COMIC BOOK COVER GALLERY: Real-life celebrities appearing as guests (or stars!) in comic books acquired in the '60s, '70s, and '80s

Celebrities! Famous people have been making appearances in comic books for nearly as long as there have been comic books. The appearances have ranged from walk-on roles by US presidents and Axis dictators to star turns by actors like Alan Ladd and Hopalong Cassidy, each of whom was among the many film idols to moonlight as the leads in their own licensed comics series. When I started amassing comics in the 1960s, DC Comics was still putting out comics starring Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis, and while I never owned an issue of The Adventures Of Bob Hope I was a fan of the irrepressible hoyven glavin of The Adventures Of Jerry Lewis. Speaking as someone who always wanted to see a Brave And Bold team-up of Batman and Babe Ruth, I'd say we're due for a Comic Book Cover Gallery of real-life famous (and infamous) figures appearing in comic books. 

Of course, my favorite examples of celebrity guest appearances in comic books fall outside the timeline:

While we're including a few licensed series, the main focus this week is on famous people guest-starring on other comic-book superstars' covers. The 1940s Daredevil Battles Hitler cover image represents a '70s reprint. As always, we'll be sticking exclusively to the '60s-'80s era of acquisition I've established for these galleries. Today's selection includes books I bought new, back issues I acquired after the fact (but within the timeline), and B-stock contraband originally purchased without their covers. These aren't actual photos of comics in my collection; most images are courtesy of the Grand Comics Database, which is grand indeed. But I did have each and every one of 'em at some point in time.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.

I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. You can read about our history here.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1333

The commentary accompanying last week's posted playlist was reprised from the commentary accompanying a 2022 playlist, because the sentiments expressed then matched what I wanted to express in the present day. And while I don't want to make a habit of re-running commentaries, this bit from a different 2022 playlist stands as an explanation of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's guiding principles, and that explanation is worthy of repeat. I'll try to have something new to say next week. Unless, y'know, another rerun catches my fancy.

What is this radio show's format?

We circle back to that question every now and again. We do have a format, even if that format's not always discernible to folks looking at it from the outside. We oh-so-cleverly call the format This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio. Catchy! We use "power pop" as our hype, but it's really not a power pop format. It's certainly a rockin' pop format, generally favoring songs that are shorter in length and punchier in approach, embracing power pop and its periphery. We ain't exactly progressive or jazz, though we have played both. 

We hold old records and new records in equal regard. Any record you ain't heard is a new record. Any record you already know and love is, by definition, something you know and love. Why not play 'em all?

Establishing a very broad parameter, we play hit singles, though we include hit singles that aren't always all that popular (or, in some cases, known at all) in the real world. They sound like hits to us, so we play them. That's the criteria. Power pop, soul, punk, country, bubblegum, folk, R & B, girl groups, ska, Top 40, left-of-the-dial, and--but of course--the rock 'n' roll the show's name promises you. It's all pop music anyway. 

There are things don't fit the format; we don't play those things...except if we feel like it, in which case they suddenly do fit the format, at least for one week. We're not exactly under oath here. But Dana and I understand what suits the TIRnRR concept, and we know it intuitively. You're not going to hear many lengthier tracks. You're not going to hear stuff lacking in pizazz. Forget that noise. We have a show to do. SHOW business! Anybody can play records. It's more fun for everyone if we put on a show.

That's our format. And here's a show. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! It's time to turn it up a notch, because we have a show to do. This is what rock 'n' roll radio sounded like on a Sunday night in Syracuse this week.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream, and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. 

You can read all about this show's long and weird history here: Boppin' The Whole Friggin' Planet (The History Of THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO). You can follow Carl's daily blog at Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do).

TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS are always welcome.

Carl's latest book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get Carl's previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project:

Volume 1: download
Volume 2: CD or download
Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download
Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio:  CD or download

Volume 5: CD or download

TIRnRR # 1333: 4/19/2026

TIRnRR FRESH SPINS! Tracks we think we ain’t played before are listed in bold

THE SUNCHARMS: Winter Sun (Sunday, Darkening Sky)

THE BANGLES: Anna Lee (Sweetheart Of The Sun) (Down Kiddie, Sweetheart Of The Sun)

GENERAL JOHNSON AND JOEY RAMONE: Rockaway Beach (On The Beach) (Forward, VA: Godchildren Of Soul: Anyone Can Play)

THE BEVIS FROND: A Mess Of Stress (Fire, Horrorful Heights)

RITCHIE VALENS: La Bamba (Del-Fi, The Best Of Ritchie Valens)

