real people making cameo appearances in comic books

I guess there must be a thread for this already but I can't find one. Inspired by that 'Avengers appear on Late Night' issue being linked to in the Letterman thread

http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix6/letterman_david_01.jpg

Jay Leno + Malcolm Forbes

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/easteregg4-24-3.jpg

Richard Branson in the UK Transformers comic, looking kinda photo-referenced

http://s90690880.onlinehome.us/jhiaxus/images/oddities/general/branson160_02.jpg

Tim Duncan with The Punisher
http://www.comicbookresources.com/imgsrv/imglib/500/0/1/Punisher-Duncan-a6e91.jpg

http://www.standard.co.uk/incoming/article8512608.ece/alternates/w620/One%20Direction%20Beano.jpg

http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/users16/musicsavedme/default/msg-117755915181.jpg

Jack Benny

http://i58.tinypic.com/2eftgsy.jpg

http://berkeleyplacecomics.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/img_3622.jpg

https://smilingculture.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/rovers.jpg

http://www.beano.com/media/1362831/83tdsjoan_500x718.jpg

who wouldn't be envious

The pop group Madness once appeared as themselves in a strip as did singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading. Singer Tom Jones and TV presenter Dickie Davies have also received mentions.

'appeared as themselves'seems a weird phrasing in this situation

http://www.misterkitty.org/extras/stupidcovers/rickles1.jpg

George H.W. Bush
https://comiclists.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/pres-bush1.gif

Dr Ruth
http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/image/Ruth_Westheimer_DarkKnight.jpg

[and also Letterman I guess]

this was a special feature of Action Comics Weekly: Oprah was in Green Lantern--or should I saw Green Lantern was on Oprah?!?--Deadman, in a single adventure, inhabited the bodies of Ronald Reagan, Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev, and D.B. Cooper. And Randy Travis had a walk on in Secret Six.

D.B. Cooper and the Kool-Aid Man!
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bdVR-JIDi2g/TPr_85A_HPI/AAAAAAAAUO4/PZBO7h-lCxA/s1600/dm%2Babd%2Bdb01.jpg

Tuesday, 11 January, 2000, 16:50 GMT

Former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell and a host of other celebrities make guest appearances in the 3,000th edition of the children's comic The Beano.

The landmark issue of the comic also features Brooklyn Beckham, the son of Posh Spice and soccer star David Beckham, Boyzone's Ronan Keating and comic Ken Dodd.

This week's special edition features sketches in which celebrities appear alongside the famous Beano character judged most like them.

The celebrity matches were chosen by some 4,000 of the comic's readers who cast their votes on the Beano website.

Pop star Geri Halliwell narrowly beat EastEnder Patsy Palmer to feature as Minnie the Minx's opposite number.

Virgin DJ Chris Evans appears as Dennis the Menace, while Brooklyn Beckham changes sexes to become Dennis' baby sister, Bea.

Rowan Atkinson, as Mr Bean, is lined up as Calamity James, although Manchester United's Gary Neville - whose errors helped Vasco da Gama to their 3-1 victory over the Reds in Rio - got some late votes.

Del Boy, from BBC TV's Only Fools and Horses, appears with Roger the Dodger, despite facing stiff competition from Tory peer Lord Archer.

Elsewhere Linford Christie is likened to Billy Whizz and soccer stars Alan Shearer and Michael Owen feature with Ball Boy.

Veteran comedian Ken Dodd appears with the gruesome dogs, Gnasher and Gnipper, while pop heart-throb Ronan Keating shares some fun with the goofy Plug.

Euan Kerr, the editor of Beano, which has been running continuously since 1938, commented: "In the past we have featured personalities like Tony Blair and Mr Motivator.

