by Mike Favila, Editor

On Saturday, I went to Baltimore Comic-Con and had a chance to sit down for a few minutes with the guys from AMC’s Comic Book Men.  Unfortunately, my horrible audio recorder got cut off by the usual ‘technical difficulties’, but here is a little slice of what we got.  After talking a little bit about who is the best bargainer (Walt), Walt’s favorite movie role (Walt “Fanboy” Grover, aka himself) and whether Ming still runs the View Askew sites (he does), we got down to business.

ComicsOnline: Now, what’s the best thing that’s come through the store?

Walter Flanagan: Merchandise wise?  The best thing?  Or the thing that got me the most excited?  Probably the Marvel World. It was a little 1975 cardboard play set that I had as a child. That was the thing that got me the most excited out of the items that came in.

CO: So you’d had it before?

WF: And I hadn’t seen it since, and apparently it’s pretty hard to come by.

CO: So how much did that go for, or how much did you end up paying for it?

Ming Chen: 600?

CO: Wow.

WF : 5 or 600? Was it that much? Yeah it’s crazy. Yeah, it’s super expensive, but very cool.

CO: But it was in pretty good condition?

WF: Not even that great. It didn’t have the box or anything, but there was still, it was almost complete.  It was missing a couple of characters.

MC: I like anything Star Wars related. Two big ones, there were a light sabre that came in that may have been a screen used prop in Empire. Then there was  a big giant Millenium Falcon that you pointed out from that episode that was hanging in a Toys R Us. When I was collecting back then I saw that and that was like, yeah I want that.

CO: Yeah I saw that, on what Episode 15, or whatever.

Mike Zapcic: The Golden Age collection that came in. The first Wonder Woman. I thought that was pretty … dope. It was amazing.

CO: Was there any other cool…

MZ: Oh there was a whole bunch! First Robin, they had, oh my god, there were too many to count. Joe Palooka, which is, you know, still being published to this day.

CO: Was it an older guy that brought them in?

MZ: It was a younger guy who got them from his grandpa, so it was actually really cool.

CO: What about you (to Bryan)?

Bryan Johnson: Most of the stuff I don’t care about at all.

CO: Oh really?

BJ: This season some issues of Famous Monsters came in.   So I like that kinda stuff.

CO: Famous Monsters?

BJ: The magazine.

CO: Oh ok, cool. Is that around the 60s?

BJ: 1960? Something like that.

CO: Now I was hearing something that Kevin said that you got him into comics? What did you show him?

WF: Dark Knight.

CO: The Miller run?

WF: Yeah, yeah, the original Miller Dark Knight. He hadn’t really been reading comics since he was a little kid, and the Batman movie was about to come out in a couple of months, and he was unaware that there was some real strong Batman stuff that would blow his mind away in terms of from what he remembered in the TV show or the comics he read.

CO: Are you reading any comics now that you guys are interested in?

MC: I’m really into the new Hawkeye that Marvel’s been putting up. And then I’m looking at your shirt there, (ComicsOnline.com’s snazzy Godzilla SDCC shirt) and I was just reading Godzilla that IDW put out that’s pretty cool.

CO: Are you talking about the Hawkeye, Fraction run?

MC: Yeah.

CO: Yeah cool. Now what do you guys read?

MZ: I’m following the new DC New 52.

CO: Do you like that new arc?

MZ: It’s a little confusing, but you know what? I’m willing to see where they go with it.

BJ: I normally don’t read much. Locke and Key was the thing I read.

CO: Oh yeah, Joe Hill’s down the stairs. You guys are going to be here tomorrow?

WF: Yeah, we got our Cryptozoic Man launch tomorrow.

CO: Where did you guys get the ideas for the comic? I saw that you guys had the crazy…

WF: Lochness Monster, Bigfoot, Jersey Devil. All the Cryptozoic creatures of legend. It’s a patchwork of monster.

BJ: We just put it together.

WF: Yeah, it should be fun, hopefully.

CO: Now what do you guys have coming up for Season 3?

WF: Transactions. (Laughter all around) Banter..

MC: Laughter!

WF: Famous vehicles…

BJ: More Ming getting made fun of.

MZ: Underoos.

BJ: You seen Ming in even less than Underoos. (Laughter continues)

MC: Oh my god yes.

WF: We have some, I think this year, more than ever, more pop culture guest stars from people who are very, very recognizable.

CO: Well you had Stan introduce your comic.

WF: Yeah, a la Stan, same kind of deal, I think. I don’t think I’m allowed to say who are, but they’re worth it.

CO: Are you guys excited to see anything else in the show? Or are you going to be mostly working?

WF: I’m always excited to dig into some long boxes. You know, that’s always fun.

CO: Just wait it out until the end..

MC: Either that, or grabbing stuff for my kids. You know, my hunt has become their hunt, you know.

CO: Yeah that’s right.

WF: Did you say my (censored)? (Laughter)

MC: No, my HUNT!

MZ: How old are you!? (Laughter)

AMC’s Comic Book Men  Season 3 premieres Sunday, October 13^th at midnight ET/PT.  Cryptozoic Man from Dynamite Entertainment drops in your neighborhood store October 9!

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