The Origin And History Of Prez

A look at the infamously bizarre, four issue DC series, Prez. Also included is a history of the character’s appearances and the reboot of the concept published in 2015.
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[@chancellorpalpatine4035]

Prez is also in the multiversity guidebook. He's the president of earth 47 the "groovy" earth.

[@shoresean1237]

Prez appeared in animated form at the tail-end of an episode of 'Batman: The Brave And The Bold', "Triumvirate Of Terror', where he ends up being rescued by the mostly-retired Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman in a possible future. Why did they keep hiring this guy? His best (and minimally coherent) stuff was way in the past.

[@Mario_Angel_Medina]

Prez made a cameo on Grant Morrison's "Multiversity" but I lost what is or isn't canon in the DC Universe two reboots ago so I don't know if he or someone else has any plans for the character beyond "There was a comicbook about a teenage president one time. Isn't that weird?"

[@crappozappo]

You make youtube videos about the random-ass comics I've seen in boxes of dollar comics, and I f**king love it.

[@StrangeBrainParts]

Thank you, sir! I'm glad you enjoy the videos.

[@keithmichael112]

Sure, sandman brought back prez, but legless Dracula wasn't even mentioned, I demand a one shot gaiman Edit: Amputee Dracula #1 - "Stumping for Prez" it can be about how he's still rolling around, looking for him

[@athenassigil5820]

I remember the original comic back in the 70s and was too young to appreciate or read the character. As I grew older I always remembered that strange title but by then I was collecting Sandman. All I Can say is Gaiman really did his version justice. That one story shows an optimistic and almost messianic character travel through his world and then is slowly dealt the realities of life and its tragedies. It's a very poetic retelling of a great character and interesting premise....but the original was just too odd ball. Great video, by the way..

[@ThatGuy-gc1du]

The character of Prez works if you understand that the whole story is a satirical examination of political ideologies taken to ridiculous extents. What's the silliest possible way to achieve more diversity in government? Have overt stereotypes of diverse characters put into your cabinet regardless of their actual ability to do the job. What's the silliest way to object to your opinion that the government shouldn't take your guns? Stage a revolution by attempting to overthrow your government and set up a monarchy under a dead former president's relative. It works because you look at it and think, "that's absolutely silly and would never work" but in the process it causes you to revisit your potential political biases by viewing them under less polarizing lenses. Prez is idealistic to the point of self-parody and his world is equally cartoonishly silly to help people approach concepts that they may not initially like or understand without feeling like they are being indoctrinated. That's also why it's hard to see what point the writer is trying to make because the writer isn't taking a side. The writer is showing both sides can be silly and nonsensical in an effort to satirize and also bring people together rather than divide them over politics. Now the vampire on wheels... that was probably from the drugs...

[@fad23]

There was one more chapter to the Mark Russell run on Prez. That was in the back of a Catwoman annual, I believe.

[@muttjones222]

Great video. Personally, I don’t think a character like Prez is unsalvageable. I think the weirdness he surrounds himself with just make the character itself seem more plausible. When you have someone going up against a man with a cartoon smiley head, a leg less vampire and the descendant of Washington, a teen president seems less strange. It’s almost like a hippie’s update on Alice in Wonderland. Like The Geek, they’re characters stuck in a particular era and can be played up for that purpose, sort of like Archie. Idk maybe the most recent attempt to update the concept wasn’t as cynical as keeping up the trademark.

[@StrangeBrainParts]

I will concede that the recent update of the concept had pure intentions and that, perhaps, I was a tad cynical. Good call. :)

[@powerist209]

Yet at the same time, much of Prez's action of taking things into his hand might have issues since...you know War on Terror and Homeland Security Act era.

[@odysseuslaertiades1528]

When Prez says "Peace in our time" (2:20), that sounds like a good slogan, but it has a historical subtext. The same words where used by the British prime Minister Neville Chamberlain when he returned from the Munich Conference in 1938. These words became the trade mark of an 'appeasement politics' that utterly failed in stopping Hitler and in preventing a war.

[@Targisvear]

The guys who goes through the weirdest golden to bronze age comics characters and likes most of those considers a character and story a weird concept. You are warned.

[@therussiancomicbookgeek]

Interesting I love these little one off wired character videos:) merry Christmas and a happy new year my friend. I'd love to continue with our swampthing motion comic plan. 2019 anatomy lesson:D

[@psychomammoth9640]

Merry Christmas

[@psychomammoth9640]

Have you thought of doing some Man Thing comics? Some are pretty good

[@StrangeBrainParts]

Happy new Year/Christmas to you, my friend! I agree...I think Anatomy Lesson has to happen.

