President Obama in Comics: An Interesting and Peculiar Selection from the Sub-Sub-Genre…

President Obama has already featured in a number of comic books: be they comic/graphic adaptations of his life story, campaign-biography style one-shots, or cameos in established series comic series (such as Marc Guggenheim’s Avenging Spider-Man, below). Few presidents have excited the imaginations of such a broad segment of the American public and creative industries as has the 44th president. As someone who is interested in the cross-over areas of politics, media and pop culture, these past five years have been a fertile time for alternative presidential coverage.

Boom Studios’ Barack Obama 2012 Election Issue

Barack Obama: The Comic Book Biography (IDW, 2012); Marvel’s Amazing Spider-Man: Election Day Cover, 2008 (above) and interior pages (below)

Most recently, IDW Comics published The Other Dead (currently at issue #4), which is elevator-pitched as “Zombie Animals Devour the World”. The longer-form description sounds like a familiar, fauna-twist on The Walking Dead:

“As a weary community braces for the onslaught of an incoming superstorm, an even more insidious force grows right under their noses! When a sudden outbreak turns every animal in sight into raging, flesh-craving monsters, a colorful cast of characters will have no choice but to contend with THE OTHER DEAD!”

But, as the series unfolds, and the infection spreads across America, a diverse cast of characters – “ranging from a demon-obsessed death metal band to a paranoid survivalist to the President of the United States himself” – will try to contend with and combat “the most unpredictable zombie outbreak in history.” I don’t have any interior page previews featuring the president, but of the 11 cover variants that have thus-far been revealed for the first four issues, there are two (#1 and #4) that feature President Obama prominently, toting some serious firepower:

The Other Dead issues #1-4 are out now, published by IDW Comics. The series is written by Joshua Ortega and Digger T. Mesch, cover artwork is by Kevin Eastman, interior artwork is by Qing Ping Mui, and colouring by Blond.

Comic Cover Conformity…

While I understand that there are certain images that are iconic or eye-catching, I can’t help but raise an eyebrow at the similarities between the covers for Brooklyn Animal Control (a one-shot from IDW) and Garth Ennis’s new series, Red Team #2 (Dynamite):

I’ve read neither comic (though I’d like to give the series a try). But damn, those compositions are similar…

Comics Round-Up (Aug.8)

A rather late round-up (was very distracted last week – although it’s annoying, as I had a few of these read and reviewed way before they were published). It’s another nice mix of comics this week – some more Star Wars action, post-apocalyptic mystery, serious post-apocalyptic zombies, tongue-in(-through?)-cheek post-apocalyptic zombies, and a mystery.

Reviewed: The Creep #0, Deadworld: War of the Dead #2, Fanboys vs. Zombies #5, The Massive #3, SW: Knight Errant – Escape #3, SW: Lost Tribe of the Sith #1, Waking: Dream’s End #3

Comics Round-Up (Aug.1)

A quick review of some of this week’s comics. It’s another broad and pretty high-quality selection, with some of the best new series and intriguing continuing series.

I wish I could still offer more DC and Marvel series reviews, but I may be able to in the near future. Watch this space.

Reviewed: The Cape 1969 #2, Deadworld – War of the Dead #1, Higher Earth #3, Hypernaturals #2, Infected #1, Love & Capes – What to Expect #1, Magic the Gathering: Spell Thief #2

Comics Round-Up (Jul.25)

A smaller selection this week, and a pleasantly varied one yet again – some horror, off-beat thriller (with an alien), some ninja-military action, and a pair of Star Wars adventures. I’m not entirely impressed with all the issues (in fact, I only really liked two of them, while each of the others fell slightly short of meeting my expectations).

Reviewed: Bad Girls #1, B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth – Exorcism #2, Resident Alien #3, Snake Eyes #15, Star Wars: Blood Ties – Boba Fett Is Dead #4, Star Wars: Darth Maul – Death Sentence #1

Comics Round-Up (Jul.18)

Things are finally getting back to normal after the terrible (comparatively short) era in which a Virus Ate My Computer. This means the weekly comics round-ups should start appearing as before (except for the occasional week when nothing available catches my eye). And this week, it’s a rather nice mix.

Reviewed: Cobra #15, Danger Girl & G.I.Joe #1, Extermination #2, Grimm Fairy Tales #75, GFT – Myths & Legends #18, Irresistible #1, Jungle Book #4, Star Wars: Darth Vader & the Ghost Prison #3, Wonderland Annual, Wonderland #1

Comics Catch-Up & Review: IDW

A mixture of catch-up titles and also a handful of new releases. A nice selection, too, ticking off fantasy, sci-fi, military action, thrillers, and more – not only that, they were all pretty good issues as well.

