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CHICAGO – When Barack Obama merely mentioned how much he liked his BlackBerry, the unofficial endorsement was said to be worth as much as $50 million. While not in the same stratosphere, a small comic book startup is using caricatures of the president, First Lady Michelle Obama and other big names to drive up sales.

Blue Water Productions has tapped a vein of mass appeal, capitalizing on the star power of public figures. Besides the Obamas, co-founder Darren Davis has profiled Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, Caroline Kennedy, Barbara Walters, Oprah Winfrey, George W. Bush and Lady Gaga to name a few.

“I’m not the most political person in the world,” said Davis, whose unauthorized biographical comics have become the lifeblood of the fledgling Portland, Ore.-based company. Davis said Blue Water’s 2009 revenues were close to $1 million and expects that could double this year.

“There are so many markets that this hits,” he said. “People just curious about the subject, people collecting biography comics, political collectors, women and kids.”

Blue Water’s titles sell for $3.99 in comic book stores. Davis also hawks them in non-traditional places, such as the specialty retail chain Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts.

The short biographies aim to provide unbiased factual accounts of their subjects’ lives, replete with the ample sarcasm and stylized graphic appeal that characterize the comic genre. Even the Obamas’ household pooch has his own comic tome — “Bo Obama, the White House Tails” — targeted to a younger audience.

Fame factor
“Any time you’ve got a small business that can tie into a celebrity, it can do phenomenal things for your brand,” said Jay Jessup, a brand publicist and co-author of “Fame 101″, who counts Blue Water among a clientele that includes soap opera star Jonathan Jackson (”General Hospital”) and noted stem-cell scientist and author Christian Drapeau.

Jessup said Blue Water’s biographies have gained enough recognition that celebrities are actually honored to be chosen for comic rendering.

Davis said Barbara Walters proudly displayed her copy on “The View” and also called to personally thank him. In addition, his Sarah Palin comic, now in its fourth printing, found its way onto CNN’s Larry King Live and Davis said his Michelle Obama book has sold more than 60,000 copies.

Despite all the hoopla, the cost of riffing on fame does have a downside: Davis conceded Blue Water has been derided as a “bottom feeder” within his comic book fraternity. Undeterred by the criticism, Davis intends to continue to hitch his wagon to the stars, noting the biographies now account for the lion’s share of his profits.

Davis honed his promotional skills as a marketer for E! Entertainment and USA Network. Shifting to the comics industry — his long-time passion — he eventually represented big-name artists such as Joe Madureira, known for his work on “Uncanny X-Men” and “Battle Chasers.” After several years with comic book publisher Wildstorm, which was taken over by DC Comics, Davis struck out on his own and eventually founded Blue Water in 2005.

“One thing I learned when I worked at E! is that celebrities are royal families,” he said.

Celebrity tie-ins have always been important for the company. Before the biographies, Blue Water inked a deal with Star Trek legend William Shatner to produce comic spinoffs from Shatner’s 1989 sci-fi novel “TekWar,” with “The Tek War Chronicles.” Davis also had a deal with the estate of horror-film legend Vincent Price, creating comics ahead of the 100-year anniversary of the actor’s birth.

Political decision
During the 2008 presidential election, Davis’s business partner, Jason Schultz, spotted an opening they couldn’t ignore. Rival publishers, including industry behemoth Marvel Comics, had begun releasing Barack Obama-themed comic books to feed a growing demand for election memorabilia. Schultz wondered why they couldn’t produce similar books focused on powerful women.

“These things took off like gangbusters,” said Davis. “As soon as we announced that we had the Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin books coming out, we had CNN knocking on our door.”

Even so, Blue Water is still just a niche player in a market dominated by heavyweights Marvel, a division of Disney, and DC Comics, which is owned by Time Warner. According to data from ICv2.com, a Web site that covers the comics industry, sales of comic books totaled $320 million in 2008, down from $330 million in 2007.

Biographical comics are not a new genre, but date back several generations, having covered a celebrity roster that includes Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis, among others, according to comics’ historian John Jackson Miller, founder of the Comics Chronicles, a resource for information about the industry.

What’s different about Blue Water, he said, is how tenacious the firm has been in sticking to the theme and taking advantage of media opportunities when they arise. Even so, gauging the public’s appetite for celebrities is always a guessing game, said Miller.

Blue Water only had one book charting in the top 300 titles as tracked by Diamond Comic Distributors, the industry’s leading supplier, for the month of January, Miller said. That compares to last October, when they had three books in the top 300.

“It’s a nice little niche,” he said. “If they do enough of these things, they could raise their market share considerably.”

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The essential companion to the movie, based on the bestselling comic book by Mark Millar and artist John Romita Jr. When an average high school student sets out to become the self-styled superhero Kick-Ass, he soon finds himself in over his head after meeting “the real deal” in the shape of pint-sized lethal weapon Hit Girl and her intimidating mentor, Big Daddy. With Mark Millar as your guide, get the lowdown on the creation of the comic and the making of the film, with eye-popping art from the original comics, unseen John Romita movie artwork, script extracts and hundreds of movie photos! Adults only!

A couple of weeks ago we premiered some exclusive Kick-Ass concept art from the book, and here are a few more images to whet your appetite:

 

 

 

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I’ve personally read the entire book and it’s a fascinating read with tons of great artwork and pictures from the set (I haven’t read the comic book version of the story) as well as some very funny anecdotes regarding the journey from concept to comic to movie. Be warned that the language in this book matches that from what you’ve seen in the red-band Kick-Ass trailer – I wouldn’t recommend you try to win this for your kids.

