The Pops Gallery: Hey!! Kids!!! Comics!!!! Part V: Celebrities Reading Comics

Time for another gallery of old photos of comic books in context! This time, I've dug up 39 pictures of celebrities (who, as I think David Letterman once pointed out, are our betters) reading comic books, in real life as well as in character in film and on television. Some of these are studio promotional photos, some are candids, some are screencaps. MAD Magazine in particular regularly featured pictures of its satirical targets reading the issue in which they were lampooned (a few of which are included here). At the end of the gallery are two bonus photos with no accompanying detail: Another shot of Elvis reading Betty & Veronica and Welsh singer Shirley Bassey (singer of not one, but TWO great James Bond themes!! Also, "Moonraker." Not great.) perusing a UK edition of the comic book, True-to-Life Romances, for which I could NOT find a cover online. Anyone? Little help?

Also, please note the absence of any still from THE BIG BANG THEORY. Ghad, I loathe that thing.

John Lennon in The Beatles' second film, HELP!, 1965

Paul McCartney reads Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #75, c. 1964

Ringo Starr reads Amazing Stories of Suspense (UK), c. 1965

Bob Hope reads his "adventures" to a young girl with polio, 1950

Richard Gere in the 1983 US remake of Breathless.

Another cap from Breathless. Gere's character, Jesse, identified with the Silver Surfer (and somehow managed to find vintage comics on newsstand racks!).

Clayton "Bud" Collyer, the voice of Superman in radio and animation, reads DC Comics, 1946

Lon Chaney, Tor Johnson, John Carradine, and Bela Lugosi read a horror comic, c. 1956

Christopher Reeve reads Action Comics #506 on The Muppet Show, 1980.

Danielle Spencer as Dee on What's Happening!! reads Daredevil #139, c. 1976

David Crosby reads The Avengers #22, c. 1965

David Bowie reads VIZ (UK) #40, c. 1990

Drew Barrymore is corrupted by a Russ Cochran reprint of Tales From the Crypt, c.1985

Dwight Schulz as Murdock on The A-Team reads Fantastic Four #253, c. 1983

Elizabeth Montgomery reads her comic book, Bewitched #2, 1965

Elvis Presley with a stack of Archies, including Jughead #37, 1956

Even tough guys love comics! Humphrey Bogart reads Blue Circle Comics #3, c. 1944

Chicks dig guys who read comics! If they're Jack Nicholson, that is. Reading MAD #145, 1971.

James Brown grooves on Marvel's Werewolf by Night #23, c. 1974

Jeff Goldblum bones up on an old issue of The Mighty Thor to prep for Ragnarok!

The Clash's Joe Strummer reads The Savage Sword of Conan (UK) #4, c. 1977

Kirk Alyn reads Superman #51, c. 1948

Laurel and Hardy read Spy Smasher #7, c. 1942

Australia's Men at Work read some old comics on the picture sleeve for their single, "Overkill," 1983

Mickey Rooney reads Master Comics #3, c. 1940

Davy Jones and Mike Nesmith of The Monkees are more DC guys than Marvel, c. 1966

Muhammad Ali reads of his second greatest victory, 1978

Peter Cushing reads Vampirella #7, c. 1970

Alice Faye disapproves of Phil Harris' reading Whiz Comics #96, c. 1948

Polly Holiday as Flo on Alice reads World's Finest #265, c. 1980

Reb Brown, TV's Captain America, checks out Cap #214, 1977

Robin Williams as Mork studies another alien in Superman #312 on Mork & Mindy, c. 1977

British actress Samantha Robinson reads a reprint collection of EC Comics' Shock SuspenStories, c. 1995

William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy read MAD #119 on the set of Star Trek, 1967

The Sex Pistols' Sid Vicious brushes up on American politics in MAD #197, 1978

Saints preserve us! Stafford "Chief O'Hara" Repp reads the Batman parody in MAD #105, 1966

Tobey Maguire reads Fantastic Four #141 (from 1973) in Ang Lee's The Ice Storm (1997)

Yogi Berra checks out the hot new fad of 3D Comics, 1953

Yvonne Craig reads Batgirl's comic book debut in Detective Comics #359 (1967) and shares with Adam "Batman" West

BONUS PHOTO: Elvis (on the same trip as above) reads an unidentified issue of Betty & Veronica, 1956

Shirley Bassey reads the comic, True-to-Life Romances, c. 1955