Comic Book Men s06e14 Episode Script
Marky Ramone-Bot
1 [exciting music.]
Pick your favorite heist or bank robbery scene.
What do you go with? I'm gonna go with "Dog Day Afternoon.
" - Classic.
- Yeah, I'm a big Pacino fan, and I do a pretty good Pacino, too.
Yeah? - "Give me all your money, hoo - ah!" - Is that "Scent of a Woman " like "hoo - ahhh"? - How's it go? - "Hoo-ah!" - "Hoo-ah.
" - "Hoo-ahh!" [laughter.]
- What about you, Mike? The Lufthansa heist from "Goodfellas.
" - Pacino was in that, right? - No, he was not.
- Hoo-ah.
- [laughs.]
- No.
- No, it was-no, that's- That's your other guy, De Niro.
- Hoo-ha.
The best part is that they didn't even show the heist.
They just showed Henry in the shower listening to 1010 WINS.
Wait a minute, so they didn't even show it? They just-you just watch the guy just sitting in the shower and that's-that's why it's your greatest scene? - Yeah, it was - [laughter.]
It was Ray Liotta in the shower, dude.
[laughter.]
What's yours? - I would go with "Heat.
" - Ahh! - That's-that's a great one.
- De Niro and Pacino.
- Pacino was in that, right? Hoo - ha! - Yeah.
- But what made "Heat" so great was it was so protracted and sound design around it, where you felt like maybe you were in that bank.
And then, like, they go outside, just blowing cars away, wind-windshields shattering.
Uh, at the end, somebody's in a shower.
[laughter.]
[heroic music.]
[laughs.]
Comic Book Men SO6E14 [energetic music.]
Hello and welcome to another episode of "Comic Book Men," the only show that's never lukewarm about Luke Skywalker or Luke Cage.
I'm Kevin Smith.
- Bryan Johnson.
- Walt Flanagan.
- Mike Zapcic.
- Ming Chen.
Okay, man, people come in, they try to buy, they try to sell.
What happened? Can you recall your very first number 1 issue? Yeah, it was amazing.
You were starting the journey.
It's the beginning of something.
It allows you to jump in, um, as opposed to come to the party late.
- Hey, how you doing? - Hello.
Good.
How are you? Pretty good.
What can we do for you? - Um, I would like to see the number 1 "Tales of the Zombie" that you guys have.
You wanna run up there and grab that? - Yeah, no problem.
- Big zombie fan? Yes, I've been reading zombie comics since I started reading comics, about, like, six years now.
So it-it seems like something I really want in my collection.
This is a good one.
[upbeat rock music.]
I remember buying this off the stands.
It is the first Marvel publication.
I wouldn't- You can't call it a comic book, because in the comic books you weren't allowed to show zombies back then.
Can you imagine that? That sounds awful.
[laughter.]
That's, like, all I read.
- What a time to live.
[laughter.]
- Wanna take it open and take a look at it? - Sure, yeah.
I actually bought this comic from Walt.
I was selling comics in my when I was in short pants.
- Wow.
- He's not kidding either.
He ripped me off.
[laughter.]
But one of my all time favorite books.
How 'bout you? - Yeah, I loved it.
I mean, there's a lot of legendary comic book names in this.
Big John Buscema was the artist, and I think Steve Gerber.
- Steve Gerber.
- And Steve Gerber.
- I mean, it's - it is number 1.
It only lasted ten issues.
- I really like the older ones 'cause they're, like, grittier than the newer ones.
- You know, in - in some ways, yes.
Uh, in some ways, no.
I mean, we're talking in the '70s.
I mean, you can get a little risque, but it's- - [chuckles.]
Whoa.
- Yeah.
- A lot of skin.
- [laughing.]
Whoa, whoa.
A lot of skin, but not a lot of gore.
And shockingly, think about this, this came out in a time when zombies didn't eat flesh.
How did they live? They were dead.
[laughter.]
The zombie has undergone a gigantic transformation.
I mean, it's come a long way, baby, right? I mean, particularly in comics back then and don't call me baby - [laughter.]
um, they-remember, they couldn't even write "zombie.
" - Yes.
- It would be "zuvembie.
" - Yes.
- It was Z-V-M-B-I-E.
What was the point behind that? Well, the comics code had put the word "zombie" on the No Fly List.
It wasn't gonna fly in a code-approved book.
Marvel cleverly spelled the word differently and called it "zuvembie.
" Don't you want to go back in time, grab the comic book censors of that age and just let 'em spend 20 minutes on the Internet and be like, "Should we still change the spelling of zombie?" [laughter.]
I love seeing this new generation fall in love with zombies horror.
How did you acquire your affection for the zombie? Uh, when I was little, I always loved, like, horror movies, like the really gory ones, like "Saw" or something like that.
Um, I was a weird kid, but - [laughs.]
And then when I was in high school, I just kept reading Stephen King and things like that.
At one point I was like, "Why not comics?" Have you sampled any Universal monster action? Now, it's not quite as, like, in-your-face as torture porn [laughter.]
- Right, yeah.
You know, it's not shocktastic, but- It's-it's in black-and-white, and this is where you're gonna get your goose bumps.
Like, you-pretend you're an unsuspecting victim, and my hand's super hairy, and I'm like this.
[tense music.]
Cut.
[laughter.]
Zombie is the undead come back to life.
Yes.
Frankenstein count as a zombie? - Yes.
- Really? Every piece of his body is is a piece of a dead limb.
So he's like a bunch of zombies at once.