"All these people have been delighted to appear in the comic, so we thought that this competition among celebrities was a good idea to mark this great occasion for Beano - moving into its third millennium well ahead of the rest of mankind."

a companion thread of transparent analogues of real-life people would be cool

Pierre Trudeau:

https://kangaratmurdersoc.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/120-trudeau.jpg

also, just getting this one out of the way

http://www.littlestuffedbull.com/images/comics/presidents/president0803/10asm583.jpg

http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/dynamics/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2010/07/2010-07-21_071527.png

http://www.spiderfan.org/comics/images/marvel_teamup/074.jpg

http://crossover.bureau42.com/supeskennedy.jpg

http://www.littlestuffedbull.com/images/comics/capflag1.jpg

on a 'transparent analogues of real-life people' tip, Brick Springhorn and the Tenth Avenue Band

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lyNSe4WVBkQ/UxM5CHKioMI/AAAAAAAABYE/58G-NXib_ks/s1600/2014-03-01+17.04.20.jpg

http://tfwiki.net/mediawiki/images2/9/9c/Brickspringhornandthetenthavenueband.jpg

YES!

love the creepy/enervated balloon and letterforms there

ugh, really struggling to find a jpeg of that time bill clinton appeared on a monitor to yell at Prime (from the Ultraverse) about his responsibilities to the nation. like most adult males in breyfogle's Prime, he just had spooky shadows for eyes, it was pretty great.

Thomas Jefferson as a Satanist in Batman/Detective Comics
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/batstory40b.jpg

Not really a cameo, because he's the the other protagonist, but:

http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111022132648/marveldatabase/images/6/6d/Eminem_punisher.jpg

is the Red Skull in disguise as Spider-Man in that Obama story?

https://36.media.tumblr.com/5d32bb05210c83db51df8a1bf47fa367/tumblr_n3d46tuzrj1rvhk4ho1_500.jpg

I give up, who?

norman osborn

Khrushchev practically a regular in early 60s marvel comics

http://winterdrake.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/DaThatIsWhyYouWillNeverBeDictator1.jpg

I remember reading some 1970s marvel uk comics that reprinted 60s Iron Man stuff + marvel uk's preoccupation with changing random things for no good reason had extended to drawing hair and a beard on Khrushchev, and tippex-ing out his name and replacing it with 'The Mad Ghost', written in a different font to everything else. I guess they thought that Khrushchev's presence would confuse the kids as he hadn't been soviet premier for about 10 years at that point?

they's also removed all references to 'the soviet union' in the dialogue and captions and replaced them with some made up country name, but hadn't done anything about the hammer + sickles on the walls etc

hahhaha, that's awesome. they should have done that with everybody. wrinkles and jowls awkwardly ghosted onto kennedy.

just looked it up and apparently 'the mad ghost' was actually the replacement name they gave to a 60s marvel villain called the red ghost in the US books, so maybe I'm getting this mixed up? or maybe they drew hair on pictures of Khrushchev and tried to make out it was all the same character? that seems plausible as red ghost looks not unlike Khrushchev with added hair anyway

http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/square_small/4/49448/2460376-jack_kirby._the_red_ghost_and_his_indescribable_super_apes._001.jpg

maybe marvel's UK reprints take place in a parallel universe where everything is the same except that nikita khrushchev moonlights as the red and/or mad ghost.

http://funnybookbabylon.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/ff178-beame-carter-ford-reagan-small.jpg

reagan, ford, carter, and abraham beame, all in one page. many more at http://funnybookbabylon.com/2011/02/06/the-adventures-of-ronald-reagan-americans-comic-bookiest-president/ . i also like the x-men #150 one with reagan, brezhnev, deng, thatcher, daniel moi, and king khalid i guess. but of course, just wheeling world leaders in to indicate a high-stakes situation is sort of old hat.

written in a different font to everything else

people's hands aren't fonts

i can't make my hand turn into a font

So many in Herbie - kruschev, lbj, kennedy, various movie actors etc.

The Joker met Ayatollah Khomeini (and became ambassador to the UN for Iran) in the death-of-Robin story
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_m_yEp4yvWQY/R-kOxbH8eUI/AAAAAAAAI20/rYrWIJELtUk/s320/11.jpg

http://herbiepopnecker.com/examples/titles/01b.jpg

Well done, "Shane O'Shea". Well done.

