Unless you’ve been living under a rock, it’s hard to miss the hype around the new show The Comic Shop Series. From the creative mind of Cheyenne Ewulu, known as CheyenneTheGeek across all social media platforms, comes her debut series about owning a comic shop! What makes this series extra special is that it was 100% self-produced and funded through a Kickstarter campaign. The Kickstarter raised over $200,000!
About The Comic Shop
The Comic Shop is a workplace comedy starring Cheyenne as Stephanie Okeke, a comic shop owner in LA, and her quirky crew. Zeno Robinson, voice actor and previous guest on The Wonder of Anime, plays Keith Hendricks. Shanae Cole plays Dominique Smith, and Grayson Niles plays Connor Ross. The four navigate wacky hijinks while trying to keep the comic shop afloat.
The Pilot
In the pilot episode of The Comic Shop, we meet Stephanie Okeke as she’s preparing her shop, OhEmGee Comics, for Free Comic Book Day. As part of Free Comic Book Day, famed comic book writer Monica DeLeon is visiting the shop and has a line of fans waiting for her arrival. Unfortunately for the crew, the landlord is badgering them to make the rent TODAY. To make matters worse, Monica may not be showing up, and the fans are threatening to leave. The crew must come up with something and come up with it quickly to keep the fans happy and make the rent.
My Thoughts
For only being 14 minutes long, the pilot instantly fulfills all the promises the series has been making with its fun and wacky trailers. The show wastes no time getting into the jokes, whether they are one-liners delivered by the incredible cast, “You don’t get to racism your way out of this again,” or the physical comedy displayed by Zeno and Grayson. It never feels overdone and flows with the story so well.
There were also a lot of moments and gags I did not see coming. “That was like, a sexually tense car crash.” “I’m the real Jean Gray!” At every turn, there’s a little bit of something here for everyone. Overall, this pilot episode blows every single expectation out of the water. The writing is zany and fun, and incredibly well done. Every character feels real and makes me look forward to learning more about everyone.
I’ve already gone back and rewatched some of my favorite parts, so I know I’m going to wear this episode out before episode two releases (which I need ASAP, btw.)
