Michael Jackson was always a keen reader of comic books, and in the 1980s he was often referred to in them. Comicbook.com takes a look at some aspects of his association with the comics world. It’s been widely reported that in his last weeks the Gloved One enlisted the help of TV’s Incredible Hulk, Lou Ferrigno, to help get in shape for the marathon series of London concerts he planned to undertake next month before tragedy struck.
But did you know that Jackson reportedly once met with Stan Lee to discuss buying Marvel Comics – the whole shebang? With Spidey and the Fantastic Four in the hands of MJ, the whole course of history might have been changed.
And speaking of Marvel, back in the early ’70s it had a short-lived title called Spoof, somewhat in the tradition of the 1950s Mad. The cover of issue #3 (for January 1973) featured the first appearance of Jackson on the front of a comic book. He was depicted with his brothers, Bob Dylan, the former Beatles, Elvis, the Stones, and the Osmonds in the grandstand of that year’s Presidential inauguration in Washington, watching as John Lennon swore in David Cassidy as Chief Executive. The foreground of the cover showed Spiro Agnew casting a baleful glance at Richard Nixon and saying, “You had to lower the voting age to 18.” (The scene was clearly inspired by that wacky old movie Wild In The Streets.)