- Patchwork zombie.
- How come they never identify him as a zombie? They're always like, "He's a Frankenstein.
" Well, no, he's not.
He's a zombie.
- I feel like that was probably the working title of "Frankenstein," "Patchwork Zombie.
" [laughter.]
Um, I'd absolutely love to have it.
I don't really have any collectable comics, so I definitely wanna kinda start growing that collection.
- Okay, so this will be your first number 1.
- Yes.
- Ooh.
The book is $45.
Could I get it for $30? Eh, I couldn't do $30.
Uh No, I could knock five bucks off.
I could do $40, 'cause you're a big zombie fan, and it's your first number 1.
- Could you knock ten off because it's my first number 1? Like a celebratory thing? Is that something, uh, people celebrate? We love a good party, don't we? [laughter.]
All right, 35 bucks.
It's yours.
- Awesome.
- Wanna bag it up for her, Ming? - Got it, yes, absolutely.
Thank you.
[register clicking.]
- There you go.
- Thank you.
- All right, enjoy.
- Have a good day.
How you doing? Oh, this is, uh, Mr.
Marky Ramone.
How are you? It is an honor to have rock and roll royalty.
- Oh, yeah.
- Hey.
[upbeat music.]
- Hey, guys, how's everybody? - Hey, Rob.
Hey, coming back from another show, and I'm bringing a friend by to meet y'all.
- Hello.
How you doing? - This is, uh, Mr.
Marky Ramone.
How are you? It is an honor to have rock and roll royalty.
- Oh, yeah.
- Hey.
- One and only.
- How you doing? - How are you? - Do you know who this is? - Marky Ramone, I assume one of the Ramones.
[laughter.]
- Really, Ming? - One of the Ramones.
- Yeah.
[rock music.]
I always wondered, were you guys really brothers? - No, no, no.
- Like, you were- You guys weren't related? - We were all friends.
Uh, we weren't related, but we liked the same music.
- All right, w - uh, what's with, like, uh, the same last names then? Uh, well, it was just, uh, like a, uh A gimmick.
Not a gimmick.
Sorry.
How dare you! [laughter.]
- A gimmick? - Oh, wait, wait, wait.
Life's a gimmick.
Everything's a gimmick.
Yeah, see, yeah, it is a gimmick.
[laughter.]
Superman's a gimmick.
Batman's a gimmick.
We're all gimmicks.
Now, are you with him willingly? [laughs.]
Yeah, yeah, actually Marky's a huge robot collector.
So he wanted to come by 'cause he's on his way to an airplane and- Are you a big collector? Uh, sci-fi, sci-fi posters, robots, uh - since '80, '81.
He also, uh, makes his own robots.
- Yeah.
- Really? Out of old folding cell phones.
You know, the-the old- - Wanna see some? - I would love to see some.
- The old Nokias.
He's like, "Do I wanna see one? I own one.
" [laughter.]
- Oh, wow.
- That's what these are.
Number two.
It just was an idea, because all-all these things are just laying around.
And so I figured I would just make them.
Like a hobby, you know.
I mean, you know- I mean, I kinda see- I mean, were thinking Tobor You see it, right? - on the-on this one? - K-kind of, kind of.
What is that, '54, right? - Yeah.
- "Tobor" is '54.
You're-you're really- you know your stuff, huh? What'd it feel like, man, to see punk royalty in the store? - I got - I gotta be honest with you, man.
I remember being a little bit leary of punk because, uh- 'Cause you were a s you were a small boy.
- Yeah.
- And you're like, "They look frightening, Ma.
" - Definitely.
Yeah, I saw the guys with the mohawks, the studs and everything.
It turns out though I was wrong to be afraid of punk though, because Marky's into the same thing that we're into.
He was a-a geek like us, a nerd.
- You found common ground.
- Yep.
[laughter.]
- Really? Oh, my lord.
- Started going to sci - fi stores in the early '80s, going to the cities, and then looking at the Yellow Pages and looking for all the collectable place, and just rummaging through everything and taking everything for, like, $10 for a poster that's worth, uh, $3,000, $4,000 now.
They didn't know back then.
So let me get this straight, when you were on tour with the Ramones - Right.
- You'd go into a city, and the first thing you'd do is go into the phone book - and look for collectable stores? - Yeah.
I gotta be honest, I thought, like, in the '70s or the '80s, when-like, at the height of-of punk rock, that's the level of decadence that was going on? [laughter.]
- That's it, that's it.
No groupies.
Just sci-fi and robots.
- Really? - I have, uh- - I might as well be a rock star.
- Yeah.
[chuckling.]
- Walt is, like, one of the most punk rock people I know when it comes to comic books, because he was the first one standing up for, like, "I don't care what people say about this.
"If people laughed at me for reading 'The Watchmen,' "I read 'The Watchmen," they didn't.
Who's stupid? 'The Watchmen' is excellent.
" But he was out there standing up for his tribe, which was comic books, the same way that the Ramones would stand up for their tribe, which was music.
He paved the road to punk.
You bought comics.
[laughter.]
So all all you guys were into that? - Me and Johnny Ramone.
- Oh, really? Yeah, we were- we were the sci-fi, uh, poster, robot, collectable guys.
- Plus you went to Japan and all overseas, right? - Yeah, Japan, Toy Tokyo's there and everything.
- Oh, wow, wow.
- You know, bring back all the plastic Rodans, Godzillas, Ghidorah, Three-Headed Monster's.
- He brought some of his, uh, own collection, too, since we're sort of packing out.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- You wanna see some things? - Absolutely.
