DC Comics recently concluded a 4-year long branding exercise
entitled the New 52. To do a
proper autopsy of the New 52 would require several in depth essays over the
course of a small eternity but suffice it to say it’s not really being viewed
as a success. So, as a result, DC
is now launching a new branding initiative entitled DC You (puny.) Probably the most suprising title to
come out of the DC You is Prez, a
comic set in a not to distant future that plays like a weird cross between Idiocracy and The Zero Theorem as directed by VEEP’s
Armando Iannucci. The books is
basically a social satire, spoofing the entire 21st century miasma
of corporate interest, political gridlock, Internet distraction, and public
exhaustion with a system that seems ever more absurd.
It’s a good
comic, one of the few books DC’s put out in 5 years to feel grounded in the
realities of the now and the broadening reader demographic rather than drawing
on the conventional wisdom of the ‘90s.
However, Prez isn’t a new
comic, it’s actually a revival of a 1973 4-issue mini-series by Superman
co-creator Joe Simon and Jerry Grandenetti, one of the most influential comic
artists of all time.
