Palin in Print

I have a confession.

I read Sarah Palin versus The World, and I didn’t hate it. Sure, it’s not going to make it into the AP English curriculum, and it’s dialogue is mostly trite references to Palin’s interviews and whatnot, but it’s not the worst. On the scale of Palin comics, it was actually pretty decent.

There have been heaps of comics with political influences in recent years, and Palin has become the muse of numerous writers. She’s made appearances in Archie, Mad Magazine, Tales From the Crypt, and Barack the Barbarian (yep, you read that correctly). And one-shots abound, like The Repuglicans, which featured her as a vampire (why not?)

And the Sarah Palin issues of Female Force (published by Bluewater Productions) have sold like proverbial hotcakes. The Female Force comics feature influential women of all sorts and their biographies, told in comic form. Sarah (and Hillary Clinton)’s issues are the highest sellers the series has had. They’re no Spider-Man, but the series on powerful women has been featured on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News, and in USA Today and People magazine. And Sarah’s story received a Take 2 issue to cover her story after the 2008 election.

The only other woman to warrant a second comic is first lady Michelle Obama. From the publisher’s site: “Female Force: Sarah Palin, Act 2 focuses on Palin’s life after the 2008 presidential elections. The book examines the reasons behind Palin’s increasing celebrity, and the threat that she might pose to both Democrats and mainstream Republicans should she decide to run in 2012.”

But back to SPvTW. Unlike most of the comics noted above, this story gives readers a main character Palin, instead of her being a featured player.

She’s inspired to head to the White House when her roomie (John McCain, of course) takes her to a party where they have a lot of tea. (Get it? Wink.)

There’s lots of yelling, action, and sassy retorts, and the story is drawn very similarly to the early volumes of Scott Pilgrim. And overall, it’s cute.

Especially in comparison to the other big stories with SP as their main character: Sarah Palin Rogue Warrior and Steampunk Palin. (Take a minute to mutter “wtf” to yourself, go ahead.)

Sarah Palin Rogue Warrior (’cause the sound my brain makes when reading that makes me happy) is a self-proclaimed “pulse-pounding plethora of pin-ups & stories, all featuring the hottest item ever to come out of Alaska.” The story chronicles the swimsuit sagas of Palin. It made me sad to see this, until finding an image of her wearing a polar bear skin, firing an automatic weapon, and shouting, “Pleased ta’ meet Alaskan ammo, comrade!” (Literary minds unite under this banner of magnificence!)

And regarding the cover: if she’s in a star-spangled bikini, why the big fuzzy hat? It’s certainly not to keep her warm, that’s what the machine gun fire is for.

But I digress.

Steampunk Palin takes our Alaskan to a new time in which a worldwide energy shortage has caused pandemonium. She turns to steam power to help the world keep from crumbling and in turn defeats (spoiler!) Al Gore. She even gets a new rockin’ bod made of steam-powered robotics (read: huge boobs). And then, once the story is complete, there’s the pin-up section. Almost half of the issue is devoted to pin-ups of the politician. (I didn’t see any pin-ups of McCain or Obama in there, in case you were wondering.)

There are plenty of  political figures in comic books, and Palin has a plethora. Some is okay, some bad, some painful. Sarah Palin versus The World isn’t the worst of the bunch, which is something.