Xavier Zaragoza
The Douglas Dispatch

Novelist, comic book writer, Jeffrey Mariotte wrote a biography on Barack Obama, which is now on sale. Mariotte will be at the Douglas Public Library on Oct. 15 at 5:30 p.m. to talk about his new work.

With the U.S. presidential elections less than a month away, a graphic novel publishing company picked a Douglas area novelist to write a comic book biography on Barack Obama. A similar biography on John McCain was published by the same publisher but written by a different writer.

Jeffrey J. Mariotte, a novelist and comic book writer, poured through magazine and newspaper articles, documentaries, and Obama’s two books, “Dreams From My Father” and “Audacity of Hope,” before writing the 28-page biography.

On the cover, Obama stands like a superhero. With fists firmly on his hips, he gazes seriously into the distance. In the background an American flag waves in the breeze.

Inside, Obama’s story begins with Super Tuesday but then moves effortlessly through all the important facets of Obama’s life: his white American mother and Kenyan father, his search for identity, Harvard law, the Illinois State House and US Senate, Michelle Obama, and his Democratic nomination for the US presidency.

Tom Morgan, who did the artwork on the Obama comic, said Mariotte had done such a thorough job on the script that his challenge was to make the likeness of Obama as believable as possible. Morgan’s artwork helps the comic flow from one scene to another like a movie.

And like any good biography that tackles an important subject, the comic book takes an unbiased approach.

“There is no agenda or editorializing behind the comic book,” Mariotte said.

Keeping the comic book balanced and unbiased was important to Scott Dunbier, the special projects manager for Idea and Design Works (IDW), publisher of the McCain and Obama comic book biographies.

“No one should make their voting decision based on a comic book, but hopefully it will inform a voter before going to the polls,” he said.

In 1964 Dell Comics published comic book biographies of presidential candidates Barry Goldwater and Lyndon Johnson, Dunbier said. No data was found showing how the comic books influenced voters in 1964. Some of the important issues then were the Vietnam War, poverty and race relations and Civil Rights.

In 2008, war, again, is a major issue. But now the country is facing a $700 billion corporate bailout, home foreclosures, escalating gasoline prices, and illegal immigration. With the future of the country at stake, informing voters about the candidates becomes even more crucial, he said.

While doing the Obama comic, Morgan learned a lot about the candidate, he said, and hopes that many others will learn about both candidates.

“Obama is such an engaging character and it’s difficult not getting drawing into his life,” Morgan said.

For Dunbier, both McCain and Obama are larger than life characters whose lives make great material for the comic books. The aim of the biographies is to go beyond the average comic book reader and to inform him before he sets out to vote

“Hopefully, it will get voters to dig a little deeper about them after reading the comic,” Dunbier said.

Either way, McCain or Obama will be the 44th President of the United States.

Obama author Jeffrey Mariotte is an award-winning, best-selling writer of more than 30 novels, including “Missing White Girl,” which is set in Douglas and Cochise County. He has written books set in the universe of “CSI: Miami,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Angel,” “Supernatural,” “Spider-Man,” “Superman,” and “Star Trek.”

Mariotte’s latest book, “River Run Red,” on sale Sept. 30 from Penguin/Jove, is the second book in a loose trilogy, by theme and setting, following “Missing White Girl.” 

“River Run Red” is an ambitious epic of a supernatural thriller, combining elements of spy fiction (and fact) with flat-out horror.