Tag Archives: politicians

Obama and McCain Comics Get More Coverage

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The Pueblo Chieftain does a good job covering the soon to be released IDW comic books covering the history of Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama.  We’ll have a review of the comics when they’re released.

The only piece of contention I have with the article is this quote from David Park:

There was not really much point in the Golden and Silver Age of comic books … to reference politics too much because the audience was presumed to be so young, and therefore nonvoters.

This assistant professor who studies pop culture needs to do some research.  As I’ve discussed in earlier posts, comic books from the 1930’s and earlier stemmed from a political bent and often were commentaries on the society.  Captain America’s debut was highly political calling for America’s entry into World War II well  before Pearl Harbor occurred.

You can find the full article here.

Colbert for President in the Marvel Universe

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While Stephen Colbert only flirted with the idea of running for President in the real world, his campaign never stopped in the Marvel Universe.  Along with John McCain and Barack Obama, Stephen Colbert has been campaigning for President.

The comedian has been blogging about his campaign at Comedy Central’s Indecision 2008 website.  The blog has even tied itself into Marvel’s summer event Secret Invasion, with posts posing the questions “which candidate is tougher against Skrulls?” and “are Sarah Palin and Barack Obama Skrulls?”  Easter eggs of his campaign have been floated throughout Marvel books, where posters, tshirts, and Colbert on television have been popping up in the background of issues.

The blog also could be predicting real world political events.  Posted on September 22,”Marvel Universe: Colbert for President — Skrull Issue Delays Debate“, where in the real world in was suggested on September 24th by John McCain to delay Friday’s debate due to the economic crisis.  Maybe his advisers are Colbert fans?

Savage Dragon Endorses Barack Obama

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Savage Dragon Endorses Barack Obama

Erik Larsen, the creator of the popular character Savage Dragon is outspoken in his politics and has decided to speak to the public through his character’s ongoing series.  In issue number 137 a variant cover makes it clear who he’s voting for come November.  You won’t see that type of outspoken characters and creators in the big two’s comics.

The Savage Dragon has been around as a character and series for many years but has never reached mainstream popularity.  I would guess that Erik Larsen’s bold move is an attempt to gain some wider attention, and will surely have both positive and negative reactions.

In this age of creator owned series it’s nice to see one taking such a bold stance and wearing his politics on his sleeve.  Even if it’s in hope of boosting sales.

Choice Quotes

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Big Hero Six #1

In the history of the world, only one nation has ever suffered a direct nuclear attack — the island monarchy of Japan.  The attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War 2 inflicted scars on the national memory that last to this day.  Like any nation, Japan needs to defend itself, but unlike the other great powers, it has forsworn the use of nuclear weapons.  They’ve found another way.

Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers #3

Some gender politics:

Leave my fiancee alone.  Do you hear me?!  And I am not a tramp you chauvinistic $*@!!

And, is this an Obama reference?

To not believe in you, the savior, the uniter… is to not believe in hope.  I choose to believe in hope.

Ex-Machina #38

The Great Machine – Effective immediately, I am retiring from volunteer community crimefighting.  And running as your independent candidate for Mayor of the great city of New York.  I’m hoping to be part of a truly grassroots campaign, one that will finally utilize the internet’s true potential to reach all voters.  Starting today, contributions as small as one dollar can be made directly to my new website at http://www.hundred4mayor.net.  That’s the word hundred and the number four, so please don’t–

And on speaking to the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City:

Deputy Mayor – You’ve officially lost your mind.  You’re really going to deliver a speech from the same stage where the worst President in my lifetime is about to ask this country to give him another shot?

Mayor Hundred – I’m just being a good host, Dave.  Now which one of my stupid old “trophies” do you think I should present to the Vice President tomorrow?

Deputy Mayor – You’re letting Cheney inside Gracie Mansion?

Mayor Hundred – Believe it or not, New York doesn’t belong to the Democrats.

