View Askewniverse

The View Askewniverse is a fictional universe created by writer/director Kevin Smith, featured in several films, comics and a television series; it is named for Smith's production company, View Askew Productions. The characters Jay and Silent Bob appear in almost all the View Askewniverse media, and characters from one story often reappear or are referred to in others. Smith often casts the same actors for multiple characters in the universe, sometimes even in the same film; Smith himself portrays the character of Silent Bob.

Smith's recurring characters, settings, and motifs first appeared in his debut film, Clerks. Since then, the main canon has consisted of six feature films, in addition to several short films, comic books, and a short-lived animated TV series. The View Askewniverse is centered on the towns of Leonardo, Highlands, and Red Bank, all located in Monmouth County, central New Jersey. Chasing Amy also takes place partly in New York, and both Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back involve road trips.

Films

Clerks (1994)

Main article: Clerks

Clerks is the first film in the series of the View Askewniverse. It follows a day in the lives of two clerks, Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran) and Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson). The main protagonist Dante is called into work, the Quick Stop convenience store, on his day off to cover for a few until the boss is due to relieve him at noon. Dante's day is spent in the purgatory of serving a succession of customers while repeating the fact that he is "not even supposed to be here today". Randal works in the next-door video store, RST Video, although he spends almost the entire day at the Quick Stop. Learning that he is stuck working the store all day, Dante eventually decides to close the store for brief periods to either play hockey (on the roof of the store) or to attend a wake of an ex-girlfriend. Dante also encounters a surprise visit from an old flame who is engaged. The two had been talking on the phone for months and after seeing each other again they are keen to reunite and leave their current relationships.

Mallrats (1995)

Main article: Mallrats

Takes place one day before the events in Clerks. The film is about two young men, Brodie Bruce and T.S. Quint, who hang out at a mall after being dumped by their girlfriends; while also trying to avoid the wrath of Shannon Hamilton.

Chasing Amy (1997)

Main article: Chasing Amy

A heterosexual man, Holden McNeil, falls in love with a lesbian, Alyssa Jones, causing conflict with his homophobic best friend, Banky Edwards, with whom he has created a comic book called "Bluntman and Chronic" based upon Jay and Silent Bob.

Dogma (1999)

Main article: Dogma (film)

The world ends if two angels enter a church in New Jersey and it is up to Jesus' last scion, Jay and Silent Bob, and the thirteenth Apostle to stop them.

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)

Main article: Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

Jay and Silent Bob embark on a road-trip to Hollywood to try and stop a "Bluntman and Chronic" movie from being made.

Clerks II (2006)

Main article: Clerks II

Roughly ten years after Clerks, Dante and Randal are now employed in the fast food industry.

Upcoming films

Clerks III is due for release in 2018.

Short films

The Flying Car (2002)

The Flying Car is a short film that was produced for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Clerks: The Lost Scene (2004)

Clerks: The Lost Scene is an animated short that was produced for Clerks. X (10th anniversary DVD), based on a scene previously off-screen in the original film and only seen in the comics.

Television

• Clerks: The Animated Series consists of six episodes featuring characters from the movie Clerks that originally aired on ABC in 2000 (only for two episodes) and were later released on DVD in 2001.
• MallBrats (also known as Mallrats 2) is an upcoming series that is a sequel to Mallrats.

Comics

Clerks.

Clerks. is a three-part comic book series published in the late 1990s, continuing the adventures of the film's main characters.

Chasing Dogma

Chasing Dogma is a four-part series about Jay and Silent Bob's adventures between the events of Chasing Amy and Dogma. Many elements of the comic would end up in the film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

Bluntman and Chronic

Bluntman and Chronic is the comic "created" by Holden McNeil and Banky Edwards in Chasing Amy, published to coincide with the release of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

Walt Flanagan's Dog

"Jay and Silent Bob in Walt Flanagan's Dog" is a story in Oni Double Feature #1.

Where's the Beef?

Where's the Beef? is a 20-page comic which bridges the gap between the events depicted in the opening scenes of Clerks II.

Non-canon

Film

Jay & Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie (2014)

Jay & Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie (from the Bluntman And Chronic comics story) was originally written by Smith as a companion piece to the film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

Drawing Flies

Much of the cast of Mallrats featured in a simultaneous production, Drawing Flies, which features two actors credited as one of their characters in the View Askew films; Kevin Smith credited as Silent Bob & Ethan Suplee credited as Willam Black. Both are referred to as different characters within the film, but "Silent Bob" is credited as himself. Smith also wore the same Bob coat from Mallrats in the film.

Scream 3

Jay & Silent Bob can be seen in the studio in one scene of "Scream 3". Jay mistakes one of the protagonists, Gale Weathers, for a TV reporter, Connie Chung, and sarcastically asks her about Maury Povich.

