It’s a long way from St. Paul’s to Hell’s Kitchen.
That statement rings true both literally and figuratively for Kevin Smith, star of the AMC show Comic Book Men.
Smith, who has also written, directed and starred in a slew of other projects, stood on the stage at the Jacob Javits Center on Thursday afternoon, and told New York Comic Con attendees about how his first experience with comic book-related events in the city came in the basement shows, not conventions, at St. Paul’s Chapel between Fulton and Vesey in lower Manhattan.
Now Smith, alongside some of his closest friends and co-stars; Michael Zapcic, Ming Chen, Bryan Johnson and Walt Flanagan, took the Main Stage at the second-largest show of its kind to premiere clips from the sixth season of the hit series, and he couldn’t be more thrilled about it.
“I didn’t plan for a lot of (stuff),” said Smith, “but I never thought that people would want to make a show out of me and my friends spending time together. Life gets in the way and we don’t get to spend a ton of time together, but 16 times a year, thanks to the folks at AMC, I get to just kick back and watch my friends.”
“Thank God it’s on after The Walking Dead, too, because now people actually watch the [expletive] thing,” he joked.
People do watch “Comic Book Men,” though, as evidenced by the impressive showing at the first Main Stage panel at the 2016 show. The hour-long panel get together no time getting into the question and answer portion, and attendees lined up from the stage to the exit to get a chance to ask their favorite comic experts their burning questions.
“Darksied beats Thanos, no question,” said Smith, referring to the two most villainous characters in the DC and Marvel universes, respectively. “He’s got Omega beams.”
Smith’s longest, most insightful answer came when a con attendee inquired with him about the much-maligned Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, directed by Zack Snyder.
“Ben Affleck rules – He’s the Batman we’ve always dreamed of,” he said. “He moves like the Batman moves in the video games.”
Smith continued, “People have had some faults with the DC movies – The most popular fault being that they’re no the Marvel movies. I don’t think you’ll ever see DC do the things Marvel does, though. I can remember being a kid and wishing (stuff) like this existed. For years, we wanted it and we finally got it. I’m just happy I get to see any comic book movie.”
Smith then remarked that he’s already watched Batman v. Superman 25 times since its DVD release. Not because he absolutely loved it, though; because “sooner or later, I’m gonna [expletive] love it.”