Surprisingly, the issue was raised with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs earlier this week, as Mediaite's Tommy Christopher risked lizard attack by asking whether or not the President had a statement on the issue:

Tommy Christopher: Robert, I have one question and one clarification. First, the new TV series on ABC, "V," a lot of people are talking about how this show draws very strong –

Gibbs: I got to tell you - I'm going to start with this: I don't want to give anybody the impression I have time to watch anything other than what most of you all do each night. So I can't even tell you what that is or what it's about. If that makes me fairly un-cool, I tend to watch more "SpongeBob" than "V."

Tommy Christopher:There have been a lot of news stories about this –

Gibbs: Makes me a hit with one six-year-old, and that really is all that counts.

Tommy Christopher: You haven't seen the news stories about how this show compares your administration to the alien invaders? (Laughter.) Seriously, really, you haven't heard about it?

Q: He couldn't admit it if he had. (Laughter.)

Gibbs: Because there's a chip in the back of my head that requires me - (laughter) - I don't mean to - I honestly - I got to tell you, I spend - I watch a little football on Saturday, a little football on Sunday, and a lot of news every other time.

Q: Get a life. (Laughter.)

Q: (Inaudible).

Gibbs: Pardon me?

Tommy Christopher: Fourteen million people watch it, and the show –

Gibbs: And clearly, me not being one of them. Again, I –

[Cross-talk.] (Laughter.)

Gibbs: Hold on. I'm not entirely sure who I'd check on since I don't watch the show.

Tommy Christopher: Well, check with the President, see if he has a reaction –

Gibbs: I will assume that the President watches –

Tommy Christopher:– comparing him to a space alien.

Gibbs: What's the - which would probably, like, be one of the least worst things he's been called today.

The exchange ended with Gibbs being promised a tape of the show to review from ABC's Jake Tapper, which, if nothing else, should give ABC something new to promote the show with next week: "Officially screened at the White House at request of the President!"

Here's hoping that his often-discussed love for sci-fi will get him through the derivative hour without being too distracted by a cast that includes Firefly, Dollhouse, Lost, The 4400 and Smallville refugees.

White House Is Thus Far Unaware Of Comparisons To ABC's Hit Show ‘V' [Mediaite]

According to indie publisher Moonstone Comics, the fifth issue of toy hero revival Captain Action will feature "President Obama and Captain Action as they battle a space alien death panel and the insidious Red Crawl." Whether or not the space alien death panel will be arguing the ins and outs of healthcare reform and how it relates to the nationality of Dr. Stephen Hawking remains unclear, but the publisher is ready to bring other national figures into the medium while we puzzle it out, according to Captain Action Enterprises' Ed Catto:

Since [we first announced the issue], practically every comic publisher has featured President Obama... As a result, we repositioned our story, and it now serves as a kind of tongue-in-cheek commentary on all the other comics featuring the President. We might be the first comic to feature Vice President Joe Biden and certainly are the first to feature the VP's Deputy National Security Advisor, Brian McKeon.

Speculators, look out: McKeon's first appearance is sure to rise in value in years to come.

Captain Action #5 is due in stores August 26th.

We all know that Barack Obama has become one of comics' hottest properties, what with his smash-hit team-up with Spider-Man, or his fighting aliens and becoming a politican barbarian, or even just grappling with a much-too-large gun. But, despite the surprising amount of appearances he makes in comics, comic appearances from US Presidents are nothing special; it was George W. Bush that watched Iron Man and Captain America start a superhero Civil War, after all.

But what is unusual is the attention now being given to the Obama family. If you don't want to read about "Tasha Tasker" in Keenspot's First Daughter, you'll soon be able to read Liquid Comics' First Family, about "the teen children of a newly elected American president who try to survive in a most ruthless political arena — high school," pick up Michelle Obama's comic-book biography or even stand by, amazed, as the Obama's dog, Bo, saves the world in Marvel's Pet Avengers. Turning Presidents into comic book heroes is one thing, but we never read Caroline Kennedy Vs. The Martians back in the '60s. So what's changed?
There's probably an argument to be made for cultural shift. I'm not just talking about the cultural shift of Obama's presidency and the wave of euphoric (and somewhat hysterical) optimism that followed his win, although that's certainly part of it - If Obama became the figurehead of a new era for America, it stands to reason that his family would be caught up in that and share in the adoration in some sense, after all - nor am I really referring to the cultural implications of the Obamas being the first black family in the White House (As hard as it is to separate that from the excitement and furor surrounding them, I think the... "novelty value," for want of a better way of putting it, is not what motivates people to look at them as such figureheads and icons). Instead, the Obamas enter the White House in a culture not only of reality shows but superhero stories, where we deify regular people and their problems and watch them overcome the odds at the same time as bringing irregular people overcoming massive odds - and saving the day - down to "our level," all the while working through our issues about whether we're Jon and Kate with less kids or Tony Stark without the armor or somewhere in between. With that mindset at work, who wouldn't want to know as much about the Leader Of The Free World And Those Whom He Loves The Most? It's perfect synergy!

