The Amazing Spider-Man Meets President Barack Obama

In a not unprecedented but still unusual piece of political marketing, president-elect Barack Obama and Marvel’s arachnid superhero Spider-Man come face to face in an official crossover, in “Amazing Spider-Man #583“.

Might it not have been more interesting to see the pair pitted against one another?

Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada has this to say:

“When we heard that President-Elect Obama is a collector of Spider-Man comics, we knew that these two historic figures had to meet in our comics’ Marvel Universe.

Historic moments such as this one can be reflected in our comics because the Marvel Universe is set in the real world. A Spider-Man fan moving into the Oval Office is an event that must be commemorated in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man.”

Presumably this fine marketing has presidential blessing, as we hear from Obama last year:

“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.”

Obama is far from the first president to appear in comics in this fashion: Ronald Reagan appeared in “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns,” Bill Clinton in “Superman: The Man of Steel,” Richard Nixon in “Watchmen” and John F. Kennedy in “Action Comics.”

We even hear of joke president Jimmy Carter on the cover of “Superman vs. Muhammad Ali.”

The comic, “Amazing Spider-Man #583”, is available now.

The good source.

Shades of Rozen Aso… Sadly he did not appear in Rozen Maiden.