PAUL KUPPERBERG AT THE OSCARS: My 13 Favorite DC Comics Celebrity Covers
Straight from the red carpet! By PAUL KUPPERBERG When worlds collide! The make-believe world of comic books and the world of real-life celebrities, that is. In many cases, the collision was in the form of licensing deals between Hollywood A-Listers for starring roles in their own comic book titles like The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis (later, after the duo split, just The Adventures of Jerry Lewis), The Adventures of Bob Hope, The Adventures of Alan Ladd, Jackie Gleason and the Honeymooners, Pat Boone, and Hopalong Cassidy — all published by DC Comics — to name a few. But celebrities would sometimes also appear as themselves in the comics, guest-starring alongside fictional characters, all the way back to the 1940s. I don’t know how it was decided which celebrities would make the cut, whether DC Comics reached out to them (or their “people”) or vice versa, probably a combination of both, but every now and then a familiar face from the movies or television would show up alongside Superman. Here then, with the Oscars on March 15, MY 13 FAVORITE DC COMICS CELEBRITY COVERS: — Real Fact Comics #4 (September/October 1946). Jimmy Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was the Tom Hanks of his day, an actor with an everyman persona, star of classic films, including Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, It’s a Wonderful Life, Rear Window, Vertigo, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and dozens more. DC spotlighted the actor’s World War II career as a decorated (Distinguished Flying Cross, the French Croix de Guerre) B-24 bomber pilot (20 missions over Germany) in a story in their Real Fact Comics, “He Wanted Wings.” Art by Jack Lehti. — Action Comics #127 (December 1948). Ralph Edwards (June 13, 1913 – November 16, 2005) was a pioneering radio and television host who helped define early celebrity-focused programming by combining biography and surprise reunions. He was best known as the creator and longtime emcee of This Is Your Life and, of course, the game show Truth or Consequences. Art by Al Plastino. — Action Comics #130 (March 1949). Ann Blyth (August 16, 1928) is an American actress and singer who starred in 1940s and 1950s musicals and dramas, receiving an Academy Award nomination for her role in Mildred Pierce and starring in films such as The Great...
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