THE GLADIOLAS: Little Darlin' (Acrobat, MAURICE WILLIAMS WITH THE GLADIOLAS & THE ZODIACS: The Complete Releases 1956-62)

--

VICKI PETERSON AND JOHN COWSILL: Downtown (Label 51, Long After The Fire)

MATTHEW SWEET AND SUSANNA HOFFS: Care Of Cell # 44 (Shout Factory, Under The Covers, Vol. 1)

SPECTRAFLAME: The Golden Years (n/a, Spectraflame)

MATTHEW SWEET: Girlfriend (Zoo Entertainment, Girlfriend)

SLYBOOTS: If We Could Let Go (single)

THE GREG KIHN BAND: All The Right Reasons (Castle, VA: Home Of The Hits/The Beserkley Records Story)

--

MARC VALENTINE: The Other Side (Wicked Cool, Uncommon Side Effects)

THE MUFFS: By My Side (Omnivore, Really Really Happy)

GENERATION X: Ready Steady Go (Chrysalis, Perfect Hits 1975-1981)

SHONEN KNIFE: Boys (Virgin, The Birds And The B-Sides)

THE LEGAL MATTERS: Stuck With Me (Big Stir, Lost At Sea)

THE YARDBIRDS: He's Always There (Repertoire, Over Under Sideways Down/Roger The Engineer)

--

PALMYRA DELRAN AND THE DOPPEL GANG: Hold Tight (Wicked Cool, single)

THE FALL: No Bulbs 3 (Beggars Banquet, 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong)

THE CYNZ: You Wreck Me (Jem, Confess)

BLONDIE: One Way Or Another (Chrysalis, The Platinum Collection)

PRINCE: Delirious (Warner Brothers, The Hits/The B-Sides)

CLOCKWORK FLOWERS: Going Going Gone (n/a, Clockwork Flowers)

--

DAVID BROOKINGS AND THE AVERAGE LOOKINGS: Coldwater Canyon (Byar, Exposure)

TEENAGE FANCLUB AND JAD FAIR: My Life Is Starting Over Again (Gammon, VA: The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered)

THE ANIMALS: It's My Life (Abkco, Retrospective)

DAVE EDMUNDS: Boys Talk (Omnivore, Swan Songs: The Singles 1976-1981)

TAMMY WYNETTE: Stand By Your Man (Time-Life, VA: Classic Country 1965-1969)

THE CHOCOLATE WATCHBAND: Let's Talk About Girls (Rhino, VA: Nuggets)

--

THE RAMONES: I Don't Want To Grow Up (Radioactive, ¡Adios Amigos!)

THE PRETENDERS: Money Talk (Rhino, Pirate Radio 1979-2005)

THE SHIRTS: Tell Me Your Plans (Think Like A Key Music, Live At Paradise 1979)

THE ENGLISH BEAT: What's Your Best Thing? (Shout Factory, Special Beat Service)

THE ISLEY BROTHERS: It's Your Thing (Epic, The Essential Isley Brothers)

JIMMY JAMES AND THE VAGABONDS: Ain't No Big Thing (Edsel, VA: British Mod Sounds Of The 1960s)

--

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE ROLLING STONES: Can't You Hear Me Knocking (Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers)

THE PLIMSOULS: Everyday Things (Rhino, The Plimsouls...Plus)

DAR WILLIAMS: Better Things (Razor & Tie, End Of The Summer)

SERGIO CECCANTI: Leave The Past, Don't Look Behind (Kool Kat Musik, Leave The Past, Don't Look Behind)

THE BENT BACKED TULIPS: Sweet Young Thing (eggBERT, Looking Through...)

--

THE COWSILLS: Couldn't It Be Love (Omnivore, The "Cocaine Drain" Album)

SYL SYLVAIN AND THE TEARDROPS: It's Love (Wounded Bird, Syl Sylvain & the Teardrops)

THE EXPLODING HEARTS: Thorns In Roses (Dirtnap, Guitar Romantic)

DEAN LANDEW: Summertime Friday Night (single)

THE PEPPERMINT KICKS: Shaking Underground (Rum Bar, single)

THE GROOVIE GHOULIES: Fun In The Dark (Lookout!, Fun In The Dark)

THE SHIRTS: Time (Has Seen Me Lonely) (Capitol, Inner Sleeve)

KRIS JENSEN: I Can't Get Nowhere With You (Craft, VA: The Land Of Sensations & Delights)

--

THE GREENBERRY WOODS: Whenever You Want Me Too (Big Stir, It's All Good, Sugar...)

