Comic Book: The Movie

I recently watched Comic Book: The Movie. Why? Not because I had heard anything about it - simply because it was about comic books. I didn't evenknow Mark Hamill was in it.

Well, I do now. Hamill turns in a fantastic performance in this film. He plays Don Swan, a comic book store owner and teacher. I don't know how much of a geek Hamill is in real life but I'd believe it if someone told me he was an uber geek. Either that or he did a massive amount of research and could recite it from memory.

Now don't get me wrong - I'm not saying this is a good film. It's premise wears thin after about 10 minutes and the plot is sketchy at best. Sure, the guest stars are always nice to see but the other actors turn in B to D grade performances. Hamill, however, really shines.

80% or so of the film takes place at the San Diego Comic Con. It's unscripted so he's walking around the show floor having encounters with folks both famous and not so famous. Here this huge star from one of the biggest movies is simply hidden in plain sight at one of the biggest gatherings of geeks in the world and nobody recognizes him. His simple disguise only consists of glasses and combing his hair a different way. When Hamill engages someone it's all impromptu. It's in these moments that Hamill demonstrates the depth of geekdom, spouting off comic book trivia like an editor for Wizard magazine.

Hamill embraces the comic book geek and makes a commentary about the power of a geek's passion without making it seem like he was mocking us geeks.  

Bravo, Hamill. Bravo!