Comic Book Men 701 “Return of the Living Stash”
A special The Walking Dead edition kicks off Season 7 of Comic Book Men. The cultural impact of the immensely popular show is touched upon and several items of memorabilia connected to it are highlighted in the season premiere. Mike and Walt have been fans since the comic book debuted. Ming watches the show and through his travels on the con circuit gets to interact with some of the cast members.
Due to the show’s popularity The Walking Dead related merchandise, including comics and statues have gone through the roof. The Walking Dead just broadcast its 100th episode and to help celebrate the occasion the guys devote their first episode of the season to all things Walking Dead.
A customer comes into the Stash with an issue of The Walking Dead 100. The issue is a limited edition red foil cover featuring Lucille, Negan’s beloved baseball bat. The print run for that particular issue was 250 making it a rare find. The seller sets his price but it’s too much for Walt. Mike chimes in and lends some intel on the history of the book and prices others in better condition have gone for. After some more haggling a deal is done and all parties involved are happy with the outcome.
Keeping The Walking Dead theme going, another customer comes in looking for a sketch done by the legendary Greg Nicotero. Nicotero is an executive producer on The Walking Dead and has directed several episodes of the hit series and its spin off, Fear the Walking Dead. A man of many talents, Nicotero also serves as special make-up effects supervisor on the show and got his start under the master himself George A. Romero on Day of the Dead way back in 1985. The sketch belongs to Ming but his price is too high for the customer. To help her out, she’s offered the chance to knock $50 off the price for each Walking Dead trivia answer she gets right and much to Ming’s chagrin, she goes four for four.
Other highlights include a copy of The Walking Dead #19 featuring the first appearance of Michone that catches the attention of a fan and another customer who enters the stash looking to unload The Walking Dead Omnibus Volumes 1, 2 and 3. Adding value to the omnibuses is the fact some of them are signed by writer/co-creator Robert Kirkman and artist Charlie Adlard.
Return of the Living Stash is a nice homage to all things Walking Dead. It’s also a welcome return to the Stash and the laughs and camaraderie that are hallmarks of The Comic Book Men. A quick look at Comic Book Men’s episode list reveals that they aren’t that far from 100 episodes either. Here’s to a couple of more seasons at least, so that they’ll be able to celebrate the milestone as well.
