In case you missed it … ‘Comic Book Villains’

Watching this movie really makes me wonder why James Robinson isn’t still working in movies. Robinson wrote and directed ‘Comic Book Villains’ (2002) and followed that up by writing ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’ (2003), which I really enjoyed. I know it got some negative criticism and was a box office failure, but the movie itself was entertaining and, in my opinion, succeeded at being the kind of movie it was meant to be. Unfortunately, the audience that would truly appreciate this film is a relatively small percentage of the overall movie market.

So, I take a cyber-stroll over to IMDB to see what else he’s done and find that ‘TLOEG’ was his last project. Why? The damned Hollywood studios probably blacklisted his ass, blaming Extraordinary Gentlemen’s failure on the writer, instead of blaming the director Stephen Norrington, who should take any blame that’s to be given. Or, maybe he just didn’t like working in “the biz”… who knows?

Regardless, I finally got around to watching ‘Comic Book Villains’ this weekend. It’s been sort of ridiculously hard for me to get my hands on, but now that I have I’m probably going to add this one to my collection. Yep, that’s how much I enjoyed this little sleeper film that most people haven’t heard of. The film is a dark comedy about two rival comic book store owners that enter into a hot and heavy battle royale over a massive collection of pristine comic books worth megabucks. The problem is, the old lady who controls this collection isn’t the least bit interested in selling, so the comic book store owners find themselves getting creative to win an edge over each other, hoping that Mrs. Cresswell changes her mind.

WARNING!!! Spoilers Beyond This Point:

Donal Logue (The Tao of Steve) plays Raymond, the owner of the “true” comic book store where all the loyal comic book geeks shop. Norman (Michael Rapaport) and Judy (Natasha Lyone) are a young married couple who own the more upscale comic book shop that also sells action figures and Magic the Gathering cards. Raymond can’t stand Norman and Judy because they are know-nothing “dabblers” just trying to bank on a market of collectors and catering to mom-friendly kid’s stuff. Norman and Judy hate Raymond because they see him as competition.

After both sides repeatedly fail to convince Mrs. Cresswell to sell the collection that her recently deceased son had collected over the last 40 plus years, Archie (DJ Qualls) begins visiting Mrs. Cresswell and finds her interesting. He strikes up an unlikely friendship with her and spends time talking and listening to her stories. She genuinely befriends Archie because, despite his friendship with Raymond, she can see that Archie is not just trying to get her son’s comic books. Archie actually likes spending time with her.

Meanwhile, the battle between the two rival shops is getting really nasty after Judy ran Raymond over with her SUV, leaving him with a broken arm and a bitter taste for revenge. Raymond sees his opportunity for fame slipping through his fingers and resorts to hiring an old high school bully named JC Carter (Cary Elwes) to steal the comic books. There’s only one flaw in his plan… Norman and Judy hired a two-faced comic collector called Conan (Danny Masterson) to spy on Raymond’s shop and they overhear his plan.

The situation boils to a head during the robbery when Raymond busts in on Carter mid-job, thinking Carter is double-crossing him. With the two of them now in an awkward position, Norman and Judy bust in and now things get even hairier, when Archie shows up and things get violent. During the scuffle, Mrs. Cresswell is mistakenly killed, which breaks Archie’s heart and Carter makes off with the comic books. Raymond sets off after Carter to retrieve the collection and their final battle results in tragedy. The same can be said for Norman and Judy, as the ultimate ending of ‘Comic Book Villains’ leaves everyone getting what they deserved, including Archie… except his fate turns out sweeter than the others.

Personally, I think this is the best movie about comic book geeks outside of ‘Mallrats’… which is actually a fairly small sub-genre of films whose members could probably be counted on both hands. Regardless, the movie is well-written by Robinson who either truly was a comic book geek or at least spent the time and energy to actually do his homework and get it right. ‘Comic Book Villains’ is also a great dark comedy along the same level of tongue-in-cheek humor of seriously but subtlety poking fun at an area of society as say, ‘Swimming With Sharks’. It takes something people love and shows it in all it’s glory, but emphasizes it’s darker side in a way that’s slightly exaggerated but gives a glimpse into the darker slice of a much larger cultural pie, focusing on those individuals who allow themselves to cross the line into devastating extremes. ‘Comic Book Villains’ is a good view for anyone who enjoys dark comedies, whether or not you consider yourself a comic book geek… but it’s that much better if you are.