Friday, July 01, 2022

Today in Comics History, July 1: Happy birthday, Dan Aykroyd!

Hey, it's somebody's birthday today, and not just mine: comedian, actor, singer, and Hard Rock Cafe co-founder Dan Aykroyd! He was one of the freshman team of Not Ready for Prime Time Players on Saturday Night Live!



cover of Marvel Team-Up (1972 series) #74 (Marvel, October 1978), pencils and inks by Dave Cockrum, SNL caricature pencils and inks by Marie Severin, letters by Irv Watanabe




Dan and the rest of the cast helped Spidey defeat the Silver Samurai...



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

...even if he was dressed up as a character never seen on the show!




That’s the only comic book I know of where Aykroyd played himself, but don't forget another of his SNL characters appeared in comics: Beldar Conehead! He's from France.




from Coneheads #1 (Marvel, June 1994), cover and interior pencils by Tom Richmond, cover inks by Jimmy Palmiotti, cover and interior colors by John Kalisz, cover and interior letters by Dave Sharpe; script by Terry Collins, interior inks by Marie Severin

Ghostbusters' Dr. Ray Stantz? He's in comics, too! Just...not always with actor likeness approval.


from The Real Ghostbusters (1988 series) #3 (Now, October 1988), script by James Van Hise, pencils by John Tobias, inks by Brian Thomas, colors by Rich Powers, letters by Jim Massara



from Ghostbusters II #1 (Now, October 1989), script by James Van Hise, pencils by John Tobias, inks by Rich Rankin, colors by Suzanne Dechnik, letters by Dan Nakrosis




from Ghostbusters #7 (IDW, March 2012), cover art by Nick Runge, script by Erik Burnham, interior art by Dan Schoening, interior colors by Luis Antonio Delgado, letters by Neil Uyetake

The Blues Brothers (Aykroyd and John Belushi) never got their own comic book, but a suspiciously similar pair appeared in the Marvel Universe starting with this annual:



from "Inferno Aftermath" in X-Factor Annual (1986 series) #4 (Marvel, October 1989), script by Mark Gruenwald, pencils by Jim Fern, inks by Joe Rubinstein, colors by Gregory Wright, letters by Joe Rosen

One last sighting — sort of! — of Aykroyd in comical books: his bit part in the Raiders of the Lost Ark sequel, Indiana Jones and The One Where They Had to Eat Monkey Brains!


from Marvel Super Special #30 [Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom] (Marvel, August 1984); script by David Michelinie; pencils by Jackson Guice; inks by Ian Akin, Brian Garvey, and Bob Cam; colors by Andy Yanchus; letters by John Morelli

Happy birthday, Dan!

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