Reviewed: After the Fire Special, Battle Beasts #1, The Cape 1969 #1, The Crow #1, G.I.Joe #15, Magic The Gathering: Spell Thief #1, Memorial #6, Smoke & Mirrors #4, Snake Eyes #14

Comics Round-Up (June 13)

Bit of a mixed bag, this week. Also rather delayed – sorry about that, but I was moving and packing up all my stuff in NYC, so things got a little delayed and pushed back. This week’s there’s a massive (though predictable) disappointment, but also a couple of interesting and well-done comics. Also, one of my favourite series comes to an end.

Reviewed: Action Comics #10, Batman: Detective Comics #10, Cobra #14, Incorruptible #30, Star Wars: Knight Errant – Escape #1, Valen the Outcast #7

Comics Round-Up (June 6)

A bit more of a targeted selection of comics. A lot of fun ones, too: a great reinterpretation of a classic villain; two “heroes” fighting in the face of an alien invasion; zombies want to eat the braaainz of geeks; clandestine military outfits; some weirdness; and the families of super-heroes deal with a post-battle situation. I’ve been pretty busy and distracted all week, so I’ve only written short reviews – this is probably advisable, actually, as some of these are now a good way into their runs, so I don’t want to spoil too much.

Reviewed: Batman Annual #1, Extermination #1, Fanboys vs. Zombies #3, G.I.Joe #14, Monocyte #4, Supurbia #4

Comics Round-Up (May 30)

A few catch-ups and one really early review of a new series by one of my favourite comics’ writers. This was another pretty busy week, so while I tried to get as many of the comics reviewed as I could, some nevertheless had to be culled from the list. Some of these I was sent for review, so they will be read and reviewed at a later date. I just wanted to get the reviews of these issues up ASAP.

This is also one of the last weeks I’ll be reviewing individual DC issues for a while (I may do a couple more next week), as I’m heading back to the UK mid-June. I’m still working on coming back to the US if possible – Alyssa’s here for another four years, so my desperate quest for employment in or around New York continues! I’m almost at the point of begging, but that would be rather unseemly and undignified.

[*cough* … Please help … *cough*]

Anyway, on with the reviews!

Reviewed: Avengers vs. X-Men #4, AvX VS #2, Batman: The Dark Knight #9, Batwoman #9, BPRD: Hell on Earth – Transformation of J.H. O’Donnell, Call of Wonderland #1, The Defenders #6, Massive #1, Snake Eyes & Storm Shadow #13, Star Wars: Blood Ties – Boba Fett is Dead #1-2, Superman #9, Wolverine & the X-Men #10

Comics Round-Up (May 23)

Another busy week – with some new series and also the end to one of my favourites. There were also some surprisingly good issues, too – not because I was expecting bad issues necessarily, but they just exceeded my expectations.

Reviewed: Catwoman #9, Cobra #13, Grimm Fairy Tales #72 & #73, Guild Fawkes (One-Shot), Irredeemable #37, Justice League #9, Magic: The Gathering #4, Mind MGMT #1, Neverland: Hook #5, Nightwing #9, Resident Alien #1, Smoke & Mirrors #3, Star Wars: Darth Vader & the Ghost Prison #1, Wolverine & the X-Men #9

Comics Round-Up (May 9)

Quite a busy week for comics – partly because of the free ones I got on Free Comic Book Day, but also a good selection of others that I had a chance to catch up on. Unfortunately, I read and reviewed these over a pretty stressful couple of days, so some of the reviews are rather short. If you’d like to know more, leave a comment and I’ll expand on the issue in question.

This was my first year able to attend FCBD, and it was… Eye-opening. For one, it’s a superb idea, and one that I hope continues for a very long time, if not forever. It’s a great way to check out some new and upcoming titles and, as in my case, some older titles – as long as you get to your local comic store(s) early. It was manic at Jim Hanley’s Universe, and I went late in the day! Midtown’s Grand Central location was empty (and way too hot), but that’s because they’d run out of free comic books (I did pick up the Ultimate Spider-Man issue there for free, though). So, anyway. Without further ado, here are some comics from this and last week…

Reviewed: Action Comics #9, Avenging Spider-Man #6, Batman: Detective Comics #766 (FCBD), Fanboys vs. Zombies #2, G.I.Joe #13, Higher Earth #1, Memorial #5, The New 52 #1 (FCBD), Night of 1,000 Wolves #1, The Punisher #10, Superboy #8, Supurbia #3, Teen Titans Annual #1, Trio #1, Ultimate Spider-Man #160 (FCBD)

“FCBD” = an issue I got on Free Comic Book Day

Comics Round-Up (Apr.25)

This turned out to be a longer post than anticipated, just because I was so slow about reviewing things on time – for a pleasant change, other commitments got in the way of my comics-reading this week. Better late than never, though, so read on for a bumper comics round-up! There were some great issues this week, too.

