The week has come to a close and it’s time for a little round up of some random articles from around these here interwebs.

… With another flare-up of the political engine hitting U.S. airwaves this week, it may be time to take a look at President Obama’s presence in the four color world. Presidents have been a presence in comics for some time, be it Jimmy Carter talking to the Beast in The Avengers or F.D.R. playing the role of Commander in Chief in any number of Golden Age books, it’s no surprise to see the resident of the Oval Office popping up in books. Although it seems the current industry has gone a wee bit hog wild with our current Prez. Just check out this list of the best Obama appearances in comics and marvel at the number of times he’s appeared in books in less than a year.

… You know those people who say heroes aren’t real? Now you have proof that they are very, very wrong.

… One of the questions coming out of the Disney/Marvel merger is if this will begin a new era in original graphic novels from the House of Ideas (since Disney owns the publisher Harper Collins). A post from the site Comics Worth Readings from before the merger announcement takes a look at the bookstore sales charts and wonders why marvel doesn’t have a bigger presence. Will this change soon?

… And to wrap it up for this first installment, let’s tie it all together. We all know comics and superheroes are fun and great entertainment, but we also like to discuss what they mean both to us personally and to society as a whole. John Jorg over at People Jam takes a look at why the idea of a hero is necessary to our collective. Using the biggest mass media device working today, superhero films are the spyglass he looks through and that becomes all the more important to the characters as Marvel is now owned by Disney and DC has become DC Entertainment.