- Yeah.
- This is-this is, uh, ideal.
- Oh, wow.
Like, see see the inspiration comes from the old stuff.
- This is from, um - Ideal.
Ideal.
This is from the '50s.
And this-this- I have about five of these.
You know who that is, right? Yeah, it's Robby.
Robby the Robot.
Very good.
Could I ask you a question about your robots? - Yeah.
- Is this really a statement on society, like rock and roll rebel? This represents the government, the eyes always watching us, and enough about a bunch of robots, unfeeling? - I think - I think what it really is obsolescent.
It's obsolete.
It's a moment in time.
Then this is the reflection of it.
You know, then phones changed an- So you don't want to join my antigovernment militia, is what you're saying? No, no, no.
[laughter.]
- Okay, fine.
- No, no, no, no.
He likes monsters and '50s robots? - Robots.
Did you ask him for a blood test to make sure you weren't related in some way? [laughter.]
- Maybe I'm a Ramone! Yes, oh, my lord, we'd keep it going! - Walter Ramone.
- Walter Ramone.
Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for the lost Ramone, Walter Ramone! [laughter.]
All right, well, thanks thanks for having me here.
It was a lot of fun.
Into the same stuff I'm into.
Thank you for coming in.
It's great to see a store like this.
- Thank you.
- Really cool.
Please come back any time.
Here's an old cliché, keep rocking.
- Yeah.
- Ohh, man.
[laughter.]
Think I have something you might be interested in.
Oh, my God.
I had this.
I haven't seen these in, what, 30 years? Favorite Ramone song? I'm gonna go for "Blitzkrieg Bop.
" I love that song.
What about you, Ming, favorite Ramones song? I like "Blitzkrieg Bop" as well, except I did-I never knew the name of it.
I thought it was just the "Hey, ho, let's go" song.
It counts.
both: Hey, ho, let's go.
- [chuckles.]
- Very easily singable song.
Mike, you got a Ramones song that you like? "Wanna be Sedated.
" - Oh, of course, classic.
- "Wanna be Sedated.
" So you wanna be more sedated than you are now? [laughter.]
I think I'm perfectly sedated.
I tried to open "Mallrats" with that song, but we couldn't get the rights.
That was actually the very first song that Marky Mark ever played on.
Really? You call him Marky Mark now? You're that familiar with him? [laughter.]
I don't know if Marky Ramone would like that.
[laughter.]
[upbeat music.]
- Hey.
How are you? - Hey.
What's going on? What can we do for you? I think I have something you might be interested in.
What do you got? These are 1976 Burger Chef King Kong glasses.
Oh, my God.
I had this.
I had that, too.
I haven't seen these in, what, 30 years? [rock music.]
Do they still do this? - Fast food restaurants- - With glasses? - Like glass, yeah.
- I would say no.
Where did you get yours? I must have gotten them right at the fast food place - that was giving them out.
- Burger Chef.
Burger Chef, that's right.
God rest Burger Chef's soul.
They're no longer with us.
They're reincarnated as Hardee's, I think.
[laughter.]
- So you're a big King Kong fan? - Absolutely.
Yeah, what was your favorite part of the movie? - Of the '76 version? - Yeah.
Uh, it's gotta be the snake fight.
It's gotta be, you know, ripping the snake.
Yeah, that's my favorite part of That's my favorite maybe moment in cinematic history.
Depicted there.
Depicted on the glass.
The snake wraps around him, he takes the snake, and he rips the jaws apart.
Not a metaphor at all.
For what? It's a big snake, it's phallic.
It's a little symbolism there.
I can't believe you didn't see this.
Why can't it just be he's fighting a giant snake? There's a lot going on there that, you know, I guess you didn't see in '76.
You guys are watching a different movie, I think.
It was Kong '76, though.
Not "King Dong," right? "King Kong"? [laughter.]
You actually had these glasses? I had-I-I mean, I'm telling you, I was so excited for Kong, I I remember opening night, my family, uh, we were gonna go out to dinner, and we were going to see "King Kong," and I had to wait in school with the anticipation.
Was killing me.
I remember feeling nauseous, checking the clock.
[snorting.]
By the time you sat down in the theater and watched it, was it everything you hoped it would be? It was everything and more.
I consider it my top three movies ever.
- Still, to this day? - To this day.
Dino De Laurentiis.
He hit one out of the ballpark with that one.
Dino De Laurentiis was very famous.
He produced big movies.
He was promising that "Kong" would be bigger than "Jaws," because he said, "Nobody cries when Jaws dies.
" [laughter.]
"When Kong dies, everybody cries.
" Did you cry? I Yeah, I cried.
[laughter.]
I'm not gonna lie, I cried.
[laughter.]
Where did you get these? I mean, how are they- how are they in this kinda shape as well? My dad and I watched the original, like, years and years ago.
He tracked these down when I was still a kid and gave them to me back then.
So I've had them ever since.
I remember when the '33 one came on TV one day.
My dad was like, "You're gonna sit down and you're gonna watch this.
" And I watched it, and I fell asleep.
- Really? - Yeah, and he got- He was so mad at me.
That's a moment where fathers and sons bond over King Kong, man.
That's where you - that's where it happens.
King Kong? You should go call him up and make a date this weekend to watch Kong.
And you don't leave that room until you guys are hugging and crying and telling each other you love each other.
So in other words, they've gone insane.
[laughter.]
So why are you selling them then? It's kind of collecting dust.
Kinda ready to get rid of 'em.
