McCain and Obama get their own comic books

Some people say Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has a temper like the Hulk, others think Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is more slippery than Aquaman -- but did anyone expect the two presumptive presidential candidates to be getting their own comic books?

IDW Publishing, a comics company best known for horror titles (most notably "30 Days of Night") and adaptations of movies and television shows, is going into the beltway world by publishing "Presidential Material: Barack Obama" and "Presidential Material: John McCain," a pair of graphic novels that chronicle the life of the two men who both want to be riding on Air Force One for four years.

The Obama book is written be Jeff Mariotte (autor of the novel "River Runs Red") and drawn by Tom Morgan while the McCain edition is authored by Andy Helfer (who has done comics biographies of Ronald Reagan and Malcolm X) and drawn by Stephen Thompson. Both have covers drawn by J. Scott Campbell ("Gen13," "Danger Girl"). The $3.99 books hit stores on Oct. 8 but you can order now here.

“We’re tremendously proud of these books,” IDW president Ted Adams said in a press release.  “Comics and graphic novels speak to millions of people encompassing all demographic, social, cultural and economic stripes.  It’s a great way to get beyond the headlines on these two candidates.” 

In addition to the print versions, mobile phone users can purchase the books for downloading through Uclick’s GoComics.

The question, of course, is which candidate will sell the most copies? We'll check back in on that in the weeks to come. Our bet? Well, IDW is also putting the two titles together in a flip book (a cover on each side, the stories run in opposite directions inside) and, well, Hero Complex will just declare itself an undecided voter at this time.

-- Geoff Boucher

Images courtesy of IDW Publishing.

Comments

[vegasgirl]

Well, heck, if it helps actually inform younger people and gets them to the polls this November then that's fine by me!

[Harold]

Younger people don't buy $4 comic books, they just download them off the internet.

[Bob Alunni]

Hey, it got published and seemed to catch everyone's attention, so job well done! Sales might be a different story...

[Bob Alunni]

Hey, it got published and seemed to catch everyone's attention, so job well done! Sales might be a different story...

[Matt]

I read comic books as a kid. John McCain's will be much better because it has adventure, tales of heroism, jet fighters, cool stuff. Obama's will be scary, kind of like the Manchurian Candidate.

[Harold]

It hasn't been published yet, and this week is a big comic book convention so there are press releases coming out left and right,

[Christophe Hugo]

Another comic book about Obama has been in the work for some time, here are a few pre-promo pics:

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/6436/superobamaxh0.jpg
http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/370/obamasinbdcl4.jpg

for more info:
Christophe Hugo
caricavatars@gmail.com

[Bill]

You can pre-order copies of this book right now. This site is doing something pretty inventive as well by having the sales run as sort of a poll

http://www.atomiccomics.com/election.html