Review: Obama and McCain Comic Book: Presidential Material
Presidential Material: Barack Obama and Presidential Material: John McCain were released yesterday, by independent comic book publisher IDW Publishing (known for their Transformers comics).
The Obama comic is written by Jeffrey Mariotte and drawn by Tom Morgan, while the McCain comic is written by veteran Andy Helfer and drawn by Stephen Thompson. Both covers are drawn by J. Scott Campbell, who used over-the-top poses for both candidates, which confused some people about the intention and content. (Personally, the covers are distracting, and make the candidates look ominous.) The interior art is fantastic, however.
You see, these comics books are NOT Mad Magazine parodies, and contain NO mockery or disrespect: they are actually serious biographies of both presidential candidates in an art form. These comic books do NOT have left wing or right wing propaganda. They are, in fact, educational and encourage voter turnout. These comic books are NOT about super-powers. These are quite possibly the most objective and realistic takes on these two candidates. Panels, of course, can be taken out of context and used for agendas, but not on the whole.
Both candidates have interesting histories, and to read them in comic book style panels is a dream come true for someone like me, who has always been obsessed with comic books and how they relate to real life.
The actual source material is culled from each candidates autobiographies, news articles, public interviews, reports, TV, etc. All aspects are covered, and it is a neat way to experience the official “cannon” of their lives. You may think it’s hard to compress an entire life into one issue, but comic book style panels and captions made it very efficient.
Each comic steps through the origins, family, important life-changing experiences, scandals, and campaigns up until Party Nomination for the 2008 Election.
There are no conspiracies in these books. The scandals mentioned are a matter of public record, not as an accusation or attack. There are no judgments here. It’s up to you, the reader, to value and judge the history once you read the comics in full.
These two comics were written without permission or authorization from either party. The creative teams for each book had no hidden agenda, and took their job very seriously. IDW’s legal person didn’t see anything that would require to defend a lawsuit from either candidate. But don’t think that the comics are too optimistic or mild: everything is covered, from McCain’s love life to Obama’s relationship with Rev. Wright. It makes for a very detailed and highly inspiring experience to read these comics in full.
Barack Obama’s comic book:
Barack’s childhood and adolescence is that of isolation, being unaccepted, counterculture, and searching for his identity. He had no traditional family structure. Although he went to a Muslim school in Kenya and a Christian school, he had never fully been indoctrinated into organized religion as a youngster. As an angry and hurt young man, he got involved with drugs, loud music, and not putting effort into school. But there were turning points in his life, like a stern lecture from his mother.
The comic traces how he got involved in politics in Chicago, through legal work and community activism. His beliefs were formed from his influences in life, and from his ancestral African home. His influences are Martin Luther King and Malcom X.
His Senate races are detailed, along with how he just burst upon the national scene due to his two unbelievable speeches, which are covered. The Democratic Primaries are depicted, along with his defeat of Hilary Clinton.
All in all, it was a perfect sketch of the man who is Obama. He’s someone who no one would ever believe would have a chance to be president, since he was a troubled teen, and later a local community organizer, with some questionable black nationalist associates.
But he struggled and he overcame, and was an excellent student and lawyer, respected by his professors as being brilliant.
If I had to choose a comic book character that Obama most related to in this book, it would have to be someone like DC’s Prez, Alan Moore’s Ozymandias from Watchmen, Damian Hospital and Tony’s Vahl’s Nehal from Return of Joshua, or to a lesser extent Marvel’s Black Panther. Basically, Obama’s journey is an internal spiritual transformation from someone who saw himself as an outsider to a justice seeker against establishment.
John McCain’s comic book:
The Vietnam POW sequences are very powerful and emotional. There are many action scenes in his comic, and as a navy man, many women and drinking. McCain had always been a rebel without a cause before he was a POW. He is a 3rd generation military man, and hardly focused on his studying, as he was constantly traveling and generally doing mischief.
