Atlantans shell out for Obama Spider-Man edition
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Hold on to your spider web, true believers.
President-elect Barack Obama has teamed up with your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
Marvel Comics/AP
President-elect Barack Obama makes the cover of a special edition of ‘The Amazing Spider-Man.’
Marcus K. Garner/mgarner@ajc.com
Adam Throne, 38, of Peachtree Corners, buys a copy at Oxford Comics in Buckhead.
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In what became an instant collector’s item, America’s first African-American president steals the spotlight from the superhero on the cover of a special edition of the Marvel Comics classic.
“Hey, if you get to be on my cover, can I be on the dollar bill?” the Web-head quips as he snaps a picture of a front-and-center Obama.
They’ve got a bit in common.
Both have — or will have by next week — great power along with great responsibility.
Tuesday morning’s release of the Inauguration Day edition of “The Amazing Spider-Man” issue No. 583 had Spidey fans ecstatic.
“He’s such an everyman hero,” high school teacher Adam Throne said of the masked avenger. “And here you have him with a president who’s going to fight for everybody.”
The actual encounter between Obama and the webbed crime fighter is a six-page backup story printed at the end of the main — and unrelated — story line. The President-elect has a run-in with an evil doppelganger, and good ole web-head must swing in to save the day.
The special edition sent comic collectors scrambling for copies.
The book that originally sold for $3.99 Tuesday morning was listed on eBay for as much as nearly $300 by the end of the day. Bidders were offering more than $100.
“I didn’t think I was going to be paying this much,” said Tracy Oliver, an Alpharetta software developer who paid $45 Tuesday night for his copy at Oxford Comics in Buckhead.
“I got a feeling the price was going to be going up. The only [other] place in the city that had it was selling it for $70.”
And Oxford Comics, purportedly the only Atlanta retailer to carry the comic, was swamped with comic book fans and political history collectors who quickly bought out the 1,000 copies at the store, owner Mike VanHouten said.
“There were lines of 50 or more wrapped around the building,” VanHouten said. “People were happy to pay $45. This is the biggest thing since the death of Superman.”
Marvel Comics officials said the issue pays tribute to a longtime — and well-publicized — Spidey fan.
“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,” Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada said in a statement. “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.”
“It’s such an historic occasion, I had to get one,” said Buckhead resident Timothy Smith, who paid $45 for the comic — the first he’d ever bought. “Hopefully, this will be my retirement.”
VanHoute and Throne said they hope the cross-section of admirers of the two charismatic individuals are inspired to read more.
“The idea of having a fictional hero meet a real hero is a great opportunity for my students,” Throne said. “They see that heroes are tangible, and people they can see and maybe become some day.”