These should not be collecting dust.
- No.
- These should be on a shelf, polished every day.
By me.
[chuckling.]
- Yeah.
- I personally want these.
They're in great shape.
They look like they haven't even been used.
I don't think they ever have been.
What do you need for 'em? You know I want 'em.
You got me by- I was-I was gonna say "short hairs," but that'll be probably too phallic for you guys.
[laughter.]
Let's-let's- let's say $40, how's that? How 'bout $25? - For a huge fan.
- Which I am.
- $25.
- $25? - Yeah.
- Eh-done.
- All right.
- Absolutely, man.
My pleasure.
There's a 5, and there's a 20.
Thank you, man.
- All right, appreciate it.
- Pleasure.
Huh? Ah, we're ready to go, man.
Right? Yeah, come on.
- Yeah.
- [chuckling.]
Oh, yeah.
- To Kong! - To Kong.
- Yeah.
- And snakes.
[laughter.]
Snakes.
Y- M- C-A.
Yeah, there you go.
Now we're talking.
I feel like I'm at a concert.
[laughter.]
[groovy music.]
- How you guys doing? - Hey.
How are you? - Good.
- What can we do for you today? - I was wondering if I could take a look at your "X - Men" 130.
Oh, yeah, sure.
You wanna grab it, Mike? - You got it.
- "X-Men" 130, man.
First appearance of the Dazzler.
- Yep.
- Key book by the, uh, legendary team of Chris Claremont and John Byrne.
That's awesome.
Yeah, that's a nice copy, too.
[upbeat music.]
Can I take it out? Is that all right? Absolutely.
You need this issue for the "X-Men" run? You know what, I'm not- I'm not so much of an "X-Men" kinda guy, as I am the Dazzler.
- Really? - Yeah.
My grandfather actually helped to play a pretty big role in - in bringing the Dazzler to life.
- Who was your grandfather? - Neil Bogart.
So he was the president of Casablanca Records.
- Oh, really? - Mm-hmm.
Casablanca Records played a gigantic role in my childhood.
I mean, I was a Kiss fan.
I mean, every Kiss album had the Casablanca, you know, sticker in the middle of it.
- Oh, yeah.
- Wasn't the Village People on Casablanca Records, too? Yeah.
Donna Summer, Cher, yeah.
Makes a lot more sense, 'cause the disco Dazzler.
- Wow.
- She was Alison Blaire.
She had roller skates, and her powers were she could take sound and turn it into light.
- Yep, yep.
- And plus she could use her powers as a mutant to enhance her stage show.
- Oh, yeah? - And nobody would know.
When disco was popular, I was seven, eight years old or something, so I certainly wasn't there going, "Hey, ladies," but you couldn't avoid the music.
- [snickers.]
- It was everywhere.
I mean, I definitely, um, was a closet disco fan.
I was a huge disco fan, but I didn't let anybody know about it, though.
Did you have a disco ball ever? Never had a disco ball, but I had plenty of, like, uh, 45s of all the big hits.
I'm wondering why you were a closeted disco fan.
I mean, everyone loved it.
It's not like you had to hide it.
Oh, come on, man.
Back when we were growing up, kids were talking around with their Stones patches, Led Zeppelin, and, you know, if I roll up with my Peaches & Herb- [laughter.]
Now Marvel was never ashamed to jump on a bandwagon or a trend, right? Shaft - Yes, the blaxploitation stuff.
Kind of-with Luke Cage.
- Yep, Kung fu.
Shang - Chi became an Avenger.
Remember they tried to turn the NFL into a superhero - with "NFL SuperPro.
" - "SuperPro.
" Oh, my God, and "Kickers, Inc.
" - [laughs.]
- Oh, dear lord.
- "NFL SuperPro" was the most ridiculous concept.
He was a quarterback.
He's too washed-up to play in the NFL anymore, and he's given superpowers.
And he goes and fights people who want to, uh, maybe, like, sabotage the Super Bowl.
Or, um Scalpers.
[laughter.]
Overcharge for a ticket, will ya? [laughter.]
Marvel always liked to be rather timely with their books.
In the case of Dazzler, disco was just about to end when they were like, "Hey, here's our disco character, Spider Friends.
" Marvel, while you would think on the surface it'd be, like, a one-dimensional character, they really put her into, uh, a different category of - of powers.
Like, you would think that it wouldn't be very powerful, a light-based hero, but she even took on Galactus in her own series early on.
- And? - We're still here, right? I mean, Galactus didn't eat the Earth.
[laughter.]
- Dazzler saved us all.
All right, well, we are asking $50 for the first appearance of the Dazzler.
- Okay.
- Um But because of the acts that your grandfather brought to the world and to me, uh, all the countless hours of, um, entertainment of all those artists that I still listen to today, I'm gonna give you the book for $40 today.
- I appreciate that.
- Great.
- I'll do that.
- Oh, very generous.
- That sounds fair.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- All right.
- Have a good one, man.
- Yeah.
Have a good one.
You remember any of your your old moves? Well, like, what were some of the moves? Like, was it like - Maybe.
Y- M- C-A.
Yeah, there you go.
Now we're talking.
Yeah, man.
See, I was feeling stiff, though.
Does it look bad? - No, it looks awesome.
- [laughs.]
- Doing good.
Yeah.
- I feel like I'm at a concert.
[laughter.]
- Song's over, folks, so it's time to go home.
For "Comic Book Men," I'm Kevin Smith.
- Bryan Johnson.
- Walt Flanagan.
- Mike Zapcic.
