Marvel and the Beatles Comics
When I was young, not only did I have a fascination with the music of the Beatles but I also loved comic books, specifically Marvel comics. With the following comics, I believed I was getting the best of both worlds as my favorite band was being celebrated in the comic book lexicon. Unfortunately, my comic book collection was thrown out when I became a teenager as it was explained to me that I was getting “too old to read those kids’ magazines.” As the years passed, and it was shown how much some of those thrown-away comics were now worth, the decision made by my parents turned out to be a foolish one. Ironically, as I became an older citizen, I was able to reclaim some of those souvenirs from my youth. Here are a few comic book/Beatles tales that you might find interesting.
The first story which I have also provided a link to is possibly the most interesting. The rarest Marvel Beatles-related comic book in the world has a mixed history as it has a Beatles connection but the movie the comic book was based on was virtually universally panned by critics everywhere. It was the Peter Frampton, Bee-Gees, Billy Preston, George Burns, Alice Cooper etc. version of Sgt. Pepper. Though the music was produced by George Martin, the film failed miserably at the box office. Marvel was going to print an English-language comic book version of the new Sgt. Pepper film but when they saw the poor performance financially of the film, they withdrew the English language version of the comic. It was released in France and Canada in French. It was also released in a few Asian countries but even in the countries that issued the comic, the supply was very limited. I was lucky to be able to track down a rare hardback French language copy of the comic a few years ago and a photo of the comic appears below. Despite the film’s poor reception by the public, the desire to have something concerning the Beatles that was so difficult to find even though it got horrendous reviews, served as the catalyst or enticement to get the rarity for the collection.
Here is the excellent story written by author John Freeman and the link with all the details. Hope you will enjoy!!! Author John Freeman describes this rare comic in the following article appearing on downthetubes.net in 2021.
How a 1970s “lost” Marvel Comic still takes Beatles fans on a magical mystery tour
BY JOHN FREEMAN on MARCH 1, 2021
This is the hardback version of the comic that I was able to purchase:
This is the well-known English language Marvel comic book dealing with the Beatles Story. Many Beatles collectors have a copy of this comic and it is relatively easy to find.
Marvel had many satirical appearances by the Beatles or a member of the band in many issues, often to spoof political or cultural situations. Here is an example:
The fact that the Beatles were so popular in the ’60s led to Marvel weaving something about the band into many of their comics. Here is a classic example where The Fantastic Four spoof the Beatles:
