Comic Book Resources

"Now at midnight all the agents
And the superhuman crew
Come out and round up everyone
That knows more than they do..."

from Desolation Row

That'S Checkmate, right?

Suddenly I turned around and she was standin' there
With silver bracelets on her wrists and flowers in her hair.
She walked up to me so gracefully and took my crown of thorns.
"Come in," she said,
"I'll give you shelter from the storm."

- Shelter From The Storm

That should be the Storm song

"At midnight all the agents" is a chapter title in Watchmen, as is "Two riders were approaching" from All Along The Watchtower. It's working both ways.

Fun post!

"Isis oh Isis you mystical child/
What drives me to you is what drives me insane."

From, of course, "Isis."

who knew dylan was such a marvel zombie

It's hard to believe that in all the songs he's written, Dylan has never used the words Daredevil, Hulk, Firestorm, Phoenix or Sandman.

Oh, if he only wrote a song involving NFL Superpro...

I don't have many Dylan songs committed to memory, but if you want to talk Pink Floyd lyrics, there is a reference to AVENGERS FOREVER in "Sheep". Or maybe that's the other way around.

"Oh, the ragman draws circles
Up and down the block.
I'd ask him what the matter was
But I know that he don't talk."

"He's a great humanitarian, he's a great philanthropist,
He knows just where to touch you, honey, and how you like to be kissed.
He'll put both his arms around you,
You can feel the tender touch of the beast."
-- Man of Peace

“He’s a great humanitarian, he’s a great philanthropist,
He knows just where to touch you, honey, and how you like to be kissed.
He’ll put both his arms around you,
You can feel the tender touch of the beast.”
– Man of Peace

Sean wins.

"It’s hard to believe that in all the songs he’s written, Dylan has never used the words Daredevil, Hulk, Firestorm, Phoenix or Sandman."

You wanna talk weird? He has name-checked Alicia Keys, but not Superman.

Not to mention Cassanova, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, TS Eliot & Ezra Pound, the Phantom of the Opera, Hattie Caroll, Woody Guthrie, Captain Ahab, Cassius Clay, God, Jesus, Moses, Abraham...

"Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune"

Mike - it's not "Ahab" in the song, it's "Arab". But Alicia Keys seems like a stranger mention in a Dylan song to me than any of those.

I love the Alicia Keys reference on his last album, because it's such an interesting point that never gets brought up - the whole "This famous person was born right where I was living" idea.

That should be the Storm song

I tried, if I could, to avoid using references like "the Storm," so I could better approximate it as Dylan actually talking about an actual person NAMED storm.

So that's why I went with "I feel the breath of a storm."

“Oh, the ragman draws circles
Up and down the block.
I’d ask him what the matter was
But I know that he don’t talk.”

Beast was good, Sean, but this one was perfect. Thanks!

What about the little-known extra verse in All Along The Watchtower, when he just sings "Starbuck is the fifth Cylon" over and over again while bashing his head against a bulkhead? Doesn't that count?

I thought it was Ahab the A-rab.

Surprised no one's mentioned the obvious opening line of "Watchtower," which sounds as if the Joker is trying to convince Catwoman to bust out of Arkham.

You guys have got to hear this story though--I was listening to Dylan's XM radio show a few months back; the theme was "The Devil" IIRC, and he said "Time for an e-mail." Dylan always "reads" gag e-mails that tie into the theme. He credited the e-mail as being from "M. Mudock, Hell's Kitchen, New York." I about fell off the floor.

Yeah, I remember that e-mail, too, Azor.

It definitely made me laugh.

You forgot my favorite Dylan Marvel superhero reference in "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue:"

"Yonder stands your Orphan [from X-Force/X-Statix] with his gun/
Crying crazy patterns in the sun."

Remember how Orphan aka Mr. Sensitive used to frequently put a gun to his own head? Yeah, it's 'cause he identified too much with this song (although I bet he liked the Van Morrison version better!).

y'all forgot "Hurricane" Carter in that list of celebs

What? No love for "VISIONs of Johanna?"

Okay, that's a stretch. But "Masters of War" was certainly about Tony Stark's company.

This thread has reminded me how terrible of a song Jokerman is.

Thanks for the laughs.

[...] En el blog norteamericano Comics should be good, se han dedicado a rebuscar en las canciones de Dylan e intentar casar las letras con algunos superhéroes (Alguno de ellos completamente desconocido para mí). El resultado no deja de ser extraño y divertido al mismo tiempo, aunque lo mejor de todo son los comentarios que los visitantes han ido dejando. [...]