Okay, I was thinking a little more about the images I used here…
…the pics used for Amy Grant and Kate Bush are pretty clearly unauthorized usages — Grant’s camp raised a stink about it, but I don’t think Bush’s people did. I have no idea if the “inspiration” for the Media Starr cover was ever acknowledged by the publisher.
The Miguel Ferrer thing is (as I noted already) just me seeing a resemblence between Bradstreet’s interpretation of the Punisher and the actor, and certainly not me trying to imply any images of the actor were used to create the illustration. As was pointed out to me, Bradstreet uses his own models for his work, and you can see that in action on his site.*
The Rowan Atkinson image was an homage, and very much in line with the occasionally tongue-in-cheek style of the Incredible Hulk comic Peter David was writing at the time. I don’t think he was as recognized in the U.S. then as he is now …most Americans know him as “Mr. Bean,” the hip people know him as “Blackadder,” and the people who know him as “Raymond Fowler” are just plain showing off. However, I do recall a letter in a later issue of Incredible Hulk identifying the homage, and the editors owning up to it.
Lassie I just threw in because we happened to have a copy of #1 at the store.
Okay, now the Whoopi Goldberg thing…this character apparently popped up in Power Pack and I know some of you out there read this series. Was the Whoopi inspiration ever acknowledged? Was it as obvious as it certainly is in this Marvel Universe illustration? And isn’t this the cutest drawing of Galactus you’ve ever seen?**
Some other celebrities have popped up as inspirations for funnybook characters…there was “Serji-X Arrogantus,” a Sergio Aragones look-a-like drawn by Howard Chaykin in early issues of Marvel’s Star Wars comics.
Pal Bryan mentions that Miguel Ferrer’s appearance was used for a character in one of Innovation’s Lost in Space comics, but since Mr. Ferrer wrote it, I’m sure he’s probably aware of it.
I seem to recall a Basil Fawlty-esque character popping up in Justice League Europe, designed after John Cleese.
Pal Mojo also points out the Sting/Constantine connection (which I’ve previously discussed here), and though the Sandman/Robert Smith link rings a very small, tinny bell in the recesses of what I laughingly call my brain, I can’t dredge up any specific memories. Oh, if only there were some kind of, I don’t know, Internet search…”engine,” let’s say, that could help me look up such information. Oh, okay, I’m just messin’ with you…a quick look turns up this FAQ that says Morpheus wasn’t based on Smith. And since it’s on the internet, it must be true.
And lest I forget the most famous inspiration for a comic character’s appearance…Fred MacMurray for the original Captain Marvel. There are a whole bunch more real-life inspirations for Marvel Family characters identified here.
Then there was the reverse in action, with Captain Marvel Jr. inspiring one of Elvis’ costumes, but that’s a whole other can of worms. Plus, there was this guy, who claimed to be the original model for Siegel and Shuster’s design of Superman. Not true, of course.
Okay, that’s enough of that…you all must be sick of hearing about this by now. But, if any of you can come up with any more, feel free to stick it…
…in my comments section!
* I couldn’t access the site with either Netscape or Firefox, but IE and Safari pulled it up fine. It might be just my particular set-up.
** Somewhere out there is a super-deformed manga-style Galactus drawing that’s even cuter, and I’m going to hate you in advance for even pointing me in its direction.
