Posted in: Comics | Tagged: forbidden planet, kevin smith

Kevin Smith On The Legend Of Forbidden Planet For Its 42nd Birthday

Kevin Smith is the writer and director of Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jersey Girl, Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks 2, Tusk, Red State, Yoga Hosers, Jay And Silent Bob Reboot and... Cop Rock. Okay, not Cop Rock but I just can't remember the name of that film with Bruce Willis and I am too lazy to go look it up right now.

Forbidden Planet is about to celebrate its 42nd birthday – a very important figure for this Douglas Adams-loving chain of stores. Kevin Smith has conducted a video interview with Forbidden Planet and Titan Comics' Andrew Sumner, going live at forbiddenplanet.com/fp42 on Saturday August 29th. But first, here he is talking about the store…

"The first time I think I went over to the UK, it wasn't with Clerks we tried to go with Clerks to the London film festival but when we got to the Newark airport we missed our flight even though they were on the ground for two more hours. They're like you missed getting on the plane so I didn't go then and we didn't go with Mallrats so I guess it would be around circa-Chasing Amy and one of the most important things to me about the trip to London was like we have to go to Forbidden Planet. Forbidden Planet was a well-known comic book store before there were comic book stores to even be known, let alone well known. Like if it's it had been whispered about in New Jersey. You would read about it in the letters columns of comic books or Starlog magazine or something like that. It's an amazing place where in the culture, comic books were prized. It wasn't just like bunch of kids reading comic books it was elevated they had their own shop. Ad you know nowadays people would have a hard time getting their head around a comic book shop because of COVID and closings and stuff but there was a time when the idea of a comics-only store was absolutely f-cking ludicrous. So Forbidden Planet was doing it laying track for the rest of us, long long ago, back when nobody believed in that sort of thing so to be doing it as long as they have is a minor absolute miracle."

On Saturday, August 29^th, ForbiddenPlanet.com will be hosting ForbiddenPlanet42, with a huge range of celebrity interviews, as alumni from the worlds of science fiction, comics & popular culture come together to help the store celebrate 42 years of pop-culture addiction – and ponder the answer to The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything with an all-star cast of their oldest friends and customers.

This event will feature new, exclusive interviews with some of their more celebrated customers including William Shatner, DMC, Neil Gaiman, Alice Cooper, Jonathan Ross, Gerard Way, Garth Ennis, Kevin Smith, Michael Moorcock, Simon Pegg, Mark Millar, Dan Slott, V.E. Schwab, Dave Gibbons, Brian Bolland, Dirk Maggs, Chris Claremont & Ben Aaronovich amongst others, hosted by Forbidden Planet and Titan Comics Andrew Sumner.

It will also host a tribute to the late, great Douglas Adams in the shape of a rare, never-before-heard interview with Douglas recently discovered in the vaults conducted by friend of Douglas and author of Don't Panic, a certain Neil Gaiman. who is known for some other things too.

Discussing this special event, Forbidden Planet owners, Vivian Cheung & Nick Landau said "Forbidden Planet 42 (yes, it's our 42nd birthday!) is an auspicious tip of the hat to our old friend Douglas Adams, the genius behind The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy – for whom the number 42 was the answer to The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe & Everything. Douglas was one of the first authors to ever sign at the store and he returned for every new book he wrote. We are joined by a galaxy of stars from comics, music, science fiction, film & TV – friends of Forbidden Planet who have signed at the store over the last four decades. This celebration is dedicated to every creator who has appeared at FP and every staff member who has worked with us over the years – but most importantly, to all our customers and to every pop culture fan who shares this passion with us."

And they have a bunch of quotes to run alongside…

"I look at Jeff Beck, I look at Paul McCartney, I look at the Stones, Clapton, Jimmy Page – they've always been quality. Same thing with Forbidden Planet." – Alice Cooper

"Before I ever visited London, Forbidden Planet was whispered about in New Jersey, you'd read about it in the letter columns of comic books, it actually appeared in the comics themselves. The first time I went over to the UK, one of the most important things to me about London was: we HAVE to go to Forbidden Planet!" – Kevin Smith (Clerks)

"Forbidden Planet has a special place in my heart – it was June 19^th 1983 when I realised such a magical kingdom existed. Discovering Forbidden Planet was like discovering an Aladdin's cave!" – Simon Pegg

"I went to university in London because I wanted to stay and enjoy things like Forbidden Planet. That's when the whole new wave of more adult, progressive comics began. It was such an exciting time – there was a lot of new books & new publishers coming out – and the ONLY place you could find them was at Forbidden Planet." – Jonathan Ross

"I'm so glad that your Forbidden Planet stores exist – they are wonderful!" – William Shatner

"Forbidden Planet is amazing! I had always heard about it but I had no idea how phenomenal it was – more exciting than Disney World, more exciting than Coney Island. Walking into Forbidden Planet is like walking into another dimension. For real." – DMC (Run-DMC)

The festivities will continue with special offerings and promotions in-store at all branches throughout the UK.

Cop Out, that was it…

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