Obama in Comics: Part 2

A few weeks ago I rounded up all the Obama cameos in comics I could find, but it turns out that the Obama tie-in train is impossible to stop, and they just keep on coming. I've got a new batch that includes everything from a tale about Obama as an adorable little boy growing up in Indonesia to a completely out of control erotic manga featuring the President and the Prime Minister of the Japan that may make your eyes melt inside their sockets, for which I apologize.

As an aside to the comics industry: It's time to stop. I say this because I care, and because friends tell friends when they've gone too far. The Obama in comics craze is a dead horse that you have beaten so hard that it rose again from the dead as a zombie horse, and you have beaten that, too, to death. Stop now, while you still can.

Scooby Doo and the gang are invited to the White House by Obama in "Scooby-Doo #143," where they investigate "The Wicked Witch of the West Wing." Hijinks ensue, bizarre talking dogs and stoners mumble at each other, those dratted kids ruin everything, etc.

Why? Why? Why does this exist? Who thought that it would be a good idea to cross Obama with "Bomb Queen," a comic about a hyper-sexualized villainess/dictator that routinely scrapes the bottom of the comics barrel, which is a deep, deep receptacle to begin with? Is she about to attack him with her crotch? Why she trying to force her breasts into his hands on the alternate cover? There are so many questions I never want answered.

OK, this is one of the few Obama comics projects I can really get behind. "The Obama Story: The Boy with the Biggest Dream" features a big-eyed version of young Obama and an account of his childhood in Jakarta, Indonesia. It's a fascinating window into his early life, and is also rated A for Adorable. You can read sample pages here.

While it doesn't actually claim to have any Obama appearance -- though these days, how can we be sure? -- the recent ad campaign for Vampirella co-opted the famous Shepard Fairey Obama portrait to promote its new discounted $1.99 comic relaunching the vampiress, which will give the buyer "more change." Sigh.

Perhaps the most famous manga appearance of Obama (so far) is "Air Gear," although it theoretically "disguised" the president with a pseudonym. For those of you who can't read katakana, the caption to the right actually says "John Omaha," and he's talking about how he wishes he'd worn a tuxedo now that he's meeting such an attractive person. Barry is smooth with the ladies.

Not many people realize that contrary to Erik Larsen's whinging, the first Obama appearance in comics was actually in Licensable Bear #4, and they recently rereleased a very limited 60 copies of the issue with proceeds to benefit the Hero Initiative. Hey, if you're going to sell out, you might as well sell out for charity.

And then there was the time Obama made out with himself in a webcomic.

A one-shot erotic manga featuring Obama recently appeared in Japan, where he and Prime Minister Taro Aso become neighbors and eye-flaying things ensue. In one of the few SFW excerpts we have a lineup of an unusually attractive Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama with an inexplicable bindi, and an accurately wizened John McCain. This link is not -- I repeat NOT -- safe for work.

If that's not enough manga-fied Obama for you, check out this anime Obama vs McCain debate full of hilarious Engrish, and an even cuter "Yatterman" episode with an Obama-kun vs. Hillary-chan debate. Then, of course, they dance: