Like most people, I am ready for this election to be over. Two years ago I wrote a post about how politics and how it has been used in comics, this time I look at some of the Presidential run of comic book characters.

This election cycle reminds me of my favorite Warren Ellis series TRANSMETROPOLITAN, the cyberpunk comic that chronicles the battles of Spider Jerusalem, the infamous gonzo journalist (homage to Hunter S. Thompson), who lives in “The City.” Spider Jerusalem has dedicated himself to fighting the corruption and abuse of power of two successive United States presidents; The Beast and The Smiler.

Now I am not saying which is which as this is is not the point of this post.

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Over the years many characters from both the DC and Marvel Universes have either run or held the high office of the Presidency.

Lex Luthor

In 2000, in the lead up to the most contentious election in history, DC Comics opted to run Lex Luthor, mad scientist, business tycoon, and constant thorn in Superman’s side, for president instead of George W. Bush.

Superman’s arch-villain ended up winning the Presidency, which caused all sorts of strife for heroes across the DC Universe with the citizens in the country unable to see Luthor for the villain that he truly was.

Superman

The Man of Steel has held the highest office in the land a few times.

The first instance is Superman #119 (Vol. 1, 1939) when Jimmy dreams that Superman becomes President.

It happened again in the 90s during the Armageddon 2001 event when Waverider was trying to figure out the identity of the villain Monarch, who destroyed Waverider’s own time.

In this timeline, Pa Kent is crushed by a tractor and dies in 1991. Soon, the farm is put up for sale and Ma moves in with Lois and Clark, who are preparing to get married. Clark’s boyhood friend Pete Ross decides to run for the presidency and asks Clark to come on the team as campaign manager.

During a failed attempt to assassinate Pete, Clark reveals to the world he is Superman as he was saving Pete’s life.

Pete pulls through but asks Clark/Superman to run in his place. If you’ve read the title of this post, you know his answer. But it isn’t as easy as all that, because his opponents fight his nomination on the basis that he isn’t American-born, which of course they work around claiming Clark was born in an artificial womb in a Kansas wheatfield (II am sure Lex asked for a birth certificate to be produced)

Once elected, Superman gets some lost gold from the ocean bed with Aquaman’s help to help pay down the debt, personally frees hostages, plants a million new trees, turns an old disused supervillain lairs in Gotham into affordable housing, and put solar collectors in space to provide cheap energy for the world and of course brings about world world peace.

Turns out that this was just a big “What if?” story and none of it really happens.

In the New52 run of Action #9, written by Grant Morrison, we are introduced to Calvin Ellis, who is the Superman of Earth-23 and the President of the United States of America, fights for truth, justice and equality.

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Loki (Marvel Comics)

Marvel Comics’ Vote Loki, written by Christopher Hastings, places Thor’s infamously mischievous brother Loki in the lead role. You heard right, the Asgardian trickster ran for the nation’s highest office.

While not a direct parody, satire, or criticism of the 2016 elections, it does encompass the entire political sphere that has surrounded the presidential racesince the beginning.

Loki comes right out and boasts that the American people would “love” him for having the decency to lie to their faces, not couch dishonesty in political war of words. The public embraces him for speaking his mind, not saying the “politically correct” thing be it in an interview or on social media.

Of course Thor and Angela of Asgard are helpless to stop Loki in his pursuit of the Oval Office, but he faces one huge hurdle: Like Superman, Loki is an Asgardian and not an American born citizen.

Loki has his even his own “birther” controversy, concocting a new origin story that has him somehow born in Accident, Maryland. According to Loki, he’s living the same mythic identity over and over, with this current version born in the States.

His campaign ends when he commits to telling nothing but the truth – including the fact that he never intended to win by turning one side of the country against the other and states his intentions plainly: to lie because he likes it, to be president because he wants to be, and to play games with the Senate and Supreme Court because it will entertain him…

Just like every other politician…

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Captain America (Marvel Comics)

Who better than the epitome of freedom, democracy and everything America stands for, to run for the nation’s top office?

In Captain America #250 (vol 1,19 ) this was the storyline of the issue written by John Byrne and Roger Stern.

After saving the workers of the New Populist Party, Capt is selected as the party’s nomination to run against the candidates from the two major parties, unbeknowest to him.

While he is flattered, he declines the nomination.

However, in Marvel’s Ultimate Universe, Captain America would become the President and unite a country that was fighting against itself.

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and the last comic book character to serve as Commander-In-Chief…

Prez: The First Teen President (DC Comics)

Prez: First Teen President followed the adventures of a teenage boy whose election had been made possible by a Constitutional amendment lowering the age of eligibility to accommodate the then-influential youth culture of the baby boom was created and appeared in the four-issue comic series in 1973 – 1974 by writer Joe Simon and artist Jerry Grandenetti.

The comic follows Prez Rickard, nicknamed ‘Prez’ by his mother Martha, in the hope of his election to the Presidency.

Prez is originally tapped by Boss Smiley as a front for shady businessman Boss Smiley (a political boss with a smiley face) to run for United States Senator; after becoming a local hero afer synchronizing the clocks of his town of Steadfast. After being elected Senator Prez learns of Boss SMiley’s true intentions, which causes Prez vow to fight Boss Smiley by running for President, thanks to the fact that Congress lowered the age requirement and an uprising in the youth vote.

Once in office Prez’s short-lived series involved him fighting legless vampires, a right-wing militia led by the great-great-great-great-great-grandnephew of George Washington, his arch nemisis “Boss Smiley”, and evil chess players…only in the 70s would this be possible.

The series was a precursor to the DC Implosion of the late 70s although the character would continue to make the occasional cameo.

The character would later be rebooted during the DCYou run before Rebirth written by Mark Russell and drawn by Ben Caldwell.

This time the 6 issue mini series featured a teenage girl named Beth Ross who is elected president via Twitter,in the year 2036, after a video of her getting her hair caught in a corndog fryer goes viral.

The original Prez, refered to as “Preston Rickard”, appears as her Vice President to help her through the dangers of politics. Boss Smiley also returns as the leader of the big lobbies (Big Pharma, Tobacco, Corn, etc) who has the plan to have Betsy elected President so they can do whatever they manipulate the system.

Like Vote for Loki, this miniseries was also a tongue in cheek parody that reflected the current views towards politics and the election process.

In last week’s one-shot Catwoman: Election Night, which has Oswald “The Penguin” Cobblepot as a Trump-esque character and Constance Hill, a woman who grew up in the same orphanage as Selina “Catwoman” Kyle , running for mayor of Gotham with an unsolved mystery at Miss Kitty’a orphanage, which Hill is trying to save and Penguin wants to tear down.

The final panel of the story is a cameo by Beth Ross insinuating the Prez miniseries will actually happen in the future.

I plan a more indepth review of the Catwoman one shot in this week’s Picks post.

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Like I said at the top, I will be so glad when this election year is over so we can all go back to posting pictures of what we are reading, eating, or our pets…at least for a month or so till the off year election campaigns start…

UGH!