His first year at the academy in Annapolis saw him challenge his hazers, but also conformed and rebelled at the same time, without disguising his contempt. After graduating, his reputation was solidified as a rowdy, fun-loving and tough individualist.
The comic chronicles his navy flying training in Florida, his pilot crashes, near death experiences, his first marriage to Carol, and his capture and torment during ‘Nam.
Upon his return after over 5 years, McCain became a pilot trainer and college speaker after he had physically rehabilitated. His wife also got into an auto accident while he was a POW, and was never physically the same. Their marriage was never the same, either.
This comic book is jam-packed with McCain’s political life, personal life, and chronicles decades of idolizing people like Nixon and Reagan, passing legislation, working with Democrats and Republicans alike, earning a reputation for being skilled in foreign policy, becoming a national political figure, the vicious George Bush campaign headed by Karl Rove, and much more, including rebounding from two major scandals: Keating Five and his 2nd wife Cindy’s drug addiction.
Ultimately, the man who was the independent rebel actually became the establishment.
If I had to choose a comic book character that McCain most related to in this book, it would have to be someone like Tony Stark, who was held prisoner and captive and then became an authority figure, or Captain America who was a patriot and has decades of experience.
Basically, McCain’s journey is someone who has fought back against external forces, and dealt with his own unintentional self-sabotages. He’s been a part of American history.
You can buy these great comics are your local comic book shop or order direct online at IDW’s website.
It’s a shame neither candidates demonstrate effectively their deep biographies and personalities at the debates.
© TheDailySkew | Review: Obama and McCain Comic Book: Presidential Material
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Informative review. Makes me want to go out and buy it. I’ll see if I can find it at lunch.
Based on your charcter comparisons, is it safe to assume that both candidates are type 3 enneagram type, or did you walk away thinking Obama is a seven and McCain is a four?
Just the fact that they are running for the highest office means that they must live by the “Image is Everything” motto, which happens to be an Enneagram Type 3 deal. It’s the American Dream.
Unlike someone like Reagan who is a CLEAR 8, or Bush who is a CLEAR 1, these guys are way too concerned about public opinion and perception, which covers their true personalities.
Since there are certain scenes that come from their respective autobiographies only it makes sense that someone with political ambitions would frame certain scenes as 3.
I feel safe with McCain = 4 (or at least 4w3)and Obama = 7 (with him, leaning towards 7w6).
picked it up today after watching it on CNN…great stuff. i hear that obama’s comic is outselling mccain’s by a wide margin.
Which comic is better?
they should make a comic book about everybody.
ANYHING ABOUT OBAMA BEING A TERRORIST IN THERE?
BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT SARAH PALIN HAS SAID, FOX NEWS SAID, AND JOHN MCCAIN HAS BEEN STARING RACE RIOTS IN THE WHITE STATES ALL WEEK.
the attacks are as despicable and shameful as can be. I see a conflicted man in John McCain these days. It seems he knows what his campaign is doing is flat out WRONG, but maybe he’s told himself he’s putting his country first. It’s quite the opposite however, and I think he’s the one person in his campaign that knows it. He’s selling his soul . . . he knows the country doesn’t want to hear about that terrorist mess. The sad thing is, if he put country first like he claims, then he loses.
I think it is CRAZY how both canditates are polite and boring during the debates while attacking each other on the road and media.
Yeah, I heard what happened today: McCain told his supporters to be respectful, after they made hate cheers all week.
So after he’s heard his supporters repeatedly threatening violence due to his running mate riling them up to believe his opponent is an un-American terrorist and not replying or condemning the taunts for a full week NOW he calms them down when they aren’t saying anything controversial? How can anyone take that ticket seriously anymore?
Obama has zero proof that he is in love with this country and all kinds of tawdry connections leading many to believe he is as anti-American as they come. His American-hating followers are getting ticked because he is being exposed. The PUMAS are playing a lovely trick of pretending they are going to vote for him when they have no plan to do so. He is a corrupt thug terrorist and when he can prove otherwise, I will apologize. If you don’t like it Obamabots, tough – prove it wrong.
