Comic Book Men s03e13 Episode Script

Hey, guys, real quick, I need your top two robots of all time.
I don't care what genre they are, be it film, TV, Comic Books, literature R2-d2, Star Wars.
And Terminator, from the first movie.
Okay, excellent choice with the Terminator.
Why r2-d2, though? At times he had all those little gadgets.
Ming.
Okay, okay, and he's short in stature.
You can see I can relate to r2-d2, yes.
Thank you.
All right.
Mike.
- The vision.
- The vision.
- From The Avengers.
- Nice choice, a comic pull.
- And data from star Next generation.
Come on, he was, like Terrible.
Yeah, ease up there, r2.
R2-D-Bag.
Hello and welcome back to another episode of Comic Book Men, the on show that was thrown out of the league of shadows 'cause we needed a nightlight.
I'm your host Kevin Smith.
- Bryan Johnson.
- Walt Flanagan.
- Mike Zapcic.
- Ming chen.
All right, how have the comic book kings of red bank been doing this week? One of the really neat things about working at the stash is on any given day, any given item could come in.
And the other day, someone brought in some artwork from a pretty legendary artist.
Hey, how are you? What can we do for you today? I've got some glasses.
I'd like to see you may.
- Glasses? - DC glasses.
And I was wondering what you guys know about them, and I tried to look 'em up online.
I can't find anything about them at all.
I've never seen these before.
Let's see, a Superman, a Batman, a Wonder Woman.
My Uncle got 'em from where he worked.
He used to be an Inker for DC comic and Marvel Comics here.
- Who's your Uncle? - His name's Mike Esposito.
Oh, my God.
Really? Your Uncle was Mike Esposito? - You know who he was? - I do know who he was.
Your Uncle's a legend.
That's cool.
I can remember practically all my childhood every Amazing Spider-Man, he was the Inker.
Ross Andru penciled it and Mike Esposito.
Both of those names were synonymous with Spider-Man for me growing up.
Mike Esposito had worked for DC Comics and Marvel in the early '60s all the way up into the '80s.
I remember his stuff from the '60s.
Wonder Woman, Metal Men, he did a bunch - He did the Metal Men as well? - Yeah.
He introduced the Spider-Man clone.
Storylines that would later be revisited in the '90s.
Um, you know To disastrous effect.
I brought some artwork that my Uncle worked on.
Let's see the artwork, man.
Oh, wow.
Wow.
- That's the spider - man I grew up with, man.
This is awesome.
Look at that.
The cover page.
That's really cool.
Yeah.
Oh, my God, here's an island of the dinosaurs.
Oh, my God.
I mean, this could be worth big, big bucks.
I gotta tell you this is great news.
I came to you guys 'cause I have no idea, and my aunt really can use the money now.
My Uncle passed away a couple years ago, and back in the day, everyone was freelance.
They didn't get any benefits, so I would love to give her the money.
She actually thought it wasn't gonna be worth really anything because they weren't the original and some of it's not finished.
He was recreating some of his more famous pieces.
- Yeah, yeah, exactly.
- Ah, okay.
It's still gonna be worth something.
Although original art is not my expertise.
But let me call in an expert who can give you a lot better idea of what this stuff may be worth.
There's gotta be a market for that kind of stuff, though, right? I would have to think so.
This ain't trash, this is treasure.
Exactly.
And if you've got a question about some stuff, you bring in pop culturalist Rob Bruce.
You just let him off his leash, and you say, look at this.
Hey, guys.
How's everybody today? - Robert.
- Wow.
Look at that.
- Huh? - Flash 177.
You know who drew and inked this? Uh Mike Esposito.
This is his nephew.
- No way.
Really? - Yeah.
- Wow.
- Nice to meet you.
- That's fantastic.
- What do you think? I mean, this one piece alone I know sold for 10,000, the original.
- It's not an original, but But it's a commission piece done in the hand of Mike Esposito, so gotta be worth at least 1/10 of that, right? Wow.
I think that's awesome.
- This is great.
- There's more.
- More than this? - Yeah.
Really? He's got a whole room full of stuff.
My aunt's going through it now.
How old is your aunt? She's gotta be in her 80s.
I was gonna say.
So what do you recommend, you know, his aunt do? You'd have to go to an auction house, I would think.
I think auction's the way to go.
I actually have a friend Joe, who's, you know, we've done some work with before at bodnar's.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
It's probably the fastest way to get her some money.
I'd love to do that, but I don't live here.