I'm sure the cover of that is a dead link upthread btw

An unnamed Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon in Amazing Spider-Man 99.

http://berkeleyplacecomics.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/img_3632.jpg

Country Joe & the Fish in Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD 15.

https://people.well.com/user/cjfish/fury1.jpg

my man Hannity

AM I
GLAD
I SAW
YOU

Give it up for Spidey, he uses his first nationally-broadcast television appearance as a platform for prison reform. Good dude.

wow @ country joe and the fish

Meta - Roy Thomas and his first wife Jeanie make an appearance in Avengers (written by R Thomas):

https://i2.wp.com/berkeleyplaceblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/roy-thomas-and-jeanie-thomas.jpg?resize=292%2C250

I admit, there are lots of examples of 'real' comics creators appearing in comic books

For real, just read a '70s Daredevil at the weekend featuring Stan & Joan.

Country Joe was a holy grail appearance I'd been meaning to post here for forever but couldn't track down because I misremembered the band in question as the Lovin' Spoonful.

Just took this... I see it was already posted above, but don’t wanna waste an imgur upload:

https://i.imgur.com/RgNaZkj_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

Disney synergy:

https://i.imgur.com/mEfPxxT_d.webp?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

Who the fuck is that punchable-faced dude?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Kimmel

Ah, the Trump enabler.

no, that's a different Jimmy, who recently fired his (hired-six-months-earlier) head writer over disagreement re: what constitutes Trump enabling.

In a separate post, Drysdale noted that the extensive amount of jokes made at the expensive of President Donald Trump was a sticking point for her, not because of an underlying support for the president but how she sees comedy aimed at him potentially helping his image to the world at large. She wrote: “I believe that comedy is a powerful tool. I believe that it can handle anything, no matter how unfunny. I don’t believe that making fun of this man, doing impressions of him, or making him silly, is a good use of that power. It only adds to his.”

“I am making the decision for myself to never work on, write, or be involved with, another Trump sketch ever again. I have landed in several jobs and situations over the last few years, not just The Tonight Show, where the project of making fun of Trump, or doing material about Trump, has led to divided creative teams, anxiety, tears and pain. I can’t decide the outcome of this election, but I can make the choice for myself, to vote him out of my creative life.”

Kimmel pivoted from being bro-tinged middle-America-friendly snark to being comparatively radicalised against Republicans on health care (and personally lying to his face about letting newborns die) grounds during the last administration.

"made at the expensive President Donald Trump"

betting the writer's fingers were still thinking of "extensive" four words earlier

http://cache.coverbrowser.com/image/from-beyond-the-unknown/17-1.jpg

Image above didn't load, hopefully this one should

https://i.imgur.com/7zBtZNY.jpg

Scanning back through the thread and spotting Jackie Kennedy reminded me of this wtf reveal from Action #309, where it turns out JFK stood in for Clark Kent to protect Superman's secret identity. Which with spectacularly unfortunate timing, hit the newsstands a week after Kennedy went to Dallas.

https://i.imgur.com/dO9cY9X.jpg

Well, at least Supes didn't have to worry for long about JFK accidentally revealing his secret identity.

That’s why the ballistics are so confusing - first shooter missed, Supes caught the bullet in his mouth, and spat it back through JFK’s dome to keep him quiet.

Of related interest

Please search with @rblandford’s tag #popculturereferencesinMarvelComics

You will not be disappointed.

— Andrew Male (@Andr6wMale) November 1, 2021

Ladies and gents, here come Glennan, Saul, Benji and Hal...the TWISTS!

https://13thdimension.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/batman222-01.jpg
https://13thdimension.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/batman222-11.jpg
https://13thdimension.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/batman222-07.jpg

I'm not sure why the Paul stand-in looks like more like Jason King dressed in Dr Strange's wardrobe though.

THE CLUE IS ON THEIR ALBUM COVER!

"new arrangements and stuff" lol

It's funny how late this was to capitalise on Sgt Pepper era Beatles as well, 1970?? I guess in the DC universe every fashion trend is about three or four years behind the real world, so at this point hip and trendy youngsters are still wearing beads and kaftans and confusing oldsters with beatnik lingo.