[@therussiancomicbookgeek]

@@psychomammoth9640 look dude if you want to see a Man-Thing motion comic why don't you make it yourself.

[@AKImeru]

Super Sunshine Man is the coolest "alternate Superman" name, change my mind.

[@Heavy-P]

Very interesting. I enjoyed this video thoroughly, you had a great PREZentation.

[@DoctorXander]

The Sandman comic is kind of brilliant and I wish you'd elaborated on it more. Prez is a Christ figure who genuinely believes in doing good while Boss Smiley is unbelievably sinister and also literally Satan. The part where Richard Nixon teleports into his bedroom for a lecture on how power is the only thing that matters is great

[@dbensdrawinvids8390]

Prez is like that weird kid in the back of the class who always asks questions like "Do fish understand they don't have eyes?"; the guy's strange, but you kinda like him and wouldn't have him any other way.

[@benjauron5873]

Prez should make an appearance in the DCEU. He's an old man in his 60s now, living as a recluse in a cabin somewhere in Western Montana. And Superman or maybe Batman needs some advice on how to handle a problem of geopolitical importance, but all the working politicians are too corrupt and self-interested to be trusted, so Supe seeks out the one political mind he knows can be trusted. Cut to Supe floating down to a landing in a forest clearing where Prez, with a thick beard and wearing a wool cap and flannel shirt, is chopping wood... Get Bruckheimer on the phone!

[@macuna1995]

I would *love* to see that. There's so much potential that Prez could bring.

[@simonrhoden4457]

I love your channel you're doing interesting subjects that others either ignore or are unaware of . I had no idea brother power and prez were Joe Simon creations. Thanks for this

[@StrangeBrainParts]

You are very welcome! Thanks for watching.

[@d-manthecaptain1382]

If nothing else, I wish they kept Prez around as a background element, I think DC having a teen president would've been a fun little detail to set it apart from Marvel, which wouldn't have gotten in the way of anything major, and would've saved us some of those "Do we use the real president, or a real president with a fake name, or use a generic president, or keep him off-panel" woes of some later stories. Then again, maybe they would've gotten in the way any writer wanting to do political commentary, so perhaps it was for the best to leave Prez behind.

[@scottanderson8167]

And that soul of a dead teenage president went on to become Vince from SlapChop

[@richmcgee434]

4:27 The Nazi swastikas all run clockwise. Now, whether Simon chose the image to deliberately mess with people I don't know, but "not being able to tell good from evil" and "not letting knee-jerk uninformed reactions lead you to the wrong conclusions" certainly seems like the kind of thing this comic was trying to make you think about. Sometimes. Or maybe not. Calling it opaque and bizarre is an understatement, but it's an interesting read, at the very least.

[@citizensguard3433]

“The kid is only 18 and these newly passed laws are clearly a flaw in the system that will be appealed and overturned. What could this inexperienced 18 year old with no political experience possible even do as president??” “Well... uhh... he did do that thing with the clocks that one time, so....” “God damn it! He’s elected!!!!”

[@matthewronson5218]

The V.P. is NOT "the second most powerful person" in gov't. He may have influence, but has very few actual powers. Idealized 'embodiments' of characters does not mean 'culturally insensitive'. It's okay to let your testicles descend a bit and stop applying 21st century idealized notions to those from the early 70's or any other period. Also, that comment on Mussolini making the trains run on time is essentially an Urban legend oft repeated. The NYTs made one comment about this contemporaneous. You know, a simple search would have told you this, and this phrase was also associated with Franco. Otherwise, you provide some solid work with keen insights and considerations.

[@unrulysimian3897]

I love how Gaiman utilized minor or underused or long forgotten characters in Sandman. I was 9 when Prez came out and - for whatever reason - loved it, and was disappointed when it was cancelled. I had forgotten how mediocre the art was. I greatly enjoy the topics you choose to post on. ☮

[@StrangeBrainParts]

Thank you, sir! Hopefully you continue to enjoy future videos. I missed Prez when it was first published. But it was a series I devoured during my Stupid 70's Phase of comic collecting. In fact, I did a dramatic reading of the second issue...oh, like, a million years ago. :)

[@RockandrollNegro]

The Jack Davis art is Prez's only saving grace.

[@unrulysimian3897]

@@RockandrollNegro - If Jack Davis had drawn it - I'd own a 9.8 schlab of every issue. It was Grandenetti. Did Jack pencil some later iteration?

