After coming together at New York Comic Con over the weekend, filmmaker Kevin Smith and his boys from Jay & Silent Bob’s Secret Stash returned to AMC on Sunday nights with the third season of ‘Comic Book Men’. As seen in the preview released last week, Bryan Johnson is looking to get back into shape with the help of Lou Ferrigno AKA the Incredible Hulk.

The episode opens with Walt asking what the group would do if the Hunger Games were real and store clerks were the ones to be involved. Ming said that if it came down to him and Mike, he’d kill Mike, but good old Zap is ready for anything! He says that it’d be a trap and he would strike to kill first.

The first customer of the season comes in with 3.5 graded ‘Archie Comics’ #18, which features art from Al Fagaly, who also worked on ‘Captain America Comics’ and ‘Marvel Mystery Comics’. The crew discuss the current ‘Glee’ crossover in the comic and Walt thinks that it’s just setting up to have ‘Archie’ placate to today’s youth. Kevin teases and says that isn’t exactly a bad thing. Ming then asks which Archie character they relate to most. Walt says Reggie, but no one remembers him and the group continues to tease him. After it’s all said and done, Walt buys the comic for $100.

After that, Lou Ferrigno walks into the Stash looking for Bryan. After everyone else scatters, the actor and former Mr. Universe revealed that Kevin had hired him for the next 48 hours to get Bryan back into shape. Back in the day, Bryan used to be a much more fit man and it looks like he’d like to get back to it, even in his advanced age. Ferrigno assures him not to worry because “The Hulk is here.”

Later, the pair head over to Ultimate Physique in Red Bank where Lou shows Bryan some various exercises. While the workout montage goes on, the gang discusses how Lou is instantly recognizable as the Hulk and how he’s the last and only human to play the Hulk since the movies mostly utilize CGI these days.

In one of Kevin’s trademark tangents, he brings up the news about Ben Affleck playing Batman in the sequel to ‘Man of Steel’. Obviously, because they’re friends, he is overjoyed by the news and finds it strange to see the internet blow up about it. According to some stats he read, the initial reaction to Batfleck showed that 71% was negative, 16% neutral, and the rest was Kevin saying that it would be awesome.

Another customer comes in looking for ‘Daredevil’ #168, which marks the first appearance of Elektra. He wants to acquire the book by Frank Miller in order to complete his collection. In talking about the significance of the issue, Walt says that it ushered in the era of the sophisticated hero and really acted as a blueprint for Miller when he did ‘The Dark Knight Returns’. After haggling a little bit, the book sells for $68 since it’s issue #168.

As we saw in the aforementioned promo, Lou comes back to the shop and asks what Bryan eats on a daily basis. According to Bryan, the first thing that he puts in his mouth in the morning is his girlfriend’s boob. But for real, he usually starts with donuts and skim milk, followed by cheeseburgers for lunch. Ferrigno is in awe of these terrible eating habits and Kevin talks about sugar being an addictive drug that he and Bry are hooked on. Then, Lou shows Bryan how to make a healthier alternative shake as opposed to all that bad stuff that he’s ingesting.

After that whole ordeal, Bryan says that he is motivated. But before Lou Ferrigno leaves the shop, Walt is dying to ask him a question. He asks about the Hulk fighting a bear in the old TV show and if that bear was actually real. As it turns out, it was and Lou admits that he actually wrestled a baby bear for the show. What a badass!

Finally, before bidding the Comic Book Men a fond farewell, Lou Ferrigno leaves by saying not to make him angry because (obviously) you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry. After he leaves and all is said and done, Kevin asks the million-dollar question about sticking with this new workout regiment. Despite saying that he was motivated by the experience, Bryan says that he probably won’t continue the workouts by himself. What a bummer! But then again, knowing myself, I’d probably say the same thing.

Overall, this was a pretty good way to start off the season. My favorite part had to be when Bryan was messing with the customer looking to sell the ‘Archie’ book. He asked what he’d be graded and she asked what year he was published. After he told her, she called him “Silver Age”. Not even kidding, I probably laughed more than I should have over that and I’m pretty sure that my friends didn’t get the joke, so that made it all the more awesomely awkward. Anyway, ‘Comic Book Men’ returned in good form. Come back next week to check out a new recap!

‘Comic Book Men’ starring Walt Flanagan, Bryan Johnson, Kevin Smith, Ming Chen, and Mike Zapcic airs Sundays at Midnight/11c on AMC.