Move over, capes and spandex. Hillary Clinton’s pantsuits will now be gracing the cover of a new comic book as part of a left-leaning female Justice League.
Bluewater Productions, which has previously profiled Barack Obama and Sarah Palin, has just released its newest political comic, “Political Power: Hillary Clinton,” chronicling Clinton’s life after being sworn in as Secretary of State.
The writer of the Clinton comic, Jerome Maida, insists his 32-page comic book is a fair and realistic portrayal of the former first lady, but it’s clear he has an affinity for her that shows through the pages of the comic.
I am writing Hillary Clinton from a perspective of someone who did not admire her at first and throughout the process of research has come to admire and be utterly fascinated by what is a tale that most have not reported on. We delve into how her decision not to run in 2004 helped make Barack Obama a star, how she took him under her wing and how their battle was more personal than many realize – and how close she came to saying no to the position of Secretary of State and what changed her mind. It’s a fascinating story.
The glorification of her career follows Bluewater’s creation of a real-life Justice League. There seems to be an important qualification to become a part of the “Female Force” series, however: you should probably be a Democrat.
Of the American political and media figures they have covered, there are only four conservative names: Sarah Palin, Condoleezza Rice, Ayn Rand, Laura Ingraham. Every other political cover girl has been much more left leaning, including Michelle Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Kathy Griffin, Sonia Sotomayor, Rosie O’Donnell, Meredith Vieira, Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, Caroline Kennedy, and Barbara Walters.
Bluewater’s Palin comic book was extremely popular, but the message with her caricaturization was more of a back-handed compliment. As Bluewater head Darren G. Davis said of her portrayal:
You just can’t ignore Sarah Palin. Even those who’d never vote for her can’t deny that the woman has an amazing charisma. She can get away with missteps that other politicians can’t afford to make.
Clinton’s comic joins Obama’s famous 2009 treatment by Marvel in a special Spiderman issue released days before his inauguration. As NB's Ken Shepherd wrote then, even comic books are crawling with a pro-Obama bias, although they claim to be non-partisan and respectful of all presidents.
Spider-Man will swing to the rescue at the Obama inauguration in the Marvel comics universe, USA Today's David Colton reported in a January 8 story for the newspaper's Life section. Colton's story sought to portray the move not merely as a money-maker for Marvel but part of a storied tradition of graphic novel artists of including the commander-in-chief in comic book cameos.
As Shepherd later pointed out, though, a Marvel comics character threatened President Bush's life in the Oval Office in late 2001, so this storied tradition is not exactly as non-partisan and respectful as Marvel says it is.
It seems unlikely that, given Clinton's lower visibility nowadays, this book will sell many copies. But then again, media liberalism never was about profit.
