Rael
01-15-2009, 09:12 PM
Local comic shops sell out of Spider-Man issue starring Barack Obama
Thursday, January 15
( updated 2:19 pm)
By Joe Killian
GREENSBORO -- The latest issue of "The Amazing Spider-Man" sold out across the Triad on Wednesday just minutes after it hit the stands. The web-slinging superhero had a little help from a special guest star: President-elect Barack Obama.
The issue features an extra story in which Spider-Man saves the popular president-elect from a villainous impostor. Obama thanks the hero with a signature fist-bump.
After getting calls all week, local comic shops braced for large crowds. Acme Comics (Video | Photos) on Lawndale Drive waited to open until after the comic arrived and the store was ready for the rush.
"We were hoping we could get a copy," said Lena Harper of Greensboro, who came with her 8-year-old daughter and stood in a line stretching onto the sidewalk. "But we should have known to show up hours early, like at a movie premiere."
Harper and her daughter said they would buy a copy of an Obama biography comic instead - and wait for the second printing of the "Spider-Man" issue.
There are two versions of the issue - one with a cover for the main story, and one with Obama on the cover. Only about 25 copies of the Obama cover version were available to nonsubscribers in area comic shops Wednesday. Customers were limited to one copy.
The reprints will all feature Obama on the cover with a different color in the background.
"Marvel Comics is going to press with a second printing right away, which is unusual," said Jermaine Exum, manager at Acme Comics.
Exum said his store usually orders 90 to 100 copies of the monthly comic, but after hearing about the Obama guest-spot he ordered 176. It still wasn't enough.
"We've ordered 500 of the reprint and we could have them by next Wednesday," Exum said. "Everyone should be able to get one then."
The event was great for business, Exum said, and attracted people who don't read comics into his store for the first time. Many of those who couldn't score a first-printing went home with the popular Barack Obama-as-Superman T-shirt or other Obama-related items. A sign over the store's rack of "Conan The Barbarian" comics read: "Obama's 'other' favorite comic."
At Parts Unknown on Spring Garden Street, owner John Hitchcock said the excitement reminded him of the rush to get the "Spider-Man" issue dealing with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He said he got more than 100 calls about the Obama comic, mostly from people who aren't regular customers.
"I only ordered 25 because (Marvel Comics) didn't let us know Obama would be in it 21/2 months ago, when we had to order," Hitchcock said.
Martin Greene, 34, was lucky enough to get a first printing at Acme. He said he's going to read the story, then seal the issue for his daughter, who just turned 2 years old.
"This is like a piece of history she'll be able to have when she's older," Greene said. "Hopefully, by then she won't even understand why the first black president was such a big deal, it will just seem normal. But we all know how important it is now."
Copies of the issue are already hot items online, where eBay sellers are listing them for as much as $40 - about 10 times the cover price.
This is not the first time a U.S. president has appeared in a Marvel comic. The company sets its superheroes in the real world, and presidents from Roosevelt to Clinton and Bush have all guest starred. But Obama's guest spot was a last-minute surprise put together when Marvel learned the president-elect is a Spider-Man fan and once collected the comic.
"How great is that? The commander in chief to be is actually a nerd in chief," said Joe Quesada, Marvel's top editor. "It was really, really cool to see that we had a geek in the White House. We're all thrilled with that."
Thursday, January 15
( updated 2:19 pm)
By Joe Killian
GREENSBORO -- The latest issue of "The Amazing Spider-Man" sold out across the Triad on Wednesday just minutes after it hit the stands. The web-slinging superhero had a little help from a special guest star: President-elect Barack Obama.
The issue features an extra story in which Spider-Man saves the popular president-elect from a villainous impostor. Obama thanks the hero with a signature fist-bump.
After getting calls all week, local comic shops braced for large crowds. Acme Comics (Video | Photos) on Lawndale Drive waited to open until after the comic arrived and the store was ready for the rush.
"We were hoping we could get a copy," said Lena Harper of Greensboro, who came with her 8-year-old daughter and stood in a line stretching onto the sidewalk. "But we should have known to show up hours early, like at a movie premiere."
Harper and her daughter said they would buy a copy of an Obama biography comic instead - and wait for the second printing of the "Spider-Man" issue.
There are two versions of the issue - one with a cover for the main story, and one with Obama on the cover. Only about 25 copies of the Obama cover version were available to nonsubscribers in area comic shops Wednesday. Customers were limited to one copy.
The reprints will all feature Obama on the cover with a different color in the background.
"Marvel Comics is going to press with a second printing right away, which is unusual," said Jermaine Exum, manager at Acme Comics.
Exum said his store usually orders 90 to 100 copies of the monthly comic, but after hearing about the Obama guest-spot he ordered 176. It still wasn't enough.
"We've ordered 500 of the reprint and we could have them by next Wednesday," Exum said. "Everyone should be able to get one then."
The event was great for business, Exum said, and attracted people who don't read comics into his store for the first time. Many of those who couldn't score a first-printing went home with the popular Barack Obama-as-Superman T-shirt or other Obama-related items. A sign over the store's rack of "Conan The Barbarian" comics read: "Obama's 'other' favorite comic."
At Parts Unknown on Spring Garden Street, owner John Hitchcock said the excitement reminded him of the rush to get the "Spider-Man" issue dealing with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He said he got more than 100 calls about the Obama comic, mostly from people who aren't regular customers.
"I only ordered 25 because (Marvel Comics) didn't let us know Obama would be in it 21/2 months ago, when we had to order," Hitchcock said.
Martin Greene, 34, was lucky enough to get a first printing at Acme. He said he's going to read the story, then seal the issue for his daughter, who just turned 2 years old.
"This is like a piece of history she'll be able to have when she's older," Greene said. "Hopefully, by then she won't even understand why the first black president was such a big deal, it will just seem normal. But we all know how important it is now."
Copies of the issue are already hot items online, where eBay sellers are listing them for as much as $40 - about 10 times the cover price.
This is not the first time a U.S. president has appeared in a Marvel comic. The company sets its superheroes in the real world, and presidents from Roosevelt to Clinton and Bush have all guest starred. But Obama's guest spot was a last-minute surprise put together when Marvel learned the president-elect is a Spider-Man fan and once collected the comic.
"How great is that? The commander in chief to be is actually a nerd in chief," said Joe Quesada, Marvel's top editor. "It was really, really cool to see that we had a geek in the White House. We're all thrilled with that."