Archie Comics Welcomes Gay Character to Riverdale

By GottaLaff

Archie, Betty, Veronica, Mr. Weatherbee, Miss Grundy, Reggie, and Jughead have a new gay comic panel-mate, and it's about time:

Here is the summary from the press release:

Kevin will appear in September's VERONICA #202, in a story called "Isn't it Bromantic?" Kevin Keller is the new hunk in town and Veronica just has to have him. After Kevin defeats Jughead in a burger eating contest at Pop's Chocklit Shoppe, she desperately latches onto him. Mayhem and hilarity ensue as Kevin desperately attempts to let Veronica down easy and her flirtations only become increasingly persistent.

Veronica, you magnificently ignorant slut... (at 1:10)



Click to enlarge:

That Jughead, he's such a scamp.

I find it fascinating that comic book characters are more enlightened than many Americans.

Why, I bet the creators of Archie Comics never even thought to introduce Don't Draw, Don't Tell.

Comic book series to feature Al Franken

By GottaLaff

What better subject for a comic book than a former comic? Via CNN:

Franken, the comedian-turned- liberal radio host-turned U.S. senator, will be featured in an upcoming 22-page color spread as part of the "Political Power" series published by Bluewater Productions.

"We want to tell stories about people who are not the Barack Obama's of the world and Sen. Franken isn't someone people would expect us to cover," publisher Darren Davis said in an interview with CNN. Davis said the May issue of the series will "show his early life as a comedian to modern day. "I don't think anyone knows Sen. Franken co-wrote the movie "When a Man Loves a Woman," said Davis, referring to the 1994 dramatic film starring Andy Garcia and Meg Ryan.

Al Franken is a source of pride for the Democratic party. "Political Power" obviously has splendid taste, featuring only the finest, simply the best, clearly the political gold medalists:

The current issue features George W.Bush.

Way to end a story with a thud, CNN.

Coming Soon: Michele Bachmann -- The Comic Book!

By GottaLaff

Much more (including enlargements) here and here.

How do you make a joke even jokier? Why, here's how!

[T]he Dump Bachmann blog [is] now getting their message out about our favorite House Republican backbencher in a new way: A comic book, entitled False Witness!

Dump Bachmann contributor Bill Prendergast teamed up with local cartoonists in Minnesota to write an illustrated history of Bachmann's career -- with her dialogue all culled from actual media appearances, such as her call for revolution against President Obama, or her request for the media to investigate Congress for anti-American views.

Dee-lish. I wonder how we'll be able to tell the comic from the real thing. And by "real", I mean "lunatic with no sense of reality whatsoever".

Superhero Barack the Barbarian v. scantily clad nemesis Sarah Palin in Kickassistan!

By GottaLaff

Oh... my:

Forget Arnold Schwarzenegger as Conan the Barbarian and meet Barack the Barbarian in his latest fictional role.

The U.S President is featured in yet another series of new comic books which will be published in June.

In one called Barack the Barbarian: Quest for the Treasure of Stimuli the Democrat leader is pictured as the muscle-bound, loincloth-wearing President of 'Kickassistan'.

Um, "Democrat leader"? Who wrote this, a Rushpublic flunky from LameAssistan?

In another called The Righteous Retribution of Barack the Barbarian, he is pictured in a fight to the death with a screeching enchantress.

In the Quest for the Treasure of Stimuli, he takes on his Nemesis, former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who sports a cape made from wolf skin and her trademark glasses - and very little else.

Chicago-based comics publisher Devil's Due revealed its titles will involve Obama-related storylines.

There's a lot more, or less, to see here.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to SmartAssistan. There's a snark emergency that I must tend to before the evil Right Wing Loons of Serious and Fear take over the Blogosphere.

Rick Warren Allies Distribute Anti-Jewish Comic To School Kids

By GottaLaff

It's too early to read something this disturbing:

In late March 2008, as announced by Rick Warren's publicist A. Larry Ross, Uganda became the second official "Purpose Driven" nation on Earth, following Rwanda. Sometime during the year Uganda also gained the dubious distinction as a nation that distributes state-sanctioned anti-Jewish propaganda to school children. Up to one million copies of Manga Messiah, which features a basic mis-representation of Biblical scripture giving readers the impression that the Jewish Pharisees were in league with Beelzebub, will be distributed in Uganda with the apparent blessings of the Ugandan Ministry of Education and Uganda's First Lady Janet Museveni, who has participated in Rick and Kay Warren's HIV/AIDS conferences.

Following a March 2008 meeting with Janet Museveni, Rick Warren announced his plan to make Uganda the world's 2nd "Purpose Driven" nation and enthused, to an audience at Uganda's elite Makerere University, "The future of Christianity is not Europe or North America, but Africa, Asia and Latin America." Warren's declaration was followed up by Uganda's Archbishop, Henry Orombi, under whose aegis the Church of Uganda intends to distribute ten million anti-Jewish comic books; "Someday we will have a purpose driven continent!" [...]