Reviewed: Alice #5, All-Star Western #8, AvX: VS #1, Catwoman #8, I Vampire #8, Grimm Fairy Tales: Myths & Legends #15, Justice League #8, Justice League Dark #8, New Deadwardians #2, The Portent #4, Road Rage #3, Snake Eyes #12, Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi #3

Comics Round-Up (Apr.18)

A pretty solid collection of varied comics: twisted fairy tales, fantasy, super-heroes, and horror. I wasn’t organised enough to get them all reviewed for a Tuesday post, so I was able to add a few more titles. There were actually going to be more from last week, but both of my go-to comic stores in New York had completely sold out of Saga #2 and Resurrection Man #8. I decided to cut back on a few of the others, too. For example, I decided that I’ll wait for Suicide Squad, Grifter and Demon Knights to be available as collections.

Reviewed: Alice #4, Batgirl #8, Batman & Robin #8, Batwoman #8, Dungeons & Dragons 2012 Annual, Irredeemable #36, Jungle Book #2, Secret Service #1, Star Wars: Agent of the Empire #5, The Theater #5

Comics Round-Up (Apr.11)

A rather quick round-up – these were all interesting issues but, with the exception of Cobra, they all felt as if they were missing something important to make them gripping and necessary. Perhaps it was a lack of forward movement of the story; or a slight hitch in the plot due to lack of explanation; or, as in the case of one of them, just a big difference in sense of humour. Whatever it was, only Cobra really hooked me and lived up to previous issues.

Reviewed Herein: Cobra #12, Iron Muslim, Smoke & Mirrors #2, Supurbia #2

Comics Round-Up (Apr.4)

A very good, diverse week of comics: spies, twisted fairy tales, undead kings, real American heroes, superheroes, and also zombies. Covers most of the bases.

Reviewed Herein: Danger Girl: Revolver #3, Fanboys vs. Zombies #1, G.I.Joe #12, Grimm Fairy Tales #71, Grimm Fairy Tales: April Fool’s Special 2012, Grimm Fairy Tales: The Library #5, Incorruptible #28, Infestation 2: 30 Days of Night, Supurbia #2, Valen the Outcast #5, The Waking: Dreams End #1, Wolverine & the X-Men #7

[Supurbia #2 review delayed until later in the week]

Comics Round-Up (Mar.28)

A smaller selection of comics all ’round this week (in this and the upcoming second round-up), with just four that caught my attention. They are, however, from three series I am particularly fond of, so that’s a good thing. I’ve also started writing shorter reviews, now that the series are becoming more established and I don’t want to offer up too many spoilers.

Reviewed Herein: G.I.Joe: Cobra #11, Magic: The Gathering #3, The Portent #2-3

Comics Round-Up (Mar.21)

Another mixed bag, though this time rather Marvel- and IDW-heavy. (The week’s second round-up will be a lot more diverse.) I enjoyed most of these comics, but for some reason a couple didn’t really ignite my usual level of interest. I’m not sure if this is a result of lingering Man Flu symptoms, or if a couple of these issues just didn’t stack up to past experience. Regardless, let us get on with the reviews in this first (slightly late) Comics Round-Up…

Reviewed Herein: Avengers Assemble #1, Defenders #4, Infestation: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2, Memorial #4, Monocyte #3, Road Rage #2, Smoke & Mirrors #1, Snake Eyes #11, Amazing Spider-Man #680-1

Comics Round-Up (Mar.14)

Bit of a slow pre-release week selection of comics (only one issue, to be exact), so I’ve included a few issues I picked up late last week – two were great, one good, and one mediocre at best.

Reviewed Herein: Action Comics #7, Fairest #1, Infestation 2: G.I.Joe #1, Wolverine & the X-Men #6,  X-Club #4

Comics Round-Up (Mar.7)

Today I bring you an eclectic bunch of comics. A lot of great ones, too: military action and adventure, a beastly retelling of a fairy tale, more superheroes-gone-bad, real housewives of superheroes, ninja turtles, and fantasy. This was a very enjoyable selection to read.

I’ll be doing another comics round-up later in the week, after I’m able to get hold of some new Marvel, DC, Vertigo, and Image comics (list at the end).

Reviewed herein: G.I.Joe #11, Grimm Fairy Tales: Myths & Legends #13, Irredeemable #35, Supurbia #1, Infestation 2: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1, Valen the Outcast #4