Prez #1 Review and *Spoilers*

Written by: Mark Russell
Art by: Ben Caldwell, Mark Morales, and Jerry Lawson
Cover Price: $2.99
Release date: June 18, 2015

SickStarter!

When DC said they were changing things up we expected some minor changes, but they really stepped out of their comfort zone with this book. Prez is a satirical book that critically analyzes the future of America and possibly this nations downfall. This is a book that i'm sure no one wanted, but still got. While at first this may seem like a pointless book and a franchise DC is desperatly trying to bring back (like how they did with teen trillionairs) This book is actually fantastic and I did not know we needed this until now. This book is something you might have to reread a few times to fully grasp, but upon my first read I understood most of what was going on.




Explain it:

The year is 2036 and the United States is beginning to look like a dystopia. Elections are starting soon, but the citizens are too engaged in social media and the internet to care. While the government is trying to integrate social media into the elections, We find out that we can now vote for our president on twitter in order to gain more votes. Then we have our protagonist Beth Ross who became the internet sensation Corn dog girl after catching her hair on fire at the lil' doggie. It appears that she is getting famous at the right time because Twitter is voting her in as president.

While I am not that big into politics, the politics in this book made sense. The writer did not dive deep into it, but it is just the first issue. We only learned that big businesses and social media plays a big factor in today's politics. One of the proposed policies from the candidates involved having surveillance Taco drones on poor and middle class and feed them shitty Mexican food along with dress them in promotional clothing. We have candidates looking for endorsements from YouTube sensations because they play major factors in the public. We see individual people acting like people, but as a mass they seem much more different. We learn more about Beth and what she is going through.

The writing was excellent, while this story was clever, it was also really dark. Like Double Dare Billionaire game show, just as dark as my soul. To sum it up, it is like Ninja Warrior, but you shoot yourself at the end to win. Another thing I found amusing is all the businesses that are around now. Sickstarter, start a fund so you can afford your medical needs. Pharmaduke for all your vet needs. It was all just weird, dark, and humorous.

Bits and Pieces:

While this looks like something everyone should sweep under the rug, This is actually a decent surprise. This isn't just a good book, it is a terrific book! It feels like something DC would never do, It's our lil' slice of indie in our DCYou. While we have not been fully introduced to our cast, the characters we have now are great. The more important thing is how this world was created in one issue having turned this nation upside down. This book is dark satirical political book and is humorous in its analyses and predictions, It was a great read for me and I will be back for more corn dogs.

8.5/10