Barack Obama -

Before I worked in advertising, I wrote comic books.

In 2009, I was asked to write a 28-page graphic biography of Barack Obama following his election as the 44th president of the United States.

The assignment meant condensing a lifetime of history, politics, and biography into a format built around panels, captions, and limited page space. I researched Obama's life from his childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia through his years as a community organizer, Illinois state senator, and presidential candidate.

But I didn't want to write a Wikipedia entry with pictures. I wanted to write a book that someone like myself would actually read because,

let's face it, political figures make pretty boring comic book material.

Living in Springfield, Illinois, at the time, I kept coming back to the connection between Obama and Abraham Lincoln. So I built the biography around a conversation between me and the ghost of Lincoln, using the framing device to move through Obama's story and the history surrounding it.

I also wove myself into the story, taking cues from friend and comic writing legend Harvey Pekar.

After plotting and scripting the 22-page book, I handed off the manuscript to my artist, Azim Akberali, in South Africa. The combination of lighthearted and even-handed material combined with Azim's hyper-realistic, painted artwork made this book stand out from the pack.

The result was Political Power: Barack Obama, a fully illustrated comic book biography published by Bluewater Productions. The book was later collected as part of the Political Power: Democrats graphic novel series.

The independent book sold 20,000+ copies — respectable for a small publisher. The book was even featured on a Conan O' Brien segment by accident, but I used that screenshot to my earned media marketing advantage.

I outsold at least one Batman book, which I am very happy with.

Publisher: Bluewater Productions
Role: Writer
Date: 2009

Key media hits/mentions:

PREVIEW: 'Political Power: Barack Obama' -- But Can It Beat 'Puppy Power'? [MTV Splashpages]

Bug chat with Darren G. Davis & Chris Ward about POLITICAL POWER: BARACK OBAMA [Ain't It Cool News]

The Hot List [Delta Sky Magazine]

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's . . . Obama [Wall Street Journal]

Comic relief: Local writer immortalizes 16th and 44th presidents [Springfield Journal Register]

ObamaComics: A prescient presidential pastiche [Illinois Times]

Rushville man hopes to make it big with Presidential comic book [WGEM-NBC]