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| Copyright DC COMICS |
Was it in 1973 or '74 I first bought Prez #1 in Blackpool? Not 100% sure as my family holidayed in the famous seaside resort both years and they sort of run into one another in my mind. I tend to think it was 1973, but '74 isn't impossible, as Blackpool newsagents were famous for having comics in their spinner-racks years after original publication - in brand-new condition and at then current prices too. On at least one of those holidays I obtained several Kirby FFs and Buscema Silver Surfers, so buying Prez #1 in '74, the year after it was first published, is by no means impossible. Not that it matters much, I suppose. After all, what's a year between Crivs?
I have no memory at all of ever seeing any of the next three issues of Prez. That could perhaps be because I just never saw them, or simply didn't pay attention to them if I did as I wasn't particularly impressed by the first issue. I obtained a replacement for #1 a fair number of years ago now, but only because it reminded me of my youth and Blackpool, and a time when I subconsciously assumed my immortality was a given.
It seems like it was only in the last couple of years or so that I learned that Prez lasted for just four issues, so I recently tracked down the remaining three on eBay and promptly bought them, the last of which arrived today. I'm waiting for a 2016 softcover collection to arrive, which contains not only the four 1970s issues, but also subsequent comics down through the years in which the character made an appearance, so pretty soon I'll be all 'Prezzed-out'.
It's taken me 50 years to catch up on that particular aspect of my past, but better late than never, I suppose. To celebrate my 'achievement' I've decided to have a cover gallery of all four issues, plus the 'on-its-way-to-me' collected edition. If you have any memories of (or observations on) Prez you'd care to share, the comments section awaits in eager anticipation.
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The Verdict: Having now read all four issues, I can say that I didn't really miss anything 50 years ago by not buying 2-4 at the time. A comic based solely on politics would probably never have been of much interest to teenagers in the '70s, so there's a weird and wacky element to the stories to sweeten the pie for them, but it doesn't really work. Joe Simon is clearly interested in the environment, the treatment of Native Americans, and gun control, but a comic where the characters appear to know they're in a comic just doesn't work for me.
For example, in #2, when Prez refers to something he said in #1, a character called Chessking replies "Yeah - - I remember reading it in the first issue" and thus destroys any internal reality at a stroke. And Eagle Free, who's supposed to be an Indian, doesn't look, to my colour-blind eyes, to be of the correct skin tone. He's also just a bit too ready to sacrifice the animals with which he is supposed to be in some kind of mental communion, by twice letting some of his birds die gruesome deaths to help save the day.
Jerry Grandenetti's artwork is far too cartoonish, with misshapen characters and distorted perspectives, which may lend itself to the general air of unreality of the stories, but overall, that may not be a good thing. Whatever it was that Simon & Grandenetti were aiming for with this series, sadly, they missed the target, though I suppose it was an interesting experiment.
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I've now received my collected edition (shown at foot of post) and have read the intended 5th issue (which was published in b&w in Cancelled Comics Cavalcade #2), as well as the short tale from Supergirl #10, Sandman #54, Vertigo Visions Prez #1, and an extract from The Dark Knight Strikes Again. The Vertigo ish had far too much swearing for my tastes (motherf*cker - in a comic?) and wasn't really up to much, but the Sandman tale was intriguing and enjoyable. Worth having for nostalgic completists who want to remember and reclaim an aspect of their youth.
