Celebrity Cameos in Comics

[TVComicsFan]

I've noticed some familiar faces--in both comic strips and comic books--as
supporting or minor characters. The Partridge Family #7, for instance, has a
character clearly modeled after Robert Taylor. A character who looks a lot like
Captain Kangaroo (Bob Keeshan) appears in The Bionic Woman #1, while
Speed Racer #1 has a character who closely resembles Colonel Sanders
(of KFC fame). And I recall seeing a character who was drawn to resemble
John Denver in a Judge Parker strip back in the 1970s. The detective in the
Two-Face story in DC Superstars #14 is a dead-ringer for Humphrey Bogart,
while the Marx Brothers appear disguised as three clowns in Justice League of
America #116. The Beatles are parodied in Batman #222, in a story inspired by the "Paul Is Dead" hoax. And the model for the Spider-Man villain
Silvermane was none other than--Boris Karloff.

Of course, this is nothing new. In the 1940s, even major characters were sometimes modeled after celebrities: Captain Marvel (Fred MacMurray), Brenda
Starr (Rita Hayworth), etc. Can anyone think of other examples of fictional
characters in comics, based on real people (I mean, excluding all the movie and
TV comics in which actors actually portrayed those characters)?

[Paradox]

Paul Gulacy did this a lot on Master of Kung Fu.

Shang-Chi was very obviously Bruce Lee in many parts.

Clive Reston alternated between looking like the Connery Bond (his alleged father) and Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes (his alleged grandfather).

There was a bar owner that looked just like Humphrey Bogart, too. :smile:

[Cei-U!]

Paul Gulacy did this a lot on Master of Kung Fu.

Shang-Chi was very obviously Bruce Lee in many parts.

Clive Reston alternated between looking like the Connery Bond (his alleged father) and Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes (his alleged grandfather).

There was a bar owner that looked just like Humphrey Bogart, too. :smile:

Reston also occasionally looked like Michael Caine. And Larner was Marlon Brando. Over in the Giant-Size issues of MoKF, Doug Moench and Keith Pollard introduced Groucho lookalike Rufus T. Hackstabber.

Gil Kane famously modeled Hal Jordan after Paul Newman. And Chronos was a bald Richard Nixon!

Jack Kirby used Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart as gangsters at least twice, in the first Egghead story (Tales to Astonish #38) and in Fantastic Four #91-93. Fred Gwynne, as Officer Muldoon from Car 54, Where are You?, popped up in FF #23.

Jim Steranko modeled Clay Quartermain on Burt Lancaster. Sidney Greenstreet appeared as Pickman in Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #5.

John Byrne at one point noted his Hellfire Club characters in X-Men were based on actors: Sebastian Shaw on Robert Shaw, Donald Pierce on Donald Sutherland, Harry Leland on Orson Welles.

Mark DeMatteis and Don Perlin had a running sight gag in Defenders concerning a pair of homicidal hoboes who looked just like Laurel and Hardy. And George Perez used the Three Dtooges as villains in the Man-Wolf story in Marvel Premiere #47.

And let's don't forget Sgt. Fury #72 which plunked Happy Sam down into the middle of Casablanca, complete with Bogart, Bergman, Henreid, Rains, Veidt, Greenstreet and Lorre clones.

I'm sure there are plenty more.

Cei-U!
I summon the stargazers!

[MDG]

In his Captain Marvel hardcover, Jerry Ordway based Black Adam on Boris Karloff.

[dan bailey]

Captain Marvel was based on Fred MacMurray, no?

[dan bailey]

And let's don't forget Sgt. Fury #72 which plunked Happy Sam down into the middle of Casablanca, complete with Bogart, Bergman, Henreid, Rains, Veidt, Greenstreet and Lorre clones.


First one I thought of, not surprisingly.

Of course, the Howlers' Dino Manelli was pretty obviously based on Dean Martin.

[prince hal]

There was a Charlton Don Newton Phantom set in Casablanca (city and movie) with Bogey/ Rick Blaine as a main character.

Denny O'Neil did a "Key Largo' homage in a Batman or Detective.

Easy Company's Jackie Johnson owed a little something to Joe Louis.

Oh, and how about GL/GA during the Adams O'Neil run, when the cruel headmaster of a school was Spiro Agnew and his prize pupil was a little pigtailed girl who looked like Nixon. Then there was "Isaac," who was crucified on the wing of a plane for being such a nature-lover. They had a Charles Manson type who enthralled Black Canary. And they used Infantino's picture on the cover of one issue as a rapacious industrialist.

Wasn't Steranko's Fury based on...Steranko?

Funky Flashman was Stan Lee...and his assistant was Roy Thomas, right?

Hans von Hammer was based to some extent on Von Richtofen.

And DC's Matt Savage, Trail Boss was obviously drawn to look like John Wayne.

