Stars! They’re just like us!
By PETER BOSCH
Kids in the neighborhood shoving and bullying you because you’re an adult and still reading comics? You don’t have to sign up for a Charles Atlas course in order to fight back. Just show them these guys!
(Pub dates in parentheses!)
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Mickey Rooney, Hollywood’s #1 star at the time, reading Master Comics #3 (June 1940).
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Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel getting a kick from Spy Smasher #7 (Oct. 1942).
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The Joker in Batman #23 (June-July 1944) scares the Frankenstein monster (Glenn Strange).
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Humphrey Bogart checking out Blue Circle #3 (Sept. 1944).
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Bob Hope sharing The Adventures of Bob Hope #2 (Apr.-May 1950).
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Since he was under contract to the studio, naturally Kevin Corcoran would be reading a Walt Disney comic book (Uncle Scrooge #18, June-Aug. 1957).
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On the set of Help!, Paul McCartney’s keyboard contains all DC comics. Left to right: Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #67 (Mar. 1963), Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #65 (Dec. 1962), Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #75 (Mar. 1964), Superman #165 (Nov. 1963), Superman #166 (Jan. 1964), and Action Comics #314 (July 1964).
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Stafford Repp reading Mad #105 (Sept. 1966).
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Peter Cushing gets the chills from Creepy #11 (Oct. 1966).
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Adam West and Yvonne Craig look over Batgirl’s debut in Detective Comics #359 (Jan. 1967).
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William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy checking out the “Star Blecch” parody in Mad” #115 (Dec. 1967).
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Oddly, Martin Landau and Barbara Bain were photographed viewing the same Mad #115 (Dec. 1967), but a “Mission: Ridiculous” satire would not appear until three issues later, Mad #118 (Apr. 1968).
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Don King and Muhammad Ali with DC’s knockout All-New Collectors’ Edition #C-56 (1978).
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MORE
— ADAM WEST’s BATMAN ’66 Guest-Star Wish List. Click here.
— WILLIAM SHATNER: On Nimoy and Never Watching STAR TREK. Click here.
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PETER BOSCH’s first book, American TV Comic Books: 1940s-1980s – From the Small Screen to the Printed Page, has just been published by TwoMorrows. He has written articles and conducted celebrity interviews for various magazines and newspapers. Peter lives in Hollywood.
June 26, 2022
It wouldn’t be surprising if the Star Trek and Mission Impossible photos were taken around the same time, and maybe even with the same copy of “Mad”, since both were Desilu/Paramount shows that apparently shot on soundstages near each other (although the Trek photo appears to be on location).
June 26, 2022
This is a great post!
June 27, 2022
This is a post that excites me to no end. ^-^
June 28, 2022
Wonderful article! I love seeing these pictures! I believe the man sitting with Glenn Strange’s monster is Ole Olsen, half of the Olsen and Johnson comedy team that starred in several Universal films. They were kind of a second rate Abbott & Costello.
June 29, 2022
Chris, I think you are correct.
June 29, 2022
Those are awesome photos. It makes me wonder when the most recent pic of a “celebrity” reading a comic book was taken.