Tonight's episode of The Simpsons, "Husbands and Knives," was an important one in the history of the series. It saw the closure of a Springfield landmark -- The Android's Dungeon.
Jack Black provided the voice of Milo, the uber-hipster proprietor of the new comic store Coolsville. He plays Tom Jones covers in Korean, gives away Japanese hard candies, and has indie icons like Alan Moore, Art Spiegelman, and Dan Clowes do in-store signings.
Unable to compete with the charismatic and egalitarian Milo, The Android's Dungeon's owner Jeff Albertson (better known as Comic Book Guy) must close his doors.
Is this a statement on the comic book industry in real life? Not so much if the Coolsvilles will supplant the Android Dungeons -- but will the publishers themselves transition out from Hardcore Fanboys to Hip Purveyors of Sequential Art Narratives?
And when will DC finally come out with "Watchmen Babies?"
I'm sure they'll ignore it, and next time a scene calls for a comic shop, It'll be Androids Dungeon. Just like Marge won't be running a chain of women's health clubs next week.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great episode, though.
If Milo were truly independent and cutting-edge, one of those signers would have been female. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you've ever spent any time in Los Angeles, Ms. OS, but Coolsville is pretty much exactly Meltdown Comics in Hollywood, at Sierra Bonita and Sunset.
ReplyDeleteAnd... yeah... it really is pretty much that cool. Probably the best shop in SoCal as of this writing.
Ironically, the only time I've ever seen Jack Black was in Meltdown Comics... and he pretending to talk on his cell phone to avoid getting autograph requests.
Another reason why someday I'll just take the rich, thank you, and pass off on the famous.
I think there was accurate commentary in there among the whole feeling of "well, this ain't as funny as it used to be".
ReplyDeleteComic Book Guy could be seen as the grasping, egotistical sense of entitlement that represents the modern comics industry, from cynical, marketing-led editorial-driven books, to the near monopoly of the distribution process that's seen comics turned into a fanboy circle-jerk over the last 20 years, rather than just another entertainment industry open to anyone with bucks to spare - any wonder manga - which is sold indiscriminately - has managed such market penetration in so short a timespan.
Comics are heading for a crash of some sort, because you can't maintain any industry without bringing in new customers, and there's too much continuity fetishism and casually-sexualised violence to attract passing interest in mainstream comics from casual readers as they are now.
Seriously, what 6 year-old kid wants to read about Spidey's magic divorce, or Power Boy wanting to date-rape a minor?
They might ignore the continuity impact on the show that the closing of the Android's Dungeon might create, but then again, one of Marge's sisters did adopt a Chinese orphan who's still around, and Ned's wife is still dead.
What Bryan said about the comic book industry.
ReplyDeleteHave they ever done a Simpsons episode about how it hasn't been very funny in about a decade? Just wondering if that was ripe for satire.
great episode that dvd made reference to two of mr. moores comics v for veditta and watchmen
ReplyDeleteBryan's dead on with his comments.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Watchmen Babies may be the single greatest joke ever told - for comic book fans anyway. OMG, I laughed sooooo hard at that one! lol
i hate the comic book guy, that generation of fat sloppy fan boys is what gives a lot of us comic fans a bad name.
ReplyDeletehear hear for the "indie cool hipsters" taking over.
That Watchmen Babies joke was great. I mean, it's a two percenter -- the kind of joke that only two percent of the audience is going to get -- but it's nice being in that two percent. What was the subheading? V for Vacation, or something?
ReplyDeleteI'd be surprised if they got rid of the Comic Book Guy though, even if the Simpsons folks seemed to get all of their comic shop jokes out of their systems in that episode.
Have a good day.
G Morrow
after watching it, i totally got reminded of a certain lady's blog during lisa's comic shop segment, i wonder who she reminds me of.
ReplyDeleteAfter the "Watchmen Babies" part, I think my favorite part was when Dan Clowes said "Do you know anyone from Batman? I would love to draw Batman. I am great at utility belts, see? This is where the Batman keeps his money in case he needs to take the bus." Also, Alan's other line when Bart told him he wrote his favorite issues of Radioactive Man, "You like that I turned your favorite superhero into a heroin-addicted jazz critic who isn't radioactive?"
ReplyDeleteBut as for the episode's commentary about the state of comics retail, well, it was hardly revolutionary, but it was still important. In the span of about two minutes, they summed up the changes that need to be made in order to give the medium a fighting chance. I'd say about half the comic shops I've been in regular contact with still cleave to the "Android's Dungeon" type, and I think it really goes without saying that I prefer the "Coolsvilles" that I know.
I was actually kind of surprised by the lack of an "everything's back to normal" ending. They usually make at least a cursory attempt to reset the status quo on screen when they shake it up. Something like: "Hey, what happened to Coolsville?" "Oh, Milo got busted for selling E out of the back of the store after Strawberry left him to become a Suicide Girl." Or something.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm not sure what was funnier: that "Watchmen Babies" was subtitled "V for Vacation", the League of Extraordinary Freelancers, or that Art Spiegelman put on the mouse mask before leaping to action.