Deputy Mayor – And 9/11 doesn’t belong to the Republicans, no matter what the out-of-towners they’re busing into Madison Square Garden think.  Are you at least going to tell these people to start allocating more antiterrorism funds to the cities that actually need it?

And on Mayor Hundred running for Governor:

Deputy Mayor – You mean… you’re thinking about running for Governor?  Because, no offense, once that seat opens, everyone knows it’s going to Spitzer, unless somebody catches Mr. Clean in bed with a dead girl or a live boy.

X-Men: Magneto Testament #1

From the writer Greg Pak

In the three years editor Warren Simons and I have been developing “Magneto: Testament,” we’ve struggled with the complicated, rich, and contradictory information the comics give us about Magneto’s life during the Nazi rise to power and World War II.  Different comics give different accounts of Magneto’s name, his age, his ethnicity and religion, his hair color, and even his Auschwitz tattoo number.  But as dedicated Magneto fans have documented, the most compelling and essential material indicates that Magneto was a Jewish boy in Europe during the Nazi ascendancy and provides several key details about the fate of his family and his experiences in Auschwitz.

We’ve done our best to remain true to these elements while fleshing out the rest of our hero’s experiences based on research into the actual historical record.  Longtime readers will notice a wealth of surprising new details — for example, for the firs time, we’re revealing Magneto’s birth name.  And sometimes, because the comics record is contradictory or conflicts with historical fact, we’ve had to choose one detail over another.  But at every step, we’ve done our best to remain true to the key moments that have contributed so much towards making Magneto the deeply compelling character we know today.

But most importantly, in an age in which Holocaust deniers still spread their lies, we’ve done our best to ensure that the real-world history we explore in the series is entirely accurate and that we deal with this unfathomably harrowing material in a way that’s honest, unflinching, human, and humane.  In later issues, we’ll provide citations and suggestions for future reading.  For now, we offer a thousand thanks to Mark Weitzman of the Simon Wiesenthal Center for his expert advice and historical fact-checking.

Mayor Hundred the Original Obama?

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In the latest issue of Ex Machina, a flashback is shown as the Great Machine decides to give up crimefighting for politics.

Effective immediately, I am retiring from volunteer community crimefighting.  And running as your independent candidate for Mayor of the great city of New York.  I’m hoping to be part of a truly grassroots campaign, one that will finally utilize the internet’s true potential to reach all voters.  Starting today, contributions as small as one dollar can be made directly to my new website at http://www.hundred4mayor.net.  That’s the word hundred and the number four, so please don’t–

The interesting part of the above quote is the focus on small contributions and the internet as a grassroots tool for campaigning.  Both show an understanding of the tool and the history of it’s evolution of use by the writer of the series.  What caught my attention was the use of a real world website (not sure if there’s an alternative like 555 for phone numbers on television).

With great dialogue showing an understanding of the internet by the writer of the comic book, it seems DC’s marketing team doesn’t quite have the same level of understanding.  DC and it’s parent company Warner Bros. dropped the ball on this one.  Having shown a brilliance for alternate reality games (arg) for the film the Dark Knight, including a fake campaign site for character Harvey Dent, one would think there was a possibility that they’d do a similar campaign for this comic book’s fake campaign (hell you could use the Dent site and change some text and graphics).

To my surprise, on a whim, I decided to see if the above web address and it’s .com equivalent were available.  To my shock, they were, and without missing a beat I purchased both (both are redirected to this site).  We’ll see and keep you updated as to the traffic lost through this slip up.

No malice is meant, just an interesting missed opportunity by DC I think (especially in this political season).

SPOILER – With the books hint at a Presidential run by Mayor Hundred I wonder if DC and Warner Bros. will take the opporunity for a real cool website tie in.

2008 Democratic Convention – Thursday

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I was there….

The day started off helping out the the women’s caucus’ morning event. Some great speakers but the highlights were Howard Dean and Michelle Obama. There were some Hillary protesters as well as some pro-life protesters as well. It was a nice event and I was glad I was there to see Michelle in person and its always great to see Howard Dean speak.

