As a "lapsed" convention-going comic and s-f fan, I was interested in seeing how fans were portrayed in this film when I picked up the DVD. It turns out that they are portrayed very well, with as much dignity as they bring with them (and keep) at any convention. "Comic Book: The Movie" is a cross between a scripted mockumentary and an actors' workshop, where the players are given their characters and a goal to achieve, then turned loose in an environment to play out their roles. In this case the setting is the 2003 San Diego ComiCon. The general plot is that a Hollywood production company is making a film based on an updated version of the Golden Age comic book hero Commander Courage, and are planning to announce the film at the ComiCon. They've hired schoolteacher/comic expert Don Swan (Hamill) as a "technical consultant," meaning that they need him to lend credibility in the fan world to their travesty of an updated character. Swan immediately begins a campaign to convince the producers to retain as much of the original concept as possible. The true gift of this film is the use of some of the top voice-over talent in the business as principle players, and they more than do justice to their roles. Hamill's direction pulls together this untapped talent with actual fans and celebrity convention attendees to give credibility to the existence of Commander Courage in a series of celebrity "interviews" similar to those in "Zoolander." The only point for me in which the belief system of the film was broken was in the use of well-known actors (Sid Caesar, Jonathan Winters, and Hamill himself) to portray characters other than themselves. Hamill seems unaware of his popularity and "recognition factor," though his portrayal of the increasingly frustrated Don Swan helps to restore some of the magic. The movie is good, make no mistake. But for this old cartoon aficionado the DVD bonus material--particularly the long panel session featuring the voice actors--alone made the DVD well worth the price.
Review of Comic Book: The Movie
