Kevin Smith Reveals How Jay and Silent Bob Crashed the Marvel Universe

The Marvel Universe is about to get a little more askew with Jay and Silent Bob: Jays of Future Past #1! In this epic one-shot crossover, Kevin Smith’s signature cinematic creations are making a pit stop by the Marvel Universe this June, brought to life on the page by artist Giuseppe Camuncoli.

Since their debut in Kevin Smith’s 1992 film Clerks, Jay and Silent Bob have appeared across his View Askewniverse movies. These loitering legends may have started out by chronically hanging around a corner store in central New Jersey, but they have schemed their way into becoming universe-hopping pop culture icons. After several adventures around the world of Super Hero fandom, Jay and Silent Bob finally crash into the Marvel Universe to face Doctor Doom with the help of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes!

Worlds collide in the Jay and Silent Bob: Jays of Future Past #1 preview below!

MARVEL.COM: You're no stranger to Marvel Comics, but what was it like to officially bring Jay & Silent Bob into the Marvel Universe?

SMITH: From a young age, whether it was in print or on TV, Marvel Comics and their roster of Super Heroes helped shape my morality, likely even more so than serving as an Altar Boy at church every Sunday for twelve years ever did. And the moment I was in the public eye and had a platform, I gave back by extolling the virtues of the comic book medium at a time before social media existed, when the news media wasn’t paying any attention to them. My second movie was about a comic book fan and featured a cameo by the legendary Stan Lee, long before that was a thing. My third movie was about comic book artists and was set in comic book industry. By the fifth movie, the main characters were brandishing a copy of Wizard The Comics Magazine while trying to stop a comic book movie from being made. 

To say I’m a fan-boy is putting it mildly. So writing a story in which my kooky characters get to trade word balloons with my childhood heroes in full color means more to me than winning an Academy Award. I’ve never pursued an Oscar but I worked hard the last 30 years building up enough pop cultural cred for my boys Bob and Jay to warrant Marvel green lighting this titanic team-up.

MARVEL.COM: You pitched the idea in 1995 to Stan Lee while filming Mallrats. What was the original pitch and why is now the right time to tell that story?

SMITH: It was less of a pitch and more of a plea. I didn’t present him with a story idea as much as I asked if Marvel would put Jay and Silent Bob in a book where they meet The House of Ideas all-stars. Cartoonist Fred Hembeck had done a famous one-shot in 1989 titled Fred Hembeck Destroys the Marvel Universe so there was already a model of sorts. I was suggesting something along those lines: a one-shot in which Jay and Silent Bob meet every cape and cowl in Marvel’s Manhattan. 

I’d made one black and white movie in which Jay and Silent Bob had bit parts and here I was on the set of my second film pitching a comic book built around them to living legend who was kind enough to play a fake version of himself in my movie. Can you imagine? The arrogance! But Jay and Silent Bob have been part of pop culture for over thirty years now, appearing in ten different movies, countless comic books, and even as skins in Call of Duty. So making this comic book now makes way more sense than it would’ve 31 years ago. 

MARVEL.COM: What was your favorite interaction between a Marvel character and Jay & Silent Bob in this crossover? 

SMITH: There are a few references any lifelong Mallrats fan who knows all the dialogue by heart will giggle at, but the moment I absolutely adore features Silent Bob as he boards the Quinjet. He does something that leaves the Avengers agog, so it’s one of the only killer Cammo panels that’s not obfuscated by a thousand Kevin Smith word balloons.

MARVEL.COM: How was collaborating with artist Guiseppe Camuncoli for Jays of Future Past?

SMITH: Cammo is incredible. Not only did he make sense of my silly script dense with dialogue and elevate it into art with his mastery of Marvel heroes, but he also made me and Mewes look young again! I wish he could do the same to us in real life. And working on this book with him was bliss, so I’ve already got an idea of what Marvel Comic I’d like to make with him next!

JAY AND SILENT BOB: JAYS OF FUTURE PAST #1
Written by Kevin Smith
Art by Giuseppe Camuncoli 
Cover by Marco Checchetto
On Sale 6/10

Check out the preview for Jay and Silent Bob: Jays of Future Past #1 and pick up the issue at your local comic shop on June 10!

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