[Paradox]

Cei-U! states:

John Byrne at one point noted his Hellfire Club characters in X-Men were based on actors: Sebastian Shaw on Robert Shaw, Donald Pierce on Donald Sutherland, Harry Leland on Orson Welles.

I like how you worded that. "John Byrne noted..." He'd have to, because those three only bore a VERY superficial resemblance to their "models" once he drew them (Pierce was thin, Leland was fat...that's about it).

[Roquefort Raider]

Paul Gulacy did this a lot on Master of Kung Fu.


Gulacy was indeed very good at this game!

In MoKF, other characters with familiar faces included MI-6 employee Sarsfield (David Niven) and martial artist Lu Sun (David Carradine). Then in a Black Widow story (from Bizarre Adventures #25), the bad guy was Michael Caine and the Widow's partner was Humphrey Bogart.

[TVComicsFan]

There was a Charlton Don Newton Phantom set in Casablanca (city and movie) with Bogey/ Rick Blaine as a main character.

Denny O'Neil did a "Key Largo' homage in a Batman or Detective.

Easy Company's Jackie Johnson owed a little something to Joe Louis.

Oh, and how about GL/GA during the Adams O'Neil run, when the cruel headmaster of a school was Spiro Agnew and his prize pupil was a little pigtailed girl who looked like Nixon. Then there was "Isaac," who was crucified on the wing of a plane for being such a nature-lover. They had a Charles Manson type who enthralled Black Canary. And they used Infantino's picture on the cover of one issue as a rapacious industrialist.

Wasn't Steranko's Fury based on...Steranko?

Funky Flashman was Stan Lee...and his assistant was Roy Thomas, right?

Hans von Hammer was based to some extent on Von Richtofen.

And DC's Matt Savage, Trail Boss was obviously drawn to look like John Wayne.

Speaking of Spiro Agnew, Walt Kelly caricatured him (as a hyena) in a Pogo
story arc.

[MWGallaher]

Jim Aparo put several celebrities in as background characters in Aquaman, Phantom Stranger, and Brave & Bold, including Ed McMahon, Peter Falk, and Fred Allen. Good likenesses, and they still looked like Aparo characters.

[SilverDagger]

There was the Marvel Team Up when Spidey linked up with John Belushi, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and the cast of Saturday Night Live.

http://www.littlestuffedbull.com/images/comics/fnf/mtu74.jpg

[Cei-U!]

There was the Marvel Team Up when Spidey linked up with John Belushi, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and the cast of Saturday Night Live.

http://www.littlestuffedbull.com/images/comics/fnf/mtu74.jpg

True, but we're talking about cases of artists "casting" celebrities as characters, not cameos as themselves.

Cei-U!
I summon the difference!

[Jamie]

Don't forget the menace of Harlequin Ellis in Justice League of America #89 (currently sitting in my "should I buy it" shopping cart at Lonestar.)

[Sir Tim Drake]

Speaking of Spiro Agnew, Walt Kelly caricatured him (as a hyena) in a Pogo
story arc.

More famously, Kelly also used a character named Simple J. Malarkey who was a parody of Joe McCarthy.

[Cei-U!]

Don't forget the menace of Harlequin Ellis in Justice League of America #89 (currently sitting in my "should I buy it" shopping cart at Lonestar.)

Unless you are a Dillin completist, you should avoid this book like the plague. It is the absolute worst-written issue of the original Justice League of America series, and not in a "so bad it's good" way either. It is embarassingly, painfully, shamefully awful.

Cei-U!
I summon the nadir of Mike Friedrich's comics career!

[Jamie]

Unless you are a Dillin completist, you should avoid this book like the plague. It is the absolute worst-written issue of the original Justice League of America series, and not in a "so bad it's good" way either. It is embarassingly, painfully, shamefully awful.

Cei-U!
I summon the nadir of Mike Friedrich's comics career!

Hmm. That should put me off.

But it just seems so intriguing. I wonder if I could get HE to autograph it, or if he'd drop a chandelier on my head instead... :wink:

[dan bailey]

He'd probably sue you. Just because he can.

[Lone Ranger]

There was a Charlton Don Newton Phantom set in Casablanca (city and movie) with Bogey/ Rick Blaine as a main character.



It had the elements of many films - much of it was a riff on Matlese Falcon (Mali Ibex) as well with some African Queen thrown in there too, if memory serves.

Bogart, Greenstreet, Lorre, Rain and Bacall are all in th story.

Unless you are a Dillin completist, you should avoid this book like the plague. It is the absolute worst-written issue of the original Justice League of America series, and not in a "so bad it's good" way either. It is embarassingly, painfully, shamefully awful.

Yup - you're bang on.

I recently dissed a JLA issue from that time period at my blog, but came very, very close to choosing this one.

[JKCarrier]

I wonder if I could get HE to autograph it, or if he'd drop a chandelier on my head instead... :wink:

Mike Friedrich says that he sent a copy of the script to Ellison ahead of time, and H.E. was hugely flattered to be a character in a JLA comic.

