It all started with ‘Savage Dragon’ #137.  The general public have been led to believe otherwise, but Barack Obama’s first appearance in a super-hero comic occurred in that September 2008 issue of Erik Larsen’s book. What has happened since that fateful issue hit the new release wall is a perfect storm of good marketing, mass hysteria, and cheesy gimmicks: comics have become Obama-fied.

Marvel took the game to new heights when, a week before Obama’s inauguration, they announced a special issue of Amazing Spider-Man #583 that contained a 5-page Obama side story. A variant cover to the issue even featured Obama’s smiling face.

The media grabbed onto the story and went nuts. Before you knew it, Joe Quesada was all over CNN talking about how Spider-Man and the President were great friends. Other news outlets picked up the story, there were articles in newspapers, everyone was talking about the team-up. It was revealed that the President was a fan of comic books, especially Conan the Barbarian and of course, Spider-Man.

Then the phone calls began. Our store began receiving 20-30 calls a day from people asking about the comic. We spent hours over the next few weeks explaining what a ‘variant’ cover was, and the differences between 1st, 2nd, 3rd and eventually, 5th printings.
We had people waiting outside our doors on Wednesday mornings that we had never seen before. This was a great opportunity, we thought, to capitalize on the momentum of the media attention and gain some new customers. But at the end of the day, those folks were only interested in grabbing that issue, and walking right out again. ‘Scalper’-types started showing up in the store attempting to purchase multiples of the issue, while coordinating with their counterparts in line at other stores. Customers were depending on the future value of the book to pay for their children's university educations. It was madness!

The issue was an insane success for Marvel. The combination of Spidey and Obama became one of the best selling single issues of all time. Other publishers and comic creators began to take note. Rob Liefield put the President on the cover of Youngblood #8.  Obama made another appearance in Savage Dragon. Marvel’s Thunderbolts began featuring an unnamed, very ‘Obama-like’ President. Obama T-shirts designed by Alex Ross began appearing. Wizard magazine featured him on it’s covers. IDW then announced a 2-issue biographical account of the President’s first 100 days. Publishers were eager to cash in on the popularity of the leader of the free world.

Awhile back I joked that one of the publishers should just give Obama his own ongoing series, already.

Well Devil’s Due has done just that. In June they will release “Barack the Barbarian: Quest for the Treasure of the Stimuli”.  An ongoing series, the title will feature Barack, Sorceress Hilaria, her demi-god trickster husband Biil, Overlord Boosh and Chainknee of the Elephant Kingdom.

This was the last straw for me. The appearances of Obama in comics is increasingly looking like a ridiculous cash grab from publishers. Considering the current financial situation over at Devil’s Due, this new series reeks of desperation.  I liken it to the glut of multiple foil covers and such in the 1990’s. I concede that the publishers have a right to make their money if there is an opportunity to do so, but at what point does the Obama-fication of comics tarnish their reputation in the eyes of the fans who have supported them?

I have come to respect DC Comics’ stance that they have no intention of featuring Barack Obama in their books. I like this approach. In a perfect world the success of a comic would be defined by the quality of the art and the writing, and not by who is being featured on the cover.

Nowadays, we get people coming into our store offering to sell copies of books they picked up on a whim in the 90’s when regular-folk were buying up comics in droves.  I can’t tell you how may times we’ve been offered titles like “The Death of Superman”. We politely decline, letting the customer know that we don’t really purchase comics and that there isn’t really a market for books such as theirs anymore. I would not be surprised, if 10 years down the road, Amazing Spider-Man #583, and all the others like it, are grouped into that same category.
 
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Don't forget to check out our FREE COMIC BOOK DAY happening May 2, 2009! Lots of artists appearing, including Superman/Batman's Francis Manapul, Transformers' Alex Milne, and The Incredibles artist Marcio Takara!