I'm only here for a couple days, and my aunt can't do it.
Would you be interested in maybe helping us out, get the stuff and bring it to auction? I can give you, like, a percentage of how much it makes.
I'll tell you right now I would be honored to do it, but I couldn't take a dime.
We would be more than happy to help your aunt out.
But it is a lot of stuff.
How about Is there, like, a charity or something maybe we can donate to in your names? Give it to one of the hurricane Sandy relief funds.
- That's a great idea.
- You know what, yeah.
A little bit for the hurricane Sandy relief fund, and the rest goes to your aunt, I'd be totally cool with that.
That'd be fantastic.
Thank you so much.
- Thank you, Tim.
- I appreciate it.
- Yeah, absolutely.
- Thank you.
I called earlier about the loki hot toy figure.
- Yup.
We put it aside for you.
- Nice.
- Wow.
- Huh? This is amazing.
You know what my kids are into? They'll watch the same movie over and over again.
It's crazy.
What's the first movie you can remember that you went to the theater to see multiple times as a kid? Uh, I think it was Indiana Jones and the temple of doom.
- Really? - Yeah.
What was it about that film that made you want to see it twice? There was an Asian kid in it.
Did you aspire to be short round? Yeah, he was like a hero character.
He was.
What about you? Uh I actually begged my father to take me to see the sting multiple times.
That's a tough movie for a child, though, too.
- Hey, daddy - oh, you free this afternoon? That's right.
I had a thing for Charles Durning.
I can't imagine what movie you saw twice.
Jaws.
I just love that horror element.
- It was so - You love to be scared.
- Yeah.
- Can you be scared the second time around when you know what's gonna happen? - I didn't say I was scared.
- Oh, Mr.
tough nuts over there.
Yeah, well, I mean It wasn't as horrifying as, say, the sting, but - $6.
85.
- Hi.
- How you doing? - Good.
I called earlier about the loki hot toy figure.
- Yep.
We put it aside for you.
- Nice.
- We only have the one - Okay.
So we had to pull it off the sales floor.
Can I go ahead and check it out? Yeah, sure, sure.
There we go.
Oh, wow.
Huh? This is amazing.
Hot toys, definitely the rolls royce of toys today.
Right? Do you collect these? - I have a lot of loki - related stuff, but this is my first hot toy.
Why loki? The villain? The villains are always a lot more interesting than the heroes, right? - You like the bad boys.
- Yeah, I do like the bad boys.
Isn't it always the case? Ever since you can think back, has anybody ever said, "I like the good boys"? No, never.
Tell me about it.
It kills me every time.
You know that good boys always get the short end of the stick, right? Nice guys finish last.
It's kind of frustrating because you know in real life it never turns out well for the person who wants to hook up with the bad boy, you know? You know, you marry the bad boy, it's only a matter of time before the bad boy spent the rent money throwing dice down on the dock.
Or Because you're living in, like, a Damon runyon piece of literature from back in the day.
I could never pull off the bad boy.
I'll be a good boy until I die.
I mean, I've been a good boy since Ever since I came out of the womb.
Ask my mom, I've been a good boy.
You know.
All right, did you consider loki a badass? I never really dug loki as a villain in the comics really? - He just kind of Yeah, he just seemed like not up to Thor's level.
You know, Thor is about, like, brute strength.
And Loki's about just being mischievous and smart.
So and there's not a lot of villains like that.
You want a villain who gets into his adversary's head? Yeah, I want a cool plot more than someone that'll just, like, go in there and, like, bust the place up.
The supervillain is an integral part of the equation.
So we like our heroes larger than life, and that means we need larger-than-life villains, man.
Would Star Wars be the film it was without darth vader? It's just a movie about a boy who wants to get off a farm.
So can we wrap it up for you? I mean, we have it.
I know you you called.
Obviously you want it.
Um, how much Looking to get 350, right? - 350? - Yeah, it's a hot toy.
It is a hot toy.
It is.
What about I like a 275 hot toy better.
Uh, 340? What what about 300? - 300, huh? - Yeah.
- All right.
I'll give you 300.
- 300? Awesome.
- Thank you so much.
- Thank you.
- Thank you, guys.
- Have a great day.
We're honored to be here today to sell the collection of Mike Esposito.
All right, we got Wonder Woman cover.
Sold.
- We got a spider - man here, guys.
- Sold.
- We got a Superman.
Sold.
Sold.
Sold.
Mike, who's your all time favorite villain? I gotta give it up to Sinestro.
- Sinestro.
