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Forbidden Planet Acquires Camden’s Mega City Comics

By John Freeman on February 14, 2025

Following the shock news that famed Camden comics retailer Martin Kravetz was retiring and potentially closing his legendary Mega City Comics store at 18 Inverness Street in Camden Town, Forbidden Planet has announced that they will be taking over the store from Martin as of today, Friday 14th February 2025.

Mega City’s mighty sales staff, Vik and Jack, will be staying on with the store and joining our comics-manga-anime-and-pop-culture-loving Forbidden Planet team.

“We’re very proud to be securing the future of this vital Camden institution,” say Forbidden Planet in a statement, “and continuing Mega City Comics’ singular relationship with its valued long-term customers in this unique London borough, one of the coolest neighbourhoods in the world.

“Camden Town is the focal point of the UK music industry, the cradle of Britpop and the epicentre of Japanese anime culture in London. Where else can you buy award-winning comics and manga and immediately celebrate with a round of drinks at The Good Mixer?Mega City Comics will briefly shut its doors for some necessary behind-the-scenes renovation work and we’ll be re-opening the store in a few weeks with a major Forbidden Planet bang – keep watching the skies and stay tuned for more announcements!”

In the meantime, online customers can pick up everything they need at ForbiddenPlanet.com, while Vik and Jack will continue to take care of all their existing customers with a Mega City Comics shop save account, so your regular comics order is in very safe hands.

And on that note, here’s a sneak peek at the new Forbidden Planet Camden shopfront…

Forbidden Planet Camden - 14th February 2025

Martin Kravetz commented: “I am delighted to be placing the future of the store in such safe and capable hands. Linking the world’s largest comics retailer with one of this country’s oldest indie comic-book stores, still trading from its original location, is a proud achievement.”

Forbidden Planet’s owners, Vivian Cheung & Nick Landau, responded: “In this time of unprecedented volatility in the direct comics market, we are both genuinely pleased to have some positive industry news to share. We’re very excited to bring Mega City Comics, our favourite landmark of supremely cool Camden Town, into the Forbidden Planet family, and it is our great honour to be continuing and respecting Martin’s personalised and highly impressive legacy.”

Forbidden Planet’s chief operating officer, Andrew Sumner, added: “I’ve been a massive fan of Mega City Comics ever since I was publishing magazines out of Camden’s Greater London House in the 1990s. I was a regular three-times-a-week customer of Martin’s and purchased hundreds of the decade’s greatest comic-books from him. I also spent many happy hours chatting with Martin’s lovely dad. The minute I heard Mega City might be closing, I knew we had to keep this exceptional store alive!”

Forbidden Planet is the world’s largest and best-known science fiction, fantasy and cult entertainment retailer and the largest UK stockist of the latest comics, graphic novels, anime toys and manga.

Established 45 years ago, they specialise in selling action figures, books, comics, graphic novels, toys and games and offer all the best merchandise from your favourite series. They have stores in many major UK cities, including the famous London Megastore on Shaftesbury Avenue and Megastores in Bristol, Southampton, Birmingham and Newcastle… and now, Camden!

• Connect with Forbidden Planet: forbiddenplanet.com

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.