- Ming Chen.
Hey, ho, let's go.
Pick your favorite heist or bank robbery scene.
What do you go with? I'm gonna go with "Dog Day Afternoon.
" - Classic.
- Yeah, I'm a big Pacino fan, and I do a pretty good Pacino, too.
Yeah? - "Give me all your money, hoo - ah!" - Is that "Scent of a Woman " like "hoo - ahhh"? - How's it go? - "Hoo-ah!" - "Hoo-ah.
" - "Hoo-ahh!" [laughter.]
- What about you, Mike? The Lufthansa heist from "Goodfellas.
" - Pacino was in that, right? - No, he was not.
- Hoo-ah.
- [laughs.]
- No.
- No, it was-no, that's- That's your other guy, De Niro.
- Hoo-ha.
The best part is that they didn't even show the heist.
They just showed Henry in the shower listening to 1010 WINS.
Wait a minute, so they didn't even show it? They just-you just watch the guy just sitting in the shower and that's-that's why it's your greatest scene? - Yeah, it was - [laughter.]
It was Ray Liotta in the shower, dude.
[laughter.]
What's yours? - I would go with "Heat.
" - Ahh! - That's-that's a great one.
- De Niro and Pacino.
- Pacino was in that, right? Hoo - ha! - Yeah.
- But what made "Heat" so great was it was so protracted and sound design around it, where you felt like maybe you were in that bank.
And then, like, they go outside, just blowing cars away, wind-windshields shattering.
Uh, at the end, somebody's in a shower.
[laughter.]
[heroic music.]
[laughs.]
Comic Book Men SO6E14 [energetic music.]
Hello and welcome to another episode of "Comic Book Men," the only show that's never lukewarm about Luke Skywalker or Luke Cage.
I'm Kevin Smith.
- Bryan Johnson.
- Walt Flanagan.
- Mike Zapcic.
- Ming Chen.
Okay, man, people come in, they try to buy, they try to sell.
What happened? Can you recall your very first number 1 issue? Yeah, it was amazing.
You were starting the journey.
It's the beginning of something.
It allows you to jump in, um, as opposed to come to the party late.
- Hey, how you doing? - Hello.
Good.
How are you? Pretty good.
What can we do for you? - Um, I would like to see the number 1 "Tales of the Zombie" that you guys have.
You wanna run up there and grab that? - Yeah, no problem.
- Big zombie fan? Yes, I've been reading zombie comics since I started reading comics, about, like, six years now.
So it-it seems like something I really want in my collection.
This is a good one.
[upbeat rock music.]
I remember buying this off the stands.
It is the first Marvel publication.
I wouldn't- You can't call it a comic book, because in the comic books you weren't allowed to show zombies back then.
Can you imagine that? That sounds awful.
[laughter.]
That's, like, all I read.
- What a time to live.
[laughter.]
- Wanna take it open and take a look at it? - Sure, yeah.
I actually bought this comic from Walt.
I was selling comics in my when I was in short pants.
- Wow.
- He's not kidding either.
He ripped me off.
[laughter.]
But one of my all time favorite books.
How 'bout you? - Yeah, I loved it.
I mean, there's a lot of legendary comic book names in this.
Big John Buscema was the artist, and I think Steve Gerber.
- Steve Gerber.
- And Steve Gerber.
- I mean, it's - it is number 1.
It only lasted ten issues.
- I really like the older ones 'cause they're, like, grittier than the newer ones.
- You know, in - in some ways, yes.
Uh, in some ways, no.
I mean, we're talking in the '70s.
I mean, you can get a little risque, but it's- - [chuckles.]
Whoa.
- Yeah.
- A lot of skin.
- [laughing.]
Whoa, whoa.
A lot of skin, but not a lot of gore.
And shockingly, think about this, this came out in a time when zombies didn't eat flesh.
How did they live? They were dead.
[laughter.]
The zombie has undergone a gigantic transformation.
I mean, it's come a long way, baby, right? I mean, particularly in comics back then and don't call me baby - [laughter.]
um, they-remember, they couldn't even write "zombie.
" - Yes.
- It would be "zuvembie.
" - Yes.
- It was Z-V-M-B-I-E.
What was the point behind that? Well, the comics code had put the word "zombie" on the No Fly List.
It wasn't gonna fly in a code-approved book.
Marvel cleverly spelled the word differently and called it "zuvembie.
" Don't you want to go back in time, grab the comic book censors of that age and just let 'em spend 20 minutes on the Internet and be like, "Should we still change the spelling of zombie?" [laughter.]
I love seeing this new generation fall in love with zombies horror.
How did you acquire your affection for the zombie? Uh, when I was little, I always loved, like, horror movies, like the really gory ones, like "Saw" or something like that.
Um, I was a weird kid, but - [laughs.]
And then when I was in high school, I just kept reading Stephen King and things like that.
At one point I was like, "Why not comics?" Have you sampled any Universal monster action? Now, it's not quite as, like, in-your-face as torture porn [laughter.]
- Right, yeah.
You know, it's not shocktastic, but- It's-it's in black-and-white, and this is where you're gonna get your goose bumps.
Like, you-pretend you're an unsuspecting victim, and my hand's super hairy, and I'm like this.
[tense music.]
Cut.
[laughter.]
Zombie is the undead come back to life.
Yes.
Frankenstein count as a zombie? - Yes.
- Really? Every piece of his body is is a piece of a dead limb.
So he's like a bunch of zombies at once.
- Patchwork zombie.
