Condoleezza Rice's life story, compellingly depicted

With Bluewater Comics quickly gaining a reputation as the Biography Channel of the comics industry, it is fortunate that as its brand-name recognition and sales have increased, so has the quality of its biographical books.

"Condoleezza Rice" is a case in point.

Not only did Bluewater luck out by having its subject making headlines again regarding Afghanistan around the time the book hit shelves, but the company also was fortunate to have chosen writer Chris Ward to chronicle the life story of our first female African-American secretary of state. The result is arguably Bluewater's best bio book to date.

It is obvious Ward has thoroughly researched Rice. However, instead of a dry, boring bio, Ward inserts some offbeat humor that is necessary to balance the emotional parts of Rice's life.

Ward reminds readers that though the media has fawned over new Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's compelling life story, Rice's life is just as inspirational - if not more so.

Readers learn, for instance, how she was bestowed her unusual name. Turns out her mother was an opera fan and named her after the musical notation con dolcezza, which means "with sweetness."

Blessed with a middle-class upbringing, we soon learn that Rice was exceptionally bright and talented. Her mother taught her how to play the piano before she taught her how to read and she had her first recital at age 4. She also excelled at ballet, figure skating and music.

It is also revealed that when it came to academics, Rice was so bright she skipped both first and seventh grades and graduated high school at 15.

Of course, Rice's middle-class status could not totally shield her from racism, though it enabled her parents to stand up for her rights - as evidenced by an incident when her mom tells off a white sales clerk who demanded that young Condi not touch hats for fear it would turn away white customers - a common practice at the time.

Ward shows how the increasing volatility and violence of the civil rights movement kept intruding on the Rices' comfortable lifestyle, culminating in the death of four girls - including one of Condi's closest friends.

The book also lets us in on a little known fact - why Rice is a Republican. Turns out Rice's family became Republican because it was the Democrats who demanded her father take a "poll test" designed to deny him the right to vote, while the desperate Republican Party was welcoming blacks with open arms. It is obviously a lesson that stuck with her.

Speaking of lessons, Ward goes into detail about how, despite being beautiful enough to model professionally, Rice focused on her education, with an eye toward military intelligence.

She was particularly intrigued with Russia and became known as a Soviet mastermind, which led presidents to seek her advice, starting with Ronald Reagan during the Cold War and continuing with President George H.W. Bush as Germany was reunifying and, most recently, as secretary of state to President George W. Bush.

It is her tenure as secretary of state where the detail and Ward's vast research combine with great storytelling to give readers some tense high-stakes scenes. Perhaps the most dramatic of these is when Bush asks whether he should invade Iraq.

This is an extremely well-done biography on one of the most interesting, powerful and influential political figures of our time. Whether you're a political junkie or just want to read a very engrossing biography, this is the comic for you.

Bluewater Comics Publisher Darren G. Davis knew a comic starring Condi Rice would be controversial and turn many comic fans off, yet he decided to do it anyway.

"We are doing these biographies very unbiased and we need to hit both sides of the spectrum," Davis told Comics Guy. "We had so many people request that we do a comic on her as well as we thought she would be a great subject. Some people might not agree with her politics but she has done so much in her career."

"The 'Female Force' books feature some of the most influential women of our time and we believe that she is one of those women," Davis said. "We are very happy with the sales on these comic books. We are learning that other venues than comic book stores are picking these comics up."

Davis added that the fact that Rice's comic bio has already sold more than double the units of a recent Bluewater bio starring Caroline Kennedy and just below the sales of a recently released Bluewater bio on Barack Obama as further proof he made a wise choice chronicling Condi.

Comics legend Terry Moore will see his creation "Echo" hit the big screen as it was recently confirmed that the movie rights have been picked up by Lloyd Levin.

"Echo" centers on the adventures of a down-on-her-luck photographer named Julie who witnesses the explosion of a super-suit that then fuses to her body. The series debuted in March 2008 as a comic from Moore's self-publisher, Abstract Studios.

Bill Willingham's critically acclaimed, fan-favorite "Fables" series is coming to your TV screen. Or is it?

"The announcements that this was going to happen as a TV show I think were a little premature," Willingham said in an interview with Newsarama. "I think we had the writers of the pilot wanting to get some press, and did so without kinda checking to see if this really was an ongoing project yet. So I guess what I'm saying is it's in kind of a limbo right now, as many projects are right up until the time they're not. So I guess what I'm really saying is I don't know.

"I think this may happen and may not happen, so I'm just going to hold off commenting qualitatively until there's something really to comment on."

Boy, that cleared things up.

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