ohmidog!

Bo Obama is headed for the comic books — both in a series of his own, “Puppy Power: Bo Obama,” and in a cameo appearance in an upcoming Marvel series about super-pets.

“I had just scripted the first issue when the news came out about the Obamas getting a dog,” Marvel writer Chris Eliopoulos told MSNBC. “It seemed so appropriate that we jumped on the bandwagon.”

The Marvel series, “Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers,” stars Lockjaw, a massive, super-powered bulldog with the ability to teleport anywhere in the universe who enlists a team of other super-animals to round up the “Infinity Gems,” alien artifacts that threaten to destroy the world. One of the gems is on Bo’s collar, a gift from a foreign head of state.

Bo will be appearing in issue #4, scheduled for publication Aug. 12.

Meanwhile, Bluewater Productions, maker of biographical comic books, will be releasing the first in its “Puppy Power” series in September.

Written by Paul J. Salamoff and drawn by Emmy Award winning Disney and Warner Brothers artist Keith Tucker, the series will gives children an insider’s look at the White House.

Its release will roughly coincide with  that of two more in Bluewater’s biographical “Political Power” series — one abut  Barack Obama and one about Joe Biden.

One hadn’t eaten in a month. The other had a skin infection so severe one of her ears was swollen more than twice its size with blood.

Both ended up at the Animal Medical and Surgical Center in North Scottsdale after being found abandoned — two more dogs in the continuing parade of pets being left behind by families foreclosed upon, evicted or simply thoughtless.

The two dogs were brought in within days of each other, Channel 15 News in Phoenix reported.

Veterinarian Sheila Martin said one of the dogs had not eaten in about a month and was infested with thousands of ticks. The dog’s owners left her behind when they moved out of their El Mirage home a month ago.

El Mirage Police are looking into filing charges against the dog’s owner.

Earlier this week, a second dog was brought into the Animal Medical and Surgical Center. She too had been abandoned by her owner. Martin said it will take about three months for her to recover from a skin disease that caused most of her hair to fall out.

The Lost Our Home Pet Foundation, a group that rescues pets left behind due to foreclosures or other financial hardships, is paying for the dogs’ care.

In the past three weeks, the group has seen three pets so badly neglected the animals have needed hospital care, said Jodi Polanski, president of the foundation,

“You keep thinking you see a bad case and then you have another one come right after that.”

The owners of a Las Vegas-based company that supplied wheat gluten tainted with melamine to pet food makers have agreed to plead guilty in connection with the widespread scandal that may have killed thousands of dogs and cats in 2007.

Stephen S. Miller, and his wife Sally Miller, co-owners of ChemNutra Inc., reached a plea agreement with prosecutors and will plead guilty at a hearing June 16, according to the Associated Press.

The information was contained in a court filing, and attorneys did not immediately respond to the AP’s calls seeking comment Tuesday. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office said the office couldn’t discuss any plea agreement until it had been approved by a judge.

The Millers and ChemNutra, along with two Chinese companies, were indicted in February 2008 on charges alleging they imported wheat gluten tainted with the chemical melamine, which was then sold to pet food makers. Thousands of cats and dogs reportedly sickened or died after eating the tainted food.

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