DC Presidents/Elections/Politics

[Desaad]

I was putting together a blog post about my favorite issue of Sandman on this, a big election day, and it got me thinking about the shifting nature of presidents in a shared universe like the DC or Marvel universe, and what everyone's preference is.

There has been a lot of back and forth, of course. Real world presidents regularly made appearances in the comics in the 40s and 50s; recently released was a crazy Haney written Teen Titans story, ink art by Allred, that had Kennedy as an integral character, for crissakes!

And even in the 80s, Reagan was the president of "Legends", if I recall correctly.

But somewhere along the way, "President" became generic, so as not to date the comic I suppose. I didn't see a lot of Clinton or Dubya.

With the pop cultural popularity of Obama, it seems that we've had a return to a real world president - Marvel made big bank off of the Spider Man issue, was showing off Obama all through Dark Reign, and even now DC is putting on Green Lantern issues with Obama as the obvious president - and I'm wondering what people think?

How do you like your presidents? Does it jar you?


And finally...Prez Rickard for President!!!

http://heshouldreallyknowbetter.blog...ings.html#more

[Mr. Holmes]

I prefer fictional presidents yeah. Always liked the idea of Lex Luthor as president, but of all people, Loeb was the one who handled it.

[Desaad]

You know, even after a post about a perfect boy who was a perfect president and cowed to no power by the light of his own spirit...

I still found the Lex Luthor thing to be just a titch too unrealistic for me.

I might have been fine with it had it been an older school Lex Luthor, the President Lex of Red Son who could do all the president stuff with great aplomb while at the same time building mad science projects for fun, but business man Lex as president just limited his effect, and in my mind becoming President was actually a demotion.

[Poe1809]

I'd prefer fictional presidents. I also wish obama was fictional, but that's entirely beside the point.

[The Darknight Detective]

Let's keep this thread on topic and not deviate into a political food fight, guys. I wouldn't want to close it, since it's an interesting topic.

[The Darknight Detective]

I was putting together a blog post about my favorite issue of Sandman on this, a big election day, and it got me thinking about the shifting nature of presidents in a shared universe like the DC or Marvel universe, and what everyone's preference is.

There has been a lot of back and forth, of course. Real world presidents regularly made appearances in the comics in the 40s and 50s; recently released was a crazy Haney written Teen Titans story, ink art by Allred, that had Kennedy as an integral character, for crissakes!

And even in the 80s, Reagan was the president of "Legends", if I recall correctly.

But somewhere along the way, "President" became generic, so as not to date the comic I suppose. I didn't see a lot of Clinton or Dubya.

With the pop cultural popularity of Obama, it seems that we've had a return to a real world president - Marvel made big bank off of the Spider Man issue, was showing off Obama all through Dark Reign, and even now DC is putting on Green Lantern issues with Obama as the obvious president - and I'm wondering what people think?

How do you like your presidents? Does it jar you?


And finally...Prez Rickard for President!!!

http://heshouldreallyknowbetter.blog...ings.html#more

Whichever way DC goes, there should be a consistent policy regarding presidents. IOW, there shouldn't be a generic president in one comic and a real-world one in another.

Which one do I like? I prefer a generic one.

Lex Luthor? Egad!

[liopleurodon]

I'd actually be very interested in seeing a list of DC presidents of the US. I have a feeling that there would be no internal consistency between writers and you'd end up with a very weird political system indeed.

[manduck37]

I think I prefer a fictional president. It keeps the story from being dated. Plus, it's a different world. So why not assume different people would be elected. Though I do remember several fun moments based on the presidency throughout comic history.

I really enjoyed the "elseworlds" style story of President Superman during Armegeddon 2001. It was a well thought out and fun story where Kal becomes president. They even went on to explain how he could be elected, considering his alien heritage. Fun stuff.

Bill Clinton endorsed the Cyborg Superman during Reign of the Supermen. Clinton is seen shaking hands with Cyborg Superman before the big reveal that the cyborg was villain Hank Henshaw. So it always struck me as funny that Clinton endorsed the wrong Superman. I couldn't help but wonder if that was some kind of commentary on Clinton by the author or if they just stuck the current president of the time in the story.

Morrison recently came back around to the President Superman idea in Action Comics #9. I like that Morrison explored the ideas of how his secret identity could be considered lying to the public as well as other issues with having a super powered president. The back up story addressed these issues too.

[Whip Whirlwind]

I don't want the comic to be dated, nor do I want it to be in bad taste like if the president is downright villainous or whatever. But on the other hand I feel like unless that president has a key role in the story he should be largely based off of the current president.

The scene in Secret Warriors where Fury speaks to "Obama" is a good example.

[The Darknight Detective]

I'd actually be very interested in seeing a list of DC presidents of the US. I have a feeling that there would be no internal consistency between writers and you'd end up with a very weird political system indeed.

Yeah, I would like to see that myself.

[Namtab]

I always liked it when you didn't see the President's face, so it could be whomever and not tied to a particular time-line.

[The Frozen Reptile]

It's fictional, they should just pick a staffer and make he/she the President.

[drreneninja]

Unless the president is a key part of the plot (and specifically, a specific president, such as Obama and Bush, not just the POTUS), than he should be shown. Otherwise, it should just be some generic person.

One interesting thing I've noticed is that comics pre-2008 often showed a generic white guy as president. Now, comics increasingly show a generic black guy as president.

[SJNeal]

I know it's not technically DCU, but my favorite fictional president was Yorick's mom in Y: The Last Man. Of course her name would escape me the one time I need it...

Can't think of any other female presidents in the DC or Marvel universes proper...

[dupersuper]

There has been a lot of back and forth, of course. Real world presidents regularly made appearances in the comics in the 40s and 50s; recently released was a crazy Haney written Teen Titans story, ink art by Allred, that had Kennedy as an integral character, for crissakes!

And even in the 80s, Reagan was the president of "Legends", if I recall correctly.

But somewhere along the way, "President" became generic, so as not to date the comic I suppose. I didn't see a lot of Clinton or Dubya.

There was a bit of a moratorium on using real presidents after they were unable to recall a Superman issue guest starring JFK in time just after his assassination. I think Reagan was the first real president to appear after that. Bush Sr. did to, and the Clintons were at Supermans funeral. They elected Luthor while W. was president though, and since then it's been 1 special election after another as Pete Ross took over from Luthor until a special election gave us a guy who was replaced by a robot who was replaced...well, you get the idea. I have no idea who the DCNu president is or if they've been shown yet.