Obama belongs behind bars with his corrupt ACORN thugs, no doubt many of which post here. The DEMS have turned into the Marxist Party of America.
what a pathetic little man johhny mccain is. He was a hero but he sold his soul and I find that very sad. is that in the comic, my friend?
This is not a race issue at all…he's half black/white..it all comes down to his poor judgment, poor character & bad choices in associations. He's feeding people BS and making them think it's candy. Wake up to reality Obama followers…he's going to destroy our economy worse, doesn't know foreign policy, has the wrong kind of friends, they all hate the US, his wife wasn't proud to be American until BO was up in the polls. They are connected w/ACORN who is under FBI investigation in numerous states for voter reg fraud. What else do you need to see there are too many red flags and enough reasonable doubt to say NO OBAMA!?
McCain is only tell the crowds to stop the hate chants because the polls are showing some backlash. In his heart of hearts, McCain agrees with all those loonies.
I READ the fucken comic book and McCain is the biggest phony there is.
I read the comic, too: McCain sold his soul for the nomination- he SOLD OUT, and now he’s learning exactly what that means. He’s facing more than a backlash; he’s facing whiplash. It’s coming from everywhere. McCain’s problem is that he has no core values other than the ones that he’s been told. He was told that he was a hero and that he had honor, so he believed it and thought he could do anything and get away with it. Time to rethink that one John.
This is just like John McCain — he says one thing — be respectful — while having his VP and campaign accuse Obama of being a terrorist and being unpatriotic.
McCain did the right thing, but it will be hard for him to stick with it. He and Palin have been slinging the meat that their bigots and racists love to chew on. Telling them to be respectful of Senator Obama probably was seriously advised to McCain by republicans in the know. They saw how the worst people – the racists, bigots, hate mongers – were being incited to do evil. That is not what McCain is really about, but it is what Palin is really about. As much as McCain wants to win, Palin wants to win more.
My guess is the Secret Service had a chat with the McCain camp today
I’m just glad that McCain is taking one step back from the edge of violence he and Palin nearly incited. I woke up this morning half-expecting to hear of Obama’s assassination. Hopefully McCain keeps up the message, regardless of how he may also try to spin it in his favor.
To the nut jobs (Obama is a terrorist and the individual who posted no name and ANYONE else who falls into this category), you need to be careful of what you say and the venom that you choose to spew. In fact, all you of the McCain supporters spouting off racial epithets and quasi murder rants, calling someone a terrorist and/or socialist etc. need to seriously calm down! You’re using words you don’t know the definition of and your playing a guilt by association game to which you are ignorant of how the game can really be played
Wow, talk about being screwed: he’s turning off independents and others with his campaign’s hateful vitriol, yet when he asks them to be respectful, they boo him!
Those McCain/Palin crowds look like when the Iranians are burning effigies and stomping on American flags. Imagine what the world must think of us when they see these shameful displays. The people who are doing or condoning this have no place in My America. A place which believes in civility, fairness and truth.
1) Obama IS un-American.
2) Obama HAS supported and helped black radicals.
3) He IS Muslim.
4) He HAS engaged in money schemes.
Rush Limbaugh is crying somewhere because McCain, who obviously still has a conscience, denied Obama is an Arab. Big loss for the hate machine. Sorry guys. Just please: you had eight years, don’t burn down the kingdom on your way out the gate.
i am a Obama supporter. I think the person who is managing the show for mccain is that scumbag steve shimidt. i cannot and donot believe mccain is as cheap as his campaign.
Re: McCain telling the crowd to stop the Obama Hate:
This is the McCain I admired. Give these crowds straight talk. You can raise questions legitimately but without the gnashing of teeth and collecting them (and thus de-legitimatizing them) with smears.
Please keep it up John and remind me why I liked you before.
Maybe you’ll get my vote.
Jeb Bush in 2012
MARK IT DOWN
F$@$@ YOU, TOM.
