Prez: Setting a Dangerous President by Mark Russell
My Rating: 5 stars!
Cover Rating: 10/10 you can tell just from the cover being a portrayal of the Washington crossing the Delaware painting that this is going to be an interesting piece of satire.
Publisher: DC comics
Publish Date: June 4th, 2024
Number of Pages: 184
Received: Netgalley provided an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
Purchase: Amazon
Synopsis:
It’s 2046 and America has just elected its first teenage president! Previously selected as one of YALSA’s Top Ten Graphic Novels for Teens, DC’s critically acclaimed political satire Prez is in a new format and more relevant than ever.
Oregon teen Beth Ross has just been elected President of the United States of America. Age restrictions were abolished when corporations gained the right to run for office. Elections are now held on social media, and after a corndog accident makes Beth Ross go viral, a nation is shocked to wake up and find that “Corndog Girl” has just become their new president.
The eyes of the world are on Beth. But in a nation so used to misrule that the poor are willing to do anything on TV for a chance at a better life, will a fresh start be enough to undo the damage caused by Boss Smiley and his corporate shadow government?
Eisner-winning writer Mark Russell (Superman: Space Age, The Flintstones) teams with artist Ben Caldwell (Justice League Beyond) and others to revive and reinvent a classic! Collects PREZ #1-6, a short from CATWOMAN ELECTION NIGHT #1, and a brand-new short story.
Opening Page:
Musings:
I was very intrigued when I saw the cover of this comic. I haven’t read too many satire books and I thought that this one would be interesting due to the comic book formatting. America in this comic is very exaggeratedly awful, but in a way that makes sense. The problems experienced with the cat flu in this comic and the parallels to Covid made me laugh but also sad inside because the general reactions and disregard for loss of human life are things I remember when the pandemic was at its peak.
The comedy mixed with real world problems and exaggerated concepts made this comic gold to me. I wish that politics weren’t such a corporate money grab driven thing, but the way corporations do everything to gain control for their own gain in this comic felt accurate. I loved the cheeky ways are young President 1-ups her adversaries and I wish we had people who actually cared about making life better in office, instead of men war-mongering and cracking down on women’s rights to healthcare and birth-control.
When I think about American politics and how it works it really makes me sad. Bills passed with names that trick you into thinking they are meant to do one thing and instead doing the opposite. Everything about marketing yet not really telling you the truth about the belief you’re subscribing to. I want to believe that there’s good in the system and eventually people will take the blindfolds off, but I don’t really know.
This comic is a great look at the holes in the system of how America functions. Even if it is silly and funny it gives a lot to ponder about.
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