THE REALISTS: I've Got A Heart (Cherry Red, VA: Harmony In My Head: UK Power Pop & New Wave 1977-81)

DEVIL LOVE: Tell Me You Love Me (The Sound Cove, single)

COCKEYED GHOST: I Hate Rock 'n' Roll (Big Deal, The Scapegoat Factory)

ARTHUR CONLEY: Sweet Soul Music (Rhino, Sweet Soul Music)

ALEX HARVEY: Agent OO Soul (Universal, Shout: The Essential Alex Harvey)

THE HALF/CUBES FEATURING GLENN BURTNICK: Bend Me, Shape Me (Jem, single)

THE BEATLES: Taxman (Apple, Revolver)

--

THE MONKEES: The Door Into Summer (Rhino, The Mike & Micky Show Live)

Tonight on THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO

We're Dana & Carl, but you might as well call both of us Midas, 'cuz we're turning radio into gold. GOLD, I tell ya! This week's exuberant exercise in alchemy employs the transcendent transmogrification properties of new music from THE SUNCHARMS, THE BEVIS FROND, MARC VALENTINE, and DAVID BROOKINGS AND THE AVERAGE LOOKINGS, plus the magic of recent gold and old gold alike, courtesy of VICKI PETERSON AND JOHN COWSILL, MATTHEW SWEET, SPECTRAFLAME, THE MUFFS, SHONEN KNIFE, THE LEGAL MATTERS, THE GREENBERRY WOODS, THE CYNZ, PRINCE, THE FALL, PALMYRA DELRAN AND THE DOPPEL GANG, CLOCKWORK FLOWERS, THE SHIRTS, THE PRETENDERS, THE PLIMSOULS, DEAN LANDEW, ARTHUR CONLEY, SYL SYLVAIN AND THE TEARDROPS, THE PEPPERMINT KICKS, THE ISLEY BROTHERS, THE EXPLODING HEARTS, THE ENGLISH BEAT, THE GREG KIHN BAND, THE ANIMALS, THE YARDBIRDS, BLONDIE, THE RAMONES, THE BEATLES, THE ROLLING STONES, THE HALF/CUBES, DAVE EDMUNDS, and more. It's all in our counting house, where nothing counts but more. MORE! All that glitter is the airwaves themselves. Sunday night, 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming via sparksyracuse.org, and as WESTCOTT RADIO on the Radio Garden app. The weekend stops HERE!

10 SONGS: 4/18/2026

10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. The lists are usually dominated by songs played on the previous Sunday night's edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. The idea was inspired by Don Valentine of the essential blog I Don't Hear A Single

This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1332

PALMYRA DELRAN AND THE DOPPEL GANG: Hold Tight

Anyone who has ever listened to Palmyra Delran hold court on her SiriusXM Underground Garage radio show Palmyra's Trash-Pop Treasures already knows that Palmyra is the real deal, blessed with impeccable taste and a thorough understanding and appreciation of the rock and the pop. As a performer, she's well capable of channeling her passion and savvy into the creation of trash-pop treasures of her own, accomplished in various incarnations with the Coolies, the Friggs, and other irresistible dbas. 

The latest single from her flagship combo Palmyra Delran and the Doppel Gang serves up an invigmoratin' workout of the '60s UK power pop classic "Hold Tight." The original 1966 version by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich is among my all-time favorite tracks, and it was one of many gems I considered rhapsodizing in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). I didn't have room for it in the book, but in the mean time we're thrilled with the opportunity to program Palmyra and her Gang holding tight and demonstrating their own mastery of the form. It spins here again this coming Sunday night. 

Palmyra knows her stuff. We know enough to keep playing her stuff. And bonus points to Palmyra Delran’s Doppel Gang for including guitarist and long-time friend to this show Michael Lynch.

THE CORNER LAUGHERS: Crumb Clean

There is something just so enticingly sunshiney about the music of the Corner Laughers. The blissful wave of audible illumination continues on the group's new album Concerns Of Wasp And Willow, and its warm glow is in ample evidence on the sublime current single "Crumb Clean." Little darling (as some British guy once said), it's been a long, cold, lonely winter. With the Corner Laughers on the radio, I feel warmer already.

(I'd already selected the Corner Laughers for a spot on this week's 10 Songs when I discovered that they were also guests on this week's new episode of can't-miss podcast The Spoon. Ah, I love it when a plan comes together. Especially when it comes together without benefit of, y'know...a plan.)

ROME 56: Invisible Man

THE SHIRTS: Love Is A Fiction

THE SHIRTS: Tell Me Your Plans

We love the Shirts, and the release of two previously-unissued archival live albums from these classic CBGB stalwarts (last year's 1981 recording Live Featuring Annie Golden, this year's Live At Paradise 1979) has spawned a renewed commitment to programming the Shirts as often as possible. We've heard (unsubstantiated) rumblings of more to come from the big ol' vault of Shirts; if true, we approve.

