Born on this date, already wearing a sparkly pair of sunglasses and chunky heels: Elton John, the world's only Rock Star!
cover of Look-In #37/1973 (ITV, 8 September 1973), creators uncredited and unknown
Here's John (Elton) and John (Lennon) teaming up together to
from The Beatles Experience #6 (Revolutionary, January 1992), script by Todd Loren, art by Mike Sagara
Now, you might think there'd be a number of Eltonppearances within the pages of the usual magazine of idiots, MAD, and you'd be right — but so many of them are outright just plain insulting that I'm choosing to only use this one, from the master of the fold-in, the still-alive great Al Jaffee. (Please note I'm not doing the Fold-In for you; it contains slurs (altho' it is pointing out the person doing the slurring is an idiot, so thank you Al). You'll have to fold it in yourself, so please get permission from your parent, guardian, or otter before you start cutting and folding your computer screen.)
"Mad Fold-In: What Rocker Is Everyone Sick of Listening To?" in MAD #394 (June 2000), script and art by Al Jaffee
MAD's crazy competitor...uh, Crazy, got in an Elton appearance without maligning him too much or making the panel very funny. Bonus: he's drawn by expert Marvel caricaturist Marie Severin! If you can't get Mort Drucker to depict you, Marie's the next best!
from "Tommy-Rot" in Crazy #13 (Marvel, October 1975), script by Steve Skeates and Lark Russell, pencils and inks by Marie Severin
Proof that the budget for weddings over at Image Comics is bigger than everywhere else, because Erik Larsen splurged and got Elton as the entertainment for the marriage ceremony of Barbaric and Ricochet over at Savage Dragon!
from Savage Dragon #41 (Image, September 1997); script, pencils, and inks by Erik Larsen; colors by lotsa people, letters by Chris Eliopoulos
An appearance, of course, in Mike Allred's classic psychedelic alternative semi-history of rock 'n' roll, along with that guy from Marvel Premiere:
from Red Rocket 7 #4 (Dark Horse, November 1997); script, pencils, and inks (and letters?) by Mike Allred, colors and color separations by Laura Allred
Over on Earth-616/EC (for Electric Company), Elton is menaced by Doctor Octopus, who wishes his glasses looked as grand:
from "Doc Ock Is Back in Town!" in Spidey Super Stories #21 (Marvel, February 1977), script by Jim Salicrup, pencils by Win Mortimer, inks by Mike Esposito, letters by Ray Holloway
Which is ironic (yes, thank you, Alanis) because here's Deadpool unfavorably comparing Dock Ock directly to Sir E. Hercules John. Bonus points for unknowingly spouting that directly to Otto Octavius (as the Superior Spider-Man):
from Deadpool (2013 series) #10 (Marvel, July 2013), script by Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn, pencils and inks by Mike Hawthorne, colors by Val Staples, letters by Joe Sabino
Elton dances his way onto the Sunday four-color funny pages in this celebrity-crammed panel from The Amazing Spider-Man syndicated comic strip! Thank you for stating the obvious, Detective Fish.
Tony Stark knows who Elton John is. Incidentally, everyone that Tony's chef mentions except Elton (and, yeah, Janet Van Dyne) has passed away. Aw, we missed a Iron Man/Princess Di team-up tale. Against land mines! And paparazzi.
from The Avengers (1963 series) #224 (Marvel, October 1982), plot by Jim Shooter, script by Alan Zelenetz, pencils by M. D. Bright, inks by a hurriedly-assembled assortment of inkers (choose one), colors by Christie Scheele, letters by Janice Chiang
And speakin' o' the late Princess D., her hastily substited erzatz replacement Henrietta Hunter strolls through the same social circles and also is less than two Kevin Bacons away from the Artist Formerly Known as Reginald Dwight:
from X-Statix #14 (Marvel, November 2003), script by Peter Milligan, pencils by Mike Allred, inks by J. Bone, colors by Laura Allred, letters by Cory Petit
Rven Iron Man's (clumsily retconned real) parents, Steel Dad and Alloy Mom, know Elton John!
from International Iron Man #6 (Marvel, October 2016), script by Brian Michael Bendis, pencils and inks by Alex Maleev, colors by Paul Mounts, letters by Clayton Cowles
Nobdy knows why Spider-Man has a rocket, but we do know this: Peter Parker is a fan of Elton John! Not so much Nick Fury, Jr., but he's okay with Bowie.
from Amazing Spider-Man (2015 series) #9 (Marvel, May 2016), script by Dan Slott, pencils by Giuseppe Camuncoli, inks by Cam Smith, colors by Marte Gracia, letters by Joe Caramagna
We've seen that Elton is, like Doctor Strange's pen pal Eternity, omnipresent in the Marvel Universe, but what about the DC Universe? Well, he's almost there: courtesy of a Joker story from 1976 that never got published (until 2019, at least) because the series wad cancelled before it ran! In which Elton is The Devil! Well, Joker's just crazy enough that he might think so.
from a story originally scheduled for the Joker #10; finally printed in 2019's The Joker Bronze Age Omnibus, script by Martin Pasko, plot assist by Paul Kupperberg, pencils by Irv Novick, inks by Vince Colletta, colors by Drew Moore
Over at Bongo Comics, Mister John has had with two, count 'em, two appearances in their long-running and much-missed Simpsons Comics, first as one of a British army invading Springfield. Department of Déjà Vu: yes, you did see these same panels when I featured John Cleese and his Silly Walk.
from Simpsons Comics #87 (Bongo, October 2003), script by Ian Boothby, pencils by James Lloyd, inks by Steve Steere Jr., colors by Nathan Kane, letters by Karen Bates
Department of Déjà Vu: yes, you did see these same panels when I featured John Cleese and his Silly Walk.
Elton pops up again when Homer tells a tall tale of the Simpsons being the Muppets, with our special guest star Elton John! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
from Simpsons Comics #175 (Bongo, February 2011), script by Ian Boothby, pencils by John Costanza, inks by Phyllis Novin, colors by Art Villanueva, letters by Karen Bates
So who better to take us outta here than the actual Elton John and the Muppets? A: Nobody!
from The Muppet Show series 2, episode 14 (Henson Associates/ITC Entertainment, January 8, 1978)
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1 comment:
(a) I love Elton’s cover of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” — the reggae break is great; so is when the second verse is repeated in 4/4 rather than 3/4 as kind-of a bridge.
(2) Al Jaffee has, sadly, gone the way of Abe Vigoda since the earlier version of this post.
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