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Forbidden Planet deals exclusively in new, front-list comics (backlist issues are relegated to the back of the store), and its cutting-edge spirit is even reflected in the hours: The shop stays open late every night and opens an hour early on Wednesdays, when new comics are delivered. In business since 1981, the packed-to-the-gills comic cornucopia has shelves stuffed with comics and graphic novels of every stripe and walls blanketed by t-shirts and marquee-sized movie posters. Forbidden Planet also carries role-playing games, action figures, and elaborate miscellany, like toothsome busts of Venom and foot-and-a-half tall statuettes of a shotgun-wielding Ash from Army of Darkness. Buffy DVDs and manga comics can be found in a small loft upstairs, and tickets for events like Anime Fest and Big Apple Convention are regularly for sale at the front counter. — Alex Littlefield