Television

• Clerks – a live-action pilot for a TV show, based on the film Clerks. (This production did not involve Kevin Smith).
• MTV's Jay and Silent Bob Shorts
• VH1's I Love the 90s (2005) ("Jay and Silent Bob Rename Your Favorite TV Show" & "Guys We'd Go Gay For")
• VH1's I Love the '90s: Part Deux (2005)
• Degrassi: The Next Generation (fictional filming of "Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh?" over 3 episodes)
• My Name is Earl – Stars Jason Lee and Ethan Suplee have co-starred in numerous films directed by Kevin Smith, including Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Clerks II. In one episode, Earl claims to have robbed a Quick Stop. Another reference in the series is how Randy, on waking up, blurts out "poopie trim" which he similarly blurted as Willam in Mallrats, as did Chris Rock in Dogma.

Comics

• Chasing Amy – In Japan, the screenplay of Chasing Amy was adapted into a novel by Kenichi Eguchi and published by Aoyama Publishing. It is a book that is roughly half-novel, half-manga, with Moyoco Anno providing the art for the comic book pages.
• Jay and Silent Bob made a brief appearance in one panel of Green Arrow (vol. 3) #6, standing outside Jason Blood's Safe House in Star City. This issue was written by Kevin Smith during his 15-issue run on the character.
• Demonic versions of Jay and Silent Bob can be seen in one panel on the second page of Angel: After the Fall issue #5, standing outside of a cafe in the safe haven of Silverlake. Writer Brian Lynch confirmed the reference and attributed their inclusion to artist Franco Urru.
• Two characters who look similar to that of Jay and Silent Bob appear in the manga Aoi House seen in the background of the mall.

Recurring actors

Smith often casts the same actors for multiple characters in the universe, sometimes even in the same film. This is most notable in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, in which several actors play multiple characters from earlier View Askewniverse films.

To date, Smith and Jason Mewes are the only actors to appear in every film as the same characters. Three other actors have appeared in every film, as different characters, Scott Mosier, Walt Flanagan and Brian O'Halloran, with O'Halloran always appearing as a member of the Hicks family (most notably Dante).

The more notable recurring actors include:

Actor/Actress	Clerks	Mallrats	Chasing Amy	Dogma	Clerks: The Animated Series	Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back	Clerks II
Jason Mewes	Jay
Kevin Smith	Silent Bob
Scott Mosier	Angry hockey-playing customer, Willam Black	Roddy (cameo)	Tracer collector	Bus passenger Second Unit Director		Extras wrangler, Willam Black Second Unit Director	Concerned Father
Walt Flanagan	Woollen cap smoker, egg man, offended customer, cat-admiring bitter customer	Walt the Fanboy	Walt the Fanboy (deleted scene)	Walt the Fanboy (Protester #2)	Walt the Fanboy		Woollen cap smoker
Bryan Johnson		Steve-Dave	Steve-Dave (deleted scene)	Steve-Dave (Protester #1)	Steve-Dave
Brian O'Halloran	Dante Hicks	Gil Hicks	Jim Hicks	Grant Hicks	Dante Hicks
Jeff Anderson	Randal Graves			Gun shop clerk	Randal Graves
Vincent Pereira	Hockey goalie, engagement-savvy customer		Startled pinball player			Quick Stop customer
Ernest O'Donnell	Rick Derris		Bystander			Cop
John Willyung	Dante's killer (alternate ending)		Cohee Lundin			Passerby
David Klein	Hunting-cap smoking boy, low-IQ video store customer, hubcap searching customer, angry mourner	Bald comic fan
	Director of Photography						Director of Photography
Virginia Smith	Animal masturbator customer		Comic-Con woman
Grace Smith	Milk maid						Milk maid
Joey Lauren Adams	Alyssa Jones (Clerks: The Lost Scene)	Gwen Turner	Alyssa Jones			Alyssa Jones
Jason Lee		Brodie Bruce	Banky Edwards	Azrael		Brodie Bruce/Banky Edwards	Lance Dowds
Ben Affleck		Shannon Hamilton	Holden McNeil	Bartleby		Holden McNeil/himself	Gawking guy
Ethan Suplee		Willam Black	Fan	Golgothan (voice)			Teen #2
Shannen Doherty		Rene Mosier				Herself
Renee Humphrey		Tricia Jones				Tricia Jones
Malcolm Ingram		Creepy staring guy				Creepy staring guy	Pissing customer
Dwight Ewell			Hooper X	Kane the gang leader		Hooper X
Matt Damon			Shawn Oran (TV executive #2)	Loki		Himself
Guinevere Turner			Singer	Bus station attendant
Carmen Llywelyn			Kim			Daphne look-alike
Dan Etheridge				Priest	Plug	Deputy
Chris Rock				Rufus		Chaka Luther King
George Carlin				Cardinal Glick		Blowjob-giving hitchhiker
Paul Dini					George Lucas Writer	Bluntman & Chronic Loader/Clapper
Alanis Morissette			God
Jennifer Schwalbach Smith						Missy	Emma
Harley Quinn Smith						Baby Silent Bob	Kid in window

External links

• The View Askewniverse - Company’s Homepage
• News Askew
• [1] The View Askewniverse on Google maps
• Radio Interview with Kevin Smith about the Askewniverse from FBi 94.5 Sydney Australia