‘Superbad': An Ode to Comics Geeks Everywhere

I admit it... I officially joined the Superbad bandwagon shortly after my good pal and comics expert Brandon Zuern (he knows more about classic comics than anyone his age has a right to know) met two of its stars Jonah Hill, who shines in a hysterical cameo in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and Arrested Development's Michael Cera in May, without so much as watching a trailer or reading more than a paragraph about it.

The afternoon before a Tuesday night teaser screening of Superbad, Cera and Hill happened by Austin Books and Comics and were immediately recognized by Brandon who gave them the run of the store. (If you're scoring at home, prepping for new comics day AND Free Comic Book Day 2007 prevented my pal from attending the sneak peek of Superbad.)

My friend's enthusiasm certainly caught my attention, but it was my HUGE enjoyment of Knocked Up and Virgin -- steeped neck deep in nerdom -- that really got me interested.

However, it was seeing the trailers, the first one before Knocked Up and the later and longer "red band" 18-and-above version viewable only at the Superbad Web site, that "got my geek up," as it were (plus the fact that Jonah Hill, aside from being curly-haired and Jewish, looks a bit like me!).

If I haven't given you enough reasons to try Superbad yet, here's three more, especially if you're a comics geek:

• The snippets of countless positive reviews posted on Rotten Tomatoes.com, including one that calls Superbad a loving ode to the penis.

• The subtle shoutout in the red band trailer to Eric Powell, the soon-to-be Action Comics artist on a three-issue Superman/Bizarro story arc written by Geoff Johns and Richard Donner.

• The Onion's A.V. Club loves it too...