Pete Best

Pete Best is the real-life drummer who played with The Beatles before Ringo Starr, depicted here as a comic-book version of himself during the early Beatlemania era alongside John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison.

Drawn into comics history at the very dawn of Beatlemania, Pete Best made his four-color debut in 1964's The Beatles #1, brought to life by the legendary Joe Sinnott in what stands as a genuine Silver Age curiosity. Across a publishing life stretching all the way to 1981, this rare figure turns up in a fascinating spread of titles — from The Beatles and Marvel Comics Super Special to the British institution Look-In — sharing pages with John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and even the far-future company of Buck Rogers and Wilma Deering. With only seven catalogued appearances, Pete Best is the very definition of a collector's find: a character whose scarcity makes each sighting feel like a small discovery. If you love the intersection of pop culture and comics history, tracking down his appearances is a wonderfully offbeat quest.