Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs, Ohio.  This week, Bennett discusses what happens when comics get political.

Sadly the news didn’t get the online attention I felt it deserved, but as Rich Johnston reported on The Bleeding Cool website, “Second Half of Prez Cancelled By DC, But She’ll Get A 12 Page Election Special In November.”  Prez, of course, is the Reuben Award-winning do-over of Joe Simon and Jerry Grandenetti’s legendarily wonky series about the first teenage president of the United States.  It was broad and flat-footed when dealing with both teens and politics (and one has to wonder if Simon was in any way inspired by the 1968 psychotronic movie Wild In The Streets which had a similar premise). But writer Mark Russell with artist Ben Caldwell transformed the premise into a sharp, funny political satire with genuine tween appeal by gender-flipping the male lead.  And, it almost goes without saying, it quickly became one of my favorite comics. 

There’s been no official comment as to the reasons behind the decision, though one has to assume sales might have had something to do with it. And given the nearly hysterical political mood of the country as we move ever closer to this year’s Presidential election, you can’t discount the possibility that Time Warner just didn’t want to seem to take any sort of political stance (especially with so many people busy online comparing one of the current candidates to former President Lex Luthor).

Likewise, there’s been no announcement of exactly where this 12 page Prez Election Special will be published; a free digital download would be lovely, or an inexpensive paperback of the series (including the Special) available before November.  Apparently at DC Comics George S. Kaufman’s famous saying “Satire closes on Saturday night” is as accurate ever.

Marvel, on the other hand, doesn’t appear to be afraid of “being political.” While it’s become a tradition for comic book characters to run for the highest office in the land, their campaigns tend to come off as cheap stunts.  The only notable exception I can think of is Howard the Duck’s 1976 run for The White House; with a Howard comic currently being published (for at least a little longer) it’s a shame he didn’t run again. 

Instead, though, we have the Vote Loki series, a solidly substantial political satire thanks to writer Christopher Hastings and artist Langdon Foss.  I was afraid the series would see the character “backslide into...cheap villainy” (see “Confessions of a Comic Book Guy--Timely Comics, Nigerian Comics and Vote Loki”), but like actor Tom Hiddleston’s version of the character, this Loki is equal parts chancer and charmer.  Instead of magic he uses his irresistible smugness to win the support of votes, not in spite of the fact that he’s a habitual liar, but because he’s a habitual liar.

Previously I’ve written about Hoopla, the online streaming service which, through your local library, allows you to borrow audiobooks, movies, music and television shows as well as comics and graphic novels.  I don’t visit its site all that often, but when I do I generally find something, and usually it’s fairly odd.  For instance, last week I found Thor At The Bus Stop, a 2009 movie that has the Norse God of Thunder hanging around Las Vegas while en route to his impending fatal confrontation with the Midgard Serpent.  Although billed as a “fantasy/comedy” there’s precious little fantasy to be found and no comedy I could see, and while I wasn’t expecting the production values of Thor: The Dark World (or even of Asylum Films mockbuster Almighty Thor), this “movie” seems like it could have been shot on somebody’s iPhone.

Likewise, I had zero idea there even was an Antboy 3 until I saw it was available on Hoopla.  Having seen and enjoyed the first two entries in this Danish kid film series based on the Antboy comic books series created by Kenneth Bogh Andersen, this was good news for me.  Billed as being “The Final Chapter,” Antboy and his friends have finished middle school and along with the prerequisite “New Heroes!  New Villains!” he has to deal with, our hero is struggling with the very real  possibility he may be getting a little too old to continue playing superhero.  It’s just as enjoyable as the previous ones, though I thought the dubbing and voice cast, which is usually top-notch, were both a little off this time.  And there are even more comic book references in this one.  As well as containing a shout out to Rob Liefeld, the gang visits their comic book shop which has  a beardy clerk who completes one customer’s visit with a terse “Go away now.”

Dan Parent has done some variant covers for DC’s Hanna-Barbera lines and seeing this one for Future Quest made me realize that this is probably one of the only times Hadji has ever been the focus of a Jonny Quest comic.  Which made me think, “Isn’t it long past time they did an Adventures of Hadji comic,” done by an Indian creative team.

And while on the subject of India... one of the complaints about 15-year-old Riri Williams taking on the mantle of Iron Man was that some felt it unbelievable that she could build her own suit of armor out of odds and ends.  Well according to the piece that appeared on CNET, “Indian student builds real-life walking Iron Man suit -- for just $750.”  While it can only lift 350 pounds and isn’t capable of flight I still find this plenty impressive.

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.