Nice choice.
- Really, man? Yeah, I like diametrics.
You know, he's got a yellow powering, and his archenemy green lantern has the green ring, so they're, like, equally opposed, so Excellent choice.
Ming? The cobra commander from G.
I.
Joe.
He didn't ask you, "what's your favorite toy?" He asked you, "who's your favorite villain?" He was still a villain, though, in the toy line.
He is, and the most nefarious of villains.
You can tell because His voice is like this.
Very up-front on front street about how evil he was.
- What about you, kev? - Darkseid.
Like, you know, Darkseid could take you out with the omega beams from his eyes, and Batman, one of the only heroes in the DC universe who eluded that ray.
I thought that was cool.
What about you, favorite villain? Please don't say Jaws.
You say Jaws every episode.
Jaws, technically not a villain, Bryan.
Just a shark that has to eat.
No malice.
It's Jaws, but Jaws Jaws from James Bond.
Well done! Banner day for the stash, my friend.
Not only are we gonna help Mrs.
Esposito, maybe get a little cash for the shore relief fund.
Doing a little good today.
This is exciting.
So the big day arrives, we've gotten all the Mike Esposito sketches and artwork out of Mrs.
Esposito's house, and we bring it up to bodnar's.
- Still a little nerve - racking.
We don't know what we're gonna get for some of these pieces.
We really have no idea what the total value of all this stuff is.
Before the auction began, we catalogued everything, settled in on what we had, and let Rob Bruce take a look at it, and he thought that the whole collection could go between 3,000, 3,500.
Not bad, especially for something that is like, "we don't know if we're gonna keep this or not.
" - Right.
- It's a nice bit of change.
We're honored to be here today to sell such a great collection.
This is the collection of Mike Esposito.
He was a comic book Inker for Marvel and DC Comics.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime collection Once in a lifetime.
With that, the first item up All right, here we go.
Here we go.
"Face it, tiger.
You hit the jackpot," right here.
"Face it, tiger.
You just hit the jackpot.
" $100 to start.
Who'll go $100? Oh, yeah, come on, baby.
I got 120, 140.
Last call.
Sold for $160.
All right, guys, we have the Flash, and it is signed there.
Oh, that's nice.
Who'll bid it a 50? Now at 130? Bid it at 130? Bid it at 140? Sold for $130.
- "How green was my goblin?" - That's a good piece, man.
This is an awesome, awesome cover, guys.
Sold for $325.
All right, we got a Wonder Woman cover.
Sold! - We got a spider - man here, guys.
- Sold.
- We got a Superman.
Sold.
Sold.
Sold for $170 out back.
The bids are coming Fast and Furious.
I mean, hands are being waved.
People are bidding.
You know, you hear, "yeah, right here! Here!" It was surreal just how many people were bidding on this stuff.
Fortunes are made and lost.
On the auction floor at bodnar's.
This one is the full art right here.
Here's where you're gonna see the money start flowing.
- The amazing spider - man 63.
- 250.
250, 275.
- Yep! - 300, 325, 350, 350.
- Yep! - 375, 400.
- Yep! Sold for $400.
"Bruce banner is The Hulk.
" Sold for $425.
- Wonder Woman, guys.
- Sold, $500.
Oh! Batman and the atom.
Sold for $600.
This is insane.
Oh, here we go.
Here's a big boy coming up next.
This piece right here.
A 122 recreation.
This is really, really cool.
The Amazing Spider-Man.
Death of the green goblin.
This is fantastic, guys.
$200 to go, now 250, now 275, 275.
Going to 300, going to 325, going to 350.
- Major, major piece right here.
- 375, 400, 425.
Yep! - 800.
- 800, going to 825.
Here we go, here we go.
- $1,000! - $1,000! Last call.
Sold for $1,000.
Buyer number 51.
Pieces were flying left and right, I mean, it was We lost count of how much money it was up to.
You know, even partially done artwork, going for much higher than we thought it was gonna go.
Nice.
Nice, man.
All right, guys, we got what I think is the best piece.
We have the Flash, DC, Ready to go.
- $200 to go, now 250, now 275.
- Yep! going to 325, going to 350.
This is gonna go for $1,000.
- 1,000? - $1,000.
- All right.
- I'm calling it right here.
- 550, 575.
- Yep! - 575.
575.
- Come on, now.
- 575, 600, 625, 650.
- Yeah! - Yep! - 700.
- 800.
- 800.
I think it's gonna hit 1,000.
- 850, bid 875, now 900.