This movie looks like it’s going to be a “hard” R, and that’s highly unusual to say the least – but “unusual” is what writer Mark Millar and director Matthew Vaughn set out to do. The story of how this made it to the big screen is a very interesting one, and if you’re an adult who’s into comic books and superhero movies I highly recommend it.

To enter you must do TWO things:

1. Send an email to contests@screenrant.com with the subject “Kick-Ass Book Contest” and your full mailing address. (Entries without a mailing address will be disqualified.)

2. Become a fan of Screen Rant on Facebook. Click here to become a fan: Facebook.com/ScreenRant

Yes, I know – TWO whole steps. Tough life, right? (And yes we’ll be verifying both, home-slice.)

Contest ends on Friday, March 19th and is open to residents of the planet Earth. Winners will be randomly selected.

Thanks again to Titan books, and good luck!

Lil Wayne’s jail sentence might’ve been postponed again today (March 2) due to a courthouse fire, but that didn’t stop the rapper from firing off with the first of nearly 20 videos he’s filmed recently. The Young Money collective’s comic book-inspired “Roger That” clip premiered on the net today.

 

Young Money’s “Roger That” video.

 

 

Much like Eminem’s “Without Me,” the “Roger That” video uses a graphic novel motif which finds the Young Money crew adopting the art style of Sin City as well as Frank Miller’s urban noir (i.e. Nicki Minaj’s glittered corset.) YM member Tyga jumps between characters, which include a fighter pilot, a lounge singer, and, er, a guy wearing a gas mask?

 
While he tweeted today “yesterday i smiled,today i smirked,tomorrow i stop……………………….,” Lil Wayne seems more than ecstatic as he jumps around for the grand finale, at one point wearing a plaid button-up shirt, like the ones gang bangers from the west coast wear.

The video takes a few weak stabs at a narrative, but it’s really just the Young Money fam having fun, showing off their duds and celebrating being free and on top of the world.

 

Lil Wayne’s jail sentence might’ve been postponed again today (March 2) due to a courthouse fire, but that didn’t stop the rapper from firing off with the first of nearly 20 videos he’s filmed recently. The Young Money collective’s comic book-inspired “Roger That” clip premiered on the net today.

 

Young Money’s “Roger That” video.

 

 

Much like Eminem’s “Without Me,” the “Roger That” video uses a graphic novel motif which finds the Young Money crew adopting the art style of Sin City as well as Frank Miller’s urban noir (i.e. Nicki Minaj’s glittered corset.) YM member Tyga jumps between characters, which include a fighter pilot, a lounge singer, and, er, a guy wearing a gas mask?

 
While he tweeted today “yesterday i smiled,today i smirked,tomorrow i stop……………………….,” Lil Wayne seems more than ecstatic as he jumps around for the grand finale, at one point wearing a plaid button-up shirt, like the ones gang bangers from the west coast wear.

The video takes a few weak stabs at a narrative, but it’s really just the Young Money fam having fun, showing off their duds and celebrating being free and on top of the world.

 

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The pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation, which published “The Montgomery Story” and distributed it through churches and community groups, chose the cartoon format for a specific reason.

“The comic book, itself, is very, very powerful because a lot of people couldn’t read,” Wos says. “A lot of people couldn’t get access to information in the newspapers; there was a lot of censorship of what was going on at the time. They thought this would be a great way to get the message across.”

“The Montgomery Story” chronicles events in the Alabama city, from the arrests of Parks and King to the 1955-56 bus boycott, that came to represent Civil Rights milestones.

“It was published in January 1958, after the boycotts had ended, but it was actually being written and created during the boycott. So it really is a live document of history as it was happening, and not a look back,” Wos says. “While there are depictions of violent acts in this comic, the heroes are nonviolent, because that was their message.”

Years after the original publication, he says, “You had something interesting happen. It began to be distributed in Spanish in South America. And then, as recently as 2008, it has been produced in Arabic and is being distributed throughout the Middle East, teaching people of the Middle East about the methods of peaceful resistance.”

“Civil Rights Superheroes” represents the first exhibit of its kind, and Wos hopes to take it on tour.

“These are African Americans in heroic roles, but not your traditional caped superheroes. These are everyday people who did incredible things.”

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A 1939 comic book in which Batman made his debut sold at auction for more than one million dollars, breaking a record set just three days earlier by a Superman comic, Heritage Auction Galleries said.

The Dallas-based auction house said the rare copy of Detective Comics No. 27 sold for a total of $1,075,500, which includes the buyer’s premium, to a buyer who wished to remain anonymous. The seller wanted to remain anonymous as well.

“It pretty much blew away all of our expectations and now it’s the highest price ever raised for a comic book,” said Barry Sandoval, director of operations of Heritage’s comics division.

A copy of the first comic book featuring Superman, a 1938 edition of Action Comics No. 1, sold on Monday for one million in a sale between a private seller and a private buyer, with the transaction conducted by the New York City auction site ComicConnect.com.

“We can really say that Batman has nosed out Superman, at least for now,” Mr Sandoval said.

He said the seller had bought the Batman comic in the late 1960s for $100. With a bright yellow background, the comic features Batman swinging on a rope above city rooftops.

“That cover is just one of the most famous of all comic book covers,” Mr Sandoval said.

J.C. Vaughn, associate publisher of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, said most people had predicted it would be the comics with the first appearance of Superman and Batman that broke the one million dollar barrier. Both comics that sold this week were in great condition – scoring an 8 on a scale that goes up to 10, he said.

“I think that you can greenly ascribe this to a real comfort with the liquidity of rare, high grade vintage collectibles,” Mr Vaughn said.