Tales From The Bully Pulpit is a graphic novel

Graphic novel

A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...

 released October 25, 2004. It was written by Benito Cereno

Benito Cereno (writer)

Benito Cereno is an American comic book writer. He is best known as the writer and co-creator of 2004's Tales From the Bully Pulpit and Hector Plasm. His work first appeared as strips in early issues of Robert Kirkman's comic book Invincible...

, illustrated by Graeme MacDonald, and distributed by Image Comics

Image Comics

Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...

. The comic stars Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

, the ghost of Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...

, and a time machine

The Time Machine

The Time Machine is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895 for the first time and later adapted into at least two feature films of the same name, as well as two television versions, and a large number of comic book adaptations. It indirectly inspired many more works of fiction...

 stolen from H. G. Wells

H. G. Wells

Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...

, and has cameos from several historical figures.

Tales From the Bully Pulpit traces Roosevelt (or "Teddy") and Edison's adventure through time into the future, where Teddy discovers that a descendant (and look-alike) of Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

 has survived, and is planning on creating a new war and a new holocaust on Mars

Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...

, this time pitting the green-skinned Martians against the blue-skinned Martians.

Teddy's characterization in this comic hearkens back to his rough rider

Rough Riders

The Rough Riders is the name bestowed on the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, one of three such regiments raised in 1898 for the Spanish-American War and the only one of the three to see action. The United States Army was weakened and left with little manpower after the American Civil War...

 days more than his days as the President of the United States

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

—he is portrayed more as an adventurer than as a statesman.

The comic makes many references to other comics and film—including most notably Back to the Future

Back to the Future

Back to the Future is a 1985 American science-fiction adventure film. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, produced by Steven Spielberg, and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and Thomas F. Wilson. The film tells the story of...

, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Maus

Maus

Maus: A Survivor's Tale, by Art Spiegelman, is a biography of the author's father, Vladek Spiegelman, a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor. It alternates between descriptions of Vladek's life in Poland before and during the Second World War and Vladek's later life in the Rego Park neighborhood of...

, and Watchmen

Watchmen

Watchmen is a twelve-issue comic book limited series created by writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colourist John Higgins. The series was published by DC Comics during 1986 and 1987, and has been subsequently reprinted in collected form...

—and parodies many tropes

Trope (literature)

A literary trope is the usage of figurative language in literature, or a figure of speech in which words are used in a sense different from their literal meaning...

 of science fiction and pulp

Pulp magazine

Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...

 story-telling.

Tales From the Bully Pulpit, although fast becoming a new cult-favorite, did not have a large initial print run, and has become difficult to find. The cover art, though uncredited, was done by the Eisner Award

Eisner Award

The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, and sometimes referred to as the Oscar Awards of the Comics Industry, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books. The Eisner Awards were first conferred in 1988, created in response to the...

-nominated Tony Moore

Tony Moore (artist)

Michael Anthony "Tony" Moore is an American comic book artist, whose work consists mainly of genre pieces, most notably in horror and science fiction, with titles such as The Walking Dead, Fear Agent and The Exterminators.-Career:...

.

The sequel Tales From the Bully Pulpit vol 2: Legend of the Black Maria

Black Maria

Black Maria may refer to:*Black Maria, a slang term for a police van used to transport prisoners*Edison's Black Maria, a film studio created by Thomas Edison- Music :*The Black Maria, a Canadian rock band...

has no confirmed print date, but Benito Cereno has confirmed both its title and eventual existence.

External links

• Annotations at Newsarama
  Newsarama
  Newsarama is an American website that publishes news, interviews and essays about the American comic book industry.-History:Newsarama began in Summer 1995 as a series of Internet forum postings on the Prodigy comic-book message boards by fan Mike Doran. In these short messages. Doran shared...
  
  - Describes many of the in-jokes and decodes the obscure references littered throughout the comic