[The Confessor]

An example that immediately springs to mind is Mike Deodato drawing Norman Osborn to look an awful lot like Tommy Lee Jones during his run on Amazing Spider-Man a few years back. Deodato also continued to draw Norman Osborn as a Tommy Lee Jones look-a-like when he moved over to The Thunderbolts.


http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/6870/normanosborntommyleejonll1.jpg

[C.O. Jones]

There are a few cameos in the crowd at the Superman vs. Ali fight.

[Paradox]

Cei-U! and I have different tastes??:

Unless you are a Dillin completist, you should avoid this book like the plague. It is the absolute worst-written issue of the original Justice League of America series, and not in a "so bad it's good" way either.

Yuh-HUH! It's GREAT in a "so bad it's good" way. :tongue: At least to me.


I summon the nadir of Mike Friedrich's comics career!

Not a big drop for him, though. I never thought he was any good.

[Cei-U!]

Yuh-HUH! It's GREAT in a "so bad it's good" way. :tongue: At least to me.

Last time I read it (to look something up for an index), it actually gave me heartburn.

Not a big drop for him, though. I never thought he was any good.

There we agree. Aside from JLA #99, isolated issues of his Iron Man run and a handful of Robin and Ka-Zar scripts, I'm not a Friedrich booster. His plotting is pedestrian and his stylistic voice is flat (when not florid or tin-eared).

Then again, Bob Haney's Brave and Bold stories are my all-time favorite comics run so what do I know?

Cei-U!
It's all opinion!

[dan bailey]

Last night I was glancing through Gemstone's 2 Weird Science-Fantasy collections from about 15 years ago (having been inspired, I should point out, to read through #4, the "Flying Saucers Report" issue, by Lone Ranger's neat "Comics Should be Good" post on Dell's & Gold Key's UFO titles) when I came across a letter making reference to "plenty of EC stories in which celebrities are deliberately parodied," with citations of Kukla, Fran & Ollie & Arthur Godfrey. In addition, there appears to have been a bit of a lettercol game devoted to spotting the Vincent Price lookalike in various stories.

[Jeff O.]

In "The Generations Saga" from INFINITY, INC., I believe Jerry Ordway patterned the sheriff after Jonathan Winters.

[Cei-U!]

In "The Generations Saga" from INFINITY, INC., I believe Jerry Ordway patterned the sheriff after Jonathan Winters.

Close. It was Mayor Czarniak who looked like JW. Ordway also used John Houseman in a flashback sequence of that same story arc as one of Hec and Lyta's college professors.

Cei-U!
Writing the Infinity, Inc section of All-Star Companion, Vol. 4 even as we "speak"!

[Dizzy D]

I know quite a few french artists did this as well:

Morris using Lee van Cleef:

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/9230/291cx7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Several of the soldiers, Centurions and random vilagers in Asterix were based on actors. Later on Uderzo moved this more towards parody (a Sean Connery look-a-like as spy, Kirk Douglas as a former Gladiator etc. but in the early issues it was more like the original topic intended.)

[Cei-U!]

Coincidentally, I was just reading Amazing Spider-Man #205, which features a cameo by Abbott and Costello as a pair of hapless security guards named, appropriately enough, Bud and Lou.

Cei-U!
I'm a baaaaaaaaaaaaad summoner!

[Reptisaurus!]

Unless you are a Dillin completist, you should avoid this book like the plague. It is the absolute worst-written issue of the original Justice League of America series, and not in a "so bad it's good" way either. It is embarassingly, painfully, shamefully awful.

Cei-U!
I summon the nadir of Mike Friedrich's comics career!

Man. Such bile directed at a poor comic book. It's like that one Science Fiction writer guy...

Oh wait! I got it! "You! YOU are Harleguin Ellis!"

[gentlesatirist]

...Kirby put comedian Don Rickles in a few issues of Jimmy Olsen in the early 70s.

And I'd have to imagine Mark Evanier/Dan Spiegle's Crossfire series is chock full of such cameos, since Hollywood was the setting of that wonderful title.

I know one issue had a marvelous Marilyn Monroe cover by the late, great Dave Stevens.


- FE
Wickliffe OH

[Jeff O.]

In "The Generations Saga" from INFINITY, INC., I believe Jerry Ordway patterned the sheriff after Jonathan Winters.


Close. It was Mayor Czarniak who looked like JW. Ordway also used John Houseman in a flashback sequence of that same story arc as one of Hec and Lyta's college professors.

Cei-U!
Writing the Infinity, Inc section of All-Star Companion, Vol. 4 even as we "speak"!

Thank you, Kurt!

When possible, I always prefer to take another look at the actual comic before posting something I recall -- but this was a time when the actual comic wasn't nearby.

Say, you would think there would be a tpb of GENERATIONS SAGA by now, with a new cover by Alex Ross (perhaps painted over new "Da Ordster" pencils)!

Best Wishes for your All-Star writing projects!