Obama Collects Comics? 50 Things You Might Not Know About The President-Elect

• He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics

• He was known as "O'Bomber" at high school for his skill at basketball

• His name means "one who is blessed" in Swahili

• His favourite meal is wife Michelle's shrimp linguini

• He won a Grammy in 2006 for the audio version of his memoir, Dreams From My Father

• He is left-handed -- the sixth post-war president to be left-handed

• He has read every Harry Potter book

• He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali

• He worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as a teenager and now can't stand ice cream

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Comments

[SWSaffel]

12:53 PM on 11/21/2008

Ideals start when you're young, and if you're lucky, you have sources of inspiration that can stick with you over the years. I've been a lot of things, including a comic book fan, and it's terrific to learn that we have a leader who actually believes in ideals, then actually discover that his ideals may have been enhanced by one of my favorite characters!

I got lucky. I got to write the book about Spider-Man, and show the many ways in which he remained exciting to me and to millions of readers. I was thrilled to find out that our next president is a fan, too--this must be what Ian Fleming fans felt like when Kennedy revealed that he liked James Bond.

If he had to learn from someone, Peter Parker was our best bet. Few lessons can match "With great power there must also come great responsibility." Comic book readers have been exposed to ideals like that for decades, and young people today deserve a leader who gets it.

[mim]

10:48 PM on 11/14/2008

A man after my own heart--he loves Moby-Dick.

[TuffCookie]

06:00 PM on 11/11/2008

i have seen tons of pics of him eating ice cream lol

[forthepeople1]

05:38 PM on 11/11/2008

I think it was awesome to have won a grammy for his book, Dreams of My Father. That was a pleasant fact to learn.

[Palemoon]

05:12 PM on 11/11/2008

I must admit I like comics too, tho alot of them are of the feminine variety such as Purgatori, Lady Death, Domino, Ghost, Nova (Frankie Raye), Witchblade and Razor. I like some Marvel and DC, but especially alot of independents. And I can't leave out Tank Girl either.

I adore Alan Moore's comics and writings too. And he's enlightened me about the approach, and is arguably the approach he used when writing everything from V For Vendetta and Watchmen to Superman, Batman and Swamp Thing. We can hope that Obama has read some of his works also, especially since Watchmen is in Time's "All-Time 100 Novels" list.

[lglglg]

04:29 PM on 11/11/2008

HE DOESN'T LIKE ICE CREAM? Obviously not a
REAL American! The Electoral College MUST refuse to allow him to become President for this reason alone.

[113]

04:02 PM on 11/11/2008

i hope he also reads some DC comics..especially superman...if he's a superman fan that makes him even cooler.

[concernvoter]

04:01 PM on 11/11/2008

Our 44th President is a smart man. We can't take that away from him. The 44th President means: Martin Luther King died in 1964 and Obamawas elected the 44th President after Dr. King legacy. 1964+44=2008

[Palemoon]

05:17 PM on 11/11/2008

I think you are confusing King's April 4, 1968 death with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which attempted to end discrimination once and for all.

[mirage2008]

01:45 PM on 11/11/2008

I just want to correct one error in the above list:

"Barack" is actually an *Arabic* word that means blessing. It's also in Hebrew too, but it entered Swahili via Muslim influences during the medieval times.

[KillBillV2]

03:49 PM on 11/11/2008

Doesn't it mean Charisma too?

[kingmiller]

01:30 PM on 11/11/2008

Marvel comics? Of course! Coolest President EVER!

[gio613]

12:57 PM on 11/11/2008

I knew he was a marvel comics guy.

[Nick127]

12:08 PM on 11/11/2008

"With great power comes great responsibility " - Ben Parker

[d00derman]

11:58 AM on 11/11/2008

I hope I'm not corny here, but there is a lot to learn about Dumbledore's leadership in the books, and if Obama takes a little of that with him to the White House we'd be set!

[StarkRavingNakedEmperor]

12:53 PM on 11/11/2008

Absolutely!

[PrimusElijah]

01:07 PM on 11/11/2008

I second that or ...third it actually. I see nothing wrong with taking sage advice.

[Nick127]

11:56 AM on 11/11/2008

Oh man do you know how cool it is to have a prez that collects comics?Us comic geeks have found a real live hero :)

[DanteB1]

03:53 PM on 11/11/2008

Agreed! Though my only caveat is that I wish Barack Obama was an avowed fan of Batman -- not as a role model, mind you, but as a bad-ass superhero -- esp. given that Chicago is Gotham City's cinematic stand-in. :-)

[XFilesTheTruthIsOutThere]

11:41 AM on 11/11/2008

This is the reason why I voted for this man. He loves read Spider-Man comics. President Obama, this black man also loves reading and collecting Spiderman comics. Maybe we can trade someday.

[StarkRavingNakedEmperor]

12:54 PM on 11/11/2008

What if he IS Spider Man?

[JubilationLeigh]

11:03 PM on 11/11/2008

Then he lied about being Superman! But I think it's obvious he's Kryptonian-American.

[SailFree]

01:04 PM on 11/11/2008

That's a fine reason to vote for prez.