- Yep! - 1,000.
- 1000 going to 1,100.
$1,000 in the front row to $1,100.
Last call.
- Yep! - Now $1,300.
- Oh, my God.
- 1,300.
1,300.
Bid it at $1,300.
Yeah! $1,300.
Bid it at $1,350.
Last call Sold for $1,300.
Oh, thank you, man.
Oh, look at that.
Are you sitting down, Mrs.
Esposito? Uh, yeah.
The final tally was, um - There you go.
- Thank you much.
Have a good day.
How you doing? Hello, there.
Got something here I think you're really gonna like.
I got the fonz paper doll.
Mint in the box.
Oh, my God.
Where did you get this? A storage locker.
Oh, you're one of those big game storage hunters? - Yes, I am.
- How's that work out for you? Win some, you lose some.
And this this was a nice find.
This is probably right along the era when action figures, megos, are going to wipe out the paper doll industry.
Somebody at mego was like, "so wait a second.
Our only competition are paper dolls?" Yes.
Is there a happy days market anymore at this point? In my eyes, yeah.
I mean, I want it.
For you.
You're like, now, this fonz, he still remains the ultimate cool.
But is anyone else out there going, like, "man, I'll lay down big money for a fonz paper doll set"? Or happy days anything? I think if it doesn't have fonzie emblazoned on the front of whatever the item is, yeah, you may have a harder time moving it, but if it's got Arthur Fonzarelli on the front, hey Come on.
What kind of question is that? Sit on it.
Why was the fonz so cool? Personally, I believe it was because he was the coolest guy in the world.
And being that he knew it and he was so cocksure he was the coolest guy in the world, he took on as his best friend the nerdiest guy in town, Richie Cunningham.
You know, gave nerds like me hope that I would secure, you know, an ultra-cool friend.
I'm still looking for that ultra-cool friend, but one day it's gonna happen.
That's right.
He could've buddied up with a bunch of other thugs, and periodically, he would come across other thugs, and they would stand down to him.
But the rest of the time, it was just a nerd harem, man.
I guess that's how you remain the ultimate cool is you don't hang around with anybody that's even a close rival to you.
No wonder everyone was like, "he's so cool.
" Because he was the only cool one in a sea of nerddom.
I know you know what you got, you know, coming from your storage locker background, so I'm not going to bother with the song and dance.
What are you looking to get for it? $100.
All right, maybe we will dance.
Um, how 'bout 50 bucks and I let my buddy here do some lip-ups on you? - How 'bout 75, no lip - ups? I want it because of only one thing.
Mr.
Arthur Fonzarelli.
How 'bout 55? We got a deal.
- 55? - 55.
We got a deal.
Well, it's time to call Mrs.
Esposito, give her the final numbers from the auction.
Guys ready? I need a few minutes.
Hold on.
We called Mrs.
Esposito and gave her the good news.
And it's gotta feel like, well, you know, like when someone takes ecstasy.
I never have, but it's gotta It has to feel like that.
I'm convinced.
I'm here to tell you you're wrong.
Ecstasy's better.
- Hi, Mrs.
Esposito? - Yes? This is Walt Flanagan from Jay and silent Bob's secret stash.
Oh, yes.
I wanted to let you know that we auctioned off I of your husband's stuff.
Mmhmm.
Are you sitting down, Mrs.
Esposito? Uh, yeah.
The final tally - Mm-hmm.
Was $21,867.
50.
You're kidding me.
I'm not kidding you that's how much everything went for.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate this.
Sitting down I'm gonna fall down, forget about sitting down.
Oh, don't fall down.
Get outta here, man.
- Stunning.
- Like, that Number one, that makes me go, "Rob Bruce don't know how to estimate anything.
" But number two, that is such a gift.
To be like, "here, man, this comes from your husband.
"This was his final gift to you.
His art provided one more time.
" That's awesome.
Oh, I'm just so grateful.
You have no idea.
And I know Mike, wherever he is, I'll tell you, he's telling you the same thing, thank you for all you've done I really mean it.
Those people who were buying the pieces were so happy and so excited to get this stuff.
He loved his fans, and he loved his work.
So I thank you so, so much.
- Our pleasure.
- You're welcome.
- No problem.
- All right, thank you.
Bye.
Boo-yah, huh? That's even gotta make you feel good, right? - Mm-hmm.
- Felt good.
I wish I could make a call like that all the time.
Let's make a call like that at least once a month.
Even if it's not real.
We'll trick old ladies.