Hi monster geeks!
Some of you may have seen my November 25th appearance on the
cable show "Comic Book Men" on AMC. This caught a lot of my friends
off-guard as I did not promote this on social media or even tell anyone on the
phone. That was due to legal concerns which I will get into. But let's start at
the beginning....
There is a NYC collective of comic book creators called
Pronto Comics (www.prontocomics.com). Last July at their fundraiser, a casting
producer from AMC (Kiki - pictured) asked if anyone wanted to be on the show. A
few tequila shots later, I signed up not thinking anything would come of it.
A few weeks later I was contacted by the show to fill out a
rather long questionnaire. At this point I wasn't really interested because I
was knee deep in getting the first issue of my comic book, THE MOSES MILITIA,
ready for print. That and the appearance criteria were to bring an item to the
show to sell.
Well, I didn't want to bring any rare comics or toys. That
happens on a weekly basis on the show. Then it occurred to me...I have a body
in the basement! And by that I mean, my Mecha-Kong costume that I had built for
G-Fest - the annual Godzilla convention in Chicago.
For those that are not aware of the character, Mecha-Kong
was the robot nemesis in the 1967 film "King Kong Escapes." The
costume is built of carpet foam and latex rubber, very lightweight and easy to
wear. The main reason why I built this particular suit was because one of the
stars of the film, Akira Takarada, was appearing at G-Fest that year. Here I am
posing with him and my girlfriend who dressed as Madame X, the mysterious gov't
agent who commissioned the building of the robot in the film.
So I sent pictures of the suit to the casting producers and
they contacted me a week later. They conducted an on-line interview through
Skype and asked me all about the suit, G-Fest and my nerd credentials. I must
have passed that because a few days after I was told I would be on the show.
So in early August, with the suit in tow, I had driven down
to Kevin Smith's store, the Secret Stash, in Red Bank, NJ. The entire crew were
very cool. The atmosphere on the set was very laid back. They shot lots of
footage of me in the costume walking down the street towards the store.
Traffic
slowed down, people stared, salespeople in stores gawked through their windows.
Seeing the reactions the suit caused, the director asked a lot of those people
to reenact their surprised looks. All of this was filmed.
Now I must point out that while the suit is very lightweight
and the head easily tips back so I could get as much air as I needed, I was
walking down a street in mid day in August wearing a carpet. I was steaming
inside. Luckily I was wearing a sweatband on my forehead - essential equipment
for anyone wearing a monster suit. We spent about two hours on the street before
they were ready to film me inside the store.
Once they called "action!," the filming went
pretty much as was seen on TV but a lot was on the cutting floor - more
discussion of Godzilla, “King Kong Escapes,” the suits I had built, G-Fest,
that I actually had a girlfriend, etc. And also two versions of the transaction
were shot: the TV scene where they turned down buying the suit and another
where they offered me a lower price which I had turned down. Furthermore, there
was a scene where I asked if they would take the suit on consignment and sell
it there which they accepted. The suit is now on display at The Secret Stash
for viewing or for sale (at least for a few weeks). Or anyone can contact me directly.
Also, a professional photographer took shots of me in the
suit for promotional purposes. (pictured)
The cast themselves were very nice, especially Walt who
seemed to have a real enthusiasm for Godzilla films and the genre in general.
Lastly, the store also gladly accepted copies of my comic in
their store. So look for MOSES MILITIA #1 at The Secret Stash!
Now after the shoot was over, the producers informed me that
I could not promote my appearance on any social media. They do check and would
consider a posting on facebook or twitter as a breach of contract and pull my
segment. So therefore I couldn't tell anyone.
I was told that a sneak peek of Mecha-Kong was shown at New
York Comic-Con but I didn't see it. The producers did contact me the week
before to let me know the show would air on November 25th.
When the show aired, the six hour shoot was condensed to a
five minute segment - me walking in, explaining what Mecha-Kong & G-Fest
was, the cast asking me to smash a cardboard city and then turning down
purchase. The reaction to the appearance has been uniformly positive. A lot of
my friends posted on social media about the show and put up screen shots. One
isolated the segment and posted it in its entirety (thanks Dutch!) which will
probably be taken down but here's the link:
There's a possibility that more footage will be included
when the season 2 DVD of Comic Book Men is released. I have no idea.
All in all, it was a fun experience. I had a great time, the
suit got some air-time, and I'd like to think I contributed a little to
Godzilla/Kaiju fandom.
See ya at G-Fest XX!
- James
