Indy Comics Writer

Election night is over, and, once again, voter fraud has cost Ralph Nader the presidency.

(Yes, that is a joke.)

Don’t know if you remember, but this campaign season actually brought us comic-book biographies of both Barack Obama and John McCain. Published by IDW Publishing, the comics each focus on the life stories of the two candidates. When the comics came out, they made big news. They also got a lot of criticism for their rather corny covers depicting the candidates standing in very heroic poses before fluttering U.S. flags.

The important thing, though, is that these comics were even made. Last year, a publisher told me that the real growth area for comics today is non-fiction. His company was actually in the process of creating a comic book how-to guide for aspiring actors.

Maybe the most powerful non-fiction comic work I’ve ever read is King, the graphic-novel biography of Martin Luther King by Ho Che Anderson. This book, I think, truly showed the non-fiction potential of the graphic medium. For my money, the graphic novel was far more powerful and moving than was Spike Lee’s ballyhooed movie version of Malcom X. (I know that’s a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison, since Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were such different kinds of leaders … but I think it also illustrates just how much power graphic novels can have over film.)

So while the Obama and McCain biographies might have been quickie works that will soon be forgotten — I haven’t read them, but, I have to admit, that judging these books by their covers I have no interest at all in trying them — they are important reminders that comics don’t have to be all about superheroes, space ships and detectives.

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