Cool book alert: 'The Beatles in Comic Strips'

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Cool book alert: 'The Beatles in Comic Strips'

By Whitney Matheson, USA TODAY

Aug 22, 2012

We all know the Beatles' images have appeared pretty much everywhere, from baby onesies to, um, toilet seats.

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Rizzoli/Skira

But did you know the Fab Four has a long history of appearing in comic books? From Marvel to DC to publishers in Spain, Italy and France, the group has adorned the pages of funnybooks since the early '60s.

A fascinating new book delves into the colorful history of the band. The Beatles in Comic Strips (Skira, $39.95) showcases about 200 hundred strips that feature John, Paul, George and Ringo. They range from obscure European strips to more familiar territory, like Richie Rich, Archie, Teen Titans, Spawnand even Batman.

Compiled by rock historian Enzo Gentile and Beatles comics collector Fabio Schiavo (they're Italian), the book does a good job of offering a variety of art and correlating it with events in Beatles history. (There are several John Lennon tribute pieces, for example.) However, it's not perfect: Pages could use more detailed descriptions, and the artists/writers are basically ignored.

If you collect Beatles memorabilia or know someone who does, this title would make a fun gift -- and it comes with a couple posters to boot. Below I've included a few images, starting with one from Vertigo's The Invisibles:

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DC Comics

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Artima Color Marvel

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Marvel Comics Group

The Beatles in Comic Strips is on sale now.