Jan 13th, 2009
Nerd in Chief?
Perhaps you already have your perfect Obama t-shirt, but you’re looking for something a little different to celebrate the inauguration – and an Obama thong isn’t really your style.
No worries: as of tomorrow, it’s geek chic time with Marvel’s new edition of Spider-Man #583, Spidey Meets the President.
The plot centers around Obama and Spiderman facing off with a supervillain at the inaugural ceremonies, after the ever-astute Peter Parker notices that there’s an Obama impostor trying to… well, I don’t want to spoil the ending. Let’s just say he’s a bad dude.
Marvel was compelled to write this story after the President-elect told reporters that he collected Spider-Man comic books as a child, thus earning him the title “Nerd-in-Chief” by Spider-Man editors.
Past presidents have also been featured in comic books – Nixon, FDR, JFK and Bush have all had cameo appearances, with FDR’s issue centering around him cheering on the superheroes as they bravely fought Hitler.
And so we award Obama a Fantasy T-Wearer award this week, with the Comics Code Authority t-shirt here at left.
You can of course choose your own Fantasy T-shirt for this occasion, so if you find a better one feel free to holler. The comics selection alone is worth a browse, if you’re into that sort of thing.
As a fan of Spiderman since Gwen was his original girlfriend (can you say Nixon Administration?), I find this a milestone day for Spidey and Obama both. This is certainly bigger than Man of The Year on Time magazine.
What!? Spiderman voted for Obama? I don’t believe it. How can a superhero support such a liberal politician? Superheroes are basically vigilantes with unusual talents in colorful costumes that don’t hesitate to end a conflict by force. Superheroes don’t support politicians that will appoint judges that go easy on the criminal masterminds they risked their lives to capture. They don’t consult with an ACLU attorney to determine if clobbering an evildoer constitutes a civil rights violation. They don’t support bans on weapons that law abiding citizens use for self defense. In fact, superheroes stay up late at night building their own weapons. Weapons they don’t register with the ATF. Some of which get mounted on vehicles that would not pass a smog check.
So maybe Spidey is just trying to see if any of his sworn enemies have infiltrated the Obama administration. Or maybe he’s just being respectful of the office of the president. Maybe…
If not, please don’t tell me Wolverine and Punisher have gone Commie too. That would be too much for this former comic book collector.
You know, every time something is done commemorating this very historic event, people who don’t think it should have happened have something negative to say.
Whether you like him or not, this is historic and media, the arts, etc. are giving people what they want. Folks want to have memorabilia concerning the first black president. Since he has been public about his past collecting of Spiderman comics, not doing an issue with him at this momentous time would be conspicuous in it’s absence.
Politics aside it’s a good move on Marvel’s part.
Oh, and in keeping with the Superhero theme of truth and justice, Obama has a lot more of that going on than the last two presidents.