When SFUniverse counted down our Top 10 Black Superheroes, a couple of folks (only half-jokingly) suggested Barack Obama should make the list. Well, the newly elected commander-in-chief is well on his way as he appears in the pages of a special issue of The Amazing Spider-Man.

USA Today tells us that Marvel Comics Editor In Chief Joe Quesada came up with the idea after hearing that Obama collected Spider-Man comics as a kid. In an Entertainment Weekly pop culture survey, Obama picked Spidey and Batman as his favorite heroes because of their inner turmoil. Presidential runner-up John McCain picked Batman.

In the story, the wall-crawler stops the shapeshifting supervillain The Chameleon from ruining Inauguration Day. There’s a five-page team up with the president and the superhero culminating in a “superheroic fist bump.” Collectors are apparently already trying to track down copies of the book that sells for $3.99, but the special Obama cover is expected to push the price much higher. Can we price gouge to take advantage of Obama’s popularity? Yes, we can.

Asked if McCain would have gotten the same treatment had he won, Quesada said sure – if McCain were a Spider-Man fan.

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This game is designed by the same team responsible for the popular Tony Hawk series and they’ve reportedly perfected a system allowing you to switch costumes in mid-combo. It’s similar to the method you use to string together “tricks” in that series.

The two costumes come with different sets of powers and are apparently leveled up separately. You will even encounter different Marvel characters and different storylines depending on which costume you use and how you choose to fight evil.

Here’s the trailer Activision Games showed the world at San Diego Comic-Con:

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First, for those who don’t know Toon Disney is airing the classic 80s toon Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. It parallels not much of anything that ever happened in the books, which as an adult would be the first thing I would pick apart.

But man, when you’re six or seven years old, seeing Spidey battle evil alongside Firestar and Iceman is the greatest thing in the history of ever. I think Firestar was the first cartoon character I ever had a crush on.

So last night I’m trying to get caught up on numerous writing projects and this catches not only the corner of my eye, but my two-year-old son Jordan’s as well. He kind of likes Spidey (I’m not pushing, I swear) but what he really loves are bees. As fate would have it the Spider-Friends were fighting Swarm, a villain that is basically a horde of evil bees.

Jordan crawled up into Daddy’s lap and stared intently at the screen, his official declaration that this episode was the greatest thing in the history of ever. Sometimes you’ve just got to go with the flow. Well, after that it was pretty much bedtime. Even a two-year-old knows when there’s no possibility he will see anything cooler that day than what he just saw.

Jordan realized a point I had almost forgotten as I rushed to meet deadlines. I’m in this fun line of work to find the coolest things in the history of ever and share them with our readers.

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Image details: Spider-Man 3 Wraps Up At The Apollo Theater served by picapp.com

No, we’re not kidding. Spider-Man: The Musical is coming to Broadway. And it’s got big name talent attached to it. Tony winning director Julie Taymor is helming this one with music and lyrics by Bono and The Edge.

The casting call out currently is for Peter Parker (of course) Mary Jane and Arachne, a dangerous but seductive Spider-Woman. Well, if Evil Dead can have a musical I guess anything is possible. I wonder if they’ll use the infamous Peter Parker dance sequence from Spider-Man 3. Yes, it all makes sense now, they were using the movie to set up the Broadway musical. No wait, none of this makes any sense. Suddenly my head hurts.

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Image details: AFI FEST 2006 presented by Audi Party for "Wristcutters: A Love Story" served by picapp.com

Latino Review has posted rumors about potential replacements for Tobey Maguire in the fourth and fifth installments of the profitable Spider-Man series. According to that site, Almost Famous star Patrick Fugit and Michael Angarano (seen most recently in Forbidden Kingdom)are leading candidates.

Angarano did play young superhero Will Stronghold in Disney’s Sky High, which was a pretty cute family film.  I would really hate it if Maguire leaves because he’s been great.

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Word has gotten out that SciFi Channel’s attempt at reviving Flash Gordon is no more. The confirmation came not from an official announcement (fans of the Dresden Files will tell you SciFi doesn’t do those) but from an offhanded comment from the channel’s president admitting the revival sucked.

SciFi President David Howe told Variety the network didn’t treat the iconic hero the way he deserves to be treated. Howe didn’t rule out a future attempt at fixing Flash but said it wouldn’t happen now.

I’m not really sad about this one. I watched it a time or two but it never became appointment TV for me. I don’t remember it being particularly good or particularly bad, I just don’t remember it. That’s never a good sign for a show. Even a show like Baywatch can generate some buzz just by how bad it really is.

Here’s what I would have done: a Black Flash Gordon. Before Battlestar Galactica launched, all the talk was about a female Starbuck. Not all of it was positive, actually most of it wasn’t. But in entertainment there is really no such thing as bad publicity. Thousands more people would have tuned in just to see what the fuss was about, including a lot of African-Americans who might have never given the show a glance otherwise.

Their origin for Flash was a well-known track star. I’m not going to go off on any ill-advised “Jimmy The Greek” tangent about what race produces the best athletes. But even a cursory view of the Summer Olympics will show a very culturally diverse group. I’m not saying there aren’t blond-haired, blue-eyed track stars but for whatever reason, they are in the minority these days.

I am not advocating casting the nearest Black actor/rapper. I’m really not advocating casting any more rappers. I wouldn’t recommend trying to make Batman, Superman or Spider-Man African-American. I hated it when Marvel realized there were no major Black characters in Daredevil and opted to make the villainous Kingpin Black. Thanks for the favor, guys, thanks for the favor.

People know Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent and Peter Parker are White. The average teenager these days likely hasn’t even heard of Flash Gordon. With a character that hasn’t been relevant to pop culture in better than 20 years, it would have been a good time to take a risk. Hey David call me, we’ll have some coffee, we’ll talk.

SCI FI Photo: James Dittiger

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The award-winning writer said B5 (the TV show, not the awesome blog network) paved the way for current shows like Battlestar Galactica, Lost and The 4400. He believes his work allows today’s TV writers to craft long, complex story arcs with lasting consequences.

Wondercon attendees also got the announcement that JMS, no longer exclusive to Marvel Comics, will do some work for DC. He can’t yet announce what specific titles he’ll helm. His list of other projects is long and extensive, including a Silver Surfer film for Fox. This one will reveal the movie version of Galactus, which the busy writer said Fox held off doing in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer specifically to unveil in the Surfer’s own movie.

JMS had to address the controversial One More Day storyline that rocked Spider-Man’s world. He said he and Marvel Editor in Chief Joe Quesada are still friends but had different ideas on what to do with the character.

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