it seems he has his chance prevent his childhood hero from being modernized. What results is an epic and hilarious battle between Swan and Hollywood producers.



While this movie is full of comic book in-jokes, it is also full of celebrities such as Kevin Smith, Hugh Hefner, Bruce Campbell, and Stan Lee. Also comic book creators including Peter David, Mark Evanier, Maggie Thompson, and multiple others appear through the movie. However, even bigger than that is the treat of seeing voice actors being able to step in front of the camera.



Now for the comic books fans: one of the best gems of this movie is that at least half of the movie was filmed during Comic-Con International in San Diego. Seeing the convention center, creators, fans, and over all wackiness brought back many sweet memories of having been there. It was a great bonus!



The bottom line is this is a hilarious, laugh out loud film treat, especially for comic book fans.

"