Summary
Our Project
Shopping for Superman guides viewers through a 50-year journey revealing the origin story of their friendly neighborhood comic shops and the people fighting to keep their doors open.
Since it began, the retail comics industry has contracted by over 75% with more shops closing every month.
After five years of diminished sales, a global pandemic, distributor upsets, and the digitization of retail shopping dominating most markets, Shopping for Superman asks the question, “Can our local comic shops be saved?”
Shopping for Superman does more than explain the history of retail comic book shops. Its underlying narrative reveals how shops directly influenced comic book publishing to cultivate some of the most daring and controversial materials ever committed to print.
Through the evolution of comics, bolstered by shop owners, local communities gained access to safe spaces for individuals having a crisis of identity, a place that promoted literacy and critical thinking in areas where those things are scarce.
Audiences will see, first-hand, just how necessary their support will be in keeping these shops open and available for future generations.
Who Are We?
Shopping for Superman, is backed by creatives whose spark and passion for storytelling were all ignited in comic book stores. Creatives who have dedicated their time to showing the world why comic shops need our support to continue in their tradition of fostering understanding, progress, and love. It is the dream of shop owners to make a living in a place that can radically affect the lives of its customers. It was Superman who said it best,
“Dreams save us. Dreams lift us up and transform us. And on my soul, I swear… until my dream of a world where dignity, honor and justice becomes the reality we all share – I’ll never stop fighting. Ever.”
Director
Wes Eastin has over 20 years of experience in the worlds of digital video, television, and film production as a director, content producer, and writer.
Several multimedia art exhibitions he’s helped develop have been featured in such places as Public Art Review Magazine, the Huffington Post, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Art Papers Magazine. These works focused on empathy training and are held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia and the Columbus Museum of American Art and were funded by groups such as: Creative Capital of New York, Flux Projects, the InLight Richmond Festival, Atlanta Celebrates Photography, and Idea Capital.
His work has been featured on: The Independent Film Channel (IFC), CBS Sports, and Funny or Die.
Producers
Imoto Harney‘s lifelong pursuit of creating meaningful content as the owner of a multimedia production company, Captain Crazy Productions, INC. has led to over a decade of excellence in the mediums of video/film production and photography.
Her work has taken her all around the world as a shooter, producer, and editor assisting well-known brands and organizations to promote their messaging and cover their events and large-scale expos by creating exciting video walkthroughs, commercials, and riveting social media content. When not keeping the plates of a show in motion, she’s glued to the dancing lights of pinball machines in whatever city she’s in, doing everything in her power to aid in the resurgence of pinball arcades.
Molly Coffee began her film career working by day, full-time, in the art department for shows like The Carbonaro Effect and The Walking Dead.
With a solid core and hands-on experience behind her, Molly has now lent her design, and fabrication skills to television shows such as Stan Against Evil, Brockmire, and the FX series Atlanta.
Molly is the owner of the fabrication studio/production company Zombie Cat Productions, but also co-owner of cleared artwork company Action Artwork Rental.
Molly is a member of IATSE 479 and the Art Directors Guild.
The Dazey Phase is a production and sales company based in Syracuse, NY. TDP is focused on inclusive and responsible storytelling. The company creates projects related to this mission in the narrative & nonfiction spaces, as well as developing and packaging other projects. TDP is also in development and prep on several scripted features based on existing IP; including creators from The Indigenous List, The CAPE List, The Black List, + Sundance Fellowships.
Post Team
Editor – Wes Eastin
Post-Production Supervisor – Dana Engell
Color – Tashi Trieu
GFX/Animation – Stephen Krystek
Composer – Antonio Teoli
Graphic Designer – Thomas Andrew Lawson
Production
Ten years of work, guided by the love of comic shops and all that they do for their communities led to the film officially wrapping in the Summer of 2024.
With the help of Kenyon College in Gambier, OH, an incredible crowdfunding campaign via Kickstarter, and the support of members of the Ohio film community, we were able to build our own minimalist comic book shop on a sound stage in Kenyon’s Wright Center film studio and over the course of a week, complete all remaining b-roll setups on a shoestring budget with an incredible team of creatives and talent.
Years of sporadic travel and interviews, funded out-of-pocket by the filmmakers and sometimes interrupted by life, work, hard drive failure, and everything else; culminated in a one-of-a-kind documentary that’s not to be missed.
Press
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