No way we’re voting another Bush in
Ya know, the only reason McCain/Palin have to address Obama’s character flaws and questionable associations is because the media is giving Obama a pass. Obama doesn’t have to address questions about McCain or Palin past or character because the media is glad to do it for him. Obama is a wolf in sheep’s clothing and those of us who can see through his disguise are frustrated at the media and people who keep looking the other way. Do the research as these people/issues relate to Obama: Raila Odinga, Khalid Al-Mansour, Tony Resko, William Ayers, Frank Marshall Davis, Donald Young (Trinity Church), Rev Wright, ACORN voter fraud, $800,000 to ACORN from Obama, Obama as trainer for ACORN, Obama as attorney for ACORN, writings of Saul Alinsky, Kenyan-born Obama (a headline on an African publication), Philip J. Berger. This information is literally at your fingertips through the internet. Don’t be fooled America!
McCain and Palin are whipping up an intensifying level of fear and hatred of Obama as the clock ticks down and they grow more desperate. Coupled with the escalating fear many are feeling with the financial meltdown, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if this led to violence. I heard TV clips today of McCain speaking at a rally while a supporter yelled that Obama was a terrorist, and a Palin rally somebody was shouting “Kill him!” Neither speaker stopped to repudiate those comments or discourage them. Why would they – it’s not in their interest to do so. Put a gun in the hand of a right-wing nut who just lost his home and let him hear McCain Palin strongly imply that Obama is a Manchurian candidate who hates the US. Mix well and be sure to act surprised and shocked should anything happen.
cannot believe that people are giving mccain credit for saying a few words. He is STILL running the ads; his surrogates are STILL out there plying the same stories; he and Palin have been on Fox spewing the lies and smears and he has “approved all the message” and he has also approved all the talking points for the rallies for both him, Palin and the other speakers. The buck stops with him. He has unleased the worst of the worst in our society (rallies like these exactly is how Hitler started). Violence is bubbling just beneath the surface in these mob crowds and HE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR IT! He knew exactly what he was doing; it shows complete lack of judgement and more than that. It wasn’t just an “oops” bad decison moment. He repeated this for nearly a week. So while he’s said a few words; he will not get off the hook for any violence he has incicted. What if Obama was killed? How could he face Obama’s children and his wife? What if this was YOUR spouse and this was YOUR family. Sorry, but I don’t accept a few words as enough. He cannot undo what HE HIMSELF has unleashed.
Nation Of Islam Leader
Louis Farrakhan
-In The Name Of Allah-
Saviours’ Day 2008 Declares Barack Obama The Messiah.
OMG Sweet Jesus, i just watched that video- have mercy on us all.
Guys and gals- PLEASE- keep in civil and stay away from hate speech.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s last name is spelled “Osama” on hundreds of absentee ballots mailed out this week
The economy is already destroyed.
So if after this election, our economy still sucks,
It wont be Obamas fault or McCains fault, per-se.
Im glad to hear that Rush Limbaugh is crying somewhere, probably with his thumb in his mouth.
and for the last time, OBAMA IS NOT A MUSLIM.
You Idiots know that but youre trying to poke frightened redneck bigots with a stick to wake them up from their drunken stupor in hopes that theyll wander into the voting booth and pull the lever for McCain because theyre afraid of a black man being president.
I would say you aught to be ashamed of yourself but I know thats impossible.
I must confess a level of repect for McCain.
McCain’s got more class than the idiots that support him, and on occasion he’s got to crack the whip and tell these fools to quit acting like animals.
I only wish he would have yelled at those people a bit more and told them to quit acting like a bunch of dogs, and then have somebody behind him turn on a firehose to drench those idiots in the audence who were booing him.
to tom j – “Jeb Bush in 2012 MARK IT DOWN”
Okay i am marking it down,
and then placing it in a voodoo circle of powder surrounded by black candles as I sacrifice a goat while reciting a blood-oath so that it will never happen.
also I notice most of the attacks against Obama, are not against him but against anybody hes ever met or talked to.
so its weak.