According to Political Research Associates' senior analyst Chip Berlet, Manga Messiah is "[a] colorful comic training manual for motivating young leaders of the next pogrom against Jews. Not just offensive -- ghastly and horrific in content with a clear enemy scapegoat identified for venting apocalyptic religious bigotry."

Chip Berlet is not alone in his assessment that Manga Messiah betrays an ugly anti-Jewish slant. As a story by journalist Tom Baker, published June 28, 2008 in central California's Modesto Bee, quoted Japanese popular culture scholar Prof. Deborah Shamoon of Notre Dame University, "I think the representation of Jews is appalling."

Go here for much, much more, where you'll also be able to view the graphics more clearly.

Obama meets Spider-Man

By GottaLaff

Could there be a movie in the works?

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.

But.. but.. that means Spidey's a... terrorist! So much for the careers of impending-Gitmo-guests Kirsten and Tobey.

"It was a natural after we learned the new president is a Spider-Man fan," says Marvel editor in chief Joe Quesada about reports that Obama once collected Spider-Man comics. "We thought, 'Fantastic! We have a comic-book geek in the White House.' "

Obama said Batman and Spider-Man were his top superheroes because of their "inner turmoil." (John McCain picked Batman.)

In the story by Zeb Wells, Todd Nauck and Frank D'Armata, Spider-Man stops the Chameleon from spoiling Obama's swearing-in. At one point, Spider-Man says he mistook Vice President-elect Joe Biden for the Vulture (a vintage Spider-Man villain).

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 is not so much a pro-Obama statement but a tip of the hat to having a Spider-Man fan in the White House."

Would McCain have gotten a special issue had he won?

Says Quesada: "If McCain was a Spider-Man fan, I'm sure he would."

Jerry Seinfeld will be bitterly disappointed.

Linking to a glimpse of a few panels of the comic is a MUST.

IWRC* Palin is horror-fied in 'Tales from the Crypt'

By GottaLaff

(click on image to enlarge)

Here in the communist part of Ventura County, we frown on book-banning. And apparently, "Tales from the Crypt" is a communist comic book. They are ::dun-dun-dunnn:: the enemy:

"Tales from the Crypt" is about to take a whack at the nation's most famous hockey mom.

The next issue of the horror comic book has Sarah Palin, GOP vice presidential candidate, depicted on its cover swinging a hockey stick and rousting the ghoulish "Crypt" characters made famous in the book's gory glory days back in the 1950s.

"Didn't we get rid of you guys in the 50's?" the Alaska governor asks with a sneer as she scatters the Vault-Keeper and his creepy mates from a stone castle doorway. The politician is wearing a campaign button that reads "Palin-McCain" -- as well as a red top with a plunging neckline.

The cover is a reference to two instances of content debate, one that played out on a national stage and the other a seemingly minor moment in Alaska that has been made major by the current political season.

"Tales from the Crypt " became one of the signature names in horror and American pop culture after five years of memorable mayhem that ended in 1955. That was after months of intense pressure and new industry regulations targeting the lurid comics, spurred by televised Senate subcommittee hearings on juvenile delinquency and its causes.

Palin, meanwhile, has taken heat for some overtures she made in 1996 while as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. Criticized after reports that she sought to ban books from a local public library, the GOP candidate has said that on two occasions she asked "a rhetorical question" about removing objectionable books from shelves, but that she never pursued it or mentioned specific titles.

But any White House candidate who even entertains a conversation about book banning is a natural enemy to "Tales from the Crypt," according to Jim Salicrup, editor-in-chief of Papercutz, the publisher that revived the classic title about 16 months ago. "This was not a partisan thing. People tend to think of everything as black and white these days -- you are either for or against one of the parties 100%. But for us this was about the history of EC Comics, the original publisher of 'Tales from the Crypt.' Anyone who knows that history knows that even of whiff of banning books is going to get us angry."

Communist, juvenile delinquent-loving comics like this should be banned-- banned, I tell you!-- so that nobody is exposed to their evil red ways ever again!

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

McCain, Obama to get the comic book treatment

I'm too cranky, but this is amusing.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It's a year of superheroes in Hollywood, with the big-budget epics of Batman, Iron Man and the Hulk, but a big-budget production out of Washington, D.C., is carving a niche in the animation trend.

Presumptive nominees John McCain and Barack Obama will star this fall in their own comic books put out by IDW Publishing, a San Diego-based publisher better known for telling the stories of robots ("The Transformers") and vampires ("30 Days of Night").

Don't expect Captain America-versus-Superman hijinks or super-villains threatening the electoral process. Trading sound bites for word balloons, the books purport to tell McCain and Obama's life stories, independently researched and illustrated by a veteran team of writers and artists.