Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope (2011) | Film Review

(Originally published on Letterboxd on August 16, 2014) - Comic-Con Episode Four: A Fan's Hope is a lazy documentary from all sizzle and no substance documentarian, Morgan Spurlock. Rather than focusing on the really interesting stuff like Mile High Comics owner, Chuck Rozanski's growing frustration with the show that has evolved into a multi-media pop culture festival, with very little attention paid to actual comic books, he focuses on geeks doing geeky things for the sake of geekdom.

The history of the con is all but completely side-stepped in favor of celebrity talking heads telling us what Comic-Con is, and why it's important. And unless you're an uber Joss Whedon or Kevin Smith fan, or you have a genuine pre-existing interest of getting into comics, toy collecting, cosplaying, or meeting your favorite celebrities, there really isn't much here for you.

A documentary detailing the rise of a small independent comic book convention hoping to bring in 500 people in 1970 to what has become an annual pop cultural summer monolith is something I'd love to see. Watching a snake oil salesman of a filmmaker pander to geeks for an hour and a half is not. The movie poster and the title really say it all here: "High, I'm Morgan Spurlock, and here's something I just shit out that you'll love because Kevin Smith."

Bazinga.