I can hear you asking, though: Was he great? Have you ever seen his him in a comic book? Hmmm? How can you say someone is great who's never been in a comic book?
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you a birthday celebration of Orson Welles in Comic Books. (Mercury Theatre On the Air overture begins playing)
The Mercury Theatre on the Air overture
Orson Welles was born in a small midwest town to a...eh, let's get on with it. Here he is on the cover of a comic book with Flash! Welles is by the tip of the shadow of Flash's left hand, in the upper right. Can you name the other celebs?
cover of Flash Comics #28 (DC, April 1942), pencils and inks by E.E. Hibbard
Publishers everywhere rushed to capitalize on the success of the man they called "Orson Welles." They sometimes renamed a thinly disguise character so Orson Welles would not sue them or sic Martians on them. That's the origin of "Carson Bells" in this Golden Age story.
from "War Bond Vengeance" in Captain America Comics #22 (Marvel/Timely, January 1943), script by Stan Lee (?), pencils by Bob Oksner, inks by Vince Alascia (?)
American Nazis kidnap Carson Bells and threaten to extort him for half a million bucks! Who will save him? Captain America, maybe? (checks front cover for title of comic)
No! Bells is saved by Secret Stamp, a completely different Timely Golden Age hero.
Now that Secret Stamp is so popular a character in today's Marvel comics and cinematic universe, it's kinda fun to see where he got his start, huh?
Roy Thomas (who else?) inserts Orson Welles's War of the Worlds broadcast against the backdrop of the Crimson Avenger's origin.
from Secret Origins (1986 series) #5 (DC, August 1986), script by Roy Thomas and Dann Thomas, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Mike Gustovich, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by David Cody Weiss
Aww, I thought Orson Welles was gonna turn out to be the Crimson Avenger.
Welles played the pulp character The Shadow on radio in 1937. But — what if™ the Shadow was stuck inside the body of...Orson Welles?!? (Or yet another generic genetic double of Welles.) Anyway, hilarity ensues!
from The Twilight Zone: The Shadow #2 (Dynamite, 5/16), script by David Avallone, pencils and inks by Dave Acosta, colors by Omi Remalante, letters by Taylor Esposito
In another Shadow comic, Welles and Lamont Cranson's be-fedoraed alter ego cross paths, and the Shadow encourages Orson to become more of an influence for the powers of good, instead of just, y'know, wine.
from The Shadow #100 one-shot (Dynamite, June 2015), script by Michael Uslan, pencils and inks by Giovanni Timpano, colors by Marco Lesko, letters by Rob Steen
Yes, t'was The Shadow that inspired the second greatest movie of all time: Citizen Kane!
Many Welles-inspired appearances in comic books also
from "Wheels of Fortune" in Life with Archie (1958 series) #168 (Archie, April 1976), script by Frank Doyle, pencils by Stan Goldberg, inks by Jon D'Agostino, colors by Barry Grossman, letters by Bill Yoshida
You may have learned about Citizen Kane from The Simpsons, but I had to learn about it the original way: from comics!...about talking animals.
from "The Christmas Sleuths" in The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera #1 [The Flitstones Christmas Party] (Marvel, 1977), script by Mark Evanier, pencils by Kay Wright, inks by Scott Shaw!, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by Mike Royer
Even this little-known comic book hero crossed the paths of a Welles-personator in his crimefighting. I guess this guy was a really CITIZEN PAYNE to fight! heh heh
from "Paint a Picture of Peril!" in Detective Comics #397 (DC, March 1070), script by Denny O'Neil, pencils by Neal Adams, inks by Dick Giordano, letters by Milt Snapinn (?)
And he would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for...well, you know the rest.
from "Ape Misbehavin'" in Scooby-Doo (1997 series) #120 (DC, July 2007), script by Robbie Busch, pencils by Scott Jeralds, inks by Jeff Albrecht, colors by Heroic Age, letters by Mike Sellers
Welles, of course, was in many other movies than Citizen Kane. Here, he fills the widescreen with his mighty presence and ass in 1960's David and Goliath! (He plays King Saul, not Goliath.)
from from Four Color #1205 [David and Goliath] (Dell, August 1961), pencils and inks by Jack Sparling
Welles even makes a guest appearance in the French space fantasy Valerian and Laureline. As GOD. Typecast again!
from Valerian and Laureline v. 12: The Wrath of Hypsis (Cinebook, October 2016), script by Pierre Christin, pencils and inks by Jean-Claude Mézières, colors by Évelyne Tranlé
Aunt May, on the other hand, associates Orson Welles with fraud and shenanigans. She was a little too smart for his shady reverse-mortgage deals, I'm tellin' you!
from Amazing Spider-Man (1999 series) #24 (Marvel, December 2000), script by Howard Mackie, pencils by John Romita, Jr., inks by Randy Elliott and Dan Green, colors by Gregory Wright, letters by Comicraft
On the other hand, ace reporter/human pincushion Ben Urich loves the man and his movies!
from "The Dark Lady" in Daredevil Annual (1967 series) #7 (Marvel, 1991), script by Eric Fein, pencils and inks by Don Hudson, colors by Renee Witterstaetter, letters by Michael Heisler
I know the following panels will pop up again on this blog on October 30, but please just take a peek at 'em now for me.
from Mars Attacks the Real Ghostbusters one-shot (IDW, January 2013), script by Erik Burnham, pencils and inks by Jose Holder, colors by Jeremy Colwell, letters by Neil Uyetake
Welles appeared is the host of a political tale within the pages of Cerebus! (Don't worry: it's not by Sim.)
from "Quoth the Reagan, Nevermore…" in Cerebus #53 (Aardvark-Vanaheim, August 1983); script, pencils, and inks by Don Goodrum
Stage director: he's smokin'!
from The New Deal (Dark Horse, September 2015); script, pencils, and inks by Jonathan Case
But my favorite Orson Welles comic book story was the time he met Superman and fought Martians. (They shoulda reprinted this as an official team-up in the '80s in DC Comics Presents!)
cover of Superman (1939 series) #62 (DC, January 1950), pencils by Wayne Boring, inks by Stan Kaye, letters by Ira Schnapp
Orson Welles is kidnapped to Mars...by Martians! He discovers their Martian Hitler (literally named Martler) is planning to invade the Earth! But this time, Welles's radio warnings to Earth about a Martian invasion are laughed off. GEE I WONDER WHY
from "Black Magic on Mars!" in Superman #62; pencils by Wayne Boring, inks by Stan Kaye, letters by Ira Schnapp
Superman saves the day with his mighty strength while Orson Welles takes down the Martians using his stage magic and ventriloquism! (Super-ventriloquism, perhaps?) THANK YOU, ORSON WELLES, for making us laugh at Martians...again!
So we salute you, Orson Welles, and a very happy birthday to you! Now, let's get Tim Daly and Maurice LaMarche and do a radio play of that Superman story!
"The War That Never Was" from Classics Illustrated #124 [The War of the Worlds] (Gilberton, January 1955), pencils and inks by Alex Blum
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2 comments:
Does the adaptation of Transformers: The Movie count as an Orson Welles appearance...?
Oooh, a good one to add to the pieces I couldn't spotlight this year! Thanks, GL! Consider yourself No-Bull Prized!
When I update this post next year, it will be, like Orson himself, much expanded!
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