Barack the Barbarian

Barack the Barbarian is a comic book series published by Devil's Due Publishing beginning in June 2009. It was written by Larry Hama,[1] with art by Christopher Schons.

Barack the Barbarian
Cover of Barack the Barbarian 1 (June 2009 )
Publication information
PublisherDevil's Due Publishing
ScheduleIrregular
FormatLimited series
Genre
Publication dateJune 2009 – present
No. of issues5
Main character(s)Barack Obama
Creative team
Written byLarry Hama
Artist(s)Christopher Schons
Letterer(s)Chris Crank
Colorist(s)Rachelle Rosenberg
Editor(s)Evan Sult
Collected editions
Volume 1ISBN 1-934692-79-4

Barack the Barbarian originally appeared in a four-issue mini-series. The story features the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama as a Conan the Barbarian-style figure.[2] It also features other politicians like Sarah Palin, George W. Bush, and Dick Cheney in fictional roles.[3][4][5]

The series was followed by a one-shot, The Fall of Red Sarah.[6]

Publication history

In November 2008, one of Obama's advisers gave an interview to journalist Jon Swaine of The Daily Telegraph titled, "Barack Obama: The 50 facts you might not know". In the interview, it emerged that Obama collects Conan the Barbarian.[7]

The idea for the series originated with Devil's Due publisher Josh Blaylock who explained that "We didn't want to be completely slapsticky. It is definitely partly a gimmick, but we wanted to do something clever with [the Obama comics trend]."[2] He contacted Larry Hama with his idea for a series called Obama the Barbarian, and Hama described how the idea developed during the course of the phonecall:

First off, you should change it to Barack the Barbarian, and second, I'm not interested in writing a Mad Magazine style parody and that it would have to be more in line with the more polemical stuff of Swift, Twain and Voltaire (not that I can pull off anything like they could,) and third, that my own leanings are towards Barack and that would be reflected in what I write – and Josh said 'fine'.[1]

The writer has said it is more than just a political satire: "I just think of it as sword and sorcery, only the characters look really familiar."[1]

Collected editions

The comic books are being collected into a trade paperback:

  • Barack the Barbarian Volume 1: Quest for the Treasure of Stimuli (144 pages, December 2009, ISBN 1-934692-79-4)

See also

Notes
  1. Arrant, Chris (May 12, 2009). "Barack the Barbarian? Behind the Latest Obama Comic". Newsarama. Retrieved November 26, 2009.
  2. Goellner, Caleb (July 28, 2009). "CCI: Devil's Due Publishing". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved November 26, 2009. Next up was one of Devil's Due's most publicized titles, the political satire and Conan homage "Barack the Barbarian: Quest for the Treasure of Stimuli"
  3. Manker, Rob (April 4, 2009). "Barack Obama comic books: 'Barack the Barbarian' and 'Drafted: One Hundred Days". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 2010-05-28. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
  4. Spillius, Alex (April 7, 2009). "Barack Obama and Sarah Palin appear in comic series". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on April 11, 2009. Retrieved November 26, 2009.
  5. Flood, Alison (April 8, 2009). "Obama battles Red Sarah in comic clash". The Guardian. Retrieved November 26, 2009.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-10-20. Retrieved 2011-05-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. Swaine, Jon (November 7, 2008). "Barack Obama: The 50 facts you might not know". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008.

References
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