Even before the US election was over comics fans had cast their vote, with sales of IDW’s Barack Obama biography comic beating those of the John McCain by a 59% to 41% margin, according to an IDW spokesperson.
icv2.com reports the numbers are based on sell-in to direct market comic retailers, which can serve as a close proxy for actual sales to consumers.
That margin appears to be wider than the popular vote percentages, which may reflect a different political composition for comic fans than for the American population, or just the desire of comic fans to collect the comic biography of the presumptive winner.
The comics were serious biographies of the candidates, and shared trade dress and cover design. The Obama comic also seems to have been the one most widely pirated…
• More info at: www.presidentialcomics.com
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Uncategorised