This week's show includes two tracks by the Shirts, one from Live At Paradise 1979 and one from the Shirts' second album, 1979's Street Light Shine. Our next show will also offer a pair of Shirts, reprising the Live At Paradise version of "Tell Me Your Plans" (my favorite Shirts song) and introducing the belated (and then some) TIRnRR debut of a track from their 1980 album Inner Sleeve. Shirts-O-Rama!

Shirts guitarist Arthur La Monica is currently playing with a cool combo called Rome 56, a fine group that also includes Arthur's wife Kathy La Monica. Past shows have offered a few delights from Rome 56's 2024 album Paradise Is Free and 2025 effort Pony Tales, and this week we return to Paradise Is Free for our first-ever spin of a great, great earworm called "Invisible Man."

THE STRAWBERRY ALARM CLOCK: Incense And Peppermints

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

SEX CLARK FIVE: Plastic All Over The World

THE DAVE CLARK FIVE: It Don't Feel Good

Huntsville, Alabama's phenomenal pop combo Sex Clark Five into the Tottenham Sound of the Dave Clark Five. Sometimes the segues write themselves.

THE RAMONES: All's Quiet On The Eastern Front

From a previous post, discussing my 25 favorite Ramones tracks:

"All's Quiet On The Eastern Front" appeared on the Ramones' 1981 LP Pleasant Dreams, an album that doesn't sound like any other Ramones album. Pleasant Dreams was produced by Graham Gouldman, who achieved great success in the '60s as a songwriter for the Yardbirds, the Hollies, and Herman's Hermits, and subsequently as a performer with 10cc. And, as Johnny Ramone said in our interview, "The guy from 10cc producing the Ramones? 10cc sucks, and it's not right for the Ramones." (My 1994 interviews with Johnny, Joey, Marky, and C.J. appear in my book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones.)

On Pleasant Dreams, Gouldman's production made the Ramones sound...I dunno, smoother than expected? Phil Spector had done something similar with 1980's End Of The Century, another album that doesn't sound like any other Ramones album. In Spector's hands, the bubblepunk purity of the Ramones got lost in his Wall of Sound; Gouldman turned the Ramones into a new wave pop band. Neither End Of The Century nor Pleasant Dreams is at the same transcendent level as the classic fist four Ramones albums that preceded them.

Ignoring the anomaly of this album's place in the larger Carbona-huffin' picture, though, I need to risk contradicting myself: Pleasant Dreams is a fantastic record. Fantastic. I know Marky liked it, and we've established that Johnny hated it, but the fact that it wasn't Rocket To Russia doesn't prevent it from being compelling in its own right.

Pleasant Dreams is loaded with great Ramones songs, from "We Want The Airwaves" to "It's Not My Place (In The 9 To 5 World)" to "She's A Sensation" to the superb album closer "Sitting In My Room." "The KKK Took My Baby Away" is the best-known of the bunch. Would the tracks sound better if Ed Stasium or Tommy Ramone had produced them? Possibly. They sound pretty good as-is.

"All's Quiet On The Eastern Front" was my immediate pick when I bought the album in '81, and it has remained so. It's the sprightliest song ever done about a serial killer, stalking the street 'til the break of day, a track delivered with decidedly un-Ramoneslike percussion, and with backing vocals from Dee Dee Ramone asking that musical question, Can't you think my movements talk? Hey, you unsuspecting soon-to-be victims: Pleasant dreams!

THE BEATLES: Tell Me Why [Takes 4 and 5]

And speaking of the Tottenham Sound of the Dark Clark Five....

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.

I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. You can read about our history here.

COMIC BOOK COVER GALLERY: Heroes (and others) in space, as seen in comics acquired in the '60s, '70s, and '80s

Space! Given that fact that the superhero explosion in comic books began with the 1938 debut of a strange visitor from another planet, it's fitting that space and its cosmic accoutrements have been such a pervasive and prevailing aspect of four-color adventures for nearly nine decades. As Artemis returns to Earth this week, Comic Book Cover Gallery directs its telescopic gaze to the moon, the stars, and the endless final frontier of the heavens themselves. Look! Up in the sky...!

As always, we'll be sticking exclusively to the '60s-'80s era of acquisition I've established for these galleries. Today's selection includes books I bought new, back issues I acquired after the fact (but within the timeline), and B-stock contraband originally purchased without their covers. These aren't actual photos of comics in my collection; most images are courtesy of the Grand Comics Database, which is grand indeed. But I did have each and every one of 'em at some point in time.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.

I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. You can read about our history here.