Current mood:	busy
Current music:	John Lennon: "(Just Like) Starting Over"
Entry tags:	genre: biography, publisher: dell publishing, theme: music

In honor of what would have been John Lennon's 70th birthday today, here are scans from a Beatles biography comic book published by Dell in 1964. Jelly babies! Fake beards! John's one terrifying creepface!




The comic comes in five parts: bios for each of the Beatles, and a general "history" of the band. Here are excerpts from John's section:



"the serious look of a married man" oh lord

Having been published at the height of Beatlemania, the comic is pretty fluffy, heavily-idealized stuff, in keeping with their "cute and innocent" image at the time.

John's first marriage to Cynthia Powell is depicted as something straight out of a 50s romance comic:


Not shown: the nearby jackhammer drowning out the entire ceremony, the Best Man secretly in love with the groom, the shotgun...

It even tries to put a light spin on John yelling at his fans:


NO HE IS KIDDING WHEN HE TELLS YOU TO SHUT UP, REALLY

Also, John only has one facial expression. Ever.



See? He even smiles while yelling at his barber. (And Inexplicably Ginger Brian Epstein gazes longingly on)


You know it's a real art gallery because the people wear berets. Also the artist apparently thought Julian Lennon was a girl, IDK.

JELLY BABY ATTACK


Beatlemania hits, making it hard to walk around freely. BUT JOHN AND PAUL HAVE A SOLUTION:


Beatles with beards? That would never work out.



And hordes of innocent young men have their beards brutally ripped off their faces. THANKS LENNON AND MCCARTNEY.

But I'll leave you with a wisecrack: