USA Today, the world’s number one source of comic book news, has a story about the fact that President Elect Barack Obama will be appearing in next week’s Amazing Spider-Man #583:
In the story by Zeb Wells, Todd Nauck and Frank D’Armata, Spider-Man stops the Chameleon from spoiling Obama’s swearing-in. At one point, Spider-Man says he mistook Vice President-elect Joe Biden for the Vulture (a vintage Spider-Man villain)
In the article, Joe Quesada cites the inspiration of the story as the fact that Obama is a Spidey fan. I assume the phenomenal sales of the Obama issues of Savage Dragon, the amount of ink both Erik Larsen’s super-comic and IDW’s Presidential Material bio comics got and the fact that featuring Obama would land a story in USA Today or some other mainstream media source didn’t hurt either. (By the way, a third printing of the Obama Presidential Material comic is on Diamond’s shipping list for next week as well).
USA Today also ran an image of Obama giving Spidey some awkward-looking daps, a drawing that the foul-mouthed smart-asses at Wonkette* found less than compelling:
…could Marvel Comics maybe hire somebody who can maybe draw something vaguely resembling the president-elect, rather than “random negro dude in a suit who also seems to have neck tumors”?
Okay, so it’s not the greatest likeness, but Nauck’s character designs are never too highly individualized. It doesn’t make him a bad artist—I really dig his work, personally—just not a great choice for celebrity likeness comics. But hell, it could be worse. Could you imagine what Ed Benes’ Obama would look like, if she showed up in Justice League of America? He’d basically look exactly like Green Lantern John Stewart, with his abs showing through his three-piece suit, the pants of which would cling to his rock hard ass as if they were painted on.
Oh God, why do I imagine such things, let alone say them out loud…? Sorry.
For more info, including a look at the Phil Jimenez drawn cover, and words with editor Steve Wacker, check out Vaneta Rogers’ piece on the Newsarama proper here.
*I mean that as a compliment, by the way. I read the hell out of Wonkette all day.
January 8th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
>>He’d basically look exactly like Green Lantern John Stewart, with his abs showing through his three-piece suit, the pants of which would cling to his rock hard ass as if they were painted on.<<
Er…that’s far too much thought into it.
January 8th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Weirdly enough, I imagine people could get these, flip them on e-bay and make a quick profit. With this news hitting today, there’s no way retailers could have ordered enough of this issue to order enough for the demand.
January 9th, 2009 at 8:04 am
Todd Nauck wept.