Captain Britain commits regicide

https://i.imgur.com/2PYbY9f.png

https://i.imgur.com/Zr8cjve.png

disappointing cop-out in this Superman comic (from Jan 1969, so they could have gone with LBJ or Nixon)

https://i.imgur.com/HYKcd2m.png

Lol at that Ed. note

bonus Queen vs Captain Britain content

https://i.imgur.com/mSm0BMx.png

Richard Nixon as the head of the Secret Empire:

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/d2-DVITeUySU-XoBxlhLSpVQEJQ=/0x0:630x624/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:630x624):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8496509/SE02.jpg

PLOT by BOB BUDIANSKY * SCRIPT by JIM LAWRENCE * PENCILS AND INKS by SOMEONE WHO SAW A PHOTO OF THE QUEEN SEVERAL YEARS AGO AND HAS SINCE FORGOTTEN WHAT SHE LOOKS LIKE

iirc the Captain Britain artwork is by Ron Wilson and Pablo Marcos, neither of whom were Brits.

Although looking again at those pages, the royal faces look like the work of another artist entirely (possibly an art droid in the Marvel UK offices)

the first image is from issue 38 of Captain Britain, the second and third from issue 39 (the final issue before it was cancelled). Pencils for both are by Ron Wilson, the inking on #38 by Mike Esposito, inks on #39 by someone called Brian H. Moore who doesn't seem to have any other credits other than the final issue of the original run of Captain Britain ... unless he's the same person as this Brian H Moore, who drew cartoons for Sinn Fein's newspaper An Phoblacht under the name Cormac: https://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/835

Maybe someone at Marvel UK knew him and as a laugh hired him to ink an issue of Captain Britain where the title character attempts to kill the queen? (Or an Irish-American working at Marvel US, maybe?)

sorry, I've just double checked the issue, and the full credits are "ART BY RON WILSON AND PABLO MARCOS * ZIPS BY BRIAN H MOORE". idk what 'zips' means here ... but maybe it was an Irish Republican Marxist cartoonist who drew the faces of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh rather than a Marvel UK art droid?

is zips short for zip-a-tone?

it is.

is the second Queen/CapB also Budiansky?


FPing jimbeaux for putting those digital recolors into my corneas.

love it, but also why is Nixon shooting himself a KRAK rather than a BANG

Looks like a Luger

is the second Queen/CapB also Budiansky?

both issues credit Budiansky with plot and Jim Lawrence with script

Always fascinating / bemusing how Marvel had an actual office in the UK but would still employ US-based authors for piecework

I see Jim Lawrence wrote some James Bond comics, so “blasted superhero’s done his nut, like I always said he would!” could have a genuine ring of authenticity about it

This is making the rounds online ("real bands being name-checked in comic books"):

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:dz3e2cvgmhtrqqjiivbocjnd/bafkreig42fdxt5h3qfizxnunqqhyhowuvwptnflefjmwwqdb2nc2oxiteq@jpeg

during the ridiculous part of the 90s, mutant military posse x-force were seen dancing to a porno for pyros song in a club

why this stuck with me idk!

i’m probably posting the wrong url, but here’s aerosmith in shadowman from the early 90s:

https://valiant.fandom.com/wiki/Shadowman_Vol_1_19?file=Shadowman_Vol_1_19.jpg

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/Q00AAOSwulViY01T/s-l1600.jpg

Topical (this may be one of the dead links above; I see another Kissinger appearance w/Captain America):

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:jxitdeqb6coq7beqtmpm6j4c/bafkreickcavapc5gfdguz27cx6ohfbrnyllkzmng4i23wcgannilcchdky@jpeg

from BlueSky, a 1979 edition of the Spiderman newspaper strip where Flash Thompson and Harry Osbourne open a discotheque

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:k5vwobjngg43lj7zuw2gudib/bafkreifver4grajxq5ae4abz2s37it2zj7emtnb7u5kv7a2kurtxn2ia4u@jpeg

https://bsky.app/profile/comicsinthega.bsky.social/post/3kjj5ydogrc2l

Wow. I'm sure a bunch of those folks must turn up frequently, but I can't imagine there are too many Gene Shalit appearances out there. Oddly, he seems like he'd be the most at home if he had a page in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. I'd believe it if he turned out to be some worthless one-off villain from Marvel Team-Up, or the very tail end of Stan Lee's Spider-Man.