Knowledge Waits is a feature where I just share some bit of comic book history that interests me.

My pal Jeff Ryan, who recently wrote a really cool book about the history of Disney called A Mouse Divided, wrote me about this one a while back and he thought it might make for an interesting Comic Book Legends Revealed.

I think it's a funny story, but I didn't think it was quite enough to be a "legend," but it just occurred to me that that doesn't mean that I can't write about it period, as it IS a funny connection, in a roundabout way.

Back in 2015, when he was gearing up for his amazing performance in Jessica Jones as Killgrave (the Purple Man), David Tennant visited Marvel's offices in New York City.

Here are some photos that Marvel shared from the visit, including Tennant posing in front of Jessica Jones on a mural on a wall...

It is interesting to see Tennant sitting at the desk of a Marvel Comics editor because Tennant's famous stage name actually came about due to a connection to a Marvel Comics editor! Well...in a roundabout way that really is more a case of the sort of thing that amuses people like me and Jeff Ryan, but still!

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In an appearance on the Late Late Show With James Corden, Tennant explained the reason he changed his name from his birth name of David McDonald...

"Its that actor's thing, where if you join the actors' union, if there's already somebody with that name you have to change it. It's like your trademark, I guess. It's like a union rule. I did my first job at 16 – at 16 years old I didn't know actors, I didn't know how you chose a name. So I flicked through a music magazine. So I'm sort of named after Neil Tennant from the Pet Shop Boys! I mean not explicitly, I'm not related to him. I was just leafing through a magazine and thought, 'What am I going to call myself?'. It could have been Sade!"

How this ties into comics, though, is that Neal Tennant was an editor for Marvel before he formed the Pet Shop Boys!

From a (VERY) old Comic Book Legends Revealed (from nearly 13 years ago!):

Tennant worked as an editor for Marvel UK during the late 70s.

If you visit the official website of the duo, there is a section on the group's history, and it details the situation as thus:

[In 1975,] After completing a degree in history at the Polytechnic of North London, Neil takes a job at Marvel Comics, anglicizing spelling and indicating where over-risque women needed to be redrawn decently. While there he interviews comic fan Marc Bolan, who politely informs him that his tape record wasn't working.

Here's a neat picture of Neil, while working at Marvel UK...

Tennant moved on to work for Smash Hits, a British teen pop magazine, and it was while working for Smash Hits that the duo began performing together and eventually becoming the Pet Shop Boys.

So, in a very indirect way, David Tennant took his name from the name of a Marvel Comics editor!

Thanks to Jeff for getting me to write about this eventually!

If anyone else has a piece of comic book history that you'd like to see me write about, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!