McCain and Obama comic biographies hit U.S. stands

By Alex Dobuzinskis

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The life stories of U.S. presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama will hit comic book stands on Wednesday -- and the company behind the illustrated bios expects plenty of adults to buy them.

IDW Publishing, a San Diego-based company, said it produced the comic book biographies of the two candidates to capitalise on the election and inform voters. The two biographies will be sold separately in comic stores, and together in a bound edition at chain bookstores.

In his comic, McCain, the Republican nominee for president, is shown being pummelled by captors during torture sessions in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp. Obama, the Democratic nominee, is seen as a community organizer sitting around a kitchen table listening to Chicago residents.

"It really is a kick to do something that is something so out of the norm for comic books," said Scott Dunbier, special projects editor with IDW.

Dunbier said he came to appreciate the two candidates more after doing exhaustive fact-checking on their biographies.

"I think both men have very compelling stories," he said.

The company's other comic book titles include the science fiction mainstay "Star Trek" and the graphic novel "30 Days of Night," which was made into a movie.

But as the company aimed to get political, it also strived to remain non-partisan as it told the life stories of the two senators running for president.