| Barack the Barbarian | |
|---|---|
Cover of Barack the Barbarian 1 (June 2009 ). |
|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Devil's Due Publishing |
| Schedule | Irregular |
| Format | Limited series |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publication date | June 2009 – present |
| Number of issues | 5 |
| Main character(s) | Barack Obama |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Larry Hama |
| Artist(s) | Christopher Schons |
| Letterer(s) | Chris Crank |
| Colorist(s) | Rachelle Rosenberg |
| Editor(s) | Evan Sult |
| Collected editions | |
| Volume 1 | ISBN 1934692794 |
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 originally appeared in a four-issue mini-series. The story features the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama in comics as a Conan the Barbarian-style figure.[2] It also features politicians like Sarah Palin, George W. Bush, and Dick Cheney in fictional roles.[3][4][5][6]
The series was followed by a one-shot, The Fall of Red Sarah[7]
Contents |
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.”[8]
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 describes 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 described how it is more than just a political satire: "I just think of it as sword and sorcery, only the characters look really familiar."[1]
The comic books are being collected into a trade paperback: