Spidey/Obama update

You all know that I’ve posted a bit about the Spider-Man/President Obama comicbook that Marvel published earlier this month, well, I wrote a short piece about it for my local newspaper, The Norwalk Citizen.


If you are at all interested in what (else) I had to say on the subject, you can check it out for yourself.

All Spidey/Obama, all the time

I just couldn’t resist:


This is currently my desktop wallpaper.

How cool is this? Eh?

President Obama Xs three!

That’s right kiddies, we now have multiple versions of Amazing Spider-Man #583. In our attempt to be all things Spidey to all of you Spidey-Lovers out there, we have learned that there are going to be a total of three variant covers to that landmark issue, the “standard version” (which we saw earlier). This one can seen (again) over here to the left of this opening paragraph. (oh yeah, there is the interior splash page to the Obama/Spidey story (which can be seen off to the right).

Then there is the first variant cover — which is essentially the interior splash page, minus the story’s credits, and plus the standard cover logo info. As with the interior splash page, this image is back-colored blue, and has The new President on the left side of the page, smiling his trademark smile and giving us the “Thumbs up” while Spidey is off in the background (hanging upside down while snapping a pic.).

The second variant has President Obama over on the right side (notice that the image has been flopped) and now appearing on a yellow background). I’m not really sure about why these two particular background covers were picked, and it quite possibly doesn’t really matter, but since the two issues are significantly different (and there is a “2nd printing variant” notice on the cover, there should hopefully be no confusion with collectors (and the rabid speculators) out there.

All of which brings us to the third variant which again has the President on a blue background, again, The President is off to the left (as he was on the first variant), with Spidey is in the background. This time there is an American flag proudly flapping in the breeze behind them, and again, there is a notice on the cover indicating that this is the 3rd printing variant. Also, this time around, Spidey’s snappy comment on the cover also seems to have been eliminated.

Well that should cover it, and I don’t believe that there will be any more variants (#2 came out this week, and #3 is due to come out next week). Oh yeah, if you wanted to read a synopsis of the Obama/Spidey story, you can pop over to SpiderFan and read one written by resident reviewer, Neil McClean.

Hopefully you got a copy (or more), for yourself and didn’t get stung in the process.

**********

THIS JUST IN: To meet the continuing, unprecedented demand, Marvel is going back to press with AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #583 FOURTH PRINTING VARIANT. A record three sold out printings in three weeks will now be surpassed with a record fourth printing arriving in stores February 4. Now's your chance to experience the story uniting Barack Obama with the character that, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he named his favorite super hero!

A horse of a different color

Well, the Spider-Man/Obama comicbook is out now,and, well, I didn’t get one.

That’s right. I didn’t get on. You see, one of the comic shops at which I usually shop, was supposed to get 40 or 50 of them, and put most of them out at cover price, only they were (apparently) shorted by their distributor. To be sure, they will be getting copies of the second printing in next Wednesday (there is already a third printing, I understand). The second printing is supposed to have a yellow cover (rather than the blue of the first printing — no word on what the third printing will look like).

The cover you see here is the “Standard” cover. It is the version that I purchased, because, well, I am not about to pay exorbitant price-gouging prices for a brand-new comic, I don’t care who is on the cover. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’ll pick up a copy of the second printing next week, because, well, it is kind of a cool thing to own, but only at cover price.

On the day of issue, neither of the two shops near me, nor the guy I purchase my books from has the Obama cover. a shop three towns away was selling them for $40.00, and my brother picked one up two towns further out for $15.00 (he’s thinking of selling it, and I’ll replace it with a 2nd printing edition).

Personally, I don’t see this comic holding its value over the long haul. I mean it will be like this for three, maybe six months, but a year into Obama’s term, or after he is no longer in office (eight or 10 years from now) it simply will not exponentially increase in value.

Near as I can determine (through my own inquiries, and by chatting with other collectors), the folks scrambling to buy this issue at any cost are — by-and-large — not comicbook collectors. They are (first and foremost) speculators, Democrats who voted for Obama, and, well, African Americans. I can’t help but to think that anyone who is buying this comic with the intention of selling it in a few years and putting their children through collage are going to be seriously disappointed.

Interestingly enough, I recently learned that this is not the first time that Obama’s visage has appeared on the cover of a comic (and, no, I’m not counting the pair of comics that came out before the election). Two companies published comics staring him and Senator McClain. One comic was a flip book (one side Obama and the other McCain) while the other company (IDW) produced individual comics for each candidate.

No, I'm talking about Obama appearing on the cover of Savage Dragon #137. In fact, the way I hear it, Obama has become something of a regular in Savage Dragon. I really don’t follow that title, so I was totally unaware of this, but still, I find it hard to believe that Erik Larsen put Obama on the cover and I, as both a Democrat and funnybook fan missed the announcement entirely.

To me, that simply smacks of bad marketing.

Anyway That’s what I have today (truthfully, I have more, but I’ll leave the rest for tomorrow, now I’m going to bed). In the mean time, go back and look at the Spidey cover again, as it is this cover that will be the topic of our next conversation.

Spidey, meet Mr. President (elect)

Yep, you read that right, Spidey is going to meet Barack Obama. According to USA Today:

On Jan. 14, Marvel Comics is releasing a special issue of Amazing Spider-Man #583 with Obama depicted on the cover. Inside are five pages of the two teaming up and even a fist-bump between Spidey and the new president.

Yep, Not since Superman met President Kennedy have I been this excited (well, no not really, but you get the point). If you want to see a couple of panels of the comic you can do that now, but the comic itself won’t be out until January 14. That is if you can find it.

The issue, selling for $3.99 at comic-book specialty shops (find one at comicshoplocator.com), is expected to be an instant sellout, especially because the Obama cover, by Phil Jimenez, is limited to half the run.

"This issue will have a lot of heat and go for premium prices. I already have people calling about it," says Alan Giroux, owner of All About Books and Comics in Phoenix. "I expect this will be on the collectors' market for $20 by the first day.

I’ll let you know if I manage to score a copy.