now, for one, the "Obama cover" was just an incentive cover - a 1 in 100, meaning retailers had to order 100 copies to get this:
otherwise, they got what i got:
now, this obviously will be a problem for some "collectors" and by that i mean obamabilia collectors, rather than comic book collectors. 1, because since it's not a special issue so much as a B story tacked onto the end of a "swinging peter parker - yes, this is what brand new day means" story. and 2, because explaining things like "variant cover" to non comic book people is like expianing string theory to a cow... Marvel kind of bungled it apparently, deciding rather late in the game that this was a) happening at all and b) to tell the the retailers, meaning many had already placed their orders when this happened (way to create demand... seriously, stunts like this are what cause the comic book bubble and collapse in the 90's)...
so tons of confused people, wanting an obama comic (where were they when this
but it was an Obama comic book) ended up with a pretty standard Spiderman comic, something i'm sure Obama - who apparently collects Spiderman comic books - would appreciate, but the typical memorabilia hunter wouldn't.now, the story:
well, the main story is bit of a throwaway. Betty Brant recounting how much a good friend Peter is even though he finds a way to always disappoint her. he's supposed to be planning a birthday party for her, she's trying to hook him up with a girlfriend (gee, had they only kept him married this wouldn't be a problem, would it?). the birthday comes, and no party. betty gets mad and peter, the good friend he is, explains to her that everyone he was trying to invite was mad at her, so he did what he did - rented a movie - to protect her. so... yeah.
the obama story is equally short and sweet. peter parker's at the inauguration taking photos, sees an obama double, and steps in to thwart him (spoiler: it turns out it's the chameleon, wanting to be president... when's the last time we saw HIM?). there's some nice interraction between spidey and obama:
the Biden joke is a nice, cute touch. as is Obama's line "Honestly, I'm more upset by the Chameleon's shockinglu deficient understaning of the electoral process." so all in all, a good story. and a good spiderman comic. just.... not something the obamaphiles are going to really want to spend the soon the be inflated prices for (though they will) - my retailer had it going for $10, as it was a 1 in 100 incentive, and they base their prices for them that way i guess- but a good spiderman story nonetheless.a better approach might have been having it more like "The Kid who Collects Spiderman" though without the terminal illness part of it. i think Obama telling spiderman he's a huge fan, and then Spiderman revealing his identity (i mean, Obama is the president) would have actually been brilliant...
