Jump Games - Put Images Into JTable For Organization And Character Selection Purposes

HTML Code:

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.border.Border;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
public class Main extends JApplet implements Runnable, ActionListener {

[Code] .....

I am making a game and there are two problems that I have and can't seem to solve. I never made on applet before, and I'm not good with the swing components, but I am decent programming in Java.

Problem #1: the start button is in the JPanel, I don't want that, I want it to be above the JPanel.
Problem #2: I want to put images in to a JTable for organization and character selection purposes, but I keep on getting a string. Do I have to use an ImageIcon to get it to work, or does it matter?

In case you were wonder what kind of game I'm making, I'm making one of those jump games where you jump on platforms and try to go as high as you can without missing a platform. There is going to be character selection for the jumper, and the jumpers are going to be food, like a potato, a banana, a strawberry, etc.