"Ed Sullivan" from Bye Bye Birdie (Columbia, 1963), song by Charles Strouse and Lee Adams, featuring Paul Lynde
By the man with a really big shew also had some big appearances...well, okay, medium guest-starring roles...would you believe, cameos?...in comic books throughout the years. Look, he's gettin' bounced by a seal!
cover of Miss Melody Lane of Broadway #3 (DC, June 1950), pencils and inks by Bob Oksner
Ed's also in that comic, but guess what?
I DON'T HAVE IT.
But I do have access to a scan of this one, adapting a 1939 B-flick adapting a story by Ed Sullivan. Who was adapted by this comic using adapted film stills to adapt him narrating it, as he did the adapted movie. Meta!
from "Big Town Czar" in Movie Comics #4 (DC, July 1939), creators uncredited and unknown
Hey Ed, tell us what's a-happenin'!
At the end of the story/movie/comic we suddenly discover that Ed's not just the narrator, he's a friend of the Big Time Czar himself, who goes to comfort his pal on death row. Who ever said Ed Sullivan would never visit you the night you died? Well, you were wrong.
Also in the same issue. Say, DC, you get enough promotion in for Big Town Czar in this comic? Whatddaya think it is, Space Jam 2?
from "Screen Scoops" in Movie Comics #4; text and art by Walter Galli
Sullivan was plenty influential in the entertainment business, and he gave lots of acts their start. Here's Jack Benny's first radio appearance on Sullivan's show, and the rest is comedy history. By the way, Jack: I care. (earnestlukeskywalker.gif)
from Girls' Fun and Fashion Magazine #48 (Parents' Magazine Institute, September 1950), creators uncredited and unknown
Naturally, anybody who was truly a celebrity got to go on Ed's show! If you were on the show, you had it made!
from Avengers (1963 series) #22 (Marvel, November 1965), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Don Heck, inks by Wally Wood, letters by Artie Simek
L-R: caricatures of Ben Gazzara, Dan Blocker, Ed Sullivan, and Don Adams drop in on a Bob Hope comic. Bob who?!?
from Adventures of Bob Hope #105 (June 1967), script by Arnold Drake, pencils and inks by Bob Oksner
If you're the Hate-Monger trying to unleash a destructive hypnotic ray upon the American public, why not transmit it through a rock band's music on the Sullivan show!
from Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD* (1968 series) #11 (Marvel, April 1969), co-plot and dialogue by Gary Friedrich, co-plot and pencils by Frank Springer, inks by Mike Esposito, letters by Irv Watanabe
*Sullivan Has Interesting Enemies Like Dat
Hey look, Ed leased his cameras from Stan Lee!
Yep! If you saw it on Sullivan, you were ensured it was quality!
from "Mr. Excitement! The Living History of Wayne Newton" in Any Similarity To Persons Living or Dead Is Purely Coincidental (Fantagraphics, 1986), script by Josh Alan Friedman, pencils, inks, and letters by Drew Friedman
Oh, geez, I'm not even fooling myself there.
Let's face it. Except for that novelty song from Bye Bye Birdie, Ed Sullivan might have faded from most of our memory in these modern times...
...if it wasn't for one thing:
from The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story (Dark Horse, November 2013), written by Vivek J. Tiwary, art by Andrew C. Robinson
The Beatles' appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show captured a record-setting 73 million people watching their first live musical appearance on American Television.
from The Beatles: Their Story in Pictures (ITV, 1982), script by Angus P. Allan, art by Arthur Ranson (collected from the strip in (Look-In)
Rock and roll (and eventually TV, once it got over itself), would never be the same again.
from Marvel Comics Super Special #4 [The Beatles] (Marvel, 1978), script by Dave Kraft, additional dialogue by Don McGregor, pencils by George Pérez, inks by Klaus Janson and Joe Rubinstein, colors by Petra Goldberg, letters by Tom Orzechowski
From this moment you can trace the rise of rock music television straight through to August 1, 1981: the day MTV stranded Martha Quinn on the Moon.
from The Beatles in Comics! (NBM, November 2018); script by Richard Di Martino; translation by Joe Johnson; pencils, inks, and colors by Efix; letters by Ortho
And for quite a while there, Ed Sullivan was a top-tier pop cultural icon.
from "What If... Famous People Were Santa Claus?" in Spoof #4 (Marvel, March 1973), script by Steve Gerber, pencils by Warren Statler, inks by Henry Scarpelli, letters by John Costanza
Because for a time there, as I said: anybody who was anybody wanted to be on Sullivan.
from "The Origin of...The Fantastical Four" in Not Brand Echh #7 (April 1968); script by Stan Lee; pencils by Jack Kirby; inks by Tom Sutton; additional pencils and inks (and colors?) by Marie Severin, letters by Sam Rosen
Ed Sullivan coulda made me, a little stuffed bull, a star! You think I'm exaggerating? He made Topo Gigio a star! And he got his own comic book in Italy and Brazil!
So, let's salute Ed Sullivan on today, his birthday!
Yeah! Let's all dress up sharp and go out on the town and dine and drink and dance and just gad about in a way that'd make him proud! You with us, Al Bundy?
from Married...with Children: Quantum Quartet #1 (Now, October 1993), script by Todd S. Tuttle and Geoff White, pencils by Tom Richmond, inks by David Mowry; colors by Holly Sanfelippo, Christine Caplinger, and Todd S. Tuttle; letters by Todd S. Tuttle
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