SPLICED COMICS / FEATURE /
LONDON COMIC CRAWL
Forbidden Planet
London
Location / 379 SHAFTESBURY AVE, LONDON WC2H 8JR
Online / FORBIDDENPLANET.COM
Time spent / 105 MINUTES
The London Forbidden Planet store
has become the flagship store of a
national chain of stores throughout
England. It opened in 2000, and
quickly became known as the world’s
largest science fiction, fantasy and cult
entertainment retailer. A life-size statue
of Christopher Nolan’s Batman greets
you at the front door, and from that
moment you know your bank account
is going to take a serious beating in this
place, and after spending a ridiculous
amount of time in this store we have to
agree. Spanning two levels it’s a wall to
wall geek-topia.
The upper level consists of every
figurine, statue and action figure
you could possibly ever want or
RATING /
116
need, ranging from DC and Marvel
collectibles, to Plants vs. Zombies
beanies and mini figures, to Minecraft
EVERYTHING. Seriously, I’ve never
see so much Minecraft merchandise in
one place before. It was amazing. After
a good 30 minutes of walking around
saying “Oh my God, I need this!” at every
statue and figurine I encountered it was
time to go into the belly of the beast.
The lower level contains more single
issue comics and graphic novels than
I have ever seen in a single store. Shelf
after shelf of beautiful comic covers in a
sea of colour welcomes you. The store
is so well known and sought after that
there are even alternate comic covers
made especially as a Forbidden Planet
exclusive. There was a jarring moment
however when looking through comic
after comic on an endless expanse of
shelving when it dawned on me that not
one was in a protective plastic sleeve
They’re all loose on the shelves, which
we can only guess is to encourage
people to flip through them before
deciding on a purchase. The store
was unlike any I had ever seen before.
A true megastore of geek culture, it
somewhat lacks the more intimate
nature of a smaller store where the
owners get to know you by name and
discuss comics with you, but that’s
not really what a place like Forbidden
Planet is about. I’d go back to London
just to spend an entire day there.
ISSUE 04