Today in Comics History, March 2: Happy birthday, Laraine Newman!

Born today, so ya better wish her a happy birthday: Laraine Newman, actor, writer, and comedian! She was one of the first generation of Saturday Night Live's Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time Players (and you know what that means, Marvel Team-Up collectors!) as well as appearing in films, TV shows, and as a voice actress for some fairly big animated movies like Despicable Me and its sequels, The Secret Life of Pets, Sing, Wreck-It-Ralph, Toy Story 3, Monsters Incorporated and many more! She was also one of the two voices of Batman villain Baby Doll from Batman: The Animated Series (the other was Alison La Placa).


from Batman: The Adventures Continue #6 (DC, March 2021), script by Alan Burnett and Paul Dini, pencils by Ty Templeton, inks by Ty Templeton and Sean Parsons, colors by Monica Kubina, letters by AndWorld Design
But Laraine's biggest starring role in a comic book has got to be the one we always turn to when we get to celebrate a SNL alumni, the one that'll never get a reprint so it's best to look for it in the longboxes at your LCS: Marvel Team-Up #74, teaming up the original* *okay, the second season Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time Players with your friendly 30 Rock-visiting Spider-Man!



cover of Marvel Team-Up #74 (Marvel, October 1978), pencils and inks by David Cockrum, Saturday Night Live pencilled and inked by Marie Severin, letters by Irv Watanabe
Here's a cramped corner panel to introduce everyone: Laraine is at the upper-right in green, and clockwise from her: John Belushi, Jane Curtain, Garrett Morris, DeForest Kelley, Jimmy Carter, and that's NBC anchorwoman Maria Shriver comin' in though the door.


from Marvel Team-Up #74; script by Chris Claremont, pencils by Bob Hall, inks and colors by Marie Severin, letters by Gaspar Saladino and Annette Kawecki
You, readers of my blog, well-know this story by now: Belushi has accidentally come into possession of a high-tech ring belonging to the Silver Samurai, and his goons are scouring the NBC Studios looking for it, faced off by Spider-Man and the cast of the show. Here's Laraine dressed up as Ms. Marvel for a skit. Excuse me while my eyes momentarily bug out over the table and my tongue rolls out to make a carpet. ... Ahem. That's better.


And she helps out Dan Ackroyd attack the baddies in full military style using fire extinguishers. Hey, you kids! Those aren't for fooling around with! Make sure Lorne has these recharged after this stunt!


Now, if you're feeling clever, you might proclaim at moi right now: "Hey, Laraine Newman played Connie in SNL's Conehead sketches, and Marvel did a Coneheads miniseries, so she also appears in that!" And you would be wrong, for I am nothin' if not a little stuffed nit-pickler. The Marvel Coneheads comics are based upon the Coneheads movie (1993), and Laraine did not play Connie in the movie: Michelle Burke (Dazed and Confused did! (Laraine did appear briefly in the movie as alien Laarta, but that character's not in the comic book.)

So with a hearty thank you to Marvel Team-Up #74, we bid a very happy birthday to Laraine Newman!