[@noahvance6160]

To be fair in regards to the Vice President character, she actually was established in the comic as actually being Prez's mother, hence why she acts like his parent whenever interacting with him. But yeah, it is still kind of stupid that we never see her doing anything you'd associate with an actual vice president, since it makes you wonder why Prez would have appointed her to that position for any reason other than nepotism.

[@greysky1252]

Prez is such a weird name. Makes me think of PEZ dispensers more than the president.

[@sethleoric2598]

One day i hope someone will have the balls to make Prez the president in a DC movie.

[@Filmation77]

But then who ever thought we would have a president who acts like a 15 year old Twitter Troll?...

[@DavidTSmith-jn5bs]

5:07 I found an interview with Gary Groth discussing Joe Simon's creations, Brother Power the Geek AND Prez, www.tcj.com/the-joe-simon-interview/ While Joe doesn't discuss his creation "at length" as you say here, he does respond to the question "How do you feel about the '60s Hippie Movement?" He thought "it was fun." It seemed he was more annoyed at Mort Weisinger and Carmine Infantino (his editor and DC's Editor in Chief respectively) for cancelling his and Jack Kirby's books left and right than at politics and protests at that time. Of course he wasn't a young man when he did the interview so that could explain the mixed messages conveyed there.

[@phillipmontano7664]

Someone could still revive it and make it great

[@philip2010]

I think it was ahead of it's time

[@DCMarvelMultiverse]

Joe was a Republican guy born the first half of the 20th century. That's why it is baffling.

[@ScaryStoriesNYC]

Prez was a comic book ripoff of the movie "Wild in the Streets" is what I always felt.

[@mmickle6191]

So weird. Fascinating all the same.

[@dfcsons]

I'd STILL take this over anything Marvel is publishing right now

[@macsnafu]

Now this is one series that I *haven't* read. I keep telling myself I'm going to, but after Brother Power the Geek, I was pretty sure that an aging Joe Simon never managed to update his style and was desperately floundering around for new ideas. Still, one of these days...After all, it's only a few issues!

[@DavidTSmith-jn5bs]

Sadly people were saying the same thing about Jack Kirby when he created books like "Devil Dinosaur" and "Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth." DD left me cold but I liked Kamandi.

[@sketchstevens5859]

Kind of reminds me about Teddy Roosevelt

[@tomwellman4500]

You think that the VP is the second most powerful person in America? Wow, do you have a misconception about the office of vice president....

[@BlackAdam1231]

Prez hated everyone

[@MrBallofa]

Prez is SALVADGABLE! but it has to start full self aware satire, and then move into actual political commentary with Prez being radically anti capitalist

[@alancarnell2747]

Crap. I came to this video for a possible explanation for this series but alas, it was not to be.

[@Kriskazam]

This is the ultimate boomer comic 😂

[@drawfiend3104]

Teen senators and a teen president... I can see that ending only in a Mad Max apocalypse and nothing else. Still, it's an interesting premise for a comedy comic.

[@DavidTSmith-jn5bs]

You should hunt down a DVD of the movie "Wild in the Streets." I was thinking of that film after watching this installment.

[@sketchstevens5859]

Children of the Corn is also a fun horror flick with a similar presence I suppose

[@mikp57]

@@DavidTSmith-jn5bs , precisely! you had to live thru those times to understand where prez was coming from. wild in the streets was obviously the forebear of prez, tho a star trek mirror universe version of prez. max frost ended up being a much more fascist version of prez, tho joe simon obviously noticed the popularity of wild in the streets with the flower power generation and integrated the classic kirby/simon boy gang trope into prez (as he did with his one-shot green team pilot that he wrote for first issue special later on, tho then replacing the hippie perspective with a then-nascent yuppie approach). i can see the present millennial generation being totally flabbergasted by where prez was coming from today. prez was an uneasy combination of commercialization and flower power idealism.

[@broken_ac5548]

What?

[@charlesdurrwtcher8905]

So let me get this straight cuz 18 year old president who has no business being president okay Santa and he's probably one of those cats it would be all down with antifa and communism and peace and love and hugging trees and whatnot is that right I'm just trying to get my head around it cab anyhow you have a nice day

[@RockandrollNegro]

Dude one and cat Prez went 'meow' and it like "Blakk Cats Matter' but Aunt Teefa be like "Black Cats Meowter" but Orangeman people group say "all cats meowter" but dog say ruff ruff now to be fare all cats meowter but black cats meowter more like Portlandia and Misslesota

[@noahthompson5010]

these three comments are so cursed