It's 2016. It's an election year, and unless you've been in a cave with your hand stuck in your ears, then you know there's a mad-dash for the White House. However, this whole race to become the next President can get pretty silly and frankly, annoying. Luckily, on Wednesday, February 3, DC comics is releasing the first collected volume of Prez by Mark Russell and Ben Caldwell.
The first trade contains issues #1-6 of Prez, which tells the story of Beth Ross, a 19-year-old girl who gets her hair caught in a corn dog fryer and eventually becomes President of the United States, after being elected by social media. Does that sound ridiculous? Well, it is, in all the best ways possible.
Believe it or not, Prez is an incredibly intelligent book that takes a satirical look at politics, mainly everything wrong with the government from the election process to how bills are passed. Writer Mark Russell hits on all the points that are obviously important to him and if you have any interest in the government, these are probably all important to you as well. But hey, that description makes this book sound like you're turning on a 24-hour news channel and being screamed at by some talking head wearing an American flag pin on their lapel. Well, Prez also has that, but I cannot stress enough that this book is more of a humorous take on politics and not a politics book.
Beth Ross is up not only against the media and the world, there's also a battle against corporations as well. While it seems like a lot of this book is actually just the writer's viewpoints thrown into a story, it actually all makes a lot of sense and while it can be really silly at times, there are some great, enlightening moments here, especially with the last couple of issues where President Ross has to figure out how to get "Big Pharmaceutical" to care about the American people.
The story and the world are dense without feeling like the reader needs an info dump to get through it. A part of what makes it such an ease to read is the humor element that's added along with the art from Ben Caldwell, inks from Mark Morales, and colors by Jeremy Lawson. This artist team amplifies the fun element contained within the story and makes it a joy to read.
In addition to the first six issues of the story, there will be some supplementary material, such as sketches and character designs from Caldwell. What Russell and Caldwell do with the reinvention of this "groovy" 70s DC character is fantastic and what makes Prez such a delight to read is that it's refreshing to see something so different from the traditional DC comic books, which are mostly dominated by super-heroes.
The book may be a bit more out there, but it's worth every penny. The trade hits comic book stores on Wednesday, February 3, and it retails for $14.99.
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