"Spidey Meets the President!" is a backup feature in ''

The Amazing Spider-Man ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' is an ongoing American superhero American comic book, comic book series featuring the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man as its title character and main protagonist. Being in the Earth 616, mainstream continuity of t ...

'' #583, written by

Zeb Wells Zeb Wells (born April 28, 1977) is an American comic book writer, screenwriter, director, and voice actor. He is known for his controversial Amazing Spider-Man comic book run and New Mutants comic book from Marvel Comics, as well as being a writer ...

, with art by

Todd Nauck Todd Nauck ( ) is an American comic book creator, comic book artist and writer. Nauck is most notable for his work on ''Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man,'' ''Young Justice'' and his own creation, ''Wildguard (comics), Wildguard''. Career Nauck's ...

and Frank D'Armata. The cover of the issue shows

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

giving a thumbs-up to

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appearance, first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in ...

. The comic book was published the week before Obama's inauguration in January 2009.

Plot

The story begins with

Peter Parker Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the Silver Age of ...

standing among other reporters on the

presidential inauguration A presidential inauguration is a ceremonial event centered on the formal transition of a new president into office, usually in democracies where this official has been elected. Frequently, this involves the swearing of an oath of office. Examples o ...

, photographing this historic moment. Suddenly a limo pulls up and reveals another Obama. The

Secret Service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For i ...

does not know what to do, so Peter, who quickly dons his

costume, asks both questions that only the real Barack Obama would be able to answer. When he asks what his nickname was during his college days, the actual Barack says his true name, and the fake one is confused and angry, causing him to reveal his true form, which turns out to be the super-villain known as the

Chameleon Chameleons or chamaeleons (Family (biology), family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 200 species described as of June 2015. The members of this Family (biology), family are best known for ...

. This gives Spider-Man the opportunity to capture the Chameleon and the

arrests him. Obama tells Spider-Man that he is a fan of the hero and thanks him. Afterward, as Obama swears his oath as President, Spider-Man is shown sitting at the top of the

Washington Monument The Washington Monument is an obelisk on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father of the United States, victorious commander-in-chief of the Continen ...

, where he thinks

Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

notices him.

Prologue

This story was prepended in ''The Amazing Spider-Man Presidents Day Special''

digital comic Digital comics (also known as electronic comics,Ian Hague, ''Comics and the Senses: A Multisensory Approach to Comics and Graphic Novels'', Routledge, 2014, ch. 2: "Sight, or, the Ideal Perspective and the Physicality of Seeing". eComics, e-comi ...

. The additional pages depict the minutes before the original story took place, with Obama getting ready for the inauguration. The

, disguised as Obama's tailor, locks him inside and takes his place, driving to the inauguration in the

presidential limousine An official state car is an automobile used by a government to transport its head of state or head of government in an official capacity, which may also be used occasionally to transport other members of the government or visiting dignitaries from ...

. However, the real Obama escapes and is driven to the ceremony in a second limousine by his soon-to-be

Vice President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

Joseph Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

. Meanwhile, outside the capital,

is running late to the inauguration ceremony and has forgotten his press credentials. So, he enters the area stealthily by using his spider-like abilities to climb over a high wall. However, he is spotted by Senator

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

and a few Secret Service agents. The senator recognizes as him as the photographer from '' The Daily Bugle'' and even provides him with a spare press credential. Parker then joins the press corps and the prequel story connects to the main story.

Reception

Typical sales for ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' are about 70,000 copies per issue. Issue #583 sold over 350,000 copies and went to five printings. It was the highest-selling regular series book of the 2000s.

Collected edition

References

{{Spider-Man publications Cultural depictions of Barack Obama 2009 comics debuts Individual stories from issues of anthology comics