Obama becomes a comics sensation

President Barack Obama has emerged as the newest superstar of comics.

He’s appeared in Image Comics’ “Savage Dragon” and an immensely popular issue of Marvel Comics’ “Amazing Spider-Man,” and is a gun-toting action hero in Image’s “Youngblood.” This month from Devil’s Due Publishing, there’s “Barack The Barbarian: Quest for the Treasure of Stimuli” and an alien-fighting Obama in the sci-fi title “Drafted: One Hundred Days.” Later this summer, look for Dynamite Entertainment’s “Army of Darkness: Ash Saves Obama.”

Even the president’s dog is getting in on the comic book action, with an appearance in an upcoming issue of Marvel’s “Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers” and as the star of “Puppy Power: Bo Obama,” coming in September from Bluewater Productions.

IDW Publishing spotlighted Obama before he was president with “Presidential Material: Barack Obama,” a comic book biography released last fall. (IDW published a John McCain biography as well.)

The well-received Obama biography went through five printings. And now there are two sequels coming from IDW, with Jeff Mariotte and Tom Morgan returning as writer and artist. “Barack Obama: The Road to the White House” comes out this month, detailing the general election and the transition period, and “Barack Obama: The First 100 Days” will be released in July, featuring Obama’s first 100 days in the White House.

Everyone, Mariotte said in a phone interview from his Arizona ranch, was surprised by the success of the first book. Now, as more and more comic book publishers find a way to feature Obama, “I think that there’s a certain amount of jumping on the bandwagon,” he said.

But Mariotte said the trend also likely reflects a genuine excitement among comic book creators about the new president, who reportedly used to collect comics.

“He is the first post-boomer president,” Mariotte said, “and the people who are making comics these days tend to be post-boomers” — though not Mariotte, a boomer in his 50s.

Mariotte is more accustomed to writing fiction than nonfiction, but said he didn’t feel constrained in writing the Obama books or feel the urge to slap a cape and mask on the president.

“I think that keeping him in the realm of nonfiction works for me. I appreciate a lot of what he’s done, but I don’t want to romanticize him to that point.”

In writing the Obama biography, the biggest challenge “was getting a whole life into 28 pages,” Mariotte said. This time, he has 22 pages for each book. While there’s a shorter period to cover, he still had to worry about what to cram in as Obama hit the ground running.

“He was so busy in those 100 days, I kept wanting to shake him and tell him to slow down, because he was doing too much and I could see the page count running away from me.”

For months, Mariotte has been consumed by research — scouring magazine and newspaper articles, watching Obama on TV, finding visual reference for the artist. Though he’s a politics buff, he’s happy for the chance to now take a break.

“I’ve allowed myself to slack off a little bit from watching the day-to-day stuff as closely as I was,” he said. “I’m not running to the computer and making notes every 20 minutes.”