- How come they never identify him as a zombie? They're always like, "He's a Frankenstein.
" Well, no, he's not.
He's a zombie.
- I feel like that was probably the working title of "Frankenstein," "Patchwork Zombie.
" [laughter.]
Um, I'd absolutely love to have it.
I don't really have any collectable comics, so I definitely wanna kinda start growing that collection.
- Okay, so this will be your first number 1.
- Yes.
- Ooh.
The book is $45.
Could I get it for $30? Eh, I couldn't do $30.
Uh No, I could knock five bucks off.
I could do $40, 'cause you're a big zombie fan, and it's your first number 1.
- Could you knock ten off because it's my first number 1? Like a celebratory thing? Is that something, uh, people celebrate? We love a good party, don't we? [laughter.]
All right, 35 bucks.
It's yours.
- Awesome.
- Wanna bag it up for her, Ming? - Got it, yes, absolutely.
Thank you.
[register clicking.]
- There you go.
- Thank you.
- All right, enjoy.
- Have a good day.
How you doing? Oh, this is, uh, Mr.
Marky Ramone.
How are you? It is an honor to have rock and roll royalty.
- Oh, yeah.
- Hey.
[upbeat music.]
- Hey, guys, how's everybody? - Hey, Rob.
Hey, coming back from another show, and I'm bringing a friend by to meet y'all.
- Hello.
How you doing? - This is, uh, Mr.
Marky Ramone.
How are you? It is an honor to have rock and roll royalty.
- Oh, yeah.
- Hey.
- One and only.
- How you doing? - How are you? - Do you know who this is? - Marky Ramone, I assume one of the Ramones.
[laughter.]
- Really, Ming? - One of the Ramones.
- Yeah.
[rock music.]
I always wondered, were you guys really brothers? - No, no, no.
- Like, you were- You guys weren't related? - We were all friends.
Uh, we weren't related, but we liked the same music.
- All right, w - uh, what's with, like, uh, the same last names then? Uh, well, it was just, uh, like a, uh A gimmick.
Not a gimmick.
Sorry.
How dare you! [laughter.]
- A gimmick? - Oh, wait, wait, wait.
Life's a gimmick.
Everything's a gimmick.
Yeah, see, yeah, it is a gimmick.
[laughter.]
Superman's a gimmick.
Batman's a gimmick.
We're all gimmicks.
Now, are you with him willingly? [laughs.]
Yeah, yeah, actually Marky's a huge robot collector.
So he wanted to come by 'cause he's on his way to an airplane and- Are you a big collector? Uh, sci-fi, sci-fi posters, robots, uh - since '80, '81.
He also, uh, makes his own robots.
- Yeah.
- Really? Out of old folding cell phones.
You know, the-the old- - Wanna see some? - I would love to see some.
- The old Nokias.
He's like, "Do I wanna see one? I own one.
" [laughter.]
- Oh, wow.
- That's what these are.
Number two.
It just was an idea, because all-all these things are just laying around.
And so I figured I would just make them.
Like a hobby, you know.
I mean, you know- I mean, I kinda see- I mean, were thinking Tobor You see it, right? - on the-on this one? - K-kind of, kind of.
What is that, '54, right? - Yeah.
- "Tobor" is '54.
You're-you're really- you know your stuff, huh? What'd it feel like, man, to see punk royalty in the store? - I got - I gotta be honest with you, man.
I remember being a little bit leary of punk because, uh- 'Cause you were a s you were a small boy.
- Yeah.
- And you're like, "They look frightening, Ma.
" - Definitely.
Yeah, I saw the guys with the mohawks, the studs and everything.
It turns out though I was wrong to be afraid of punk though, because Marky's into the same thing that we're into.
He was a-a geek like us, a nerd.
- You found common ground.
- Yep.
[laughter.]
- Really? Oh, my lord.
- Started going to sci - fi stores in the early '80s, going to the cities, and then looking at the Yellow Pages and looking for all the collectable place, and just rummaging through everything and taking everything for, like, $10 for a poster that's worth, uh, $3,000, $4,000 now.
They didn't know back then.
So let me get this straight, when you were on tour with the Ramones - Right.
- You'd go into a city, and the first thing you'd do is go into the phone book - and look for collectable stores? - Yeah.
I gotta be honest, I thought, like, in the '70s or the '80s, when-like, at the height of-of punk rock, that's the level of decadence that was going on? [laughter.]
- That's it, that's it.
No groupies.
Just sci-fi and robots.
- Really? - I have, uh- - I might as well be a rock star.
- Yeah.
[chuckling.]
- Walt is, like, one of the most punk rock people I know when it comes to comic books, because he was the first one standing up for, like, "I don't care what people say about this.
"If people laughed at me for reading 'The Watchmen,' "I read 'The Watchmen," they didn't.
Who's stupid? 'The Watchmen' is excellent.
" But he was out there standing up for his tribe, which was comic books, the same way that the Ramones would stand up for their tribe, which was music.
He paved the road to punk.
You bought comics.
[laughter.]
So all all you guys were into that? - Me and Johnny Ramone.
- Oh, really? Yeah, we were- we were the sci-fi, uh, poster, robot, collectable guys.
- Plus you went to Japan and all overseas, right? - Yeah, Japan, Toy Tokyo's there and everything.
- Oh, wow, wow.
- You know, bring back all the plastic Rodans, Godzillas, Ghidorah, Three-Headed Monster's.
- He brought some of his, uh, own collection, too, since we're sort of packing out.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- You wanna see some things? - Absolutely.
- Yeah.
