On Wednesday, the cover for the second installment of Marvel’s
‘America’ comic book series was revealed, claiming to have a famous
face as its inspiration. In a post on Instagram, the cover’s artist, Joe
Quinones, hinted that the picture was based on Beyoncé’s look in her video for “Formation.”
While not a direct take (the original outfit was black, this one is colored
like the United States flag), it features the same attitude and empowerment
that has made Beyoncé a strong female presence in our culture.
This is not the first time a musician’s likeness has been
used to design a cartoon or comic book character. Whether they approved of them
or not, there have been many musicians who have provided inspiration to
animators. There are even bands that get animated and put themselves in the
story.
Vinyl Bay 777, Long Island’s top music outlet, has scoured
the internet and found six musicians that have had their likeness inspire comic
book and cartoon characters.
1.
David Bowie: For DC Comics’ ‘The Sandman,’ Neil
Gaiman took a lot of inspiration from his musician friends when creating the
story’s characters. One such notable character was that of Lucifer Morningstar,
who Gaiman wanted modeled after David Bowie. This became the model for every
other depiction of the character after that.
2.
Annie Lennox: When Gaiman wanted to create a
character that was androgynous and sexless for ‘The Sandman,’ he once again
drew inspiration from music. The image of Desire, who could shift between sexes,
be both at the same time or neither, was created to look like Annie Lennox
during her Eurythmics years.
3.
Sting: Steve Bissette and John Totleben, who
animated DC’s ‘Hellblazer’ series, where fans of The Police and wanted to make
a character look like their lead singer. That is why they created the series’
anti-hero, John Constantine, to look like Sting. The character was modeled
specifically after his movie roles, namely in ‘Quadrophenia’ and ‘Brimstone.’
4.
Mark Mothersbaugh: Not only did Devo’s Mark
Mothersbaugh create the music for many of Nickelodeon’s early cartoons, his unique
looks were immortalized in one of them too. The character of Chuckie Finster in
‘Rugrats’ was designed to sport Mothersbaugh’s disheveled hair and boxy
glasses.
5.
Johnny and Edgar Winter: In the DC comic ‘Jonah
Hex,’ one of the villains the title character went up against was a duo of albino
worm monsters called the Autumn Brothers. These characters were supposed to be
a parody of another famous albino duo: blues rockers Johnny and Edgar Winter. The
brothers were not too happy about the inclusion in the books and sued DC
Comics. Unfortunately for them, the case was dismissed, as using their likenesses
were well within the company’s First Amendment rights to free speech.
6.
Kiss: Kiss is no stranger to lending their image
to just about anything. That includes comic books. The kings of self-promotion have
been animated in many, including titles by Marvel, Dark Horse and even Archie.
Kiss has met superheroes and become superheroes. The band didn’t even mind when
their likenesses were stolen by Revolutionary Comics.
Many comic book artists and animators get their inspiration
for characters from musicians. Whether the artist is happy about the usage of
their likeness or not, it is interesting to note how music idols have
influenced not only music, but art and books as well.
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Find music from these artists and more at Vinyl Bay 777, Long
Island’s top new independent record shop. We have thousands of titles to choose
from spanning many decades and genres. Browse our massive selection of new and
used vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, DVDs and memorabilia. New titles are being
added all the time, so now is the perfect time to stop by our Plainview store
or shop online at vinylbay777.com.
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