Although IDW Publishing’s biographies of the presidential candidates have been getting the lion’s share of the attention, there are two other memoirs hitting stores this week. Who knew?
The barely publicized bios, titled McCain: The Comic Book and Obama: The Comic Book, come from Antarctic Press, better known for such titles as Ninja High School, Gold Digger and Yeti vs. Vampire.
The San Antonio Express-News manages to work a “BAM!” and a “POW!” into its article on the titles while noting that the comics don’t rely on those cliches.
“When you show somebody that looks heroic doing something heroic, then it seems that would be a natural thing for them to do,” artist Chris Allen tells the newspaper. “But if you show somebody who’s just human doing something heroic, then it comes off as these people made extraordinary decisions and followed them through.”
You can see previews of both comics here.
October 28th, 2008 at 11:22 am
I wonder if Frank Marshall Davis, Alice Palmer, Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dorn, Tony Rezko, Father Pleger, Rashid Kalidi, and good ol’ Jeremiah Wright will show up in Obama’s comic book?
Something tells me they won’t.
Oh, and by the way, McCain was completely cleared of the the Keating Five thing…so don’t even bother.
October 28th, 2008 at 11:32 am
I guess you’ll have to buy a copy to find out for sure.
Something tells me you won’t.
October 28th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Well…I am getting low on toilet paper.
October 28th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Another casualty of the economy?
October 28th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
This, more than ever, is truly Mike Mackey’s time to shine!
C’mon, I want a comic that features a cybernetic space Obama holding America hostage, only to be defeated by a heroic ninja/bounty hunter McCain. Palin could be the brilliant yet sexy computer wizard who is also an android and Joe Biden could be a villainous despot who detonates a nuke in mid-Manhattan.
Who’s with me on this??
October 28th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
It’s nice to see these types of comics (historical, fact-based, bio, etc.) working their way back into the market. Hopefully, it will draw the attention of folks outside the comics realm and entice them to check out more other comics.
Graphic design nitpick: Obama is in all caps, McCain is sentence case. For consistency, they should really be the same.
October 28th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
“But if you show somebody who’s just human doing something heroic, then it comes off as these people made extraordinary decisions and followed them through.”
Really…what truly heroic thing has Obama ever done? Seems to me he’s always gone along to get along in the various liberal/radical parlors he’s passed through…then ran for president as soon as he was elected a Senator.
Any courageous bills he introduced? Anyone in his native Chicago political system or within his Senatorial caucas that he’s bucked or stood against on pricipal? Any personal stories of courage or bravery?
Like Kevin said, it looks like I’ll have to take a look at the Obama comic to see what in the world Chris Allen was talking about.
October 28th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
So, are you just baiting, or are you having some Dale Gribble-esque argument with yourself?
October 28th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
No, Kev…I’m just responding to the comment of the artist quoted in the story you highlighted. Seeing the “comments” option available, I figured you were inviting comments that were relevant to the item you posted. No need to compare me to a beer guzzling dullard from an animated TV show. But I guess that’s just your way.
October 28th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
And what did McCain do that was so heroic other than nearly failing out of military school, blowing up as many American planes as enemy ones, fleeing fires on the Forrestal and hiding in the ready room while his crewmates died trying to put the fires out, and repeatedly violating the military code of conduct when captured?
I mean, if we’re going to make smears on a man’s character, I’d say that offering to sell out military intelligence in exchange for medical treatment is significantly more damaging than listening to someone say “God Damn America” a few times.
October 28th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Hey Mark, don’t get started bringing up people like Ayers or Wright. Wright is a decorated veteran who served his country with honor, and if you’ve bothered to look up the things he’s said, in their FULL CONTEXT, you’d find that nothing he said has been all that inflammatory. In fact, a lot of what he’s said has been downright truthful. Honestly… The full transcripts are out there. Go do some research.
Even if he were what you’re making him out to be, what does any of that have to with Obama? I wasn’t aware that people were responsible for what their ministers might say. While we’re thinking along those lines, how about the mysogynistic evangelicals who have thrown their support behind McCain? Or how about Palin’s “blessings,” from a guy protecting her from witchcraft and praying for more money for her campaigns?
And Bill Ayers? Whatever… He was a 60′s radical. So what? A lot of people were. Since then, he’s been a respected professor of education at the University of Florida, and his involvement with Obama consists of serving two charitable boards that enjoyed mainstream, civic support in Chicago. Oh, and charges against Ayers’ past activism were DROPPED in 1974. I found all of that easily enough in the NY Times. Shall I continue?
Really, keep grasping for straws in trying to make something stick to Obama… It’s worked awfully well for the McCain/Palin campaign so far, hasn’t it? Maybe if McCain hadn’t spent so much time helping deregulate Wall Street, hadn’t so stupidly embraced all the faulty intel leading us into the disasterous Iraq war, hadn’t chosen an frighteningly inexperienced running mate, and hadn’t embraced the same hateful, divisive tactics the Bush campaign used against him eight years ago, McCain might’ve be on to something. But he didn’t, and he’s not.
Thankfully, it looks like we’ll be able to start rebuilding the damage the last eight years has done to this country. Soon.
October 28th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
CORRECTION: Ayers is a professor at the University of Illinois (I believe), not Florida… Not sure why I typed Florida. Might be because we just recently got back from Disney World? Sorry for the error.
October 28th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
What has “heroic” things Obama ever done? OK, I guess being an excellent community organizer, working to improve the lives of underprivileged people, along with having been a college teacher isn’t “heroic” enough, huh?
Meanwhile, John McCain can’t tell you how many houses he owns and Sarah Palin can’t tell you what newspapers she reads. Oh, wait… She reads “All of them!”
You betcha!
October 29th, 2008 at 10:45 am
You can’t be a woman of the people & a liberal intellectual at one & the same time – this is her perfect pitch.
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