Saturday, 15 January 2022

HOWARD JOHNSON'S 2001 COMIC PROMOTION

 Here's a photo of  the Howard Johnson's restaurant chain 2001 tie-in comic that was on display at the London Kubrick Exhibition.

The Howard Johnson's  logo and it's fictional 'Earthlight Room' is fairly prominent on one of the walls of the seating area in Space Station 5.

Being from the UK, apart from the plug in 2001, I'm not familiar with the brand at all, in spite of the fact that Howard Johnson's was once the largest roadside restaurant chain in America. The restaurant's trademark was initially a Simple Simon and the Pie man character, followed a 'lamplighter' figure, to promote their motel chain. (In the film, the Lamplight was changed to 'Earthlight')

I've done a few close ups of panels from the page. 

The complete comic, which can be found online is obviously aimed at youngsters, and tells the story in comic strip form of two kids, Debbie and Robin attending a movie premiere of 2001: A Space Odyssey  and features the then children's menu, and a puzzle page. There's no sign of HAL or the Monolith, and definitely no star- gate! However, the evidence of extra-terrestrial life, and the mysterious signal from Jupiter do get a mention!


From what I gather  the last 'Hojo'  restaurant closed in 2017, however the Motel chain is still going under different ownership.



It does have some really nice comic artwork, I wonder if  a Hojo's Junior hamburger and a Hojo cola were as good?

10 comments:

  1. Very interesting tie-in Scoop, thanks for posting. But was there a galaxy at the beginning of 2001, at least at some point? Curious as otherwise the story seems to follow the movie quite closely.

    Reminds me of an early 2001 logo I saw on the written publicity notes for the movie, with a spiral galaxy in the background. One of the outtakes after the initial premiere? Just a thought...

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    1. I think you're right, Arto, as we know there's just darkness at the start of the movie, as Kubrick wanted to show nothingness, before the universe existed. Maybe his initial idea was to show the universe forming.

      The Children's Menu in my photo looks to have an original 2001 logo on the cover. I've seen the same logo on old adverts for the Aurora Orion kit.

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  2. Yep, that's the logo. Now why is that "name in perspective" logo so familiar, reminds me of...

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    1. Ha,ha! Yeah, it's no wonder MGM briefly considered sueing!

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  3. Wierd that the publicity campaign was aimed at children (a comic strip), when the movie is not really even a 'family film' and is very definitely for grown ups.

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    1. That's what you'd think Mish, but I first watched the film when I was nine, and would have loved the tie in comic.

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  4. One of the reasons for the comic maybe to hold the attention of children. Howard Johnson's Restaurants were famed for their slow service.

    An early MAD Magazine pictured a Howard Johnson's with a skeleton sitting in a booth.

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    1. Ha,ha! So not fast food restaurants then, Terra;)

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  5. Great post Scoop! I first came across this when I was researching the links between Project SWORD and 2001 A Space Odyssey years ago when the blog kicked off. Fascinating stuff. There was so much product placement in 2001 and then Gerry A's SWORD toys got linked to it in night clubs and cinema foyers. There's a fascinating idea that the kids' menu cover may have been inspired by a Jack Kirby comic cover - take a look on Dreams of Space.http://dreamsofspace.blogspot.com/2013/05/2001-space-odyssey-howard-johnsons.html

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    1. The Jack Kirby Race to the Moon cover is certainly similar, Woodsy.
      Jack did his own comicstrip version of 2001 in 1976, along with a set of 2001 inspired comics.

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