Review Hero of the Comic Books

Author Bill Shute reviewed the 'Elvis, Hero of the Comic Books' book for the November 2024 edition of Ugly Things' magazine. Fortunately the "ugly mag"  contains "great reviews" :-). Here is what Shute wrote about the book:

Elvis Presley was a devoted reader of comic books as a child, and when he gave a speech in early 1971 accepting an Outstanding Young Man award from the Jaycees, he began his speech with the lines, “When I was a child, ladies and gentlemen, I was a dreamer. I read comic books, and I was the hero of the comic book.” 

It’s thus fitting that he would eventually be depicted in many comic books, and later in graphic novels, either as himself or as a fictionalized fantasy-Elvis. This fascinating and well-illustrated volume docments those depictions of Presley in “sequential art” from 1955-2024.

It also includes a section on Elvis’s favorite comic book when he was a child, Captain Marvel Jr., and explains how it continued to influence him later in life (for instance, the lightning bolt found on his TCB logo). In addition, the Agent Elvis TV animated series is discussed because although it is not a comic book or graphic novel, its visual style is very much rooted in that world.

Otherwise, the book begins with a methodical rundown of appearances in comic books, such as Betty and Veronica being Elvis fans and mentioning him (and seeing his pic on their bedroom walls) in various Archie-related comics, to parody characters based on Elvis in Cracked or in Charlton’s teen-culture oriented Go-Go . Later entries include the popular crossover series of Army of Darkness/Bubba Ho-Tep and Elvis-like characters who appeared in comics such as Starman and Pinky and The Brain. It was also nice to be reminded of the “Early Elvis” piece by Harvey Pekar (drawn by Gary Dumm) from the legendary American Splendor.

There are also many international comic appearances, and an entire section is devoted to The King’s appearances in adult comics. In the last few decades, there have been a number of graphic biographies of Presley, and those are covered too. Finally, a section is devoted to the Dutch cartoonist and seminal Elvis collector / writer / fan Ger Rijff, one of the most important international champions of Elvis in the days before Ernst Mikael Jorgensen and Follow That Dream Records, the all-Elvis collectors label. Rijff created hundreds if not thousands of cartoon sketches of The King in his various publications and in fan magazines (and in his personal correspondence) over the years, and it’s good to see him remembered here.

As most all of the publications covered are expensive collectors items nowadays, you’ll be happy to know that there are excellent and good-sized color scans of all the covers and of sample inner pages.

I wasn’t expecting a book on this subject, but I’m very glad that it’s out. You can get a satisfying vicarious experience by reading about these comics and graphic novels without actually owning them, and they tend to be so entertaining that even a casual Elvis fan would want to keep the book handy. Considering how many color images there are in the book, the price is reasonable too. 

This review was originally published in Ugly Things magazine # 67. For more information on the magazine, visit >>> Ugly Things. 

The hardback (8 x 10 inches) edition is available from the >>> Blurb webshop and the softcover edition is available on Amazon sites like >>> Amazon U.S. and >>> Amazon Germany (associate links).

Australian based fans interested in a “signed copy” of the softcover can contact me at: smorgasboard777@gmail.com for a “special price” offer.