Sarkozy Lampooned in Comic Book

In a French presidential race where candidates are ridiculed for their looks, height or appearance in swimwear, the interior minister and presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy is to have his sense of humour put to the test once again.

First his diminutive, bushy-haired puppet in the French equivalent of Spitting Image was considered so irreverent that the intelligence services issued a report on it for the centre-right minister's office. Then columnists lampooned his supposed obsession with his height, which at 165cm (5ft 5in) allegedly makes him shorter than Napoleon.

Now Mr Sarkozy faces the launch of a 150-page comic book of his life, depicting him as a tracksuit-clad exercise freak obsessed with his TV ratings. La Face Karchée de Sarkozy, published next week, takes its title from Mr Sarkozy's comments at a troubled housing estate during the Paris riots last year, when he vowed that "the louts will disappear" and the suburbs would be cleaned with a Kärcher, a brand of power-hose.

Mr Sarkozy is the first French politician to be turned into a comic strip. The authors, a journalist, lawyer and cartoonist, described it as a "comic book investigation" based on documents and interviews, although Mr Sarkozy, currently at the top of the opinion polls, did not cooperate.

The story starts in 2098 when a student writes a thesis on the "fascinating political phenomenon" of Sarkozyism. From his ambitious teenage years to his "vow to crush all opposition" on the right, his life is retraced. At one point he is depicted as a Napoleonic despot in crown and robes standing on a chair and holding court as friends in the media serve as his generals.

"It's sometimes dark, often funny and all true," said the left-leaning Libération.