Even Peter Parker's newsroom needs a bailout

The November 18 edition of The Amazing Spiderman features a villain named Electro posing as a modern-day Robin Hood in order to fight a newspaper bailout because he wants the government funds for himself, Mania reported Monday. Issue 612 of Spiderman is not the first comic to deal with the issue of failing newspapers, though it may be the lengthiest or most in-depth.

This fantastical treatment of current events is plausibly enjoyable, according to High Five! Comics. The Daily Bugle - now a tabloid titled DB - is hurting and won't survive without financial help. Of course, Spiderman steps in to reverse the sinister plot concocted by Electro, whereby the villain incites a near-riot, uploading video of it to YouTube and arousing anti-newspaper sentiment by virtue of the viral spectacle.

Pulitzer-prize winning comic strip Doonesbury has also run a storyline featuring a failing print newspaper, The Washington Post reported in September 2008. That storyline was suppressed by some papers, The Guardian said in March.

Image: High Five! Comics