- This is-this is, uh, ideal.
- Oh, wow.
Like, see see the inspiration comes from the old stuff.
- This is from, um - Ideal.
Ideal.
This is from the '50s.
And this-this- I have about five of these.
You know who that is, right? Yeah, it's Robby.
Robby the Robot.
Very good.
Could I ask you a question about your robots? - Yeah.
- Is this really a statement on society, like rock and roll rebel? This represents the government, the eyes always watching us, and enough about a bunch of robots, unfeeling? - I think - I think what it really is obsolescent.
It's obsolete.
It's a moment in time.
Then this is the reflection of it.
You know, then phones changed an- So you don't want to join my antigovernment militia, is what you're saying? No, no, no.
[laughter.]
- Okay, fine.
- No, no, no, no.
He likes monsters and '50s robots? - Robots.
Did you ask him for a blood test to make sure you weren't related in some way? [laughter.]
- Maybe I'm a Ramone! Yes, oh, my lord, we'd keep it going! - Walter Ramone.
- Walter Ramone.
Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for the lost Ramone, Walter Ramone! [laughter.]
All right, well, thanks thanks for having me here.
It was a lot of fun.
Into the same stuff I'm into.
Thank you for coming in.
It's great to see a store like this.
- Thank you.
- Really cool.
Please come back any time.
Here's an old cliché, keep rocking.
- Yeah.
- Ohh, man.
[laughter.]
Think I have something you might be interested in.
Oh, my God.
I had this.
I haven't seen these in, what, 30 years? Favorite Ramone song? I'm gonna go for "Blitzkrieg Bop.
" I love that song.
What about you, Ming, favorite Ramones song? I like "Blitzkrieg Bop" as well, except I did-I never knew the name of it.
I thought it was just the "Hey, ho, let's go" song.
It counts.
both: Hey, ho, let's go.
- [chuckles.]
- Very easily singable song.
Mike, you got a Ramones song that you like? "Wanna be Sedated.
" - Oh, of course, classic.
- "Wanna be Sedated.
" So you wanna be more sedated than you are now? [laughter.]
I think I'm perfectly sedated.
I tried to open "Mallrats" with that song, but we couldn't get the rights.
That was actually the very first song that Marky Mark ever played on.
Really? You call him Marky Mark now? You're that familiar with him? [laughter.]
I don't know if Marky Ramone would like that.
[laughter.]
[upbeat music.]
- Hey.
How are you? - Hey.
What's going on? What can we do for you? I think I have something you might be interested in.
What do you got? These are 1976 Burger Chef King Kong glasses.
Oh, my God.
I had this.
I had that, too.
I haven't seen these in, what, 30 years? [rock music.]
Do they still do this? - Fast food restaurants- - With glasses? - Like glass, yeah.
- I would say no.
Where did you get yours? I must have gotten them right at the fast food place - that was giving them out.
- Burger Chef.
Burger Chef, that's right.
God rest Burger Chef's soul.
They're no longer with us.
They're reincarnated as Hardee's, I think.
[laughter.]
- So you're a big King Kong fan? - Absolutely.
Yeah, what was your favorite part of the movie? - Of the '76 version? - Yeah.
Uh, it's gotta be the snake fight.
It's gotta be, you know, ripping the snake.
Yeah, that's my favorite part of That's my favorite maybe moment in cinematic history.
Depicted there.
Depicted on the glass.
The snake wraps around him, he takes the snake, and he rips the jaws apart.
Not a metaphor at all.
For what? It's a big snake, it's phallic.
It's a little symbolism there.
I can't believe you didn't see this.
Why can't it just be he's fighting a giant snake? There's a lot going on there that, you know, I guess you didn't see in '76.
You guys are watching a different movie, I think.
It was Kong '76, though.
Not "King Dong," right? "King Kong"? [laughter.]
You actually had these glasses? I had-I-I mean, I'm telling you, I was so excited for Kong, I I remember opening night, my family, uh, we were gonna go out to dinner, and we were going to see "King Kong," and I had to wait in school with the anticipation.
Was killing me.
I remember feeling nauseous, checking the clock.
[snorting.]
By the time you sat down in the theater and watched it, was it everything you hoped it would be? It was everything and more.
I consider it my top three movies ever.
- Still, to this day? - To this day.
Dino De Laurentiis.
He hit one out of the ballpark with that one.
Dino De Laurentiis was very famous.
He produced big movies.
He was promising that "Kong" would be bigger than "Jaws," because he said, "Nobody cries when Jaws dies.
" [laughter.]
"When Kong dies, everybody cries.
" Did you cry? I Yeah, I cried.
[laughter.]
I'm not gonna lie, I cried.
[laughter.]
Where did you get these? I mean, how are they- how are they in this kinda shape as well? My dad and I watched the original, like, years and years ago.
He tracked these down when I was still a kid and gave them to me back then.
So I've had them ever since.
I remember when the '33 one came on TV one day.
My dad was like, "You're gonna sit down and you're gonna watch this.
" And I watched it, and I fell asleep.
- Really? - Yeah, and he got- He was so mad at me.
That's a moment where fathers and sons bond over King Kong, man.
That's where you - that's where it happens.
King Kong? You should go call him up and make a date this weekend to watch Kong.
And you don't leave that room until you guys are hugging and crying and telling each other you love each other.
So in other words, they've gone insane.
[laughter.]
So why are you selling them then? It's kind of collecting dust.
Kinda ready to get rid of 'em.
These should not be collecting dust.
- No.
