Post by Dale on Apr 22, 2010 3:41:03 GMT -5
The Comic Shop 2
I have a strange relationship with Xplay’s work, on one hand I’m a huge fan of some of the creative ideas he throws at things, and the visuals he creates with his projects. They always have a very strange, weird vibe to them that appeals to me. On the other hand, a lot of the time the dialogue isn’t all that great, or I don’t like the characters or there’s something that just quite simply rubs me the wrong way.
Now I must confess to not being all that familiar with The Comic Shop, I remember it was one of the first things I viewed on Movie Reels and it seems like a damn long time ago now; so memories of the plot and characters has kind of dissipated over time. I do however remember thinking it didn’t really work comedy-wise as well as Xplay would have hoped so I had hopes that that’d be rectified with the sequel.
Earlier on, it’s hard to tell if that’s achieved. Sure enough, there’s comedy there but it’s more “mild smile” than laugh out loud and the jokes often went on for too long. I did however enjoy the earlier conversation between Danif and Zack, fighting back and forth between Marvel and DC books and recent storylines. And the little nod to Stan Lee’s true believer line was well worked in. But to make this kind of thing really work, you need to “straight man” character that gets caught in the middle and the audience can view this thing through. Yes, some people are gonna understand all the comic book references but then there are those who are going to be lost with no one to relate to in the scene. You need that character who can sit there confused, and call them crazy obsessed bastards at the end; or maybe that’s just my opinion.
I think it takes a little too long for the main plot of the thing to kick in. There are a lot of skits, and gags in the early going, some funnier than others. They get a little old after a while and you just want to get to the point. However I did appreciate that a lot of the gags and skits became recurring jokes (the Karma one, Civil War being a Watchmen rip off – totally bloody wasn’t by the way, ‘Nuff Said.) The idea of a rival of Danif and Zack literally purchasing the entire store just to sell his own book is an amusing one. Like I said, I don’t recall the first instalment all that well so I can’t for the life of me remember the back-story between Toh and the foul mouthed comic book reading pair (if there is one at all).
The Jesus scene had a lot of great one-liners and was probably the strongest part of “The Comic Shop 2”. The lead into the scene was funny as the two main characters recap everything that’s wrong with their lives, each trying to outdo the last and insult each other; leading up to the proclamation “we need a miracle”. The one-liners got progressively more and more silly and funny and my favourite may have been “I died for your sins, I can be as big of a prick as I want.”
Overall, this was good old fashioned fun. Xplay knows comics books, he knows that culture and that’s the audience this is directed at. Luckily, I’m in that audience so I got the references and the humour surrounding it. There was some good stuff, and I particularly enjoyed the sudden change to musical which provided me with some laughs. The characters were foul mouthed and filthy, which I whole heartedly approve of. The dialogue could have been better, the actual plot could have been more coherent and Toh could have used a little more depth ... but therein lies the charm. This doesn’t take itself very seriously, and neither should anybody else. “The Comic Shop 2” should be looked at as a self effacing, piece of fun that not only appeals to the whole comic book nerd audience but openly makes fun of them too. And I find that endearing.
*** out of ****
I have a strange relationship with Xplay’s work, on one hand I’m a huge fan of some of the creative ideas he throws at things, and the visuals he creates with his projects. They always have a very strange, weird vibe to them that appeals to me. On the other hand, a lot of the time the dialogue isn’t all that great, or I don’t like the characters or there’s something that just quite simply rubs me the wrong way.
Now I must confess to not being all that familiar with The Comic Shop, I remember it was one of the first things I viewed on Movie Reels and it seems like a damn long time ago now; so memories of the plot and characters has kind of dissipated over time. I do however remember thinking it didn’t really work comedy-wise as well as Xplay would have hoped so I had hopes that that’d be rectified with the sequel.
Earlier on, it’s hard to tell if that’s achieved. Sure enough, there’s comedy there but it’s more “mild smile” than laugh out loud and the jokes often went on for too long. I did however enjoy the earlier conversation between Danif and Zack, fighting back and forth between Marvel and DC books and recent storylines. And the little nod to Stan Lee’s true believer line was well worked in. But to make this kind of thing really work, you need to “straight man” character that gets caught in the middle and the audience can view this thing through. Yes, some people are gonna understand all the comic book references but then there are those who are going to be lost with no one to relate to in the scene. You need that character who can sit there confused, and call them crazy obsessed bastards at the end; or maybe that’s just my opinion.
I think it takes a little too long for the main plot of the thing to kick in. There are a lot of skits, and gags in the early going, some funnier than others. They get a little old after a while and you just want to get to the point. However I did appreciate that a lot of the gags and skits became recurring jokes (the Karma one, Civil War being a Watchmen rip off – totally bloody wasn’t by the way, ‘Nuff Said.) The idea of a rival of Danif and Zack literally purchasing the entire store just to sell his own book is an amusing one. Like I said, I don’t recall the first instalment all that well so I can’t for the life of me remember the back-story between Toh and the foul mouthed comic book reading pair (if there is one at all).
The Jesus scene had a lot of great one-liners and was probably the strongest part of “The Comic Shop 2”. The lead into the scene was funny as the two main characters recap everything that’s wrong with their lives, each trying to outdo the last and insult each other; leading up to the proclamation “we need a miracle”. The one-liners got progressively more and more silly and funny and my favourite may have been “I died for your sins, I can be as big of a prick as I want.”
Overall, this was good old fashioned fun. Xplay knows comics books, he knows that culture and that’s the audience this is directed at. Luckily, I’m in that audience so I got the references and the humour surrounding it. There was some good stuff, and I particularly enjoyed the sudden change to musical which provided me with some laughs. The characters were foul mouthed and filthy, which I whole heartedly approve of. The dialogue could have been better, the actual plot could have been more coherent and Toh could have used a little more depth ... but therein lies the charm. This doesn’t take itself very seriously, and neither should anybody else. “The Comic Shop 2” should be looked at as a self effacing, piece of fun that not only appeals to the whole comic book nerd audience but openly makes fun of them too. And I find that endearing.
*** out of ****
