Funnyman, warrior-poet and host of The Colbert Report Stephen Colbert was this close to being immortalized in collectible trading card by artist Todd Lockwood. Unfortunately, it would appear that Colbert will have to settle for a television show and best-selling book, as the World of Warcraft card from Upper Deck featuring "Stefen Colbear" doesn't look like it will see commercial release, in spite of its brilliance.

The sordid story, according to Multichannel, by way of WoW Insider was that Lockwood's "Warrior of Truthiness" paladin never actually made it in front of Colbert's eyeballs. Upper Deck seemed to be behind the idea for a real world tie in for its trading card game, but the squares at Colbert, Inc. blocked it.

Shame, as Colbert doesn't seem to be shy about playing video games now and then or being associated with nerdy pursuits. He's guest starred in a couple of Marvel comic books in the past, so he's not too cool for this sort of thing.

Seems to me that his TV persona would love the sort of attention 10 million active World of Warcraft subscribers brings. Perhaps he's more concerned about the demonic RPG aspect of it all and his morals were shaken too close to the core.

The life and death of Stefen Colbear [WoW Insider]