The Comic King of Guatemala is about the first comic book shop in Guatemala. It opened in approximately 2012, there’s no exactly date, but let’s say 2012. It’s not just the first comic shop, it’s the first place to buy comic books in Guatemala. Why can you not get comic books in Guatemala? Sadly, filmmakers George Clipp and Jonathan Barnes don’t explain.

They also don’t explain how the shop owners–Americans–got there. Or why all of the interviewee’s are foreign nationals except one. It’s a commercial for a comic book shop most people cannot visit. It doesn’t actually even fulfill the implications of its title.

There are funny parts–the store owners apparently disagreeing on what literacy means is sort of funny and should have been edited out–but nothing insightful. It’s fluff but not even fluff with a purpose.

King means well, but lots of things mean well.

Not Recommended

CREDITS

Directed by George Clipp and Jonathan Barnes; edited by Clipp; music by Abbas Premjee, Driss El Maloumi, Ballake Sissoko and Rajery; produced by Clipp and Matthew Cleaves.