In this episode of Comic Book Men, Legendary comics artist John Romita Jr. draws an original piece for the Stash. Bryan’s interest is piqued by an Evel Knievel toy from his childhood.

So, like Star Trek films, every other is a good episode? This episode shows off what Comic Book Men should be more like and about.

There’s two segments beyond the main portion of the show. The first is the Evel Knievel toy and Bryan. That segment is nice mostly because there’s some humor, but real nostalgia coming from Bryan. He clearly loves the toy and it shows. There’s some great enthusiasm shown, which comes through the screen. There’s also some things said by Bryan which are great, like what he plans on doing with it.

The second “store” segment involves a girl purchasing a Wonder Woman comic. That is great showing off some fandom which is really cool. The guys discuss the character, and though it feels more like a pitch for her upcoming debut, it’s still cool to see.

But, the big thing of the episode is John Romita Jr. coming by the shop. Not only does he do up some art for the store but he just tells stories. This is what the show should be more about. I’ve never seen Romita Jr. speak or seen him at a convention but the guy is someone I could hear talk stories for quite a while. He talks about his father, Stan Lee, getting in to drawing, and his thoughts on being an artist.

It’s all wonderful and I want more of this. It doesn’t need to be creators, but fans, other sellers, this is the type of thing the show should be focused on, fandom and celebrating geek culture and comics. Stay away from the latest crazy adventure, just focus on this, and you’ll have a show unlike all the others.

I doubt next week will keep it up, but here’s hoping, because this episode shows off what the show can truly be.

Overall rating: 8.6