While perusing through the film guide for the 2024 Atlanta Film Festival, we came across an interesting project in the Episodic category.
We’ve had our run of animated shorts the past few days, but today, we’re happy to share this fun project from the mind of Cheyenne Ewulu.
The Comic Shop
Director: Robert Butler III
Producer: Cheyenne Ewulu
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Steph (Cheyenne Ewulu), a former engineering major, bypasses graduate school and opts to open a comic book store in Los Angeles. Along with her friends Keith (Zeno Robinson) and Dominique (Shanae Cole), Steph is working hard to prepare the store for the grand opening and to impress her mom.
The first thing you’ll notice is that Steph sounds strikingly similar to Issa Rae. After that, the way this was shot feels very much like The Office or Abbott Elementary, which is a good thing. The trio of friends are eccentric and off-center, and to be honest, you need a good dose of that to be in the comic book space. The onscreen chemistry is solid and each character brings a specific type of humor to the table. While Steph seems to be more of the anchor, Keith and Dominique are humorous sidekicks who try their best to be a good help. There’s a good balance.
Zeno Robinson is traditionally a voice actor but lends his talents in front of the camera for this hilarious project. He can be heard on video games like Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Street Fighter VI and cartoons like Craig of the Creek and My Hero Academia. Shanae Cole worked her way up from behind-the-scenes support to appearances on TV shows Freak Out, Grown-ish, and Danger Force. Together, the pair lead the charge with the bulk of the laughter in a geek tour-de-force that’s rounded out by Ewulu’s dry wit.
Cheyenne Ewulu, better known as “CheyenneTheGeek”, has managed to carve out a spot for herself in geekdom and even has a show on Prime Video called Prime Video Anime Club. The writer, director, actor, and host, has a certified hit on her hand with The Comic Shop. Not only is it funny, but you can visualize how a full season could play out from this single episode. It’s something different than the norm and it would be refreshing to see three Black faces in a comedy series exploring something as universal as comic books.
There are plenty of destinations for adult comedies (HBO MAX, Hulu, Prime Video, etc.) and surely, this could land at one of them. It was quite entertaining and left me wanting more. See for yourself what I’m talking about. Check out The Comic Shop at The Atlanta Film Festival. Read more about some of the festival’s animated shorts.
-Jon Jones
Photos: Courtesy of Atlanta Film Festival