英语新闻：普京题材漫画在俄罗斯网上流传

Russia's Vladimir Putin saves the day as a martial¹ arts superhero in a comic strip spreading on the Russian Internet, where he teams up with bearskin-wearing sidekick Dmitry Medvedev.

一部以俄罗斯总理弗拉基米尔·普京为主角的连环漫画近日在俄罗斯网上流传。普京在漫画中化身为一位武艺高超的超级英雄，和一身熊皮装扮的搭档德米特里·梅德韦杰夫一起并肩作战。

Russia's Vladimir Putin saves the day as a martial arts superhero in a comic strip.
The comic strip, apparently² the first in a series about "Super Putin, Man Like Any Other" is available on www.superputin.ru and is set in Moscow "one year before the end of the world."

Russia will choose its next president in 2012 and observers have their eyes peeled（剥皮） for any indication of whether current President Medvedev or Prime Minister Putin will seek the six-year-term as head of the country.

Although one of the strip's creators said it was drawn³ by pro⁴ bono（无偿的） artists, some Internet users hinted darkly that it may be a part of a behind-the-scenes campaign or was even commissioned by the Kremlin.

With a plot line resembling the 1990s US action film "Speed", the strip shows a kimono-wearing Putin -- described as a man "with a Nordic（北欧人的） character" -- save a busload of people from a bomb blast.

"I will go no slower than 80 km/h," Putin says, gritting⁵ his teeth.

As he speeds ahead, he receives help from "nano-human" Medvedev, who unzips a frightening bear costume and sends a crawling iPad to deactivate⁶ the explosive.

The strip pokes⁷ fun at Putin's judo（柔道） hobby and Medvedev's penchant（嗜好，倾向） for technological⁸ gadgets⁹.

The bus is then attacked by a crowd of zombies that scream "Let us elect governors!" and "Free Khodorkovsky!" with Putin facing them in the final act.

The strip's writer Sergei Kalenik said it took two weeks to create and was not a paid project.

"We wanted to stir Russia's depressing political scene and create some dialogue," he told the reporters..

He said some media outlets¹⁰ had refused to publish the strip because it refers to Medvedev as a "gnome（土地神，侏儒） ".