I know Ive said that before but it bears repeating.
In closing,
I sure wish Louis Farrakhan would shut up,
Louis also said he was taken up in a mothership where he met with Elijah Mohamed, so why listen to him on any subject?
Obama doesnt want his support and has been clear on that.
Go-bama.
If the KKK endorsed McCain and called him the Messiah,
If McCain organized and advised the American Neo-Nazi groups,
If McCain hated every president in the White House,
If McCain was friends with a former Taliban
those would be fair issues to bring up in an election.
Anytime Palin tries to bring this up about NObama(and the McCain endorsed commercials), the liberal media says DON’T GO THERE.
Hey D,
I read the comics, thanks for letting me know about them.
Still voting for Obama, no doubt about it.
But I have a new respect for McCain, only because I can imagine how hard it is to be in politics for 30 years.
You’re forced to do whatever your party, donors, and other players in the game want. That is the reality.
I mean, I truly believe that McCain is losing his Republican base because he was too soft at the debates, and then when he got tough, he incited riots, which put off the “normal” Republican voters and Independents.
NObmama is a closeted Muslim.
Would you for for Malcolm X for president?????????????????????
President JOE BIDEN
Mark that down, too.
Obama is good! For beyond darkness Obama gives us light, beyond our nightmares Obama gives us dreams and beyond our tears Obama gives us comfort.
Obama reserved something special for you. There is more to your life than you ever thought. There is more to your story than what you have read. There is more to your song than what you have sung. A good author saves the best for last. A great composer keeps his finest for the finish. And Obama, the author of life and composer of hope has done the same for you. The best is yet to come. Don’t forget…YOU ARE BLESSED!
WE GONNA CHANGE THE WORLD
We gonna spread happiness
We gonna spread freedom
Obama gonna change it
Obama gonna lead ‘em
We gonna change it
And rearrange it
We gonna change the world.
YES WE CAN
Yes we can
Lift each other up
In peace, in love, in hope
Change! Change!
Change everything
Measure time by
`Before Obama’
and
`After Obama’
Thus sayeth the Lord Obama of Kenya: “Let my people go.”
So let it be written.
So let it be done.
Just read the Obama comic.
I think Angel Jimenez is correct when he says Obama winning would be the ULTIMATE feel-good moment for our generation, for a variety of reasons.
His restlessness … not knowing where he fit in America as a child and teenager … the pseudo-intellectual discussions he had with friends as College kid … I can relate to all of it.
The historical nature of the first African-American President — that would be a HUGE milestone. Just winning the election is a Mount Rushmore-sized accomplishment … it proves how far we’ve come in 232 years.
And, considering all the bad news we’ve had lately with the economy … I think a majority of Americans. in states with enough electoral votes. want to make some history.
Obama is going to win. ODS is calling it with 0% of the precincts reporting in.
Speak the TRUTH, Brother Vahl!
Preach the TRUTH about Obama the MESSIAHHHHHHH!!
Vahl’s gonna discriminate and not read McCain’s comic.
Hey VAHL,
I’m so happy you can relate.
Big deal!
I’m a 75-year old Korean War Vet, and I don’t care about Obama’s “struggle”.
with 47 comments there isn’t much left on the agenda folks.
Obama is a crook, a foreigner, a communist and a muslim. But he is black so you write a bunch of lies praising him.
McClain is a traitor. He was turned while a captive of the commies. He is now their greatest friend.
He sold out the election too. He refused to attack Obama for his crimes because Obama is black and theregfore a member of the master race.
And you comic nerds?
You are the groveling, lick spittles who worship establishment criminals.
You are propagandists of black racism. The worst pigs extant.
All i have to say IS if your just putting the poor man down beacause he didnt do what you wanted when you wanted how you wanted then your all just Ignorant, because the man is doing his best and no one but God can solve this problem in a matter of mouths…