(And, because of that, too, it's not enough for Obama's family to be normal - they have to be flawed icons striving to save the day as well that we can sympathize with and dream of being, hence First Daughter and Bo Obama fighting alongside Lockheed, Lockjaw and Frog Thor. Otherwise, then where's the glamor? What's the point?)

Also, let's face it: Obama sells. Who knows if it's the "First Black President" historical aspect, the "He's Not George Bush" aspect, or genuine appreciation and belief in the message he was selling, but people want Obama, and with comics feeding into the pop cultural zeitgeist properly for the first time in years, it's no surprise that they've joined in the feeding frenzy, or been so successful doing so (All credit to Marvel and their Amazing Spider-Man cover for breaking into the mainstream and facilitating it in the way that they did; without that media coverage and that high-profile character match, Obama's comic presence would've been much more minor). For an industry that knows how to exploit success until it's dead, and how to turn everything into a franchise (More than one Hulk series? More than one Hulk? Really?), it shouldn't come as a surprise that someone realized that there was potential in exploiting more than one Obama at a time.

The question, perhaps, is whether this is all too much. The new comics have all been announced, but none have been released (Save the Michelle bio, which was a moderate success); no-one knows if there is genuine consumer interest to match the headlines, and - to be honest - I doubt that there is. We've had years of The West Wing to give us more mundane (but, arguably, better written) versions of behind the scenes at the White House storylines, after all, and Ex Machina has pretty successfully taken the role of Fictional Superpowered Political Book for a few years now. For someone to really work hard to exploit Sasha and Malia, they'd have to actually feature Sasha and Malia themselves, not Tasha and another fictionsuit analog; otherwise, we're being sold another Chasing Liberty.

I wonder if I can convince DC to let Sasha join the Teen Titans and start up a romance with Static...?

Yes, the price may be high, but admit it: If you saw one of those tanks coming towards you, you'd want to surrender.

Obama Axes Pentagon Plan To Build Billion Dollar Tank In Shape Of Dragon [The Onion]

Marvel announced the cash-in - Wait, I mean "special issue" - yesterday, with a statement from Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada:

When we heard that President-Elect Obama is a collector of Spider-Man comics, we knew that these two historic figures had to meet in our comics’ Marvel Universe... Historic moments such as this one can be reflected in our comics because the Marvel Universe is set in the real world. A Spider-Man fan moving into the Oval Office is an event that must be commemorated in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man.

Of course, the publicity that comes with such a commemoration is just an unforeseen side-effect, right...?
Not only is this not Obama's first appearance in a comic book (Besides starring in his own biographical comic during the campaign, he's appeared in Image's Savage Dragon), it's also not even his first appearance in a Marvel comic - he made a cameo appearance as an evil shape-changing alien in their Secret Invasion series last summer. It's also not going to be his last Marvel appearance; he's going to be the subject of an assassination attempt in next month's issue of the Thunderbolts series.

Amazing Spider-Man #583, the Obama-centric "piece of American history" according to the press release, goes on sale next Wednesday.

[Marvel.com]

The February issue of the Image Comics series will feature Barack Obama's first appearance in a comic book as President of the United States, and the newly-released cover shows Obama offering a "terrorist fist jab" to the superhero in colors reminiscent of the already-iconic "HOPE" poster... and we're kind of bored by it already.

What's going on? Obama's not even in office yet, and the novelty of his comic appearances has already worn off through overuse... all from stunt appearances in one series. Is this an example of our ever-decreasing attention span, or has Savage Dragon really been riding the Obama Train a little too long?

Exclusive: Obama comes to comics [PopCandy]

In a post on the magazine's "Oscar Watch" blog called "How Obama helps Batman," EW writer Dave Karger puts forward the following theory:

I thought the sequence involving the two ferries (in which a group of commuters and a group of convicts have the power to blow up each others' boats but don't) was a bit too reality-show-ish for my taste. But I know most viewers loved it. Either way, that part of the film speaks to the innate goodness of human behavior. And let's remember that Oscar ballots are due next January 12, just a week before Barack Obama is inaugurated. It's safe to say most Hollywood types will also see that event as an example of innate human goodness. All of this only helps The Dark Knight's chances, don't you think?

In a word... No. Sorry, Dave, but I have the strangest feeling that, when Academy members are considering whether The Dark Knight deserves an Oscar nod or not, they won't be thinking "Well, now that Obama is trying to bring hope to this country, that reminds me of that part where the two boatloads of people fail to blow themselves up." Or maybe that's just me.

The Audacity Of Joke image by James Lillis.

How Obama Helps Batman [EW Oscar Watch]