After that we grabbed lunch as a staff and headed off to Invesco field about 3pm. You take a bus to the field and then go through security. It was actually pretty quick considering. We then spent the hours waiting for the highlight of Obama who knocked it out of the park. The energy was fantastic and it was a great time. The trip back was a bit of a mess but I lucked out and found my way on a shuttle back to downtown.

As far as Obama though, well done future Mr. President…..

There’ll be more videos up this week, but….

I’m off to the Penny Arcade Expo! From a political convention to a video game one. Those posts start tomorrow.

Photos:

Part 1:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=54940&l=c0e3d&id=500071097

Part 2:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=54942&l=9121b&id=500071097

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBwpNrdlPpU

Obama and McCain Both Want to be Batman, What Does that Say About Them?

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The St. Louis Dispatch runs an excellent commentary about about Entertainment Weekly’s recent interview with Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain.  In the EW interview both candidates chose Batman as the super hero they’d most like to be.

In it the author Jonathan Keim dissects what makes Batman tick.  He is in fact a vigilante who works outside of the law.  He would be the first to ignore the Constitution and the rights it entails, but also does have a moral code and line of which he won’t cross.  McCain sites Batman’s fight for justice against the odds while Obama mentions his humanness (he also likes Spiderman for the same reason).  Both candidates admire a character for two different reasons.

Is this the comic book hero to admire though?  As mentioned above, he works outside the law in an almost Machiavellian way.  His is the law and enforcement we know exists but choose to ignore until it affects us.  President Bush’s expansion of FISA, and the trampling of our Constitutional rights and due process are the real world equivalent of a masked vigilante.  Both candidates endorse the FISA program.

Is there a better super hero to admire?  One with god like powers who chooses not to abuse them?  One that follows the law?  One who shows human frailties?  Green Lantern might be a better choice, maybe Superman.

My choice would be Captain America, a man who defends his country when needed and questions it when it’s wrong.  A person who served his nation and inspired people not just in comics, but the real world, to serve as well.  And in the comics world, stood up against it’s equivalent of FISA and National ID cards.  Spiderman didn’t even do that.

Maybe the real answer from the candidates required even less thought and was whatever comic book movie was playing in the theater that month….

Are Obama and McCain Skrulls? Can We Trust Them?

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From Secret Invasion #5, this spread depicts the Skrulls informing Earth that they’ve been invaded for their own good.  Marvel made sure to include some of the important politicos of our time, Barack Obama, John McCain, and even Steven Colbert (notice the Colbert ’08 sign in the center).

IGN asked Marvel’s Executive Editor Tom Brevoort about this:


IGN Comics: There’s generally been a trend in comics not to show politicians for fear of dating comics to a particular era. Yet the double-page spread shows many real life people, including Barack Obama and John McCain. Any particular reason for this or was that simply the preference of Brian Bendis and Leinil Yu?

Brevoort: I certainly understand the concerns about not wanting the work to date, but at the same time, if you’re trying to tell a story set in the here-and-now, and one with some relevance to the world the readers live in, you’ve got to represent that world accurately, as it is.  Those specific character choices were Leinil’s—Brian’s script was more general.

Have fun looking at the spread and all of the individuals depicted!

Which Superhero Would You Be?

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Entertainment Weekly hits the Republican and Democratic Presidential candidates with the hard thought provoking question, “which superhero would you be”. Overall, a nice q&a for both candidates about their pop culture habits, and some answers I wouldn’t expect.

If you could be any superhero, which superhero would you be?

Barack Obama: I was always into the Spider-Man/Batman model. The guys who have too many powers, like Superman, that always made me think they weren’t really earning their superhero status. It’s a little too easy. Whereas Spider-Man and Batman, they have some inner turmoil. They get knocked around a little bit.

John McCain: Batman. He does justice sometimes against insurmountable odds. And he doesn’t make his good works known to a lot of people, so a lot of people think he’s just a rich playboy.

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