- These should be on a shelf, polished every day.
By me.
[chuckling.]
- Yeah.
- I personally want these.
They're in great shape.
They look like they haven't even been used.
I don't think they ever have been.
What do you need for 'em? You know I want 'em.
You got me by- I was-I was gonna say "short hairs," but that'll be probably too phallic for you guys.
[laughter.]
Let's-let's- let's say $40, how's that? How 'bout $25? - For a huge fan.
- Which I am.
- $25.
- $25? - Yeah.
- Eh-done.
- All right.
- Absolutely, man.
My pleasure.
There's a 5, and there's a 20.
Thank you, man.
- All right, appreciate it.
- Pleasure.
Huh? Ah, we're ready to go, man.
Right? Yeah, come on.
- Yeah.
- [chuckling.]
Oh, yeah.
- To Kong! - To Kong.
- Yeah.
- And snakes.
[laughter.]
Snakes.
Y- M- C-A.
Yeah, there you go.
Now we're talking.
I feel like I'm at a concert.
[laughter.]
[groovy music.]
- How you guys doing? - Hey.
How are you? - Good.
- What can we do for you today? - I was wondering if I could take a look at your "X - Men" 130.
Oh, yeah, sure.
You wanna grab it, Mike? - You got it.
- "X-Men" 130, man.
First appearance of the Dazzler.
- Yep.
- Key book by the, uh, legendary team of Chris Claremont and John Byrne.
That's awesome.
Yeah, that's a nice copy, too.
[upbeat music.]
Can I take it out? Is that all right? Absolutely.
You need this issue for the "X-Men" run? You know what, I'm not- I'm not so much of an "X-Men" kinda guy, as I am the Dazzler.
- Really? - Yeah.
My grandfather actually helped to play a pretty big role in - in bringing the Dazzler to life.
- Who was your grandfather? - Neil Bogart.
So he was the president of Casablanca Records.
- Oh, really? - Mm-hmm.
Casablanca Records played a gigantic role in my childhood.
I mean, I was a Kiss fan.
I mean, every Kiss album had the Casablanca, you know, sticker in the middle of it.
- Oh, yeah.
- Wasn't the Village People on Casablanca Records, too? Yeah.
Donna Summer, Cher, yeah.
Makes a lot more sense, 'cause the disco Dazzler.
- Wow.
- She was Alison Blaire.
She had roller skates, and her powers were she could take sound and turn it into light.
- Yep, yep.
- And plus she could use her powers as a mutant to enhance her stage show.
- Oh, yeah? - And nobody would know.
When disco was popular, I was seven, eight years old or something, so I certainly wasn't there going, "Hey, ladies," but you couldn't avoid the music.
- [snickers.]
- It was everywhere.
I mean, I definitely, um, was a closet disco fan.
I was a huge disco fan, but I didn't let anybody know about it, though.
Did you have a disco ball ever? Never had a disco ball, but I had plenty of, like, uh, 45s of all the big hits.
I'm wondering why you were a closeted disco fan.
I mean, everyone loved it.
It's not like you had to hide it.
Oh, come on, man.
Back when we were growing up, kids were talking around with their Stones patches, Led Zeppelin, and, you know, if I roll up with my Peaches & Herb- [laughter.]
Now Marvel was never ashamed to jump on a bandwagon or a trend, right? Shaft - Yes, the blaxploitation stuff.
Kind of-with Luke Cage.
- Yep, Kung fu.
Shang - Chi became an Avenger.
Remember they tried to turn the NFL into a superhero - with "NFL SuperPro.
" - "SuperPro.
" Oh, my God, and "Kickers, Inc.
" - [laughs.]
- Oh, dear lord.
- "NFL SuperPro" was the most ridiculous concept.
He was a quarterback.
He's too washed-up to play in the NFL anymore, and he's given superpowers.
And he goes and fights people who want to, uh, maybe, like, sabotage the Super Bowl.
Or, um Scalpers.
[laughter.]
Overcharge for a ticket, will ya? [laughter.]
Marvel always liked to be rather timely with their books.
In the case of Dazzler, disco was just about to end when they were like, "Hey, here's our disco character, Spider Friends.
" Marvel, while you would think on the surface it'd be, like, a one-dimensional character, they really put her into, uh, a different category of - of powers.
Like, you would think that it wouldn't be very powerful, a light-based hero, but she even took on Galactus in her own series early on.
- And? - We're still here, right? I mean, Galactus didn't eat the Earth.
[laughter.]
- Dazzler saved us all.
All right, well, we are asking $50 for the first appearance of the Dazzler.
- Okay.
- Um But because of the acts that your grandfather brought to the world and to me, uh, all the countless hours of, um, entertainment of all those artists that I still listen to today, I'm gonna give you the book for $40 today.
- I appreciate that.
- Great.
- I'll do that.
- Oh, very generous.
- That sounds fair.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- All right.
- Have a good one, man.
- Yeah.
Have a good one.
You remember any of your your old moves? Well, like, what were some of the moves? Like, was it like - Maybe.
Y- M- C-A.
Yeah, there you go.
Now we're talking.
Yeah, man.
See, I was feeling stiff, though.
Does it look bad? - No, it looks awesome.
- [laughs.]
- Doing good.
Yeah.
- I feel like I'm at a concert.
[laughter.]
- Song's over, folks, so it's time to go home.
For "Comic Book Men," I'm Kevin Smith.
- Bryan Johnson.
- Walt Flanagan.
- Mike Zapcic.
- Ming Chen.
Hey, ho, let's go.