Bluewater Productions has announced the October release of a Michael Jackson biographical comic, Tribute: Michael Jackson, King of Pop.  The book will feature a wraparound cover and foreword by The Official Michael Jackson Fan Club’s Giuseppe Mazzola (a connection that could be important when the tribute comic is released this fall well after the current wave of intense interest is likely to have subsided).  Wey-Yuih Loh (Political Power: Colin Powell) is writing the book, which will be illustrated (appropriately given the iconography of MJ's Thriller video)by Giovanni Timpano (Vincent Price Presents).

Bluewater has issued a number of biographical comics starting with its Female Force series that included Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin bios, so a Michael Jackson bio/tribute comic is not that much of a stretch, though Bluewater president Darrin Davis admits that he “initially waffled at producing” a Jackson tribute until he received “dozens of phone calls and emails” and realized it was the proper way “to show respect and give fans a lasting remembrance.”

Given his lost childhood ("Rosebud"), his Pharonic building ambitions ("Neverland vs. Xanadu"), the scandals in his personal life, and the immense fortune that he earned and then squandered, Jackson’s life would appear to be a ripe subject for a 21st Century Citizen Kane-like examination of the hollowness of success, the impotence of great wealth, and the limitations of even superb talent in this media-driven age in which every aspect of a celebrity’s life is constantly monitored for any possible hint of tabloid fodder, but that sort of approach is unlikely in a tribute book.  Given his fascination with juvenilia, it’s no surprise that Jackson was a comic book fan, which gives this project an odd sort of resonance, if not the respect of hardcore comics devotees who are already scoffing at this comic tribute on Internet discussion boards. 

But traditional comic book fans aren’t the intended audience for this book anyway.  This comic targets the legions of Michael Jackson’s devoted followers and Bluewater can only hope that their obsession with all things “Michael” will last into the fall.  The October publication date demonstrates the Achilles heel of the comic book process when it comes to exploiting current events—comics simply take too long to produce.  Bluewater's tribute comic won’t be available this week like the “instant books” and headline-echoing magazines that will likely profit the most (at least among print publications) from the hyper-talented singer and dancer’s premature demise.